tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-375897213315858432024-03-15T19:10:18.235-06:00Religion in American HistoryA Group Blog on Religion in American Culture and HistoryPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger3200125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-73014513386316529462019-11-15T04:03:00.001-07:002019-11-15T04:05:55.350-07:00PhD Studentship in Twentieth-Century American Studies/American HistoryA Doctoral Research Fellowship (SKO 1017) within Twentieth-Century American Studies/American History is available in the <a href="https://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/english/">Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages</a> (ILOS) at the University of Oslo (UiO).<br /><br />The candidate will specialize in a relevant aspect of modern American religious history/culture or American religion and environmental history. The applicant must present an independent subproject that lies within the scope of the above. This subproject should be within American Studies or American History, focusing on the twentieth century. The project will be supervised by <a href="https://www.hf.uio.no/ilos/english/people/aca/randalls/index.html">professor Randall J. Stephens</a>.<br /><br />Salary NOK 479,600 – 523,200 per annum depending on qualification<br /><br />Expected start date is 1 August 2020<br /><br />More here: <a href="https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/176968/doctoral-research-fellowship-within-20th-century-american-studies-american-history">https://www.jobbnorge.no/en/available-jobs/job/176968/doctoral-research-fellowship-within-20th-century-american-studies-american-history</a>Randallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16755286304057000048noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-27989075084273023562019-08-26T08:21:00.002-06:002019-08-26T08:21:50.583-06:00Gender & Sexuality at the Global History and Catholicism ConferenceBy Natalie Gasparowicz<br />
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<i>Natalie is a 3rd-year PhD student in the History Department at Duke University. Her research interests rest at the intersection of Catholicism, gender, sexuality, surrounding questions of birth control and reproduction in 20th century Mexico .</i><br />
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The organizers of the Global History and Catholicism Conference this past April put together a rich and diverse conference. Presenters showed the exciting directions scholarship of global Catholicism is going in: examining missionary work, addressing the Church’s global legacy, analyzing the Church’s relationship to modernity, the growth of religious networks, and much more. As a rising scholar of Catholicism and sexuality in the global South, I found it extremely productive and at the same time, saw what we could have explored more deeply.<br />
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There is a disconnect between scholarship and public discourse on global Catholicism. Public discussion of the global Church has focused on the recent sexual abuse crisis. That crisis has not yet been theorized by historians of the Church. At least that is the view of Professor Bob Orsi, who delivered a keynote address.<br />
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As the conference showed us, when we study sex, we study the laity. And what about the hierarchy? To understand the crisis, as Professor Orsi pointed out, we need to understand the hierarchy’s norms and understandings of sex. How do we do that? One presenter suggested it could not be done because the sources were unavailable. This answer does not seem good enough. While nobody at the conference, myself included, figured out how to answer this question, one of its successes was to bring it to our attention.<br />
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Professor Orsi provided a way to historicize today’s sexual abuse crisis. First of all, in his view, this is not a crisis, but rather the “modern Catholic normal.” The word “crisis” obscures the fact that these cases are part of a longer pattern that has spanned across the modern era. They are not atypical, but sadly, typical. Secondly, he offered a way of conceptualizing the crisis in relationship to the global Church: “the Catholic local/global-in between.” This concept avoids the binary of local and global. For example, people use “local” to help deny the global implications of the crisis. Instead, as Professor Orsi explained, this concept offers a way of imagining this space as porous—as a product of both local and global factors. After sharing his historical account, he concluded by pointing out the need to address abuse in the research of global Catholicism, but also, to address gender and sexuality more broadly.<br />
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Gender and sexuality did come up from time to time at the Conference, most notably on the “Gender and Sexuality” panel (the only panel out of 18 explicitly on the theme). For example, Brenna Moore offered us the idea of “spiritual friendship.” She analyzed the friendship between Chilean writer Gabriela Mistral and French philosopher Jacques Maritain. She urged us not to think of their friendship as an intense relationship between closeted individuals. Their friendship was not simply an outlet for people who could not openly practice their desire. Instead, she encouraged us to think of spiritual friendship as a category in itself—a kind of passionate friendship that goes beyond our conventional understandings of the reproductive family. Desire does not have to lead to sex nor to reproduction.<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Natalie Sargent, on the other hand, analyzed the role of women’s religious in 19th century Rome. Often, the Church power is imagined at the center—Rome. Sargent flipped this narrative to show how two laywomen—religious non-elites—worked closely together. Sargent argued that it was not necessarily their gender that impacted their work, but their networks.<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>On the same panel, I shared about the story of Humanae Vitae and birth control in Mexico. I found a 1970 manual where the bishops urged the priests to put the encyclical into practice. I argued that this suggested that priests were failing to preach Humanae Vitae in their parishes. Other Catholic magazines anxiously wrote about the birth control pill, its implications, and how there could be a Catholic argument for its use. Just because the Church had prohibited contraception did not mean priests or Catholic couples had obeyed.<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Together, our panel fostered discussion over questions of the role of desire, sexuality, and gender. What was the role of the reproductive family in global Catholicism? How does desire play a role in relationships and networks? How do women network and navigate within the global Roman Catholic Church? All of the presenters examined laypeople. It also saw women and men as agents —whether it was about sexuality, desire, love, or networks. Again, what about the hierarchy?<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Another panel showed us the importance of this issue. In a presentation about World Youth Day celebrations, someone asked the presenter if he had considered the role of sexual abuse or assault at these gatherings. The presenter replied that he had not. In the audience, a person shared that he had been assaulted by a priest in a bathroom at World Youth Day in Madrid in 2011. Clearly, we need to address sexual practices and abuse by priests, bishops, and cardinals in our research.<br />
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<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>And so, in almost all of these discussions, attention to gender and sexuality meant examining laypeople, often laywomen. Obviously, this is important work. But what about the men in power? In the case of the global Church, studying gender and sexuality among the hierarchy means addressing masculinity, desire, and power. As presenter Alyssa Maldonaldo-Estrada explained in her presentation on the religious practices of Italian-American laymen, there is little scholarship on the study of masculinity. Studying gender and sexuality in the global Church not only includes women inside and outside of the Church, but also, the men. The Conference showed all of us how important it is for us to continue asking and addressing these questions in our research agendas moving forward.<i> </i><br />
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Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05048779443216818266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-14829889247032623132019-07-28T11:32:00.003-06:002019-07-28T11:32:51.727-06:00Claremont Prize for the Study of Religion<b>Lauren Turek</b><br />
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The Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life recently announced a new annual competition. The Claremont Prize for the Study of Religion is dedicated to the publication of first books by early career scholars working in any discipline of the humanities or social sciences. Submissions can be on any aspect of the study of religion, including the study of secularism. Prize-winners will be invited to IRCPL to participate in a workshop and the books will appear in IRCPL’s series, “Religion, Culture, and Public Life,” published by Columbia University Press.<br />
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Deadline for applications: October 1, 2019.<br />
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The international competition is open to scholars working in the social sciences and humanities. Submissions must meet the following criteria:<br />
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Authors must have received the PhD on or after January 1, 2012.<br />
The manuscript must be single-authored.<br />
The submission must be the author’s first book (excluding edited books).<br />
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The manuscript must not be under consideration at any other press.<br />
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For more information on the prize and application procedures, see: <a href="https://ircpl.columbia.edu/2019/07/24/claremont-prize/">https://ircpl.columbia.edu/2019/07/24/claremont-prize/</a><br />
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Lauren Turekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16371471313398753968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-35423054130988784012019-07-23T09:00:00.000-06:002019-08-01T13:22:24.181-06:00Report from the Field: The 11th Triennial Conference on the History of Women Religious <br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">Grace Doerfler is a rising sophomore at the University of Notre Dame and a history major. She is </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;">interested in the role of women in the Catholic church & oral histories of women religious.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;"> </span><br />
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On June 23, historians, archivists, and scholars from around the world convened for the Eleventh Triennial Conference on the History of Women Religious. Fittingly gathered on a campus replete with the legacy of women religious, Saint Mary’s College, founded by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, attendees spent four days immersed in more than thirty panels. This year’s conference theme, “Commemoration, Preservation, Celebration,” noted the centennials of women’s suffrage as an occasion to honor the history of women religious and the ways that they have shaped global Catholicism.<br />
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The conference was alive with the memories of sisters through history. With each day of the conference, presenters called on their audiences to envision the ongoing richness that women religious bring to the Catholic Church and to the world. Paper topics ranged from congregations’ work to commemorate their sainted sisters; to current efforts to preserve and organize inclusive, accessible archives; to the ongoing task of navigating the relationship between women religious and their lay associates. Presenters emphasized the importance of identity, trust, and strong relationships in the work of preserving and celebrating the rich legacy of women religious.<br />
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In an engaging keynote address to open the conference, Colorado State University’s Ann Little used the story of Esther Wheelwright, an 18th-century Ursuline sister, to frame the story of Catholic women as “open, vast, and inclusive.” Noting the importance of including material sources and non-English sources in studying Catholic history, Little invited the audience to “widen our lens” and paint a vaster portrait of early American Catholicism, encouraging listeners to go outside traditional archives and sources. “The difference that women make is that they see other women and include other women,” she said, arguing that the history of women religious is particularly inclusive and inviting for this reason. Little urged those present to research and tell the stories of new “exceptional figures” in early American history— like Esther Wheelwright— because they, and not just the founding fathers, make up an integral part of the early American story.<br />
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Like Little emphasized in her keynote, many of the presenters focused on the need to ensure that women religious are included in the historical narrative. Sisters’ contributions have historically been largely overlooked, their work often diminished by national anti-Catholic sentiment or patriarchal power structures within the Church. Indeed, Little noted that many American Catholic historians of the 1980s and 1990s were “almost apologetic” about their work, uncertain of finding a welcome place in history. Now, especially as the demographics of Catholicism— and especially of women’s religious life— shift, sisters and historians alike have a palpable sense of urgency in recording these narratives.<br />
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This year, many presenters envisioned new collaborations with archivists as an important part of the work ahead. Historically, archives have been notoriously inaccessible, but with mounting uncertainty about the future of some congregations, and a growing recognition of the need to preserve orders’ stories, that may be changing. Many archivists were among the new faces welcomed to this year’s conference, indicative of the increasingly collaborative relationship among sisters, archivists, and historians.<br />
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Margaret McGuinness argued strongly for a more collaborative and open approach to using archives, noting that archives have rich resources to share with historians of subjects from the Civil Rights movement to the history of American education. Especially in the face of dwindling vocations in the United States, McGuinness and her fellow panelists stressed the importance of inter-congregational approaches to archive preservation. Archivist Malachy McCarthy explained that charism-based archives have been proposed as one possible solution to the “impending crisis” in religious communities’ archives. As congregations look for new ways to preserve their records, presenters stressed that establishing trusting relationships is an integral part of ensuring that sisters’ stories are told.<br />
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In addition to the emphasis on collaboration with archivists, presenters at this year’s conference also recognized the importance of engaging young people in the legacies and ongoing work of women religious. For Katie Bugyis and Ann David, the work of sharing the stories of women religious with high school students is among the most pressing tasks. As part of the National Catholic Sisters Project, Bugyis and David have created a free online curriculum, Called and Consecrated, to ensure that young people learn about women religious. Designed to be a helpful tool for all who teach religious education, the curriculum responds to the reality that most young people today never have the opportunity to see or meet a religious sister. Called and Consecrated introduces young people to the lives of sisters and seeks to show students that they have many desires and goals in common with women religious.<br />
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Katie Gordon, a national organizer of the Nuns and Nones movement, recognizes a similar connection between sisters and spiritually diverse millennials. Perhaps an unlikely match at first glance, Gordon said, “We found a home in one another’s stories.” With common desires for social justice, meaningful community, and spiritual fulfillment, millennials and sisters discover, as one sister put it, “Surprise! We’re soulmates.” Participants learn from and energize one another, building new forms of community. Like the historians present at the conference, Gordon and her fellow millennials have been entrusted with the stories of women religious, and Nuns and Nones holds a unique place in passing on sisters’ legacies for new generations.<br />
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Looking to the future, some sisters are blunt about the reality of dwindling vocations, saying, “God may be calling us to completion.” Despite fewer vocations to women’s religious life, women religious and their collaborators in mission now seek new ways to pass on their charisms for new generations. Honoring saints in the history of women religious is among the ways congregations seek to carry on their missions. “Canonized American Sisters: How Congregations Commemorate, Preserve, and Celebrate Sainted Sisters’ Legacies,” a roundtable with scholars representing each of the United States’ six sainted sisters, discussed the work of honoring these saints in the 21st century. Joan McGlinchey, MSC, said, “We have hope in sharing our charism in new places.” Although sisters anticipate that religious life will look different in the future, they are confident that their charisms and witness will live on in the examples of these saints.<br />
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On the final evening of the conference, Eileen Markey, investigative journalist and author of A Radical Faith: The Assassination of Sister Maura, offered a riveting keynote about Maryknoll sister Maura Clarke and the importance of telling sisters’ stories. Women religious, she said, can show us the path forward out of a broken Church, and they offer proof that lay women have always led in the Church and shall continue to do so.<br />
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The evening highlighted two women who lead in the field of research on women religious, with the conferral of the CHWR Distinguished Book Award and the Distinguished Historian Award. Catherine O’Donnell received this year’s book award for Elizabeth Seton: American Saint, the first critical biography of the saint. This year’s recipient of the Distinguished Historian award was Deirdre Raftery.<br />
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The conference’s attendees went their separate ways on June 26 energized by panel presentations and conversations with new connections that boldly crossed disciplines, traditions, and generations. The four days at Saint Mary’s College had been spent learning from and sharing the scholarship of a diverse group of historians, archivists and many others. As the 2019 CHWR drew to a close, the participants left South Bend with new ideas and collaborative possibilities, inspired to continue the invaluable work of commemoration, preservation, and celebration.<br />
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</style>Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05048779443216818266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-73344696397014602562019-07-22T02:15:00.000-06:002019-07-22T02:15:19.325-06:00Early Twentieth Century African American Professionalism and World Christianity<br />
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;">Last
month, the Yale Edinburgh Group on World Christianity and the History of
Mission honored the life and career of one of its founders, Dr. Lamin Sanneh. Sanneh
inspired a rising generation of researchers and ministers to explore evidence
of how Christian faith makes believers from the African continent more attuned
to their cultural traditions. Such research decenters European and American
missions history to identify the current global expansion of African and Asian
churches as the definitive Christian movement in the Global South. As Sanneh
argued in <i>Whose Religion is Christianity?,</i>
“the churches have continued to grow beyond the West on the basis of their
strong evangelical emphasis. It turns out that colonial rule as the frame of
Christianity’s civilizing mission has been superseded by the onward march of
the religion.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The continued growth of non-western Christian movements in the post-colonial
era creates opportunities for religion scholars to reevaluate the American
Protestant missionary movement in global perspective. The following essay explains
some implications of World Christianity scholarship for my study of African
American professionals and ministers during the early twentieth century. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> One of the trends in research on African
Initiated Churches emphasizes how these congregations rely on professional
networks as they expand within the United States. The networks are important
for recruitment, evangelism, and pastoral care; establishing contacts with a
variety of skills helps members address concerns outside the church walls.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> As
stated by Emmanuel Agyemfra at the recent conference, Ghanaian congregations
develop in the United States with a combination of “visible and invisible
altars.” Members rely on both church activities and outside organizations to
build social trust.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Universities and academic titles also have religious significance for Christians
from Ghana because of the popularity of the prosperity gospel in African
Initiated Churches; education is celebrated from the pulpit as a means to
success on personal and national levels.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> In historical perspective, professional
networks were also central to African American outreach on the African
continent. Black missionaries and their supporters expected that coordination through
historically black colleges and universities (H.B.C.U.s) would provide a
tangible means to pursue religious and cultural solidarity in the African
Diaspora. But the topic of racially defined higher education was also
significant to those political and religious leaders who wished to restrict black
professionalism in the 1910s through the 1930s. The continuing importance of networking
for African Christians in the United States indicates that African American leaders’
resistance to educational restrictions was instrumental to the growth of World
Christianity several decades later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> My forthcoming book analyzes the careers of teaching
missionaries affiliated with two of the best known H.B.C.U.s: Tuskegee Institute
and Fisk University. Between 1891 and 1941, twelve African Americans worked for
the Southern Presbyterian denomination at its American Presbyterian Congo
Mission. Alonzo and Althea Brown Edmiston became the longest serving members of
that group with the support of students and alumni from their academic
institutions. In addition to providing skills that they applied at their
mission stations, Tuskegee and Fisk offered the Edmistons affiliation with leaders
who remained invested in social justice campaigns that included Africans and
African Americans. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Because Tuskegee Institute started as a
black-led campus focused on agriculture and industry, its programs caught the
attention of a variety of educational leaders. Christian newspapers in western
and southern Africa celebrated Tuskegee and its founder, Booker T. Washington,
as models of black independence and technological expertise.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The
reticence of colonial governments to authorize new African universities in the
1920s increased the interest in study abroad opportunities that could lead to
advanced degrees.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Historian Kenneth King describes six students from the Gold Coast, South
Africa, and East Africa who defied their sponsors because of the limitations
placed on their academic trajectories. The Phelps-Stokes Fund provided
scholarships through the 1930s for some African students to pursue industrial
education courses at Tuskegee or the Penn School missions training program, but
each of these six students left the designated program early to seek a doctorate
or other professional training at a different American institution.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Meanwhile,
several of the African students who continued studying at Tuskegee in the 1920s
embraced Pan-African nationalist ideals through the work of a Rhodesian
professor named Simbini Mamba Nkomo.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn8" name="_ednref8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Nkomo introduced African history courses at Tuskegee and encouraged attendees
of his 1923 African Student Union conference to coordinate on “abolishing
restrictions on the Coming to America, for study, of African Students.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn9" name="_ednref9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Affiliation with Tuskegee Institute brought
both promotion and hardship for black professionals looking for transnational
collaborations. Political stances like those of Professor Nkomo contrasted
sharply with the reputation that founder Booker T. Washington gained with his
1895 Atlanta Compromise speech.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn10" name="_ednref10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Until his death in 1915, Washington relied on
partnerships with white donors through organizations like the Phelps Stokes
Fund. The Fund amplified Washington’s international influence by withholding
support from schools that did not follow the models of Tuskegee or Hampton
Institute and by recruiting from those two colleges for overseas positions.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn11" name="_ednref11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> As
explained in Andrew Zimmerman’s <i>Alabama in Africa</i>, Booker T. Washington
argued that Tuskegee students and faculty were the best choices for translating
cash crop production techniques to an African workforce.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn12" name="_ednref12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> He
joined the Phelps Stokes Commission specialist, Thomas Jesse Jones, in opposing
African American leaders who espoused publicly a broader vision for black
education in the U.S. or abroad.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn13" name="_ednref13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Studying a former Tuskegee student who
served abroad during and after Washington’s rise to fame showed me how the
Tuskegee model shaped black teachers’ career trajectories. Between 1913 and
1940, the Southern Presbyterian foreign mission board appointed Alonzo Edmiston
to help start a cotton plantation, manage a farm, and create an Agricultural
College at the Congo Mission. The fact that he studied nursing at Tuskegee
instead of the agricultural program did not outweigh the symbolism of his work
for the formerly Confederate denomination. A Congo Mission administrator assumed
that “soil producers” were meant to be “the real ‘back-bone’ of” the Belgian
Congo economy, and he believed that Edmiston would help reduce interest in
other professions by teaching children to work on the mission station land.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn14" name="_ednref14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> I
argue that his H.B.C.U. experience made Alonzo Edmiston more inclined to adapt Congo
Mission policy to the interests of local Africans, starting with his repeated
decisions to heed villagers’ requests for a reprieve from the kind of cash crop
labor that had also been mandated by colonial officials. However, increased
racial tension within the mission station after 1919 made it advantageous for
Edmiston to affiliate with Thomas Jesse Jones’s Agricultural Missions program
from 1936 until his retirement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> Based on the historic combination of Phelps
Stokes Fund objections to African American activists and colonial government
restrictions on black travel, historian Sylvia Jacobs cited 1920 as the end of
the most productive period in the African American missionary movement.<span class="MsoEndnoteReference"> <a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn15" name="_ednref15" title=""><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></a></span> Studies
of Black internationalism offer the perspectives of other types of professional
travelers who were active through the late twentieth century. In the case of their
new anthology, editors Keisha Blain and Tiffany M. Gill compared the “global
visions” analyzed in each chapter to educator Mary McLeod Bethune’s plan “to
turn the whole world over” despite being rejected by a white mission board in
the 1890s.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn16" name="_ednref16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Literary scholar Ira Dworkin found that concerns about Althea Brown Edmiston’s intellectualism
and her links to a campus that championed classical studies may have also made
the Southern Presbyterian mission board reluctant to accept staff members from
Fisk University.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn17" name="_ednref17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Nevertheless, the missions enthusiasm of the Fisk community helped create forums
for long-term interactions between Christian activists throughout the African
Diaspora. These forums involved leaders who would later contribute to the
National Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the
Council on African Affairs, and other social justice organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> As a missionary, Althea Brown Edmiston followed
campus traditions that began in the late 1870s. She had the specific examples
of seven other students who had served as missionaries to Africa since 1878.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn18" name="_ednref18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
She also spoke at a national Student Volunteer Movement conference because of
connections she made within a Fisk Y.M.C.A. chapter that began organizing around
1877.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn19" name="_ednref19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> Like
her predecessors, Brown took aspects of her H.B.C.U. experience to the mission
field by specializing in translation, folklore, teaching, public speaking, and
choral performance. With donations from the Fisk community, Brown published the
first dictionary and grammar of the Kuba language in 1932. Ira Dworkin argues
that the comparative analysis of African music and Negro spirituals in books by
Fisk alumnus W.E.B. Du Bois helped to<i> </i>“make visible additional migrations from
Afro-America to the Congo by way of Fisk University and figures such as Althea
Brown Edmiston.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn20" name="_ednref20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> One
of those migrations emphasized the influence of H.B.C.U.s in making the
Y.M.C.A. movement more conducive to Pan-African and civil rights agendas. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> George Edmund Haynes, a former Fisk
classmate of Brown, visited her and Alonzo Edmiston at the American
Presbyterian Congo Mission in August of 1930. This social scientist and National
Urban League co-founder was en route to South Africa to study the growth of the
Y.M.C.A. there.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn21" name="_ednref21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
His preparation for working on the African continent came through his alumni
network and through the Y.M.C.A. national black student conferences that Haynes
attended as a presenter since at least 1922.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn22" name="_ednref22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
The annual conferences at Kings Mountain, North Carolina recruited students
from several historically black colleges and universities for ten days of
lectures, Bible studies, missions training, and public health education. The
1912 inaugural conference featured missionary recruitment speeches by William
Henry Sheppard, co-founder of the Congo Mission, and an unnamed African
student.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn23" name="_ednref23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Tuskegee professor Simbini Mamba Nkomo presented the mission study lecture at
the 1922 conference with support from Max Yergan, who wanted to recruit
additional black staff for the Y.M.C.A. chapters in South Africa.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn24" name="_ednref24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Additional black Christian student conferences were organized in that country
by 1927, and speakers and students from other parts of the African continent
continued to attend the Kings Mountain meetings in the early 1930s.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn25" name="_ednref25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> The
1936 conference featured presentations of Indian and “African music, culture,
and religion” led by Howard Thurman and other leaders who had visited these
parts of the world.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn26" name="_ednref26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Thurman’s theology would later inspire Martin Luther King, Jr. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> By 1936, the common conference topics of race
relations and “Christian internationalism” had been specified into a call for
“achievement of life’s deepest spiritual values without prejudice – without
poverty.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn27" name="_ednref27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Historian David Hollinger credited George Haynes and his contemporary African
American activists for setting the Y.M.C.A. and the Federal Council of Churches
on track to condemn racial segregation in the 1940s.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn28" name="_ednref28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
A transnational focus reveals that African contributors to the Kings Mountain
conferences were also instrumental in making civil rights discourse an
increasingly prominent part of ecumenical Christian activism. Both Fisk and
Tuskegee Institute were among the H.B.C.U.s that started enrolling students
from western and southern Africa decades before these conferences began. Through
the work of William A. Hunton, Channing Tobias, and other Y.M.C.A. secretaries
who organized black student chapters, African study abroad students could be
incorporated seamlessly into the student conferences and influence their content.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> For example, African members of the
Tuskegee Y.M.C.A. chapter sent a letter of protest to the organization’s
national leader after Thomas Jesse Jones prevented Max Yergan from receiving a
staff position in East Africa.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn29" name="_ednref29" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Yergan’s appointment to represent the Y.M.C.A. in South Africa helped him
remain a featured conference speaker through 1933. In turn, Max Yergan’s later critiques
of capitalism and imperialism through the National Negro Congress (N.N.C.) and
the Council on African Affairs may explain the increasing emphasis on economic
justice and workers’ rights at the conference meetings.<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn30" name="_ednref30" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a> His
N.N.C. colleague, union leader A. Philip Randolph, also became a featured
speaker at Kings Mountain events before he planned the first March on
Washington.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 200%;">
<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%;"> The
history of African and African American activism within the Y.M.C.A. reminds me
that the administrative and political obstacles faced by black missionaries did
not define the boundaries of black internationalism in the early twentieth
century. Though white donors and administrators wielded significant influence
over the types of education and occupations considered appropriate for people
of African descent, black professionals continued to shape their Christian
activism in terms of upward mobility, academic community formation, and cultural
awareness. When explaining the impacts of World Christianity, Lamin Sanneh
argued that “Christianity helped Africans to become renewed Africans, not
remade Europeans.”<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_edn31" name="_ednref31" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;">[xxxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Collaboration with African students, parishioners, and leaders during the early
twentieth century also helped some African American Christians pursue their
spiritual practice beyond the parameters set by the Phelps Stokes Fund and Protestant
mission boards. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<span class="MsoEndnoteReference">
</span></div>
<div>
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<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[i]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Lamin Sanneh, <i>Whose Religion is Christianity?</i> (Grand Rapids, MI:
Eerdmans, 2003), 63.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Jacob K Olupona, “Communities of Believers: Exploring African Immigrant
Religion in the United States,” <i>African
Immigrant Religions in America</i>, ed. by Jacob K. Olupona and Regina
Gemignani (New York: New York University Press, 2007), 29; Elias K. Bongmba,
“Portable Faith: The Global Mission of African Initiated Churches (AICs), <i>African Immigrant Religions in America</i>,
ed. by Jacob K. Olupona and Regina Gemignani (New York: New York University
Press, 2007), 115-117.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Emmanuel Agyemfra, “Diverse Altars Where We Worship: Religious Practices and
Worship among Ghanaian Christian Communities in New Jersey, USA,” conference
presentation, Yale Edinburgh Group on the History of the Missionary Movement
and World Christianity, New Haven, CT, 29 June 2019. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[iv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Paul Gifford, “A View of Ghana’s New Christianity,” <i>The Changing Face of
Christianity: Africa, the West, and the World</i>, ed. By Lamin Sanneh and Joel
A. Carpenter (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005), 92-93.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[v]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span>
Andrew Barnes, <i>Global Christianity and the Black Atlantic</i> (Waco: Baylor
University Press, 2017), 3.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kenneth
J. King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>
(New York: Diasporic Africa Press, 2016), 124.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn7">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[vii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>, 226-232. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn8">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref8" name="_edn8" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[viii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>, 215. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn9">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref9" name="_edn9" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[ix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>, 220. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn10">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref10" name="_edn10" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[x]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Clif Stratton, <i>Education for Empire: American Schools, Race, and the Paths
of Good Citizenship </i>(Oakland: University of California Press, 2016), 143. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn11">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref11" name="_edn11" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
William H. Watkins, <i>The White Architects of Black Education: Ideology and
Power in America, 1865-1954 </i>(New York: Teachers College Press, 2001),
110-111; King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>, 134-135, 142-143. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn12">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref12" name="_edn12" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Andrew
Zimmerman, <i>Alabama in Africa: Booker T.
Washington, the German Empire, and the Globalization of the New South</i>
(Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010), 48.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn13">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref13" name="_edn13" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>, 82-86; David H. Jackson, Jr., <i>Booker
T. Washington and the Struggle Against White Supremacy</i> (New York: Palgrave
MacMillan, 2008), 9. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn14">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref14" name="_edn14" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Arch C. McKinnon to Egbert W. Smith, 30 August 1918, American Presbyterian
Congo Mission Records, RG 432, box 78, folder 15, Presbyterian Historical
Society, Philadelphia, PA.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn15">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref15" name="_edn15" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Sylvia M. Jacobs, “African Missions and the African-American Christian
Churches,” <i>African-American Experience in World Mission: A Call Beyond
Community</i>, vol. 1, ed. by Vaughn J. Walston and Robert J. Stevens
(Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2002), 44. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn16">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref16" name="_edn16" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Keisha Blain and Tiffany M. Gill, <i>To Turn the Whole World Over: Black Women
and Internationalism</i> (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2019), Kindle
Edition, location 259-268; Michael Johnson, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper? The
Search for African American Presence in Missions,” <i>African-American
Experience in World Mission: A Call Beyond Community</i>, vol. 1, ed. by Vaughn
J. Walston and Robert J. Stevens (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Library, 2002),
12.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn17">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref17" name="_edn17" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Ira
Dworkin, <i>Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the
Colonial State </i>(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017),
135.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn18">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref18" name="_edn18" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
James A. Quirin, “‘Her Sons and Daughters are Ever on the Altar:’ Fisk
University and Missionaries to Africa, 1866-1937,” <i>Tennessee Historical
Quarterly</i>, vol. 60, no. 1 (Spring 2001), 21-24; Dworkin, <i>Congo Love Song</i>,
130.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn19">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref19" name="_edn19" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xix]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
W.A. Hunton,
“The Providential Preparation of the American Negro for Mission Work in
Africa,” <i>World-wide Evangelization the Urgent Business of the Church </i>(New
York: Student Volunteer Movement for Foreign Missions, 1902), 294-298; Kings
Mountain Student Conference flyer: June 3-13, 1927, YMCA Student Division
Papers, RG 58, box 54, folder 768, Yale Divinity Library Archives and
Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page 2.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn20">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref20" name="_edn20" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xx]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Dworkin, <i>Congo Love Song</i>, 142.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn21">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref21" name="_edn21" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Salo, J., “George Edmund Haynes (1880-1960),” BlackPast, 30 June 2008, Online, <a href="https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/haynes-george-edmund-1880-1960/">https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/haynes-george-edmund-1880-1960/</a>
Accessed 19 July 2019. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn22">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref22" name="_edn22" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer: May 26-June 5, 1922, YMCA Student
Division Papers, RG 58, box 54, folder 768, Yale Divinity Library Archives and
Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page 6.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn23">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref23" name="_edn23" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxiii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer: May 26-June 5, 1922, page 2. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn24">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref24" name="_edn24" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxiv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer: May 26-June 5, 1922, page 5.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn25">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref25" name="_edn25" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxv]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer: June 3-13, 1927, YMCA Student Division
Papers, RG 58, box 54, folder 768, Yale Divinity Library Archives and
Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page 2-3; Report of Kings Mountain Student
Conference: May 30-June 6, 1931, YMCA Student Division Papers, RG 58, box 54,
folder 768, Yale Divinity Library Archives and Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page
11. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn26">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref26" name="_edn26" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxvi]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer: June 12-18, 1936, YMCA Student
Division Papers, RG 58, box 54, folder 768, Yale Divinity Library Archives and
Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page 2-3.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn27">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref27" name="_edn27" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxvii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer: May 30-June 9, 1924, YMCA Student
Division Papers, RG 58, box 54, folder 768, Yale Divinity Library Archives and
Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page 2; Kings Mountain Student Conference flyer:
June 12-18, 1936, YMCA Student Division Papers, RG 58, box 54, folder 768, Yale
Divinity Library Archives and Manuscripts, New Haven, CT, page 1-2.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn28">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Peter/Downloads/US%20Rel%20Blog%20Afr%20Amer%20Professionals%20World%20Christianity.docx#_ednref28" name="_edn28" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">[xxviii]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></a>
David A.
Hollinger, <i>Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World
but Changed America</i> (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017), 104.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
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King, <i>Pan-Africanism and Education</i>, 82-83.<o:p></o:p></div>
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David Henry Anthony III, <i>Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, Cold
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Sanneh, <i>Whose Religion is Christianity?</i>, 43.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-63570778145742986062019-06-17T10:46:00.002-06:002019-06-17T10:48:48.037-06:005 Questions with Cassie Yacovazzi<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisS0TURRujHnEs8zhGaNMNlAa4dFlb6BAbXa3Pdx0uao4vXOejqT60S5sNcOVJzBGfAAXnywT05hP0XRoEmOxjkjkGKnRD9_O-y-N-e9z8yvdiAvjGJf5bHH1J_zsJu6vBCDcz3gwwar0/s1600/cassie+book+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="362" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisS0TURRujHnEs8zhGaNMNlAa4dFlb6BAbXa3Pdx0uao4vXOejqT60S5sNcOVJzBGfAAXnywT05hP0XRoEmOxjkjkGKnRD9_O-y-N-e9z8yvdiAvjGJf5bHH1J_zsJu6vBCDcz3gwwar0/s400/cassie+book+cover.jpg" width="262" /></a><b></b><br />
<i>I recently exchanged emails with Cassie Yacovazzi about her new book</i>, Escaped Nuns: True Womanhood and the Campaign Against Convents in Antebellum America (<i>Oxford, 2018). Cassie Yacovzzi is Assistant Professor of History at the University of South Florida, Sarasota-Manatee. She Studies the intersection of cultural, religious, and women's history in the nineteenth and twentieth-century US. </i><br />
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<b>PC: Escaped Nuns situates its topic in a much deeper set of contexts. You show that the anti-convent moment and broader anti-nun sentiments must be placed in the larger drive for reform in the antebellum period. "Presenting something -- anything -- as a threat to female purity, marriage, and family served to legitimize any reform measure, from antislavery to temperance to anti-Catholicism," as you write on page 56. Is a concern for the role of women and the stability of marriage at the center of antebellum reform? How does anti-Catholicism, as you've studied it in Escaped Nuns, changed the story?</b><br />
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CY: Researching for this book changed the way I understand antebellum reform movements, convincing me that concern for the role of women and what we might now call the nuclear family were at the center of the benevolent empire. Temperance advocates emphasized the ways in which alcohol threatened women’s safety and the home (which of course, was often true). Reformers signed a “Family Temperance Pledge,” featuring a contented husband, wife, and child, in a respectably furnished parlor. Advocates for the Common School Movement sold Americans on the idea of public schools by suggesting that the school was an extension of the home and that teaching would prepare women to be good wives and mothers. These same desires to preserve the home and keep women in domestic roles animated efforts to combat prostitution. I couldn’t help but notice similar themes in anti-nun sentiment. Convents were “bad” because they kept women from being wives and mothers. In the eyes of many Protestant reformers, nuns’ sexual purity was at risk before “licentious” priests. The convent, presented as a gloomy, lonely, unsafe place, contrasted sharply with the cheery, loving, safe home. Convent narratives served as warnings to women about the dire repercussions if they chose this life. In a quickly changing and young nation, many Americans felt considerable vulnerabilities about the future. Ensuring women’s place in the home and thus maintaining control over them, rather than surrendering that control to a priest or the allures of growing urban centers, offered some sense of security. Anti-Catholicism and in particular the anti-convent campaign cannot be understood apart from these pervasive concerns for women and the home.<br />
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<b>PC: Why, despite the efforts by researchers to debunk the claims of the literature, did Americans continue to believe and consume this literature? How does the historian try to understand how so many Americans believe what is perhaps pretty obviously not true? What explains the strength of this anti-Catholic culture in the face of efforts to explain what nuns (and priests) are really like? </b><br />
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CY: After Awful Disclosures was published, critics of the book made strident efforts to discredit it. They gathered affidavits from Maria Monk’s mother and members of the Montreal community (where the Hotel Dieu was located). A prominent Whig newspaper editor launched an investigation of the convent and published a book-length denunciation of Awful Disclosures. Despite the overwhelming evidence debunking the book, Americans continued to read and believe Awful Disclosures for years to come. The historian makes sense of this in part by thinking like a psychologist. Our biases often inform the way we see the world. We’re prone to believe the things that reinforce our worldview and discount the things that don’t. Many Americans were already inclined to believe the worst about Catholics. Awful Disclosures confirmed their fears while also offering titillating entertainment. Many Americans were also susceptible to the emerging sensational news and novels of the printing revolution. Awful Disclosures was a best-seller at a time when new, cheap printed material was becoming more widely available. Finally, for many Anglo-American Protestants, Catholics and in particular nuns were the “other.” They were mostly the immigrants, rapidly changing the demographic of the nation. Nuns with their distinctive dress or habits and celibate lifestyle stood out, and their numbers were still relatively small, making it easy to typecast them.<br />
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<b>PC: What do the abolition movement and the anti-convent movement have in common? Your third chapter, which I found so intellectually engaging, traces a series of connections between Awful Disclosures and Uncle Tom's Cabin. Tell the blog what these two iconic books have in common and how you arrived at the conclusion this should be a chapter of the book. </b><br />
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CY: One of the Maria Monk “hooks” for me was that Awful Disclosures was the second best-selling book in the US before the Civil War. The first was Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I touted this talking point a lot before really thinking about the connections between the two works and their respective campaigns against convents and slavery. Convent critics referred to nuns as “white slaves” and described convents as “little fortifications” ruled by “licentious priests.” In the same way abolitionists envisioned the plantation as a barricade under profligate slave-owner/overseer control. In pushing for immediate abolition, reformers turned to stories that would galvanize readers—the rape of female slaves, physical torture, prohibitions against slave marriages, and harrowing separation of slave mothers from their children. Although the allegations against convents could not be collaborated in the same was as those against slavery, anti-Catholics likewise detailed the alleged sexual exploitation and torture of nuns, marriages thwarted by a nun’s vows, and the deadly fate of babies born in convents. George Bourne, one of the first immediate abolitionists and also a ghost-writer of Awful Disclosures, used the same arguments against slavery as he did against convents, pointing to women’s sexual purity, marriage, and the family. Uncle Tom’s Cabin dramatized these domestic arguments against slavery in a way that captivated the nation. Eliza, the female protagonist and runaway slave, perilously escaped her bondage with baby in tow. Along the way, virtuous maternal women helped her. Unlike these women, Marie, the white slave mistress, degraded by her power, enjoyed torturing slaves and cared little for the affections of her own children. The greatest villain in the story was Simon Legree, the lecherous slave-driver. Parallel characters appeared in Awful Disclosures. The priests could easily stand in as Legree; Maria Monk, like Eliza, escaped her bondage to save the life of her child; the Mother Superiors mirrored Marie. The happily-ever after sequence, something Stowe helped invent, entailed marriage and family reunion in a safe, happy home. This same message underlined Awful Disclosures. I became convinced that this should be a chapter in my book as I explored these parallels and realized that these two reforms, one laudable one not, and two books, one remembered the other forgotten, had much more in common than we realize.<br />
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<b>PC: Your research is important on many levels but it is particularly important to current moment over sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. What lessons does the antebellum hold for our own scandal-ridden times? Does an analysis of the print from the early-to-mid 19th century help us to read court documents, dossiers, exposes, and books about these topics today?</b><br />
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CY: The present day revelations about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church is heartbreaking and reprehensible. I sometimes feel as though I’m in an awkward position because I research unsubstantiated accusations of sexual crimes in the Catholic Church born out of bias, prejudice, and malice, while similar accusations of today can be corroborated. One thing that I think studying anti-Catholicism and particular anti-convent sentiment from the antebellum can teach us regarding our responses to the current, real scandals is that we should still be careful not to over-generalize. Not all priests are perpetrators of sexual abuse, even if some or even alarming numbers, are. Not all women religious or nuns are victims of sexual abuse or without agency, even if some have suffered under a male hierarchy. The anti-Catholic print culture from the antebellum era was full of blatant stereotypes, self-righteousness, and one-dimensional characters. I have not read much of the printed material on the current issues in the Catholic Church today other than op-eds, but I would advise readers to keep an eye out for propaganda rhetoric that generalizes all clerics, nuns, or the celibate lifestyle. I don’t think we should ignore the current scandals, but I think we should be careful to remember that we are dealing with human subjects and avoid the temptation to crack the joke about the pedophile priest or the poor nun. These jokes cloud reality and allow for a host of assumptions that go farther in separating people and hiding the truth than bringing us together to consider real, complex issues.<br />
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<b>PC: What is </b><b>your next project?</b><br />
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CY: My next project in some ways is completely different from this one, but in other ways, it’s similar. I’m researching Mary Kay, the woman and the cosmetics empire. Mary Kay has been named the “greatest female entrepreneur in American history.” Hers was the first company owned by a woman to go public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1968. More than anyone else in the US, she had “helped to create more female millionaires.” I’m interested in learning more about her story and the influence of Mary Kay on the lives of so many women. Mary Kay started her company in 1963, the same year the women’s liberation movement kicked off with the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique. Mary Kay offered women incredible earning potential and a chance to get out of the house, travel, and befriend other women. She applauded women at a time when they didn’t get much appreciation for their work, and she railed against the gender wage gap. And yet, she was no avowed feminist and thought women should “be women.” Her company motto was “God first, family second, career third.” I’m intrigued about where exactly Mary Kay fits into the feminist-conservative divide in American history. I’m also interested in learning more about the vast culture of women who made up a veritable army of “Mary Kay ladies.” In fact this culture of women is where my two projects might overlap a bit. In some ways, Mary Kay was like a founder of a female religious order. Those who signed up to be Mary Kay ladies looked up to her as an icon, finding inspiration in her Cinderella story and vision. They sang company songs and wore matching business suits. I also hope to place this story within the larger context of women in business and the history of beauty. I’ve got a good start on the project so far, and hope to learn more after I make a pilgrimage to Dallas this summer.<br />
<br />Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-28081914645943505322019-06-10T10:56:00.000-06:002019-06-10T10:59:40.738-06:007 Questions With Kate Dugan about Millennial Missionaries<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZe70zBNAkvKjJwe32QFCCU9gdAlIF1mN0EYSVs_e45SADi5IFkKJLVr_djsBeV1YAAZFszLxBpkOOWKZOVuuskYvUB6lMnOs7DVs4KwavhXGVU-dU9x8XSfaUq3GXYYobjx6tDyB3k9k/s1600/kate+book+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="550" data-original-width="362" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZe70zBNAkvKjJwe32QFCCU9gdAlIF1mN0EYSVs_e45SADi5IFkKJLVr_djsBeV1YAAZFszLxBpkOOWKZOVuuskYvUB6lMnOs7DVs4KwavhXGVU-dU9x8XSfaUq3GXYYobjx6tDyB3k9k/s400/kate+book+2.jpg" width="262" /></a><i></i><br />
<i><i>I emailed with Katherine Dugan recently about her new book!</i></i><br />
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<i>Katherine Dugan is an Assistant Professor of Religion at Springfield College in Massachusetts and the author of </i><u>Millennial Missionaries: How a Group of Young Catholics is Trying to Make Catholicism Cool </u><i>(Oxford 2019). Her current research is on Catholics and family planning in the contemporary U.S.</i><br />
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<b>(1) Tell the blog about the Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) missionaries you hung out with and studied. How do they fit into the longer story of American Religious History? </b><br />
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The Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) started, officially, in 1998 by two lay Catholic men who wanted to both revive and spread Catholic identity among college students. They adopted models of evangelical Protestant collegiate outreach, mixed it with a version of devout yet contemporary Catholicism, and created one of the fastest growing (and well-funded) Catholic organizations in the country.<br />
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The way FOCUS works is that recent college graduates commit to being an on-campus missionary for two years. Actually, as I write this, the new and returning missionaries for 2019-20 are at New Staff Training. They receive a crash course in Catholic catechesis, fundraising, and strategic outreach to college students. And then they move to one of the FOCUS campuses around the country (and, since my book came out, also a few international sites). Missionaries partner with Newman Centers and Catholic Campus Ministries. And, day in and day out, they invite college students to join Bible studies and attend Mass and be Catholic out loud.<br />
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I studied FOCUS and their missionaries because I had questions about contemporary young adult religious identity and Catholic practice in the twenty-first century. And as I tried to understand how FOCUS missionaries fit into American religious history, I was always trying to keep two historical trends in balance: the role of generational shifts in Americans’ religious identity and US Catholic historical trends.<br />
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First, millennials as a generation. They seem to be part of an interreligious trend in “orthodoxy.” The larger story about Millennials (born, depending on who you ask 1980/81-1996) is that they are defecting from religious communities. Places like Pew regularly tout out the increasing number of young adults who check “none of the above” on the religious affiliation survey. But I think there is a counter to this—perhaps, actually, the flip side of nones. The same forces that led millennials to defect from religious communities also led to this sort of doubling down on religious identity. I definitely don’t think this is the first time in American religious history that cultural forces like economic downturn and liberalizing of cultural norms has caused different reactions. But I do think there is a sense among sociologists—and maybe historians, too—that defecting makes more “sense.” That, of course, rigid religious ideas no longer hold the same power they once did. But what I found is that the missionaries—the young adults who sign up for FOCUS—simply have a different response to those cultural shifts. What makes “sense” to them is to find order, clear answers, and (especially this, I think) a community that reinforces the ideas of Catholicism.<br />
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The second way to get at this question is from the narrower perspective of US Catholic history. I think a lot of (progressive?) Catholics want to think that FOCUS is a sort of aberration or a real surprise in US Catholic history. But what I found—and argue in the first chapter—is that they are really a natural outgrowth of a handful of postconciliar trends in the U.S. These include the Catholic Charismatic Renewal and Pope John Paul II, particularly his visit to Denver in 1993. FOCUS is also a very post-Vatican II movement. Another impulse that I have to push against when I talk about FOCUS is the “oh, they just want to go back to before the council.” No; no, they really do not. This is a lay movement. I remember standing at the Matt Maher concert at my first national SEEK conference, in 2013. There were thousands of lay people around me—and maybe, like ten priests. As much as Call to Action and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps is a movement made possible by Vatican II, FOCUS (and other like-minded orgs), draws on the same documents on lay leadership.<br />
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All of that is to say that I interpret the way FOCUS missionaries are Catholic as very much a contemporary interpretation of Catholicism in the twenty-first century.<br />
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<b>(2) I found the point you made in your introduction (page 16) about the generational formation of religious subjects -- here, American Catholics -- to be very compelling. What goes into the creation of a Millennial Catholicism? </b><br />
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You’ve put this better than I did! Right, so one of the things I thought a lot about when I was writing and researching about FOCUS missionaries was what difference age makes in the way people are religious. Certainly, I was thinking about the levels of anxiety among millennials in college, the economic downturn that many of the missionaries I knew—in 2013-2015—faced when they graduated, as well as the increasing rise of “nones” among their peers.<br />
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But, especially in the case of US Catholics, this question is not just age or generation. For Catholics in Catholic history, religious subjectivity is shaped by “number of years born after Vatican II.” So part of what is compelling to me about the these young adults is the way they are traversing between being twenty-first century Catholics who also have this sort of idealized image of pre-Vatican II Catholic community. I found that part of what informed their subjectivity formation is trying to balance the legacy of changes after Vatican II with a real desire to be stitched into deep Catholic history.<br />
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Building on what I suggested above, one of the things that makes FOCUS missionaries compelling in American religious history is that they are this example of taking their cultural and religious contexts and really working on them. Part of this is the idealism of being twenty-three, but missionaries were really confident that they could, as the motto puts it, “set the world on fire.”<br />
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To more directly answer your question: I’m not sure there is a “Millennial Catholicism,” but there certainly is a Millennial FOCUS Catholicism!” Demographers and cultural observers have frequently described Millennials as self-absorbed and looking for clear answers. I suspect that one of the reasons FOCUS has been able to grow so quickly and raise so much money so fast is because they have been able to tap into the anxieties of being an “emerging adult,” present Catholicism as the answer to personal crisis, and give clear instructions on how to respond to worried observations about the world around them.<br />
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<b>(3) You found that prayer, both individually and communally, is central to the life of a FOCUS missionary. Did it surprise you to find out how central prayer is to their mission? These millennials have special relationships with the saints; they spend an hour in silent prayer each day (!) (Holy Hour); they pour over specific bible verses in extended meditations; and they read texts (particularly books on the theology of the body) as a mode of prayer. You note in several places how this prayer is social and relational. </b><br />
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I was, initially, shocked by the sheer number of hours these young adults spent in prayer or praying or talking about praying. And one of the things that was surprising was just how wide their range was for the kinds of prayer they either knew or were learning.<br />
<br />
While it was surprising at first, one of the things I really loved about studying FOCUS missionaries was hearing about their prayer practices. This is (I hope!) clear in the book. I remember, at first, my field notes had these lists of the kinds of prayers I heard referenced—and then I started adding lists of saints that I’d hear about and, eventually, I kept track of the different verbs missionaries used to talk about their “prayer.” I was both overwhelmed and fascinated.<br />
<br />
I think one of the reasons missionaries’ prayer practices are compelling to me—and, I think, for the study of American religion—is the sheer amount of agency that missionaries assigned to prayer. Prayer certainly happened in chapels and in quiet corners between two friends. But prayer was also an agent of evangelization, a way to be sustained in the work, a connection between peers and with saints, as well as the required work of becoming a good Catholic. I had to fight against what I realized was a sloppy instinct to argue, “they’re praying all the time!” That wasn’t quite right. They prayed a lot, but they also were clear about choosing what one missionary called “prayer mode” or “time with Jesus.”<br />
<br />
I also think these practices are compelling because they were so diverse in form. I knew a lot about Catholic prayers before I started this research, but that paled in comparison to the kinds of prayer FOCUS missionaries did. And they were sort of unabashed in drawing from a range of sources—many periods in Catholic history, Protestant examples, and occasionally some yoga and meditation practices from Eastern religions.<br />
<br />
But one of the things that you note in your question—that I hope my work contributes to the study of prayer—is that this was not just a personal or individual thing. Yes, prayer was part of their dynamic subjectivity formation. But it was also how they connected with each other and how they reinforced their ideals of what it meant to be Catholic.<br />
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<b>(4) Did these Millennial Catholics actually succeed in making Catholicism cool? On the one hand, they adapt Catholicism to culture: I-Phones, Facebook, Red Bull, and they even appropriate Evangelical approaches to a personal relationship with Jesus. On the other hand, FOCUS missionaries "challenge" culture: they push back against secular equality; they find modern college life vacuous; they champion orthodox Church teachings; and they are devoutly committed to the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. You say they "reject culture while relying on it" (page 14) and you note that they do not "stand outside the world" but "participate in making it" (page 116). Is this the central tension of their mission and your book? Can Catholicism only be made "cool" in certain ways? Or does Catholicism become "cool" in its very challenge to the culture?</b><br />
<br />
This is a great way of framing the question of missionaries’ effectiveness. There have been several times in my research when people asked me—and missionaries would ask themselves, actually—about how many college students missionaries really converted. FOCUS has regular internal debates about how to count this for things like their annual report and in conversations with funders and bishops. Could they really make Catholicism cool enough to attract the many Catholics who have “fallen away?”<br />
<br />
FOCUS struggled, at least when I was doing my work, with this question of effectiveness. There’s a history of observers deriding FOCUS as “babysitters for college students.” I think this tension between how to be both really engaged in their cultural context of college students and early 20-something middle-class Americans AND fully Catholic actually reflects the nature of Catholicism in the U.S. Which is to say: yes, I think it is a central tension for these missionaries, but their struggle with it has made me wonder if it is a struggle for Catholicism, more broadly.<br />
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I remember having a conversation with a missionary about politics; it was 2015, so Trump wasn’t an issue, but Roe vs. Wade was a constant concern for missionaries, as was changing laws on LGBTQ rights and marriages. The death penalty was coming up in political conversations. Every once in a while, Kennedy would get mentioned as a Catholic leader who didn’t live up to his Catholic ideals. And this missionary pointed out that Catholics don’t fit in either party. And he liked that—it was a positive for him that Catholicism stands outside the available frameworks.<br />
<br />
When I was thinking about how to evaluate FOCUS’ impact on college culture, in American religious life, and within US Catholicism, I eventually decided to step away from the numbers (which are, of course, important—and, frankly, significant). Instead, I settled on the tension your point out: FOCUS missionaries are creatively trying to navigate being Catholic and being middle-class American 20-somethings. They offer an example of how Catholicism is both dependent on its cultural context and also working on it. What makes Catholicism “cool,” in this context, is this sort of irascible relationship with US culture.<br />
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<b>(5) You jogged with these missionaries. You sat down for coffee with them. You prayed the Holy Hour with them. You attended big FOCUS conferences. Tell us about your favorite moment in the research process. Is one particular moment or interaction memorable? Do you have a favorite missionary? </b><br />
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It's funny that you point out the jogging—people often catch that one! As I say in my acknowledgements—and I don’t mean this in any cliché or flippant way—I really am grateful to the missionaries I came to know; they welcomed me in and shared their lives with me. And, as is the nature of ethnographic work, I was closer to some than others. My personality matched some better than others and there were some missionaries with whom I just naturally got along.<br />
<br />
There really are two moments that stand out. One was that jog with one of the missionaries. She was so articulate about the role of saints in her life—and, really, quite generous in trying to help me think through my own concerns. I remember being struck by just how immanent and dynamic the saints are for missionaries.<br />
<br />
The second was at the end of the first school-year, as missionaries were getting ready to leave campus for the summer. I had joined them for Holy Hour that morning and knew it was their last day on campus. Two of them would be back the next year, but two of them were moving to different campuses. And one was leaving FOCUS. We were standing around after Holy Hour, chatting about the summer and saying good, longwinded Midwestern good-byes. And I realized that I was going to miss these missionaries. It was this poignant reminder of the role of relationships in this kind of research.<br />
<br />
<b>(6) Your research reveals the centrality of gender roles to this missionary identity. Tell the blog about "the feminine genius" and "authentic masculinity." What are these missionaries searching for when they seek to embody these modes of being? </b><br />
<br />
I have to say that I really did not want to study gender and sexuality in this project, but it eventually became so unavoidable that there are TWO chapters dedicated to the themes!<br />
<br />
I avoided the topics because this was part of their subjectivity that was probably the most confusing to me. I would watch these young, confident women try to figure out how to be submissive to the men in their lives. I would listen to these young men talk about leading women and trying to learn how to be the heads of their family. And I should say, I was doing this while teaching undergraduates. So I was constantly—and, usually unconsciously—comparing missionaries to my students.<br />
<br />
But, eventually, I had to admit that my field notes were FULL of conversations about dating and gender roles and marriage, as well as references to John Paul II’s theology of the body and concerns about how to live up to Catholic ideals of gender complementarity.<br />
<br />
Your question is a good one—what does this emphasis on gender roles say about what they are they looking for? I can remember the moment this crystalized for me. I was at one of the big FOCUS conferences and I was listening to a male speaker talk about dating to an all-women audience. He gave instructions like, “expect a man to buy you a warm beverage on a date” and “wait for a guy to ask you out.” I can remember being sort of shocked by the hundreds of young women who were on their edge of their seats listening with rapt attention. As I sat there trying to figure out what the appeal was, I thought about several interviews where female missionaries had told me about terrible dating situations, nasty sexual encounters, and really appalling experiences at Greek-life parties. And I realized that these women around me just need an alternative—to know that there is some alternative to that out there. In some ways, that’s what this emphasis on gender roles gave missionaries.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>(7) Overall, in a broad sense, what do you think these Millennials are really searching for? Why do they want to dedicate years of the lives to this mode of missionary Catholicism?</b><br />
<br />
One thing that matters here is a sense of community and connection. In that way, they are really no different than other millennials who reach out for community in other mechanisms. FOCUS offers community, sense of duty, as well as some practical leaderships skills and training in fundraising.<br />
<br />
Another way that they are similar to other “emerging adults,” in this middle-class transition between college and a more settled career path, is that they are trying to do meaningful work.<br />
<br />
But I think that the fact that they choose to do both of these things through this very particular interpretation of being Catholic has to do with their sense of being let down by aspects of US, middle-class, young-adult culture. It also has to do with the role of religious experiences in their lives. I try to get at this in my introduction, as I talk about Emma and NAME. But I don’t think I could over-emphasize the importance of missionaries having had some rather dramatic experience of God in their pre-missionary life. It takes all sort of forms, but FOCUS missionaries are trained to talk about their religious identities in terms of “conversion.” And while that might sound simplistic, there is a sense that this drives their commitment<br />
<br />
<b>(8) What is your next project? </b><br />
<br />
My next project takes up questions of what happens when these devout, orthodox, committed Catholics grow up. How does their Catholicism shift when they are not surrounded by like-minded young adults? What is life like in the Catholic pews for former missionaries and for Catholics trying to adhere to strict interpretations of Catholic teaching? The theme of the tensions between contemporary culture and Catholic practice persist.<br />
<br />
I’m about a year into ethnographic work on Catholics who practice Natural Family Planning (NFP). NFP was in the air among missionaries—but the missionaries in my research were either not married yet or got married near the end of my research. If the topic came up, these missionaries planned to do NFP; there was an NFP talk at their Summer Training; I heard about several alumni who had become NFP teachers after their time as a missionary. My curiosity about NFP was piqued then.<br />
<br />
My work on NFP is trying to think through the ins and outs of this subculture of American Catholicism. I’m trying to understand what motives Catholics to do NFP and how they stay committed to it. I’m curious about how NFP connects to questions about pro-life activism, to Catholic identity, and non-Catholic forms of tracking fertility cycles.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<br />Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-16190237334025165722019-05-10T10:02:00.002-06:002019-05-10T10:02:53.553-06:00Black Evangelical Students and the Formation of the Black Evangelical Renaissance<br />
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Today we welcome <b>Tim Ballard</b> to the blog! Tim
Ballard is a historian of twentieth-century evangelicalism at the University of
Montana and recently defended his dissertation “The Missionary Enterprise,
Racial Conflict, and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism, 1945-1980.”
In his attempt to historicize the development of multiethnic theology, Tim
continually came across the critical interventions of black evangelicals. He
decided to give this intervention a name: The Black Evangelical Renaissance.
This post introduces the arrival of the Black Evangelical Renaissance through
the lens of the collegiate ministry of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.</div>
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<b>Tim Ballard</b></div>
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Posted by Janine Giordano Drake.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusL8i8uBygcxT1kKb_-eaHEJz680NvgTTs52Rm-JSu199qLX0709LBq3L94KIKBbDziyf0LlyTWwB0HWePzNvFNPR_6to_Hlx7gX4_PV2uEQweEYDSSmehQ_-fSTbeCA3UO6v3LfGwWA/s1600/black+and+free.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="286" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjusL8i8uBygcxT1kKb_-eaHEJz680NvgTTs52Rm-JSu199qLX0709LBq3L94KIKBbDziyf0LlyTWwB0HWePzNvFNPR_6to_Hlx7gX4_PV2uEQweEYDSSmehQ_-fSTbeCA3UO6v3LfGwWA/s1600/black+and+free.png" /></a>Carl Ellis, Jr., was a veteran of direct
action campaigns by the age of eighteen. When he arrived at Hampton Institute
in the fall of 1965 to begin college, though, he sought out the company of
evangelical Christians rather than activists. Along with his new friends, he
chartered a chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF)–the only active
chapter at a historically black institution. Like other chapters, Hampton Institute’s
IVCF operated as a lay missionary society to the campus and hosted bible studies
and lectures to commend evangelical faith to their peers and professors. Despite
some initial successes, the growing racial crisis in the United States put a
damper on their evangelization efforts. During the summer of 1967, residents of
urban neighborhoods across the nation clashed with police and National Guard soldiers
as they vented their frustration at the many manifestations of racial
inequality.<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn1" name="_ednref1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> In
response, Hampton Institute began to buzz with criticism of America’s
racialized society and a renunciation of Christianity for its use as a tool of
racial subjugation. Hampton IVCF shared in the frustrations expressed by other
students, but they were caught off guard by the formidable challenge to their
faith. At a loss for an answer, Ellis looked forward to the Urbana missionary
convention to be held in December of 1967, a triennial event where collegians,
ministers, and missionaries gathered to promote the missionary enterprise. He
anticipated that someone among the ten thousand attendees could counter the
charge that Christianity was irredeemably racist. Yet, when no reference was
made to the summer uprising or the resurgence of black protest, Ellis was even
more demoralized. On the final day of the convention, he and other black
attendees staged an impromptu disruption–inspired by an all-night prayer
meeting and borrowing from the tactics of the sit-ins–to register their
discontent at the convention’s silence on the urgent topic of racial inequality.<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn2" name="_ednref2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><o:p></o:p></div>
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Black
students’ disruption at IVCF’s missionary convention signaled a change in
approach black evangelicals took to address racial inequality in the
evangelical movement and in the nation at large. This post explores the
contrasts between the two approaches, then outlines the intervention that black
students made in IVCF to reshape collegiate ministry in light of America’s
endemic racial order. Taken together, their disruption and sustained
intervention illustrate a dynamic black evangelical faith taking shape in the
late 1960s that fused the language of black cultural identity with evangelical
mission strategy to work for racial equality–a development worthy of its own
name, the Black Evangelical Renaissance. <o:p></o:p></div>
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the early 1960s, black evangelicals came to equate the emphasis on foreign
mission in evangelical organizations with the neglect of African Americans.<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn3" name="_ednref3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> In
1963, a group of black clergy created the National Negro Evangelical
Association (NNEA) to shore up that neglect by taking upon themselves the task
of evangelization in black neighborhoods. Annual gatherings of the NNEA focused
on mobilizing for evangelization, a decision that addressed the consequences of
neglect but did not directly confront white evangelicals for their hand
perpetuating it.<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn4" name="_ednref4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
At a 1966 Congress on World Evangelization in Berlin, the plenary sessions and
workshops managed to say nothing about racial equality–despite the theme of the
event being whose theme was “<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One Race</i>,
One Gospel, One Task.” When a group of African-American attendees confronted
conference organizers about the omission, they were asked to write a statement
expressing the conference’s commitment to racial equality and acknowledging
“the failure of many of us in the recent past to speak with sufficient clarity
and force upon the biblical unity of the human race.”<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn5" name="_ednref5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> That
statement was published in the official record of the conference, but with no
attribution of authorship readers had no way of knowing that black evangelicals
had penned the words of contrition that effectively applied only to white
evangelicals.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Black
evangelical students had a different response to the evasion of race issues at
the Urbana convention of 1967. <span style="color: black;">Eschewing isolation or
back channel diplomacy, they held an all-night prayer meeting followed by an
impromptu disruption that resembled the disruptions of civil rights
demonstrations. Initially, t</span>hey were disillusioned and genuinely
entertained the idea that God was active everywhere around the world except for
black communities. O<span style="color: black;">verwhelmed by that prospect, the students
turned from conversation to prayer, calling out their fears to God and seeking
divine insight. Then, sobered by prayer, they spent the very late hours of the
night deciding what to do next. By morning, they had drafted a statement
expressing their disappointment and had convinced IVCF campus ministers to read
it in front of the assembly during the final session.</span><a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn6" name="_ednref6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a><span style="color: black;"> In the span of a long evening, the students had moved
beyond disoriented introspection about their personal faith to confront their
faith community about issues of race using an unprecedented maneuver for
evangelicals. They made their discontent known publicly and used the reading of
their statement to interject the issue of race into the convention program. As
in the sit-ins, the disruption dramatized the existence of America’s entrenched
racial order at play in the evangelical movement and initiated a negotiation with
IVCF for a remedy. Faced with this impromptu disruption, IVCF’s campus
ministers asked for black students’ help to establish more missionary societies
among African-American collegians.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span
style='font-size:8.0pt'>Carl Ellis, Jr., founded an IVCF chapter at Hampton
Institute and later joined Tom Skinner in creating an independent college
ministry for black students. Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Archive in
Wheaton, Illinois: Collection 300, Box 193, Folder <span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>8.</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->In the years
immediately following their disruption, black evangelical students attempted to
reshape IVCF’s collegiate ministry to speak directly to the experiences of
African Americans and to make racial equality a top priority for IVCF’s
missionary societies on college campuses. As more students at black institutions
joined IVCF, they created venues for exploring a distinctive black evangelical
identity–a remarkable contrast to the colorblind orientation that erased racial
identity in order to undermined segregationists’ claims of racial superiority. Black
IVCF students partnered with a black evangelist named Tom Skinner to present an
evangelistic message to black collegians that matched the intensity of the
Black Power movement. A provocative gang-member-turned evangelist from Harlem,
Skinner preached salvation as the divine means of liberating black people from
oppression. Black students and black clergy also devised constructive ways for
IVCF to discuss racial inequality and promoted racial harmony between
evangelicals as a means to authenticate the gospel to potential converts. While
in the initial stages of implementing these changes, America’s racial crisis
crescendoed. In March of 1968, President’s Johnson’s Commission on Civil
Disorders declared that the nation had “two societies, separate and unequal;”
barely a month later, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., evoked more
public demonstrations of grief and discontent among African Americans. As the association
of Christianity with white hegemony continued to hinder evangelization, Skinner
attempted to distance himself from white-led IVCF and laid plans for an
independent evangelical collegiate ministry just for black students.<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_edn7" name="_ednref7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Although
it achieved only modest success, the intervention of black students and clergy
in IVCF is an example of the Black Evangelical Renaissance that emerged in the
late 1960s. Rhetorically, the Black Evangelical Renaissance articulated an
evangelical faith that was disentangled from its complicity in maintaining
white hegemony. Practically, the assertion of new ideas about racial identity
and the push for independence challenged a regime of white authority, wherein colorblindness
masked white evangelicals’ implicit claimed to be the stewards of evangelical
institutions and the final arbiters of evangelical disputes. In IVCF, the initial
challenge would trigger a greater conflict as it provoked the fears of the
organization’s white leaders. During the 1970s, IVCF would engage in a
contentious dispute among its students and ministers about the importance of
racial equality vis-à-vis the priority for eliciting conversions. In the
process, black participants looked for new ways to expose and disrupt the
exercise of white hegemony that undergirded the dispute. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
Of
interest to scholars and other observers of American evangelicalism, the
arrival of a Black Evangelical Renaissance that coincided with the escalation
of Black Power is one component of a reappraisal of the movement’s postwar
developments of my recently completed dissertation “The Missionary Enterprise,
Racial Conflict, and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism, 1945-1980.”
The project seeks to more fully describe how black evangelicals participated in
the movement and argues that racial conflict was a critical agent in the
transformation of the movement in the postwar decades. Outside the field of
evangelical history, the Black Evangelical Renaissance reinforces the fact that
the racial order was an essential and pervasive feature of twentieth-century
American society. Likewise, Americans challenged the racial order in a
multiplicity of ways across the century. Although parochial in tone and focus,
the Black Evangelical Renaissance was one effort among many in the black
freedom struggle that challenged and partially displaced the regime of white
hegemony and established more equitable terms of participation in civil society
and in religious communities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
<br /></div>
<div style="mso-element: endnote-list;">
<!--[if !supportEndnotes]--><br clear="all" />
<hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" />
<!--[endif]-->
<div id="edn1" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref1" name="_edn1" style="mso-endnote-id: edn1;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[1]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Steven M. Gillon, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Separate and Unequal:
The Kerner Commission and the Unraveling of American Liberalism, </i>(New York:
Basic Books, 2018), ix-xvi.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div id="edn2" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref2" name="_edn2" style="mso-endnote-id: edn2;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[2]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Carl Ellis, Jr., spoke about his civil rights activism on “What Changed for
Evangelicals When MLK Was Killed,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Quick
To Listen</i>, Podcast Audio, April 4, 2018.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2018/april-web-only/evangelicals-martin-luther-king-mlk-assassination.html.
Accessed November 12, 2018. Information on the Hampton Institute IVCF chapter
found in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Archive, Collection 300, Box
187, Folder 9<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn3" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref3" name="_edn3" style="mso-endnote-id: edn3;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[3]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Fred A. Alexander, “You Have Neglected My People,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Freedom Now, </i>Vol. 1 No. 1, August 1965, 6-7. Alexander wrote that
he had reprinted it from an article he had saved by Rev. B. M. Nottage with the
same name from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Eternity</i> magazine in
1957.<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></i></div>
</div>
<div id="edn4" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref4" name="_edn4" style="mso-endnote-id: edn4;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[4]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
William Bentley, “Factors in the Origin and Focus of The National Black
Evangelical Association,” <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Black Theology:
A Documentary History, </i>Gayraud Wilmore and James Cone, eds., (Maryknoll,
NY: Orbis, 1979), 310-321.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn5" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref5" name="_edn5" style="mso-endnote-id: edn5;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[5]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Carl F. H. Henry and W Stanley Mooneyham, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">One
Race, One Gospel, One Task, </i>(Minneapolis: World Wide Publications, 1967),
6; Robert Harrison, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">When God Was Black, </i>(Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1971), 144-146.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div id="edn6" style="mso-element: endnote;">
<div class="MsoEndnoteText">
<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref6" name="_edn6" style="mso-endnote-id: edn6;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[6]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
Carl Ellis, Jr., interviewed by the author, September 4, 2017.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="file:///D:/Users/Janine/Desktop/Black-Evangelical-Renaissance-Blog-Post%20(1).docx#_ednref7" name="_edn7" style="mso-endnote-id: edn7;" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="mso-special-character: footnote;"><!--[if !supportFootnotes]--><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS Mincho"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;">[7]</span></span><!--[endif]--></span></span></a>
The features of black students’ intervention in InterVarsity are compiled from
archival material at the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Archive,
Collection 300, Box 187, Folders 9 and12 and Box 193, Folder 8.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Janine Giordano Drakehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15743145462085629472noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-55612160577943024812019-05-02T11:24:00.003-06:002019-05-03T09:47:42.695-06:00The New Journalism as Ethnography of Prayer? On a Chinook helicopter, Michael Herr, a war correspondent for <i>Esquire</i>, encountered a “religious” marine. The grunt, who had etched a cross onto his helmet cover, read the bible during take-off. The meeting prompted Herr to dwell on the dearth of pious troops: “you didn’t meet many who were deeply religious,” he wrote, "even though you expected to, with so many kids from the South and Midwest, from farms and small rural towns” (154). The quote took me aback. Herr’s classic memoir, <i>Dispatches</i>, contains a handful of penetrating analyses of lived religious experience.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QNqvl0Ju_B2bKbuJ1yC36hyphenhyphenmTNHKzxRs3WdWwuFoNarogLAnh1GndLHaPsGFv8SXl1vkKOXaJ0WW2vemsjLrJ0-RIvgB1vtIdXhExvD8BhriD-khU9Ncrn-DZLhr7yIniaWr8a1S5cI/s1600/herr+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="378" data-original-width="400" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QNqvl0Ju_B2bKbuJ1yC36hyphenhyphenmTNHKzxRs3WdWwuFoNarogLAnh1GndLHaPsGFv8SXl1vkKOXaJ0WW2vemsjLrJ0-RIvgB1vtIdXhExvD8BhriD-khU9Ncrn-DZLhr7yIniaWr8a1S5cI/s200/herr+2.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Herr on assignment in Vietnam</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<i>Dispatches</i> (1968) is a remarkable book. As a young reporter Herr traveled to Vietnam to observe the troops and get to know them. <i>Dispatches </i>is his investigation of men in war, in both the exemplary and banal moments. His book became an exemplar of the so-called “New Journalism” – the 1960s effort to write a “non-fiction novel.” The non-fiction novel takes real persons and fits them into a narrative and makes them characters in a plot. They are real people whose persona has been crafted by the author based on copious field notes. The characters have much more depth than a reader finds in an article for a magazine or newspaper. Herr describes Vietnam in vivid prose and he brings character out of the men he meets, like the soldiers Mayhew and Day Tripper, the protagonists of the book’s second half.<br />
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I make two arguments in this blog post. First, Herr’s triumph in the genre of new journalism raises interesting questions about the intellectual history of religious ethnography. New Journalism normally does not enter into our genealogies of ethnography, but perhaps it should. Second, I want to make the case that <i>Dispatches</i> is a rich investigation of prayer. Prayer appears infrequently in this book but when it breaks into Herr’s analysis it does so in a nuanced and analytically deep fashion.<br />
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To be sure, Herr does see a world made secular through war. He does not, for example, attribute rituals much power at all. No matter what ritual a particular soldier preferred, “carry your lucky piece,” “wear your magic jungle hat,” “kiss your thumb knuckle smooth as stones running underwater,” death still lurked. Death followed the guys who “stuck the ace of spades in their helmet,” “carried around five pound bibles from home,” or humped “crosses, St. Christophers, mezuzahs, locks of hair … [or] pictures of John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Martin Luther King, Huey Newton, the Pope, Che Guevara, the Beatles, Jimi Hendrix” (56-57). Herr implies that because these rituals lacked power over the ends of life, they seemed an empty form. War is cruel.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha7XufdLe3-JIpAmZDOue6xigymJIOKIYtG0GwjLMh-MWbLSfFXMtyy3X3R5BQGtrqhU9CUdQStdKRFp4GufQyEuYOaBli667ei965E_B8WAmc0D7ZWKz1zmh8ZF2KowBFVuKj7A7j-c/s1600/dispatches.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="961" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgha7XufdLe3-JIpAmZDOue6xigymJIOKIYtG0GwjLMh-MWbLSfFXMtyy3X3R5BQGtrqhU9CUdQStdKRFp4GufQyEuYOaBli667ei965E_B8WAmc0D7ZWKz1zmh8ZF2KowBFVuKj7A7j-c/s320/dispatches.jpg" width="192" /></a>Herr casts material religion and ritual aside but prayer is a category of deep meaning for him. One of the most breathtaking moments in <i>Dispatches</i> occurs when soldiers enter into “deep prayer” in the presence of “a company’s worth of jump booths standing empty in the dust taking benediction” (23). This is how the 173rd Airborne mourned their dead before Army processed the bodies and belongings through the official bureaucratic channels. Prayer consecrates the dead before the state puts the bodies through its establishment machinery. Here too Herr observes an inability of the sacred to define the process of mourning: Herr genuflects towards the boots alongside the soldiers, some who prayed, and others who grumbled about the mercilessness of war. Some soldiers needed to talk to God; others thought war made God impossible.<br />
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Dispatches captures the weaponization of prayer and its limits. Everyone prayed before battles, asking the Gods to support their cause. “Prayers in the Delta, prayers in the highlands, prayers in the Marine bunkers of the ‘frontier’ facing the DMZ, and for every prayer there was a counter-prayer,” Herr observes (45). The context of war, and the instability and unpredictability it fostered, prompted many – soldier and civilian – to bend knees. Herr distills the religious experiences around him into powerful bursts of words but seems all too eager to let the contradictions of religion override any unvarnished analysis. God helped men kill their enemies but God also watched “the blood run out of ten generations” (44). Contradiction and failure of religion are key themes of religion in Dispatches. Yet, the observations of prayer are also profoundly moving:<br />
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"In wood-paneled, air-conditioned chapels in Saigon, MACV padres would fire one up to sweet Jesus, blessing ammo dumps and 105’s and officer’s clubs. The best-armed patrols in history went out after services to feed smoke to people whose priests could let themselves burn down to consecrated ash on street corners. Deep in the alleys you could hear small Buddhist chimes ringing for peace, hoa bien; see groups of AVRN with their families waiting for transport huddles around a burning prayer strip" (45).<br />
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Herr tunes readers into a military landscape saturated with religiosity. Prayer circulated throughout cities and criss-crossed the battlefields. There was an economy of prayer in wartime Vietnam. Herr’s writing brings all of this to life. Phrases like “fire one up” and “feed smoke” sparkle throughout <i>Dispatches</i>. The prose is remarkable, making Herr's book one of the best efforts of the New Journalism.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Michael Herr in 1977</td></tr>
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Herr also distinguishes between two modes of prayer: official and spontaneous. The military, as numerous historians have shown, never shied away from promoting religiosity among the troops. Hundreds of chaplains followed the troops wherever they went. Herr got his hands on some of the official religious literature. The standard issue government soldier prayer came “printed on a plastic-coated card by the Defense Department” (58). The laminated prayer card had the state’s imprimatur. The official prayer, we should note, depended upon human language to be uttered. But prayer was also spontaneous because no soldier likely pulled out their official card in the heat of battle. Another mode of prayer, Herr writes, “got translated out of language” into “chaos – screams, begging, promises, threats, sobs, repetitions of holy names until their throats were cracked and dry” (58). Herr, taking a step beyond the official/spontaneous distinction, marks out a distinction between prayer in language and prayer through chaos. Prayer can be sounds uttered but also soldiers biting “collar points and rifle strips and even their dog-tag chains” (58). Herr offers us a multifaceted and even excessive notion of prayer throughout <i>Dispatches</i>. In a sense, the book undermines its own secular vision by noting the dynamics of religion.<br />
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Herr did not see himself as an ethnographer of religion or even an anthropologist of religion. He was a journalist taking notes and rendering experience into words. Yet, I want to suggest that works of The New Journalism like <i>Dispatches</i> (and Tom Wolfe’s masterpiece <i>The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test</i>) are important early efforts to seek out lived religion. Herr’s analysis of the secularity of military life and the seemingly devastating contradictions of religion do not overwhelm his power of observation. This is a book that takes us to the actual experience of prayer.<br />
<br />Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-81699965600267517732019-04-18T18:32:00.000-06:002019-04-18T18:32:04.017-06:00Call for Chapter Proposals: American Patroness: National Shrines to Mary and the Making of US CatholicismCall for Chapter Proposals: American Patroness: National Shrines to Mary and the Making of US
Catholicism
Editors: Karen Park, St. Norbert College and Katherine Dugan, Springfield College<br />
<br />
The virgin mother of Jesus has a mutable role in US Catholicism. She appears in rural Wisconsin and in
urban New York City. She is at home in backyards and under highway overpasses. The Virgin Mary—in her
many forms, ranging from Guadalupe to Fatima to Immaculate Conception—is also venerated at well-funded
shrines and massive pilgrimage sites across the country. In the U.S. Mary has been both the focus of intimate
personal devotion and an icon of ethnic identities and political movements.<br />
<br />
American Patroness: National Shrines to Mary and the Making of US Catholicism will examine the role of
Marian shrines in contemporary US Catholicism. This collection will include essays that use a range of
ethnographic methods and archival resources to understand the ways Catholics have used Marian devotion to
make an imprint on the landscape of this country, mapping their identities and priorities along the way. This
collection argues that Marian shrines allow us to understand much about the historical, cultural, moral, and
theological concerns of postwar Catholics and their descendants in the U.S. Marian shrines have provided
American Catholics with a powerful way to define themselves as both patriotic Americans and devout
Catholics. As a whole, this volume will present a cultural and historical analysis of the location of the Marian
shrines and the people who built and visit them.<br />
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For this volume, the editors seek previously unpublished essays that focus on a particular American shrine to
Mary as a lens onto some aspect of American religious life. These essays will also consider the role Marian
shrines play in negotiating power relationships between and among church authorities, lay people, and
supernatural figures, in this case, the Virgin Mary. Essays may use ethnography or history or cultural
analysis to examine a Marian shrine. Essays may engage one or several of these questions: How and why is
one divine figure able to encompass all of these identities? What is it about Mary—both as contemporary
image, but also as historical figure—that facilitates this kind of wide-ranging interpretation of her? How do
politics and personal piety get intertwined in the way Mary moves in the contemporary U.S? How are these
shrines funded and where does the money for sustaining them come from? Why do some shrines lose
popularity and relevance and others seem incapable of failing?<br />
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The editors are interested in previously unpublished essays that do any of the following:<br />
● Explore the political landscape of a particular shrine in the U.S.<br />
● Examine how ethnic and racial diversity are both represented and understood at a Marian shrine<br />
● Consider how the material and visual aspects of Marian shrines shape the phenomenological experience
of the shrines: this can include sacred art and architecture as well as mundane aspects such as
landscaping, gift shops etc.<br />
● Examine how and why Marian shrines are a visible staking out of American land, and a way to claim
American (suburban) space for Catholic people and Catholic symbols.<br />
● Analyze the gendered/gendering experiences of visiting these shrines<br />
● Use interdisciplinary methods to explore the phenomenology of pilgrims’ experience of Marian shrines<br />
● Engage with the evolving meanings and relationships negotiated at the shrines<br />
● Provide thick descriptions of the devotional and ritual practices at these sites<br />
<br />
For an invitation to contribute a full chapter to this collection, please submit a 500- to 750-word abstract and
a CV to usmarianshrines@gmail.com by May 31, 2019.
We anticipate making final selections for the volume by June 28, 2019 and will request completed essays by
January 15, 2020. For inquiries about the collection, contact Karen Park at karen.park@snc.edu or Kate
Dugan at kdugan@springfieldcollege.edu.Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-68669380916452792442019-01-02T18:37:00.001-07:002019-01-03T07:59:43.982-07:00The American Catholic Historical Association's Radical Experiment Over drinks at the 2018 American Catholic Historical Association, a cabal of American religious historians imagined an alternative conference model. Kathleen Holscher, current president of the ACHA, brought the group together through texts and facebook messages. Several ideas were floated (libations were being consumed), and many quickly discarded as outlandish. Then one of the revolutionaries, John Seitz of Fordham University, proposed a novel approach: what about taking each letter of the ACHA and offering a critical take on that specific word? The words of our organization’s acronym could provide a launching pad for a range of fresh interpretive spins on nationhood, Catholicism the discipline of history, and the actual organization. The panels have been self-consciously created as “Critical” investigations of each term: <i>American. Catholic. Historical. Association.</i><br />
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The plan is a reality. The conference will feature four panels, each one dedicated to a “critical term”:<br />
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Critical Terms: American (8:30-10:30, Friday)<br />
Critical Terms: Catholic (10:30-12:00, Friday)<br />
Critical Terms: Historical (8:30-10:30, Saturday)<br />
Critical Terms: Association (10:30-12:00, Saturday)<br />
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The location and the participants are listed below.<br />
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One thing was abundantly clear to the junta: this exercise should feature scholars who do not normally attend the ACHA annual meeting. Each chair and commentator set forth on an emailing campaign and recruited scholars from other fields who call other associations their homes. What better way to think critically about the normative assumptions and crypto-theologies lurking behind these words than to bring in some friends from out of town? The effort, as is obvious from the slate of presenters, was highly successful. As you can see below, the 2019 ACHA will have all sorts of new faces and scholars from a wide range of institutions.<br />
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What will the presenters discuss? The plan is amazingly suggestive and beholden to nothing: the presenters are only loyal to a term (American, catholic, historical or association) and can take their talk in whatever direction they deem most exciting, helpful, or critical. We can imagine a critical analysis of a term (each term is burdened with a long history) proceeding in multiple different ways. Why call it the <i>American</i> Catholic Historical Association when our object of study is so relentlessly global and transnational? What does it mean to claim that a church is Catholic? By Catholic, do we mean Church? What do we lose when we take a purely historical approach?<br />
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Some will offer Foucauldian genealogies of a term. Other papers, like my own, will question our motivations for having a society dedicated to the study of Catholics. Provocations will certainly be offered: <i>Why do Catholics </i><br />
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<i>matter to </i><i>American History or any other historiography? What is really happening in this Association? What do you mean by Catholic? Can Catholic Historians be Good Americans?</i><br />
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I hope you will join us for these extremely interesting sessions!<br />
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<b><u>Friday, January 4 </u></b><br />
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<b><u>SATURDAY, JANUARY 5</u></b></div>
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Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-18680174804189419262018-10-27T08:00:00.000-06:002018-10-27T08:00:10.612-06:00CFP: Graduate Student Conference on Democracy and Religion<b>Lauren Turek</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
I would like to share the following call for papers that I received. This conference looks fantastic and would be an excellent opportunity for graduate students of all levels.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Call For Papers:</b><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFtrPoq7ceAm_oZHMV2FlOS6QXHlFufsETD0QKb5ftDxyfpZzk6I0MuGD8ybdlMj8t5uLKPGR2R-hUMVnTmmzDbRXFcp7krAdMrdoLLXJteVHzV6o5qyU2yB2L1K6TlSO71rlO_u6ig/s1600/UVA.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1237" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUFtrPoq7ceAm_oZHMV2FlOS6QXHlFufsETD0QKb5ftDxyfpZzk6I0MuGD8ybdlMj8t5uLKPGR2R-hUMVnTmmzDbRXFcp7krAdMrdoLLXJteVHzV6o5qyU2yB2L1K6TlSO71rlO_u6ig/s400/UVA.jpg" width="308" /></a><b>Graduate Student Conference on Democracy and Religion</b><br />
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<b>University of Virginia, April 12, 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
The UVA Department of Religious Studies’ Forum on Democracy and Religion invites paper proposals for a graduate student conference to be held on <b>April 12, 2019</b>. Graduate students at any level and in any disciplinary field are welcome to apply.<br />
<br />
Our focus will be on the relationship between democracy and religion. We are particularly interested in such issues as: the current contest between free exercise and human dignity; the shifting sites of the “public square,” including its market dimensions; the relationship between neoliberalism and international religious freedom; how discussions of religious minorities, race, and gender shape what we mean by religion and democracy; and whether democracy needs religion or what kind of religion needs democracy.<br />
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Paper proposals should be no less than five pages long, exclusive of notation. Full papers are preferred. Panel proposals are welcome but not necessary. <b>Panel participants will receive a $500 honorarium.</b><br />
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<b>Paper selection will begin January 25th, 2019</b>,<b> and continue until the program is announced and panelists notified, no later than March 15</b>. Please send all proposals by email attachment to Spencer Wells, Executive Assistant for the Forum on Democracy and Religion, at <a href="mailto:spencerwells@virginia.edu">spencerwells@virginia.edu</a><br />
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Lauren Turekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16371471313398753968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-63086500198657602622018-10-25T10:00:00.000-06:002018-10-25T10:00:02.510-06:00Funding Opportunities from the Cushwa Center<b>Maggie Elmore</b><br />
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The Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism is pleased to announce the annual deadline to apply for travel grants from the Cushwa Center. The Center offers five different grants for projects related to the study of American and global Catholicism:<br />
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<li>The <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/hesburgh/" target="_blank">Theodore M. Hesburgh Research Travel Grant</a> (to use the Hesburgh Papers at the University of Notre Dame)</li>
<li>The <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/research-travel-grants/" target="_blank">Research Travel Grant</a> (to use the <a href="http://archives.nd.edu/" target="_blank">Notre Dame University Archives</a> or other collections at the <a href="https://rarebooks.library.nd.edu/collections/american_catholic/index.shtml" target="_blank">Hesburgh Libraries</a>)</li>
<li>The <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/peter-r-dagostino-research-travel-grant/" target="_blank">Peter R. D'Agostino Research Travel Grant</a> (to use Roman archives for a US Catholic-focused project) </li>
<li>The <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/guerin/" target="_blank">Mother Theodore Guerin Research Travel Grant</a> (to conduct research on Catholic women at any research repository inside or outside of the US, or to conduct oral interviews, especially of women religious) </li>
<li>The <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/hibernian-research-award/" target="_blank">Hibernian Research Award</a> (for projects related to Irish experiences in Ireland and the United States)</li>
</ul>
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The deadline for applying for each of these grants is <b>December 31, 2018</b>. More information can be found at <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/" target="_blank">https://cushwa.nd.edu/grant-opportunities/</a>. Please direct any questions to cushwa@nd.edu.Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05048779443216818266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-82621795959956136972018-09-27T08:00:00.000-06:002018-09-28T13:14:04.916-06:00Religious Internationalism at the Conference on Faith and History<b>Lauren Turek</b><br />
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To follow on Andrea L. Turpin's helpful recent post about Women & Gender presentations at the upcoming <a href="https://calvin.edu/events/cfh/" target="_blank">Conference on Faith and History</a>, I would like to highlight presentations that will have some bearing on religion and international relations, broadly conceived. This includes panels or papers that touch on U.S. foreign policy, diplomacy, religious internationalism, foreign missionary work, war and society, and the like.<br />
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The Conference on Faith and History will hold its 31st biennial meeting on October 4-6, 2018 in Grand Rapids, MI. The theme of the conference is “History and the Search for Meaning,” and <a href="https://calvin.edu/events/cfh/images/Program%20website%209-17.pdf" target="_blank">the full conference schedule is available here</a>.<br />
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Panels and papers of particular interest to scholars of religion and internationalism include the following:<br />
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<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
<u>Thursday, October 4</u></h3>
<b>Session 2: War, the Environment and the Fallout of Violence</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: William Katerberg, Calvin College<br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Environmental Impact of the Civil War in Syria," Kincaid Wurl, Southern Adventist University</li>
<li>“The National Park Service and the Story of the Buffalo National River: A Social Case Study of Environmentalism,” Coplea Donley, John Brown University</li>
<li>“The Inhibitions of War and Violence on Sustainable Development,” Karyn Ashley Spirek, Huntington University</li>
<li>“Khmer Rouge: A Traumatized Kingdom,” Jamie Conrad, Huntington University</li>
</ul>
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<b>Session 3: Making Peace and Ending Wars</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Douglas Howard, Calvin College<br />
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<i>Papers:</i><br />
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<ul>
<li>“Pol Pot’s Cambodia and Social Mechanism Used for Genocide,” Ellie Lawson, Huntington University</li>
<li>“The Iraqi High Tribunal’s Disruption of Nuremberg Legacy of Post-Conflict Justice,” Adele Duval, Eastern Nazarene College</li>
<li>“Peace for Cambodia?” Alexandra Seleyman, Huntington University</li>
</ul>
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<b>Session 8: Rebuilding in Europe from Rome to the Cold War</b><br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Controlling Their Emotions: How the Political Establishment Felt About Churchill,”Holly Holton, Huntington University</li>
<li>“The Practicality of Morality in International Politics: Vaclav Havel and the Larger World,” Paige Hungar, Covenant College</li>
<li>“Vaclav Havel: Building Democracy in a Post-Communist World,” Madison Morin, Eastern Nazarene College</li>
<li>“For the Good of Res Publica: Civic Virtue in the Roman Republic,” David Engstrom, Trinity International University</li>
</ul>
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<b>Session 10: Building and Rebuilding through Development, Human Rights, and Diplomacy</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Kelli McCoy, Point Loma Nazarene University<br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“Rethinking Models of International Development,” Malachi Wise, Huntington University</li>
<li>“The Failure of Diplomatic Relations between the United States and Japan,” Alana Bates, Huntington University</li>
<li>“A Communist Economic Miracle?” Alec Boyd-Devine, Huntington University</li>
<li>“Effectiveness of HUMINT in the Middle East,” Jordan Hayley, Liberty University</li>
</ul>
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<b>Session 14: American Foreign Policy and the Cold War</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: William Katerberg, Calvin College<br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>"Neither Saints nor Simpletons: Harry Truman, Anti-Catholicism, and the Nomination of a Vatican Ambassador," Christopher Estep, Eastern Nazarene College</li>
<li>“FDR, Churchill, and the Future of Postwar Indochina, 1940-1943,” Taylor Holliday, Huntington University</li>
<li>“Before Vietnam: Understanding the Initial Stages of US Involvement in Southeast Asia,” Jacob Mach, Bowling Green State University & Cedarville University</li>
<li>“India’s Complications with the Cold War,” Sarah Nelson, Point Loma Nazarene University</li>
</ul>
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<b>Session 15: History, War and Politics in England</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Lisa Clark Diller, Southern Adventist University<br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“The Steel Wall of England: The Curious Case of the English Knight during the Hundred Years’ War,” Mitchell Gehman, Liberty University</li>
<li>“Churchill’s Reign of Regrets: A Study of Wartime Leadership,” Claire Harvey, Huntington University</li>
<li>“The Politics of Terror: The British Cabinet and the Strategic Bombing Campaign of 1918,” Perry Colvin, Auburn University</li>
</ul>
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<h3>
<u>Friday, October 5</u></h3>
<b>Session 13: Christian Mission in the Non-Western World</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Joel Carpenter, Calvin College<br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>"E.H. Broadbent and Brethren Missions to Russian Turkestan, 1900 and 1908," William Wood, Point Loma Nazarene University</li>
<li>“Faith and Friendship: The ‘affective cosmopolitanism’ of Charles Freer Andrews (1871-1940),” Bernardo Michael, Messiah College</li>
<li>“Harriet Newell’s Conversion to Usefulness: Understanding the Memoir that Contextualized American Women in Mission,” Hannah Nation, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary</li>
</ul>
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<i>Comment</i>: Joel Carpenter, Calvin College<br />
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<b>Session 14: Missionary Anxieties: Doubt, Empire, and Commerce in Nineteenth-Century British Missions</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Jason Bruner, Arizona State University<br />
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<i>Papers</i>:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“‘Extending a Superior Light Farther than the Roman Eagles Ever Flew’: The Clapham Sect’s Influence in India," Ryan Butler, Baylor University</li>
<li>“‘Why Doest Thou Thus?’ Suffering, Failure, and Providence in Nineteenth-Century British Missionary Documents,” Kelly Elliott, Abilene Christian University</li>
<li>“Python Buys Sheep’s Farm: Using Non-British Sources on West African Christianity, 1850-1900,” Paul Grant, University of Wisconsin–Platteville</li>
</ul>
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Comment: Jason Bruner, Arizona State University<br />
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<h3>
<u>Saturday, October 6</u></h3>
<b>Session 34: “And He Must Win the Battle”: God and Nation in Twentieth Century England, Germany and the United States</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Erik Benson, Cornerstone University<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>“The Power of a Hymn: Choral Singing Defining National Identity,” Ruth Dewhurst, Georgia State University</li>
<li>“Theodore Roosevelt’s Religious Support for World War I,” Benjamin Wetzel, Taylor University</li>
<li>“'Massive Retaliation’: Power and Morality in John Foster Dulles’ World,” John Wilsey, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary</li>
</ul>
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<i>Comment</i>: Erik Benson, Cornerstone University<br />
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<b>Session 38: Roundtable on Dale Van Kley's Reform Catholicism and the International Suppression of the Jesuits in Enlightenment Europe</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Katherine van Liere, Calvin College<br />
<br />
<i>Participants</i>:<br />
Jeffrey D. Burson, Georgia Southern University<br />
Andrea Smidt, Geneva College<br />
Daniel Watkins, Baylor University<br />
Comment: Dale Van Kley, Ohio State University Emeritus<br />
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<b>Session 44: Christianity and Secularism in the Twentieth-Century United States</b><br />
<i>Paper</i>: "Catholic Conscience Language in the Secular Human Rights Revolution, 1970-1985"<br />
Peter Cajka, University of Notre Dame<br />
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<b>Session 50: Roundtable: New Perspectives on Religion in American Internationalism</b><br />
<i>Chair</i>: Gale Kenny, Barnard College<br />
<br />
<i>Participants</i>:<br />
Emily Conroy-Krutz, Michigan State University<br />
Mark Edwards, Spring Arbor University<br />
Lauren Turek, Trinity University<br />
Daniel Hummel, University of Wisconsin-Madison<br />
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<i>Comment</i>: Audience<br />
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Looking forward to seeing those of you who be attending the conference next week!<br />
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<br />Lauren Turekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16371471313398753968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-11200545854969312592018-09-24T03:00:00.000-06:002018-09-24T03:00:09.057-06:00Women & Gender at the Conference on Faith and History<b>Andrea L. Turpin</b><br />
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<br />
I'm getting excited for the biennial <a href="https://calvin.edu/events/cfh/" target="_blank">Conference on Faith and History</a> held this year at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI October 4-6. My anticipation is not only linked to the hope that this Texan will get to experience some Fall. It is also linked to the large number of promising papers on <a href="https://calvin.edu/events/cfh/images/Program%20website%209-17.pdf" target="_blank">the program</a>.<br />
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This year marks the conference's 50th anniversary and I look forward to hearing reflections on where the field has been and where it is going. Even more so, I look forward to seeing first hand where it is going. One of the things that is so promising about the papers is how much the conference has diversified since I first began attending exactly ten years ago. Every single time slot of panel presentations contains at least one paper on women's or gender history and a couple contain entire competing panels. Notably, the presidential plenary by my Baylor colleague Beth Allison Barr will incorporate women's history.<br />
<br />
Equally encouraging is the range of these papers. Recurring topics include the intellectual history of thought both by and about women, the religious lives of women of color, and the religious lives of women from multiple traditions including Muslim, Jewish, Catholic, Mormon, and Protestant. (I should add that one notable omission is that there are no papers whose main topic is religion and sexuality.)<br />
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I have bolded the papers and panels on women's and gender history below. Enjoy!<br />
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Note: The careful reader will notice that I have not listed my own panels. I will be presenting on a roundtable Friday at 4:15pm on "Christian Scholarship for Such a Time as This: A Reassessment." Women's and gender history will play a significant role in the discussion but is not the main focus. I am also indulging another of my interests by serving as commentator for a fascinating panel Saturday at 2:30pm on "Religious Education as Cultural Transmission in Twentieth-Century America."<br />
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<br />
<u>Friday, October 5, 8:00-9:30 a.m.</u><br />
<br />
<b><u>Session 3</u>: Gendered Faith in Early America: Women as Civil Authorities, Moravian Missionaries, and Disabled Christians</b><br />
<b><i>Meeter Center Lecture Hall</i></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Chair: Lisa Clark Diller, Southern Adventist University</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>“Flourishing Families or Spit-in-the-Face? Women, the Book of Exodus and Civil Authority in Colonial America,” Kristina Benham, Baylor University </b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“Hearing the Gospel in a Silent World: Disability, Gender and Religion in the Massachusetts Bay Colony,” Katherine Ranum, University of Cincinnati</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“New Madrid Earthquakes of the Cherokee Nation: Women Shaken and Bonded,” Lucinda Yang, Baylor University</b></li>
</ul>
<b>Comment: Lisa Clark Diller, Southern Adventist University</b><br />
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<b><u>Session 7</u>: Christian Women and the History Profession</b><br />
<b><i>Prince Conference Center, Hickory Room</i></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Chair: Loretta Hunnicutt, Pepperdine University</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>Nadya Williams, University of West Georgia</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Meghan DiLuzio, Baylor University</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>Elizabeth Marvel, Baylor University</b></li>
</ul>
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<u>Friday, October 5, 10:00-11:30 a.m.</u><br />
<br />
<u>Session 9</u>: Historical Thinking and Evangelical Institutions<br />
<i>Prince Conference Center, Willow West</i><br />
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Chair: David Swartz, Asbury University<br />
<ul>
<li><b>“The Role of the Christian Institution in the History of Evangelical Divorce and Remarriage,” Margaret Flamingo, University of Wisconsin-Madison </b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“What Has Grand Rapids To Do With Nashville? Christian Historians Examining, Enduring, and Engaging with Popular Christian Cultures,” K. Scott Culpepper, Dordt College </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“Does Evangelical Pietism Undermine the Life of the Mind? The Case of Bethel College, Indiana, 1947-2017,” Dennis Engbrecht, Bethel College & Timothy Erdel, Bethel College</li>
</ul>
Comment: David Swartz, Asbury University<br />
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<u>Friday, October 5, 2:15-3:45 p.m.</u><br />
<br />
<u>Session 17</u>: Sacred Texts in American History<br />
<i>Commons Annex, Room 214 (upper level)</i><br />
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Chair: John Turner, George Mason University<br />
<ul>
<li><b>“Reconfiguring the Archive: Women and the Social Production of the Book of Mormon,” Amy Easton-Flake, Brigham Young University & Rachel Cope, Brigham Young University </b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“The Practical and Poetic Pietist: John Quincy Adams and the Bible,” Matt McCook, Oklahoma Christian University</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“’The Bible is Assumed’: The Great Books Movement and the Place of Protestants in the ‘Great Conversation,’” Fred Beuttler, University of Chicago</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“The Enlightenment and Modernity in Carl F.H. Henry’s Account of Western Civilization,” Mike Kulger, Northwestern College</li>
</ul>
Comment: John Turner, George Mason University<br />
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<u>Session 18</u>: Political Hope in the Age of Fracture<br />
<i>Prince Conference Center, Willow East</i><br />
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Chair: Michael Hammond, Taylor University<br />
<ul>
<li><b>“‘That Unageing Spiritual Reality’: Kathleen Raine, Temenos and the Hope of Civilization,” Eric Miller, Geneva Colleg</b>e</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“This Town Ain’t So Bad: Spending Heavenly Eternity in Springfield with the Simpsons,” Paul Arras, SUNY Cortland</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“Friendship and Culture War: Wallace Stegner’s Crossing to Safety and its Historical Moment,” Matthew Stewart, Syracuse University</li>
</ul>
Comment: Jeff Bilbro, Spring Arbor University<br />
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<u>Session 22</u>: Teaching Islamic History and Culture in the Christian University<br />
<i>Commons Annex, Alumni Board Room (upper level)</i><br />
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Chair: Douglas Howard, Calvin College<br />
<ul>
<li>“What has Baghdad to do with Jerusalem and Athens? Situating Classical Islam within the Western Tradition,” Anthony Minnema, Samford University</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“We Speak for Ourselves: The Use of Oral History in the Classroom to Cement the Experience of Muslim Americans in the Broader Narrative of U.S. History," Amy Poppinga, Bethel University</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“Fostering Humility and Hospitality through the Study of Jewish and Islamic Fundamentalisms,” Sarah Miglio, Wheaton College</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“How do you Teach Honor Killings? Sufi Transgressive Piety, Lottie Moon, and the Benefits of Comparative History,” Annalise DeVries, Samford University</b></li>
</ul>
Comment: Douglas Howard, Calvin College<br />
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<u>Session 23</u>: Legacies of the Protestant Reformation<br />
<i>Meeter Center Lecture Hall</i><br />
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Chair: Ron Rittgers, Valparaiso University<br />
<ul>
<li>“Division in Unity: Historiography and the Legacies of the Radical Reformation, ”Joe Super, Liberty University Online</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“Margaret Baxter: ‘Nursing Mother’ of Protestant Dissenters,” Seth Osborne, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“Theological Responses to the Synod of Dort in France” (in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the synod), Martin Klauber, Trinity International University</li>
</ul>
Comment: Ron Rittgers, Valparaiso University<br />
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<u>Friday, October 5, 4:15-5:45 p.m. </u><br />
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<u>Session 25</u>: The Mississippi Delta and the Long Civil Rights Movement<br />
<i>Prince Conference Center, Willow West</i><br />
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Chair: John Giggie, University of Alabama<br />
<ul>
<li>“Seek the Welfare of the City Where I have Sent You,” Alicia Jackson, Covenant College </li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>““She was Counsellor and Advisor”: Black Women Fraternal Leaders in the Mississippi Delta, 1940s–1970s,” Katrina Sims, Hofstra University</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“Fannie Lou Hamer as Organic Theologian, ”Jemar Tisby, University of Mississippi </b></li>
</ul>
Comment: Paul Harvey, University of Colorado<br />
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<b><u>Session 26</u>: Vocation ‘Between the Times’: Catholic Women from Revolution to Council </b><br />
<b><i>Commons Annex, Room 214 (upper level)</i></b><br />
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<b>Chair: Emily McGowin, Wheaton College</b><br />
<ul>
<li><b>“Vocation ‘Between the Times’: A Rule for the Active Apostolate,” Laura Eloe, University of Dayton</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“Vocation ‘Between the Times’: Mary as a Model for Catholic Mothers in the 1950s,” Annie Huey, University of Dayton</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“Vocation ‘Between the Times’: A Mother and a Mystic,” Joshua Wopata, University of Dayton</b></li>
</ul>
<b>Comment: Emily McGowin, Wheaton College</b><br />
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<u>Session 30</u>: Historians as Social and Moral Critics<br />
<i>Meeter Center Lecture Hall</i><br />
<br />
Chair: William Katerberg, Calvin College<br />
<ul>
<li>“History that Heals: Reflections on Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission from a Settler Historian,” William Van Arragon, King’s University</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>"The Historian as Moral Critic: John Higham, Christopher Lasch, Andrew Bacevich," John Haas, Bethel College</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>“The Artist as Historian: Carrie Mae Weems and the Photographic Archive,” Elissa Weichbrodt, Covenant College</b></li>
</ul>
Comment: William Katerberg, Calvin College<br />
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<u>Session 32</u>: Shifting Evangelical Identities in Secularizing America<br />
<i>Commons Annex, Lecture Hall C/D (lower level)</i><br />
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Chair: Brenda Thompson Schoolfield, Bob Jones University<br />
<ul>
<li>“Earthrise: The Religious Politics of a Stamp and the Role of Conspiracy in the Era of Late 1960s Fake News and Its Implications for the Social Media Age,” Bobby Griffith, The University of Oklahoma</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><b>““Last at the Cross, and First at the Resurrection”: Sam Jones’s Theology of Gender,” Anderson Rouse, University of North Carolina at Greensboro</b></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>“Billy Graham’s Northwestern Years (1948-1952) and Emerging Evangelical and Fundamentalist Identities,” Greg Rosauer, University of Northwestern–St.Paul </li>
</ul>
Comment: Brenda Thompson Schoolfield, Bob Jones University<br />
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<u>Friday, October 5, 7:00 p.m.</u><br />
<br />
<b>Presidential Plenary—Beth Allison Barr, Baylor University</b><br />
<b><i>Prince Conference Center, Great Hall</i></b><br />
<b>PAUL, MEDIEVAL WOMEN AND 50 YEARS OF THE CFH: NEW PERSPECTIVES</b><br />
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<u>Saturday, October 6, 8:00-9:30 a.m.</u><br />
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<u>Session 33</u>: Defending Black Citizenship: African-American and White Christians on Abolition, Prohibition, and Lynching in the U.S. South and Borderlands<br />
<i>DeVos Communication Center, Bytwerk Theater (lower level)</i><br />
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Chair: Paul Harvey, University of Colorado<br />
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<li>“Black Pastors Defending Black Bodies: Lynching and the Church,” Malcolm Foley, Baylor University </li>
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<li>“Religious Abolitionism and the Quest for African-American Citizenship in Cincinnati,” Scott Anderson, University of Mary-Hardin Baylor</li>
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<li><b>“Defending Black Manhood: African Americans’ Religious (Anti-)Prohibition Activism,” Brendan Payne, North Greenville University</b> </li>
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Comment: Pearl Young, University of North Carolina<br />
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<b><u>Session 40</u>: Ideals of Womanhood in American Christianity</b><br />
<b><i>Meeter Center Lecture Hall</i></b><br />
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<b>Chair: Margaret Bendroth, Congregational Library & Archives</b><br />
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<li><b>““Let any anxious and pious mother remember the perils, and the rescue of the son of Monica”: St. Monica as Female Exemplar in Nineteenth-Century Protestantism,” Paul Gutacker, Baylor University</b></li>
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<li><b>““I’m for the ERA”: Faith, Feminism, and the Active Politics of a Southern Baptist First Lady,” Elizabeth Flowers, Texas Christian University</b></li>
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<li><b>“The ‘Noblest Career of All’: Housekeeping, Homemaking, and the Ideal of Evangelical Postwar Domesticity,” Adina Johnson Kelley, Baylor University</b></li>
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<b>Comment: Margaret Bendroth</b><br />
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<u>Saturday, October 6, 10:00-11:30 a.m.</u><br />
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<b><u>Session 42</u>: Women, Race, and Authority in American Religious Movements</b><br />
<b><i>Meeter Center Lecture Hall</i></b><br />
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<b>Chair: Jeanne Petit, Hope College</b><br />
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<li><b>“Unexpected Scope for Work: Black Women Doctors and the Seventh-day Adventist Church,” Lisa Clark Diller, Southern Adventist University</b></li>
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<li><b>“Women’s Protests at the American Presbyterian Congo Mission, 1916-1933,” Kimberly Hill, University of Texas at Dallas</b></li>
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<li><b> “Shaping Women of ‘Unsubdued Spirit’: Rebecca Gratz and Female Religious Leadership in Antebellum American Judaism,” Elise Leal, Whitworth University</b></li>
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<b>Comment: Jeanne Petit, Hope College</b><br />
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<b><u>Session 47</u>: Versions of Holiness: Saints and Nuns from Medieval England to Africa and the American West</b><br />
<b><i>Commons Annex, Room 214 (upper level)</i></b><br />
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<b>Chair: Jennifer Hevelone-Harper, Gordon University</b><br />
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<li><b>““Present your bodies a sacrifice to the Lord”: The Physical and Spiritual Care of Nuns in Late Medieval England,” Elizabeth Marvel, Baylor University</b></li>
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<li><b>“Constructing Houses in the American West: Candlelight, Bricks, and Communion,” Danae Jacobson, University of Notre Dame</b></li>
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<li><b>“Women on the Move from a Global Perspective: A Gendered Analysis of Saints’ Lives in Medieval Ethiopia and Europe,” Anna Redhair, Baylor University</b></li>
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<b>Comment: Jennifer Hevelone-Harper, Gordon University</b><br />
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<u>Session 48</u>: Evangelical Uses of the Past<br />
<i>Prince Conference Center, Willow East</i><br />
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Chair: Jay Green, Covenant College<br />
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<li><b>““Everyone is a child of destiny”: Henrietta Mears and the Meaning of History,” Amber Thomas, University of Edinburgh</b></li>
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<li>“Our City: History Creation and late Nineteenth-Century Urban Evangelicalism,” Andrew MacDonald, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School</li>
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<li>“Conservative Resurgence or Conservative Takeover? Usable History at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary,” Lisa Weaver Swartz, Asbury Theological Seminary </li>
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Comment: Jay Green, Covenant College<br />
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<u>Saturday, October 6, 2:30-4:00 p.m.</u><br />
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<u>Session 52</u>: Beyond the Voting Booth: Evangelicals and Race, Gender, and Memory<br />
<i>Meeter Center Lecture Hall</i><br />
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Chair: Bill Svelmoe, St. Mary’s College<br />
<ul>
<li>“Exhibiting Evangelicalism: Protestant Public Memory at the Billy Graham Center Museum,” Devin Manzullo-Thomas, Messiah College</li>
</ul>
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<li>“White Evangelicals as ‘a people’: The Church Growth Movement from India to the United States,” Jesse Curtis, Temple University</li>
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<li><b>“Grooming Evangelical Womanhood: The Pioneer Girls and Gendered Identity,” Rebecca Koerselman, Northwestern University</b></li>
</ul>
Comment: Bill Svelmoe, St. Mary’s College<br />
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<u>Session 56</u>: ‘For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning”: Christian Uses of the Past to Shape the Present and Future<br />
<i>Prince Conference Center, Willow East</i><br />
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Chair: Seth Perry, Princeton University<br />
<ul>
<li><b>“Lost Cause Hagiography: Rewriting Saints Felicity and Perpetua as Southern Catholic Martyrs,” David Roach, Baylor University</b></li>
</ul>
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<li>“‘Crying out against Conditions’: Protestants and Labor, 1908-1940,” Tori Jessen, University of Alabama</li>
</ul>
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<li><b>“‘Beloved prostitutes and rough fishermen’: Appeals to the Early Church in the Emerging Church Movement,” John Young, University of Alabama</b></li>
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Comment: Seth Perry, Princeton University<br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720330671072395668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-34624892730241976192018-09-04T07:30:00.000-06:002018-09-04T07:30:06.751-06:00Call for Participants: 2018 NAASR Job Market Workshop<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Denver_Skyline_in_Winter.JPG/800px-Denver_Skyline_in_Winter.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="278" data-original-width="800" height="222" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/46/Denver_Skyline_in_Winter.JPG/800px-Denver_Skyline_in_Winter.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Alongside the AAR/SBL this year in Boston, NAASR will host its annual job market workshop from 1-3pm on Sunday, November 18. This is a great opportunity for early career scholars to receive feedback on their application materials from senior scholars with experience navigating the job market. Folks from any research area and specialty are welcome: if you're planning to apply for positions in Religious Studies, you'll fit right in. While most participants are ABDs, anyone on (or interested in) the market is welcome.<br />
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This year we've split the workshop into two sessions: a workshop (for small group feedback on application materials) and a general Q&A. You are welcome to attend either session for as long as your schedule allows. For more information, <a href="https://naasr.com/2018/02/26/cfp-2018-naasr-job-workshop/">please click here.</a>.<br />
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If you're interested in registering for this no-cost workshop, please e-mail me (grazmike [at] gmail [dot] com) by October 1.<br />
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NAASR Job Market Workshop CFP</div>
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This session proposes to explore the employment challenges facing early career scholars through both a discussion and workshop. This session addresses issues important to junior academics (notably, but not exclusively, ABDs now entering/about to enter the job market) by demonstrating how a professional organization can provide a practical and strategic forum for job-market advice.</div>
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The following activities will take place during the session:</div>
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I. Workshop–1:00-2:00pm</div>
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In the first half of the session, participants will break into small groups, each led by a more senior scholar. Within their groups, participants will discuss in focused ways how they might best represent themselves, their work, and their scholarly interests on the job market. The smaller setting will allow for more “hands on” advice, taking as examples the CV and cover letters the organizers will have pre-distributed among participants. Simply focusing on what one says in a cover letter’s opening paragraph, for example, or how one orders a C.V., will provide the way into larger questions of representation in these small group discussions. Participants should be ready to share and discuss their CV and sample cover letter with fellow group members (though hopefully all will have some familiarity with the materials in advance to facilitate a more focused workshop).</div>
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II. Discussion–2:00-3:00pm</div>
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With the issues and questions from the small-group workshop in mind, the second half of the session will be devoted to an open discussion. The group leaders will begin by providing brief introductory remarks on what they each see as constructive and strategic advice for early career scholars who are navigating the academic job market, aimed initially at how applicants can be strategic not only in trying to ascertain a Department’s needs but also in negotiating potential theoretical and political landmines in the field. A discussion will follow in which participants can talk about these issues in an informal atmosphere and share information. This guided discussion will focus on four central questions related to how might early career scholars interested in theory and method:</div>
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<li>represent themselves strategically on the job market?</li>
<li>apply to calls for general positions, fitting themselves to broad departmental needs?</li>
<li>shape their cover letters and CVs to appeal to a wide range of departments?</li>
<li>respond to critiques that they have no “specialty,” “content,” or “area of study”?</li>
<li>The discussion is designed to reflect different opinions regarding the place of theory & method in the job market, as well as in the study of religion more generally.</li>
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As our workshop wraps up, we will hold the space until 4:30pm for continued group discussion as well as any breakout sessions or small group discussions that emerge.</div>
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Scholars of all concentrations within the field of Religious Studies are welcome to join the workshop—whether a NAASR member or not—though preference will be given to early career scholars, particularly those at the senior ABD stage (i.e., those already on or going onto the job market). Shortly before the workshop, but once the participants have been identified, each participant will be invited to share with the other members, via email or a closed social media group, their academic focus/dissertation topic, level of teaching experience, their level of experience with the job market as well as their own current position (e.g., PhD Student, Postdoc, Instructor, etc.) in order to ensure all participants come to the meeting somewhat familiar with the diversity of experience in the workshop. In addition, as stated above, each participant will be invited to provide a sample cover letter and CV for the organizers to pre-distribute. These materials will then be workshopped within their small groups. More details will follow after the participant list has been finalized.</div>
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<i>[Image courtesy <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Denver_Skyline_in_Winter.JPG">R0uge</a> on Wikimedia Commons]</i></div>
Michael Grazianohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05841032616931519130noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-62820235119202122652018-09-03T14:00:00.000-06:002018-09-03T15:01:09.127-06:007 Questions with Lilian Calles Barger: The World Come of Age <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/covers/pdp/9780190695392" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Cover for
The World Come of Age
" border="0" height="320" src="https://global.oup.com/academic/covers/pdp/9780190695392" width="210" /></a><i>I corresponded recently with Lilian Calles Barger about her new book, </i>The World Come of Age: An Intellectual History of Liberation Theology (Oxford University Press). <i>Lilian is a historian, author, women and gender consultant. She is currently a podcast co-host for </i>New Books Network <i>covering women and gender, religion, intellectual history and American Studies</i>. <i>Her research interests include the historical development of social, religious and feminist thought in modern America with a particular expertise in women and gender history. Visit her website (</i>www.lilianbarger.com) <i>or follow her on twitter (</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><i>@lilianbarger</i>)</span><br />
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<b>Tell us about how you became interested in liberation theology</b><br />
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I have been thinking about the history of theology in general for a long time. Women’s history and feminist theory was something I was interested in and reading in the 1990s. I found feminist theologians referring to Black and Latin American liberation theology and curious to find out more about that connection. My own background as a Latin American immigrant to the U.S. and my interest in feminism gave me two legs of a three-legged stool. The exposure to African American history completed the triad and deepened my interest in the question of how and why these three theologies of liberation emerged independently and yet simultaneously in the late 1960s. That was a historical question no one was addressing and I found intriguing.<br />
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Because I have read a lot of theology across traditions I know it’s not nailed down or unchanging. The theological field is one that since the early twentieth century has gone on its merry way largely ignored by other humanistic disciplines. I think that is a mistake because of its vast influence over individuals and communities. We tend to concentrate on the social and political effects rather than on the source. As historians, I think we can bring some outside accountability to that field through our critical examination. I say this with all due respect to the many professional theologians I know.<br />
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Could you tell the blog readers a bit about your method? You call your work a "cultural history of liberationist ideas" and also "a cultural history of thought." The method hones in on specific texts written by liberationists, but it also provides deep political and social context going all the way back, in some places, to early modern political theology. The chapter on the social sciences and liberation theology engages pragmatism, Comte, and Marx. I found this very effective. It would be great to hear more about how you developed this approach.<br />
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I went into history, and specific intellectual history, because I was interested in how ideas, emerge, change, adapt and influence people’s lives socially, politically, and culturally over long spans of time. This interested arose from a life-long practice of observation. A cultural history of thought was a method I gained from my brilliant graduate advisor Daniel Wickberg. It fit with my already formed interest in the history of ideas.<br />
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A cultural history of thought supported my interest in getting beyond abstracted philosophical or theological arguments of a few “great “ thinkers. It allowed me to view ideas in the context of lived culture giving them concrete on the ground significance. My other influence came from the sociology of knowledge in which ideas are cultural artifacts or create the environments in which we all live. It does take a strong anthropological approach to historical change. This way of approaching the continuous generation and regeneration of ideas is something that I will continue to apply.<br />
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<b>The origins of liberation theology are geographic, chronological and intellectual. In your chapter “The Political is the Total” you also show that the origins of the movement are in the realization that theology is not autonomous from the political and that “politics constituted all theology.” Tell the blog readers about this realization among thinkers like Cone, Gutierrez, and others. How does this connect to the argument that God is with the oppressed?</b><br />
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The idea that all theology is political is one of the most significant challenges to modern theology that the liberationists as a group took up. They did not believe that elite white male thinkers, who constructed modern theology in Europe and the U.S., could read the Bible with pure openness. Their position of social power created a bias. They found in the text what they were looking for to justify their political and social position.<br />
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Liberationists turned it around. They did not believe that theologians, like anyone else, could escape ideology (capitalist, racist, or sexist) that colored their reading. Recognizing that ideology was inescapable, what mattered was the nature of ideology and whether it furthered freedom or subjugation. As liberation theologians, they brought to the text a prior commitment to the oppressed and applied Marxist and critical race and feminist theories and found within the text the idea of a holistic salvation for blacks, women and the poor overlooked by other theologians.<br />
During the turmoil of the 1960s and 70s, liberationists came to identify the oppressed as knowing something about God arising from their own experience. What oppressed people heard or read in the Bible was significantly different because of the situation of oppression. An example I like to give: If two people are praying and one is a rich and male Wall Street banker and the other a poor single black mother, how are their prayers different? What they find by way of religion differs because of their individual social positions. This is obvious to us now, but theology had virtually ignored it believing that classic and modern hermeneutical tools were sufficient to discover the meaning of the text. Liberationists sought to validate a reading “from below” by recognizing it as a valid theology. For them, a theology that ignored oppressed people in their struggle was ultimately an abstraction that made it irrelevant to the social or political situation and could not bring about the radical social change they saw as necessary.<br />
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<b>How would taking theology more seriously change the fields of American Religious History and US Intellectual History?’</b><br />
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Religious history and intellectual history are close siblings. When we think of historians of American religion such as Perry Miller, Sydney E. Ahlstrom and Mark Noll, they are all concerned with religious ideas and how they shaped the nation’s political and social life. Recently, Molly Worthen and Christopher Grasso have followed in those footsteps. For historians of religion attending to theology in both formal and popular forms, not just lived religion or institutions, can expand the field to demonstrate how religious ideas combine with other systems of thought to bring about disruption and continuity.<br />
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As the work of applying a specific hermeneutic to the biblical text, Christian theology, particularly of the Protestant kind, is continually changing and adapting to social and political environments and influencing them in return. For example, the Protestant Reformation’s doctrine of the priesthood of all believers and justification by faith became a basis for the ascendancy of modern democracy. It’s not the whole story, but surely part of it.<br />
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It’s easy to think that the theology of a conservative evangelical like Carl F. H. Henry, considered the theological father of the Christian right, remained strictly within an unchanging dogma. More attention needs to given to Henry and how his theology changed and its political ramifications. I only touch on this in my book but intrigued by its possibly for illuminating the theological foundation for the rise of the Christian right. Like any other field of thought we might investigate, the language of theology is learned.<br />
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The field of intellectual history has experienced a revival in the last couple of decades but it has also narrowed by often excluding theological thought in understanding movements like pragmatism, critical theory, feminism and political conservatives and radicals. We tend to understand these in non-religious terms. By attending to change in theological thinking, intellectual history can offer a fuller more robust description of the constitution and dissemination of ideas. Maybe because the fields of intellectual and religious history have produced a huge amount of scholarly work they have forgotten that they need each other. We need to bring these back closer together and I see good signs this is happening.<br />
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<b>Of all the thinkers you write about, both secular religious, both more contemporary and distant, do you have a favorite?</b><br />
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I don’t think much about individual thinkers but rather I pay attention to ideas and always have. Asked if I have any intellectual heroes, my answer is generally no, but I’m impressed by the power of certain ideas and their eloquent expression. I admire a probing mind that offers insight for understanding the social world especially that of William James, Karl Mannheim, Simone de Beauvoir, Juan Luis Segundo, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and James Cone. I’m generally interested in how cultures are constructed and the embeddedness of individuals so I have a keen interest in social theory. Those thinkers who take that on have my full attention.<br />
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<b>Your book recovers a very important and unexpected chapter in the history of secularization. Tell the blog readers about how the liberationists' efforts to secularize religion changes the way we think of modernity. </b><br />
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Our work in intellectual and religious history needs to be continually suspicious of the categorical secular/sacred split. Asking what counts as religion, or theological thinking, is the first step. That’s not settled. Instead of seeing religion as under assault by secularizing forces or of religious incursions into the secular state, I think the main story is about them being mutually constitutive. Modernity has been a movement toward a unified political order in which there is no room for a challenge by any other realm or interest. The field of political theology is critically examining the phenomena and offers historians a theoretical scheme.<br />
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Liberationists, as political theologians, marked a critical historical junction as theology was breaking through its artificial sequestering and “secular” thinkers were recognizing its power to both legitimate social structures and challenge them. This was the end of private religion and the start of recognizing that religion(s) offered competing social visions for society that often clashed with the goals of a liberal state. America is now again at another critical point in which a new “war of religions” has emerged between the religious right and the religious left. The religious left has gained strength and visibility. This is a political conflict in which different views of God and God’s will is at the center in regard to human sexuality, the meaning of social justice and the nation’s self-definition. The question now is whether the liberal state can negotiate that conflict and maintain its preeminence.<br />
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<b>What are you working on next?</b><br />
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I’ve started a research project on the long cultural history of feminist thought and how it led to the gender revolution we are experiencing today. I have wanted to do this work for a long time. I set it aside for the topic of liberation theology for a variety of reasons.<br />
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Of course, the relationship between feminism and changing gender norms is both one of affinity and conflict in which the political, scientific and philosophical come into play. I believe that religious ideas play a significant part in redefining what it means to be a woman, a man or non-binary. Ultimately, questions of gender equality are moral questions on how we will live and organize society as gendered and sexual being. There is much to do in the way of research but the field literature is vast and extremely fruitful.<br />
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Thank you!<br />
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Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-74026816016917875452018-08-27T09:00:00.000-06:002018-08-27T09:00:06.217-06:00Finds from the Far East Broadcasting Company Digital Archives: Missionary Radio and the Cuban Missile Crisis<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/DODCMCBM-PX-66-20-13.aspx" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="828" data-original-width="1000" height="264" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8SK4cMzVSN2gq02Pu_aSzZxwyd1oiXNPxZ3XMtMb7Dd-X_vVPP9VYL8-ZRY5mnsy7j3sxNAeEXytjthmcgHOfaxiNWCR-9VIyR9NoR3oxeULqolH7pZiLRcnnk0G2i3imAtNpnf7iOA/s320/DODCMCBM-PX-66-20-13.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/DODCMCBM-PX-66-20-13.aspx" target="_blank">Map showing potential ranges of Soviet MRBM and IRMB <br />missiles from Cuba. Source: JFK Library</a></td></tr>
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For thirteen days in October 1962, the world stood on the precipice of disaster as the United States and the Soviet Union faced off over the placement of Soviet missiles on the island of Cuba. The construction of nuclear missile sites just 90-miles off of the coast of the United States posed an existential national security threat and brought the Cold War superpowers to the brink of nuclear war. After days of tense discussions with his advisors about how to handle the unfolding crisis, President John F. Kennedy announced to the world that he would impose a naval “quarantine” to keep Soviet ships from delivering weapons to Cuba and demanded that Soviet Premier Khrushchev remove the missile sites from the island. The October 22 speech was broadcast to televisions and radios across the United States, but it also reached radios in Cuba—thanks in part to missionary radio station networks such as the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC). Documents and images from the <a href="https://febcintl.org/febcintl2017/" target="_blank">FEBC International digital archive</a> provide some fascinating insight into this important moment in the crisis.<br />
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President Kennedy requested ten radio stations with the range to reach Cuba, including FEBC shortwave station KGEI in San Carlos, California, to broadcast hours of Voice of America (VOA) programming throughout the crisis as well as his October 22 speech. This speech included a direct message to the Cuban people:<br />
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Finally, I want to say a few words to the captive people of Cuba, to whom this speech is being directly carried by special radio facilities. I speak to you as a friend, as one who knows of your deep attachment to your fatherland, as one who shares your aspirations for liberty and justice for all. And I have watched and the American people have watched with deep sorrow how your nationalist revolution was betrayed-- and how your fatherland fell under foreign domination. Now your leaders are no longer Cuban leaders inspired by Cuban ideals. They are puppets and agents of an international conspiracy which has turned Cuba against your friends and neighbors in the Americas--and turned it into the first Latin American country to become a target for nuclear war--the first Latin American country to have these weapons on its soil.<br />
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These new weapons are not in your interest. They contribute nothing to your peace and well-being. They can only undermine it. But this country has no wish to cause you to suffer or to impose any system upon you. We know that your lives and land are being used as pawns by those who deny your freedom.<br />
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Many times in the past, the Cuban people have risen to throw out tyrants who destroyed their liberty. And I have no doubt that most Cubans today look forward to the time when they will be truly free--free from foreign domination, free to choose their own leaders, free to select their own system, free to own their own land, free to speak and write and worship without fear or degradation. And then shall Cuba be welcomed back to the society of free nations and to the associations of this hemisphere. [1]</span></blockquote>
The speech reflected the anti-communist stance of the Kennedy administration. Drawing links between democratic governance, liberal capitalism, and support for religious freedom, American leaders such as Kennedy sought to highlight the differences between the United States and the atheistic, communist Soviet Union and its client states. In an atmosphere of Cold War competition—which included the arms race as well as the ideological battle for "hearts and minds" in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East—such rhetoric took on considerable importance.<br />
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The missile crisis ended on October 28, when Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles from Cuba. In early December 1962, Kennedy invited the station owners who had broadcast the speech and VOA programs to the White House to receive a special commendation for their patriotism and contributions to national security. Robert Bowman, the president of the Far East Broadcasting Company was one of the ten station owners who received this commendation.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/picture.php?/2060/search/501" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="895" data-original-width="1200" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjknYER_3xrc_s-NVXs72OjilT2zMSqyH-UbLVHKfEYuf4dqZV80jyXQOcgjh4ksIqiBvUwAQVD1MC7aOPJk7biiugkPEQePv8_VRfo0eGVTa25R_zXIbm0X2G-QiDCcR2DmuPdUa5XfQ/s400/F02060_KennedyCuba.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/picture.php?/2060/search/501" target="_blank">Robert H. Bowman, president and co-founder of the FEBC, receives a handshake and award from U.S. President John F. Kennedy, on behalf of KGEI, at a ceremony following the successful blockade of ships during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Image used with permission from the FEBC Archives.</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/picture.php?/1919/search/501" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="974" data-original-width="691" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPHSp4fPZr4QxC7VBtuF_6zFloV5rCIKaKGCP11tumGGOFscWuZsGQhGBblSHFyi9XE1sGiNqOVh5HShdK-W01zDknusH-ZIH3P0hbUFWBwqi1kcWdKNXSfVTHY8os7MUMxrin0VacYw/s400/F01919_KennedyArticle.jpg" width="283" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/picture.php?/1919/search/501" target="_blank">Associated Press article in a Danville (Virginia) newspaper on the award ceremony in which President Kennedy honored KGEI and nine other broadcasters for their communication service during the Cuban Crisis of September-October of 1962. Photos and the award can be viewed in images #200, 201, 205. Venue: White House, Washington, D.C. Newspaper: The Register: Danville,VA., December 5, 1962. Image used with permission from the FEBC Archives.</a></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/picture.php?/205/search/501" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="824" data-original-width="1050" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivsU2cENqnqrQS8ZU5_gayTovT7ap1lV5psi9faYO428LS2DCuFH4z9E6QkWYuinTRySR53fCGFAGtV8SGZ5t-mDJzv9Ol_9Q4A0NYrhglQcRa5K9KDyNE6zL_8bzOiCfUeaxz8oL0NQ/s400/F00205_KGEICuba2.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/picture.php?/205/search/501" target="_blank">The certificate that President John F. Kennedy presented to FEBC President Robert H. Bowman in a special ceremony at the White House. Image used with permission from the FEBC Archives.</a></td></tr>
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Aside from highlighting an interesting moment in the history of the roles that evangelical Christian organizations have played in U.S. foreign relations, the story also reveals the tremendous growth that American missionary radio stations had experienced by the 1960s. FEBC had begun broadcasting Christian programming from the Philippines in 1948, using a small 1000-watt transmitter with a limited range. Eager to share the Gospel with the millions of unreached people throughout the world, the FEBC and other similar missionary radio stations expanded their operations considerably throughout the decades that followed. By the 1960s, FEBC was broadcasting evangelistic programming in dozens of languages and dialects on transmitters that could reach radios across Latin America, Asia, and the Soviet Union. The story of this expansion is one that blends the histories of missionary work with the histories of technology, globalization, informal empire, and international relations during the Cold War.<br />
<br />
Since these stories make up part of my book manuscript, I was delighted to come across the <a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/" target="_blank">digital archive that the FEBC maintains</a>. The archive includes a fascinating array of photographs, documents, and radio programs that have been digitized. <a href="https://febcintl.org/photos/about.php" target="_blank">According to the site</a>, “The Archive consists of digital representations of audio, scanned photographs, documents, objects, and copies of digital images which represent the life of FEBC, including images of events influencing its founding in 1946 to the present. This archive was originally compiled and designed by Jim Bowman of International Christian Radio Associates after his retirement from FEBC. Not only is Jim the son of Robert Bowman, co-founder of Far East Broadcasting Company, he held a number of positions within FEBC including president of FEBC USA. The initial focus of the archive by Jim Bowman was collecting documentation from the first twenty years of FEBC's development, 1946 to about 1965." It is keyword searchable but also fascinating to browse. For historians of religion interested in the history of missionary radio, this is a really exciting resource.<br />
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<br />
[1] John F. Kennedy, <i>Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: John F. Kennedy; Containing the Public Messages, Speeches, and Statements of the President, 1961-1963 </i>(Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1962), 486. For the text of the full speech, follow <a href="https://quod.lib.umich.edu/p/ppotpus/4730892.1962.001/871" target="_blank">this link</a>.<br />
<br />
Note: since some of the material in the archive is sensitive, I strongly encourage anyone interested in using the materials for publication to contact the FEBC for permissions.<br />
<br />Lauren Turekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16371471313398753968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-73128281096622676102018-08-23T03:00:00.000-06:002018-08-23T03:00:02.252-06:00Book List on Women, Gender, and Sex in American Religious History<b>Andrea L. Turpin</b><br />
<b> </b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">This fall I get to teach one of my favorite classes: my graduate course
on Women, Gender, and Sex in American Religious History. One of the
readings I assign for the first day is quite possibly my favorite
historiographic essay of all time, Catherine Brekus's
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">“Introduction: Searching for Women in Narratives
of American Religious History,” in <i>The Religious History of American Women:
Reimagining the Past</i>, ed. Brekus (North Carolina, 2007).</span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iIAm1bMDO6tRrigGhZqftJI6EFTqc6Ih7rix_Ps1CCZuJiAPUEvRFf9JoHFCJziGPE5f-v_ED73daRKShv7MUxM_WIWiw2XuxRAANm2jDNFiTVrSzRT1_TXudnF6jcZOblxCraRHV5Q/s1600/brekus+book+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="330" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2iIAm1bMDO6tRrigGhZqftJI6EFTqc6Ih7rix_Ps1CCZuJiAPUEvRFf9JoHFCJziGPE5f-v_ED73daRKShv7MUxM_WIWiw2XuxRAANm2jDNFiTVrSzRT1_TXudnF6jcZOblxCraRHV5Q/s320/brekus+book+pic.jpg" width="211" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span>In this ten-year-old essay, Brekus examines why so many synthetic works of American religious history ignore women and why so many synthetic works of American women's history ignore religion. She makes a compelling case that the answer is not that scholarship on American women's religious history doesn't exist--and that both omissions leave our understanding of our collective past significantly impoverished.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Yet five years after the release of </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><i>The Religious History of American Women</i>, the December 2012 issue of the <i>Journal of American History</i> dedicated to a state-of-the-field analysis of American women's and gender history hardly mentioned religion at all. And as late as 2016 I was still seeing so many book lists for lay readers interested in American religious history that didn't include books by or about women that I was moved to write <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2016/06/summer-reading-list-of-american-protestant-history/" target="_blank">my first ever blog post</a> on the subject.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">But I am encouraged by my class, both the students in it and the books available to assign for it. The course has enrolled a large number of students, and roughly equal numbers of women and men are interested in the topic. (I wrote a guest post last year <a href="http://www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiousbench/2017/05/diversity-christian-higher-education/" target="_blank">over at the Anxious Bench</a> reflecting on my experience teaching an earlier version of this course to 6 men and 1 woman!) And even though I last taught the course only a year and half ago, I changed about one-third of the books on the syllabus because so much excellent work has been published in the last two years.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Each week the class reads one book and an additional article or book chapter on a complementary topic. In the readings for the course, I strive for diversity of multiple types: religious traditions, race and ethnicity, historical time period, styles of writing, and classic vs. recent works. In different years the course ends up having slightly different emphases depending on the interests of the students enrolled, my research at the time, what books have recently been published, and the directions in which the field is developing. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Particularly noteworthy in this iteration is the recent expansion of scholarship on religion and sexuality. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">And it is a sign of the vitality of the field of women, gender, and sex in American religious history that there are so many excellent books that I could have included that did not make this particular semester's list. Judging from the books on this year's syllabus, shout out to the university presses of Oxford, North Carolina, and Cornell, who have all published multiple titles in this area.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>Now without further ado, for your reading pleasure, here are the books for this year:</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYHK0ECf1OB6NfW1YAJ1UG2EmdDImWVCai1MKrE55iW9-G-FX0Xh3trpYa8gXxpHEBXyLAJOW1zwIDZu5ekC0qNzgTr6ejP-vG9WXehfaqaZnU6Jz51sdSi4kIGOY-6XRWlZ73h3qep4/s1600/scott+book+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="324" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCYHK0ECf1OB6NfW1YAJ1UG2EmdDImWVCai1MKrE55iW9-G-FX0Xh3trpYa8gXxpHEBXyLAJOW1zwIDZu5ekC0qNzgTr6ejP-vG9WXehfaqaZnU6Jz51sdSi4kIGOY-6XRWlZ73h3qep4/s320/scott+book+pic.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
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Joan Wallach Scott, <i>Sex and Secularism</i> (Princeton, 2017) <br />
<br />
Carol F. Karlsen, <i>The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England </i>(W.W. Norton, 1987)<br /><br />Susan Juster, <i>Disorderly Women: Sexual Politics & Evangelicalism in Revolutionary New England</i> (Cornell, 1994)<br /><br />Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, <i>A House Full of Females: Plural Marriage and Women's Rights in Early Mormonism, 1835-1870 </i>(Knopf, 2017)<br /><br />Kathi Kern, <i>Mrs. Stanton’s Bible</i> (Cornell, 2001)<br /><br />Andrea L. Turpin, <i>A New Moral Vision: Gender, Religion, and the Changing Purposes of American Higher Education, 1837–1917</i> (Cornell, 2016)<br />
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*I offer the book to my students at my author's discount so I don't make a profit. We use this day to discuss not only the topic, but also the process of writing a dissertation and turning it into a book. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjkjn5M1Kp2yKD2Rcb72hv5lZgpYajUeMEwnWtF6YZrUeK4p7Q-yf2u8pkQhs7-eYCnZL3XsqttiYhzKhs-IiRyvh25JrlzHQGb6REfOTkEXrvPn-4LLX5bCcwfcHoTGavyfUtr3SoBU/s1600/griffith+book+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="329" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUjkjn5M1Kp2yKD2Rcb72hv5lZgpYajUeMEwnWtF6YZrUeK4p7Q-yf2u8pkQhs7-eYCnZL3XsqttiYhzKhs-IiRyvh25JrlzHQGb6REfOTkEXrvPn-4LLX5bCcwfcHoTGavyfUtr3SoBU/s320/griffith+book+pic.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
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Sarah Imhoff, <i>Masculinity and the Making of American Judaism </i>(Indiana, 2017)<br />
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Kristin Kobes DuMez, <i>A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism</i> (Oxford, 2015)<br />
<br />
Marie Griffith, <i>Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics</i> (Basic, 2017)<br /><br />Heather R. White, <i>Reforming Sodom: Protestants and the Rise of Gay Rights</i> (North Carolina, 2015)<br /><br />Daniel Williams, <i>Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade</i> (Oxford, 2016)<br /><br />Ula Yvette Taylor, <i>The Promise of Patriarchy: Women and the Nation of Islam</i> (North Carolina, 2017)<br /><br />James M. Ault, <i>Spirit and Flesh: Life in a Fundamentalist Baptist Church</i> (Knopf, 2004)<br />
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<b>As I mentioned earlier, in addition to these books, the class reads several standalone articles and book chapters. I want to highlight three 2018 edited volumes that make helpful contributions to the field and are the source of some of these chapters: </b><br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSX_orFFrXZ676ZZypB3bDELvPUkGMv8EW7OtVgTq37neK0L1-QYGvBIt58A1DcZHDLynDM7EraoS9nB7PZzP9iJwsCfMKFEZWoLy6GaqMCws1U8FRq4EKtHhs3rDBfVZfe4SIJVoo6Y/s1600/devotions+desires+book+pic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNSX_orFFrXZ676ZZypB3bDELvPUkGMv8EW7OtVgTq37neK0L1-QYGvBIt58A1DcZHDLynDM7EraoS9nB7PZzP9iJwsCfMKFEZWoLy6GaqMCws1U8FRq4EKtHhs3rDBfVZfe4SIJVoo6Y/s320/devotions+desires+book+pic.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
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Eds. Gillian Frank, Bethany Moreton, & Heather R. White, <i>Devotions and Desires: Histories of Sexuality and Religion in the United States</i> (North Carolina, 2018)<br /><br />Eds. Michele Lise Tarter & Catie Gill, <i>New Critical Studies on Early Quaker Women, 1650-1800 </i>(Oxford, 2018)<br /><br />Eds. Leilah Danielson, Marian Mollin, & Doug Rossinow, <i>The Religious Left in Modern America: Doorkeepers of a Radical Faith</i> (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)<br />
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I suspect next time I teach this course, several readers of this blog will have produced excellent new work in the field to include! <br />
<br />Andreahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17720330671072395668noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-82970667880558714162018-08-22T12:31:00.000-06:002018-08-22T12:31:21.976-06:00Fall Preview: Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism<b>Maggie J. Elmore</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
(on behalf of the Cushwa Center)<br />
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This fall, the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism at the University of Notre Dame will be hosting a series of events that will appeal to a wide array of scholars of American religion. As always, the events are free and open to the public.<br />
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1) Hibernian Lecture: "America and the Irish Revolution, 1916-1922"│Sept. 21<br />
<i>The 2018 Hibernian Lecture marks the fortieth anniversary of the relationship between the Hibernians and the Cushwa Center. In 1978, the Ancient Order of Hibernians and Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians undertook a campaign to establish an endowment at the University of Notre Dame for illuminating the Irish heritage in America. This year's lecture features Ruán O'Donnell. O'Donnell is senior lecturer in history at the University of Limerick. His current research examines Irish radicalism and international pro-Irish Republican networks during the Irish Revolution. Details <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/events/2018/09/21/hibernian-lecture-america-and-the-irish-revolution-19161922/" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br />
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2) Public Lecture:"Historical Empathy in the Writing of Religious Biography"│Oct. 3<br />
<i>John Wilsey (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) will discuss writing religious biography, drawing on his current research, a religious life of John Foster Dulles. Details <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/events/2018/10/03/public-lecture-historical-empathy-in-the-writing-of-religious-biography/" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br />
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3) Cushwa Center Lecture: "Sex and American Christianity: The Religious Divides that Fractured a Nation"│Oct. 25<br />
<i>This year's lecture will feature R. Marie Griffith, John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Griffith directs the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics and is the author of </i>Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics <i>(Basic Books, 2017). Details <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/events/2018/10/25/cushwa-center-lecture-sex-and-american-christianity-the-religious-divides-that-fractured-a-nation/" target="_blank">here</a>. </i><br />
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4) Seminar in American Religion│Oct. 27<br />
<i>This semester the seminar will discuss David Hollinger's recent book, </i>Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America<i>, (Princeton University Press, 2017). Commentators will include R. Marie Griffith (Washington University in St. Louis) and Rebecca Tinio McKenna (University of Notre Dame). Details <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/events/2018/10/27/seminar-in-american-religion/" target="_blank">here</a>.</i><br />
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For those who can't attend, Cushwa's YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSCevI8yLEWxbzv4DFbq16Q" target="_blank">channel</a> features video of most center events. Subscribe to see videos for these and other events as they're posted.<br />
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Please direct any questions to cushwa@nd.edu. We look forward to seeing you at these events!Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05048779443216818266noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-86871219766649485882018-08-02T11:44:00.001-06:002018-08-02T11:46:06.729-06:005 Questions with David Endres <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqn0mZSs4BST-GrASZR1rDhH_EHGXZzbveG276C7QUx9OottoiP24z22562z5bA6cbzFmSJU59SoPCf2cj9Djip7UEHEoIcED7W_uuGIciIOKk8p_MJqqZriLjytCnvPhR0J4H4CbUt8s/s1600/e+book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1061" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqn0mZSs4BST-GrASZR1rDhH_EHGXZzbveG276C7QUx9OottoiP24z22562z5bA6cbzFmSJU59SoPCf2cj9Djip7UEHEoIcED7W_uuGIciIOKk8p_MJqqZriLjytCnvPhR0J4H4CbUt8s/s320/e+book.jpg" width="212" /></a><i>I corresponded recently with </i>Fr. David Endres <i>about his new book</i>, Many Tonges, One Faith: A History of Franciscan Parish Life in the United States. <i>Fr. Endres is Associate Professor of Church History and Historical Theology at the Athenaeum of Ohio where he also serves as Dean. He is also the hardworking editor of the </i>US Catholic Historian.<br />
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<b>(1) Writing a history of Franciscan parishes is a huge undertaking. As you note, at the height Franciscan parish ministry in 1968, the order ran around 500 parishes and missions in the US. Tell the blog how you approached this challenge and why you settled on writing the history of fourteen specific parishes. </b><br />
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Unlike the Jesuits and Dominicans, among other religious communities, there have been almost no studies of US Franciscanism to date. That was the impetus for the United States Franciscan History Project under the direction of Jeffrey Burns and the Academy of American Franciscan History: to bring together scholars to reflect on different aspects of the US Franciscan story. In addition to my book on Franciscan parishes, there has been one other monograph published in the project series: Ray Haberski’s Voice of Empathy: A History of Franciscan Media in the United States. Hopefully, additional forthcoming volumes will address other topics.<br />
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One 1950s survey of the Franciscans’ US presence blamed factionalization within the Franciscans on the lack of national or international studies that go beyond a given Franciscan province or branch of the order. He (a friar himself) lamented that he would never be able to please his confreres -- the Conventuals, Third Order Regular, and Capuchins would feel overlooked if he concentrated on the more numerous OFMs (Friars Minor) and all the priests and brothers would resent being chronicled along with the secular Franciscans and the numerous women’s branches.<br />
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I tried to keep some balance, and perhaps since I am not a Franciscan myself, I was a bit freer to shape the book around specific parishes – no matter the branch or branches of Franciscanism represented. I looked for compelling stories that related to broader developments in the history of the Church and nation, but also attempted to provide a diverse representation of parishes – ethnically and geographically, large and small, active and now closed or merged. I knew that to tell such a large story, I had to be selective in choosing parishes to detail. The number “fourteen” was somewhat arbitrary, but I think it provides enough case studies to derive some general conclusions.<br />
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To achieve this diversity of place and kind, I made use of numerous archives. The archives of the St. Barbara Province in Santa Barbara, California and the St. John Baptist Province here in Cincinnati provided a wealth of information. Even though Cincinnati is 800 miles from New Orleans, friars from the Cincinnati province ministered in Louisiana (along with Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Arizona, and New Mexico) so archives helped extend my research reach. Other holdings were consulted in person or with the help of kind archivists and librarians.<br />
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(<b>2) You show how Franciscans very much became tied to place in America. Tell the blog how the order was shaped by American realities. </b><br />
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I think that too often scholars (who do not necessarily focus on religious history), see Catholic history in particular as not having much to do with the US historical narrative. But in addition to being tied into major developments in American Catholic history, the book, I hope, helps explore major demographic and social trends that transcend the US Catholic experience.<br />
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Those developments included the realities of frontier life, massive European immigration, and the emergence of ethnic-predominate cities. These geo-demographic shifts propelled Franciscans into pastoring parishes in the nineteenth century, though this was not part of their experience in Europe.<br />
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In the latter half of the twentieth century, the Franciscans were again shaped by new American realities – the interstate highway system, growth of suburbia, the Baby Boom, feminism, and protest movements of the 1960s and beyond. All of these impacted parish life, affecting how Franciscans ministered and how they assessed their ministries.<br />
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By engaging some of these broader developments in American life and the American religious experience, I hoped to situate Franciscan parishes within the US historical narrative, not as an aberration, but as a nexus of local institutions and communities that help compose the “American story.”<br />
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<b>(3) <i>Many Tongues, One Faith</i> is as much a global story as it is a national story. How does the story of the Franciscans compare to other orders? I'm thinking here of John McGreevy’s work on the Jesuits. Both orders were shaped by the secularization policies of Europe and their coming to the US, but did they respond in different ways? </b><br />
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It is certainly a global story. The first Franciscans to the US – whether Irish, Italian, German, or Polish – all came from European provinces, bringing with them their own ideals and expectations about being Catholic, being Franciscan, and being ministers of the Gospel. This was not unique to the Franciscans, but I think that friars and religious sisters responded in different ways from the Jesuits and others, partly because of the distinctiveness of their charism.<br />
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In the conclusion of the book, I discuss the Franciscan charism: to be poor among the poor; to foster fraternity and community; to be ministers of reconciliation, healing, and peace; and to serve where there is the greatest need, often among those on the margins of society. Their charism, especially the commitment to ministering to the underserved, impacted the locus of their ministries. While the Jesuits had a lively Euro-American exchange of personnel among their colleges, the Franciscans were missioned to the frontier, or urban centers, or Native American missions. Though some returned home later in life, most stayed in America. Consequently, their lives were significantly shaped by their local experiences of ministry and the people they encountered. More so perhaps than other orders, the Franciscans seemed to stay close to the people, identifying with them, no matter if their own ethnic, racial, or socioeconomic backgrounds were dissimilar.<br />
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The work of John McGreevy and others now provide some interesting possibilities for inter-“religious order” comparisons. The Jesuits, more so than the Franciscans, traveled to and from Europe – even after many years of ministry in America – and maintained a close connection to the Jesuit superior general in Rome. The order overall maintained a greater top-down, military model. Overall, my reading of the Franciscan story is that they were more decentralized in their identities and decision-making. The provinces and the semi-autonomous Franciscan “custodies” emphasized local governance. This helped them to respond to local situations and needs in ways different from other orders.<br />
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<b>(4) Of the fourteen parishes you wrote about, do you have a favorite? </b><br />
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Of those that I detail in the book, the one that has resonated most with me is the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation in Carey, Ohio, located about three hours north of my home. As a Marian shrine that remains popular among pilgrims, it is a place where the present is linked to the past. In Carey, an image of Our Lady of Consolation was imported from Luxembourg and brought in procession to its new home at the church in 1875. On the day of the procession, rain threatened on all sides but did not fall on the statue or procession. The safe passage of the statue through the storm was viewed as miraculous. At the same time, unbeknownst to those in the procession, a little girl whose family had taken part in the procession was healed from an incurable illness. It was the first of many miraculous healings, which many believe continue at the shrine today. Dozens of artifacts lining the shrine’s walls stand as testimony to the claims: crutches, casts, splints, and even a six-foot-long wicker basket.<br />
The history of the shrine is full of fascinating stories – some of which are outside the scope of Many Tongues, One Faith or could only be discussed briefly therein. I am particularly interested in the healings said to have occurred there and how they were publicized, especially in the first decades of the twentieth century. The healings shed light on ethnic and devotional Catholicism and how “holy places” operated within the psyche of American Catholics. And as much as believers venerated the location as a place of special intercession by the Blessed Virgin Mary, the shrine also has been the target of anti-Catholicism: a Ku Klux Klan demonstration, an arson attempt, and a successful theft of the famous statue. The vacillations of belief and doubt provide an interesting lens to view religious devotion, reported miracles, and the advancement of science.<br />
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My study of the shrine has developed into a near book-length manuscript, “America’s Lourdes: Devotion and Healing at the Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation.” I hope to further develop the topic over the coming years and ready it for publication.<br />
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<b>(5) Your book builds on the social history tradition of Jay Dolan and Patrick Carey’s classic studies of parish life. One might say the parish is where “the rubber meets the road.” Why is the parish still a great lens to use to study US Catholic history?</b><br />
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I am indebted to earlier scholarship that helped focus on lay Catholics and their involvement in parish life. Today, as in the past, most Catholics’ experience of the Church is at the level of the parish. More so than any diocesan structure or specialized Church-run institution, the parish is primary to a community’s religious experience. The correspondence of bishops, their sermons, and financial ledgers readily available at diocesan archives tell part of the story, but only part of it. Getting beyond institutional records to tell the stories of communities is the challenge and also the benefit of researching parishes.<br />
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I attempted to use various sources to find the “voice” of friars, women religious, and lay Catholics, utilizing local and parish histories, newspapers, bulletins, and occasionally, interviews. My hope is that it has helped flesh out the lived experience of everyday “people in the pews.” Of course, a selective, case-study approach offers some insights into that experience, but also implicitly points to the need for further studies. If my research has provided an impetus or avenues for future research, it will have achieved part of the goal of the United States Franciscan History Project.<br />
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Pete Cajka http://www.blogger.com/profile/05999945393751122350noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-3037281883956004862018-07-31T17:33:00.001-06:002018-07-31T17:33:58.977-06:00Syllabus Season Pro Tips Part II: Active Learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Syllabus writing season, for me, can be a bit of a bittersweet exercise. Sort of like Tom Hanks in the <a href="https://youtu.be/vViMeAkOsv8" target="_blank">beginning of </a><i><a href="https://youtu.be/vViMeAkOsv8" target="_blank">You've Got Mail</a>, </i>I love the beginning of fall and continue to be optimistic that this academic year will be better than the last. At the same time, in order to get there, I have to think about what worked and what didn't work in my classes. Reading student evaluations is a part of that process (more on that tomorrow). But so is my own self-assessment, which can be just as frustrating but for different reasons. I'm constantly wondering how I could have taught an event or idea better. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvZTJLevL4vnFU0IG2M_VaMkkazhOXMaeftT9m0mviYR_Bb_H1ntZEBuqwl4FfYCmO5DpQ6Pdk0OvEGr0edPXaN-zxNdsiP7cGXleYtyDMSfhgRZvEHEF7M56Hvz6EyGCTTbb6UZMsDA/s1600/IMG_8695.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcvZTJLevL4vnFU0IG2M_VaMkkazhOXMaeftT9m0mviYR_Bb_H1ntZEBuqwl4FfYCmO5DpQ6Pdk0OvEGr0edPXaN-zxNdsiP7cGXleYtyDMSfhgRZvEHEF7M56Hvz6EyGCTTbb6UZMsDA/s320/IMG_8695.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So active UNI Honors students and I left the classroom <br />to discuss the U.S. and Global Islam outside (Fall 2017)</td></tr>
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Whether I'm teaching a new course or a course in my regular rotation, I like to try new things. This is a direct result of my time at FSU. Like any grad program with a strong institutional memory or social cohort, we shared teaching strategies and swapped stories about what worked and what didn't. At the time, trying new assignments (like Emily Suzanne Clark's use of <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2016/01/teaching-assigning-unessays.html" target="_blank">the "unessay"</a>) or new points of reference (like Charlie McCrary and Mike Graziano's focus on law, <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2014/09/teaching-religion-law-in-us-history_3.html" target="_blank">parts I</a> <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2014/09/teaching-religion-law-in-us-history.html" target="_blank">& II</a>) was a helpful way to find my own style and preferred strategies. To me, this blog was an important extension of that community of shared discovery as, for example, <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2012/03/social-media-in-religious-studies.html" target="_blank">Mike Altman</a>, <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2012/03/social-media-part-ii-follow-riah.html" target="_blank">Paul Harvey</a>, and <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2012/03/social-media-part-iii-creating.html" target="_blank">Kelly Baker</a> shared their use of Twitter and social media in the classroom or <a href="http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2013/09/teaching-religion-in-history-of-us.html" target="_blank">Monica Mercado shared her syllabus</a> for a course on Sex and Sexuality in Modern U.S. History. Over time, seeking new ideas and approaches became a part of how I think about and approach teaching in general. It helps <i>me</i> see "old" courses in new ways and, hopefully, sharpen my teaching skills.<br />
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One way my teaching has changed since graduate school is that I have incorporated more "student-centered" <a href="https://distance.fsu.edu/docs/instruction_at_fsu/Chptr8.pdf" target="_blank">active learning</a> into my classes. What I've learned along the way is that this language is more intimidating than actually implementing it. Simply, I have an active learning classroom when my students <i>do stuff</i> during class time other than take notes of my lectures. I haven't abandoned lectures nor have I written them off as ineffective forms of teaching [<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/18/opinion/sunday/lecture-me-really.html" target="_blank">I still find value in lectures</a>], but I have yielded more lecture time to other learning activities in the classroom. It seems kind of counter intuitive, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. In graduate school I preferred to lecture because I was developing my own mastery of the material, but giving up on content-delivery and giving up the front-and-center position in the classroom was one way I demonstrated <i>greater</i> mastery of the material and the classroom. My students and I didn't <i>need</i> my lectures like I thought we did. In fact, when I started to read more about it, I realized my students were already doing more active learning than I realized.<br />
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The hard part was merely deciding what to do instead of lecturing. So many things "count" as active learning, some useful and some I find to be pretty corny. But, you should decide for yourself. Here are some helpful lists:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/active-learning/#tech" target="_blank">Vanderbilt, Center for Teaching, Active Learning</a></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Think-Pair-Share:</i> This one is pretty straightforward. You ask the class a question and have them write it down or just think to themselves. Next, have students turn to a neighbor talk about their answer as pairs. Depending on the class size you can have the pairs find another pair to discuss as a small group. Then, have the pairs or groups share their response with the class. At UNI, students tend to be very shy and reserved so TPS is something I do from day 1. It can be near impossible for some of my students to feel brave enough to answer an open-ended question on their own, so TPS allows students to share their thoughts while delivering it as what the group talked about. Plus, once students talk to one another it's pretty clear that they weren't the only ones who came to a particular conclusion. Much less risk of being embarrassed. <br /></li>
<li><i>Student Generated Test Questions:</i> Again, pretty straightforward. As a part of a review day or review activity, have students write example questions for the exam. When I do this, I usually have students (working in groups) write a mid-term or final exam essay question based on what they think the major themes or questions of the class have been. It's a great assessment of your teaching and their learning. If everything is going well, then most students won't have a problem identifying major themes of a unit or the whole course. Plus, it can give you sense of how prepared they are to answer an essay question. Are they writing essay questions at a higher level of difficulty than you intended? lower? on par? Your assessment of their review session can give you a sense of class performance <i>before</i> students take the exam.<br /></li>
</ul>
<li><a href="https://ctl.yale.edu/ActiveLearning" target="_blank">Yale Center for Teaching and Learning, Active Learning:</a> </li>
<ul>
<li><i>Jigsaw:</i> This is a favorite of mine, but it does take some planning, explanation, and practice, but once students "get it" they can move through the activity on their own. How's it work? Divide students into small groups. I often do this when I have multiple short readings (like different primary sources on the same event). As a small group, students discuss the readings (like "What happened?") with each student in the group focusing on something different (becoming an "expert" in one source's point of view). After a set amount of time, the designated "experts" leave their original group and discuss finer points with other "experts" in their topic ("What factors affected this source's POV?"). After a set amount of discussion time, students go back to their original groups and revisit the original question. This way students get an opportunity to examine the topic from a big picture and fine grain perspective.</li>
<ul>
<li>Did that not make any sense? <a href="https://youtu.be/euhtXUgBEts" target="_blank">Watch this video instead</a>.</li>
<li>Alternative: When I have a dense reading with multiple concepts I want students to know (e.g. a challenging journal article or chapter), I start class by dividing students into "expert" groups with their own retrieval/review question and set amount of time to discuss (eg. What is the argument? What is the source base? What's at stake? etc.). At the end of the allotted time, students form new groups so that there is an expert in each review question at the table and they inform each other of what they had talked about in their "expert" group (one person can talk about the thesis, the sources, what's at stake, etc.) After all that we have a full class discussion, moving beyond understanding the reading to analyzing it together.<br /></li>
</ul>
</ul>
<li><a href="https://www.ndsu.edu/ahss/faculty_and_staff/teaching_and_learning_resources/active_learning_activities/" target="_blank">NDSU, Active Learning Activities</a></li>
<ul>
<li><i>Ticket to Leave:</i> I don't do this one, but one of my colleagues does so I thought I'd include it. For this strategy, leave some time toward the end of class for students to reflect on the day's material or answer a question related to it. They have to hand it in order to leave. The idea is that you can have a quick assessment on your teaching and whether or not students go it. The main reason I don't do this is because I don't want the <strike>germs </strike>paper, but of course this is something a Google Form could fix (and there's a template that already exists). </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<ul>
<li> last but not least, <a href="https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/speaking-listening-techniques/" target="_blank">Cult of Pedagogy, The Big List of Discussion Strategies</a></li>
<ul>
<li>If you're looking to spice up class discussion, I highly suggest <i>Cult of Pedagogy</i>'s Big List, which is helpfully divided between high and low prep strategies. I also just recommend <i>Cult of Pedagogy</i> in general. It's geared toward elementary and secondary ed teachers, but many of the strategies and tips are applicable in higher ed (like <a href="https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/marigolds/" target="_blank">for new teachers</a>).</li>
</ul>
</ul>
Now I certainly don't think <i>everyone</i> needs to incorporate active learning into their classroom. If you read and follow <i>The Professor is In</i>, then you know Karen Kelsky's first step to a strong tenure file is "<a href="https://chroniclevitae.com/news/1924-the-professor-is-in-4-steps-to-a-strong-tenure-file%0A" target="_blank">understanding the economy of value at your specific institution</a>." This makes a lot of sense beyond tenure-track faculty; adjuncts, grad students, independent scholars--all of us, really--should know what "counts" as doing well at work. Besides the fact that I genuinely like teaching and enjoy trying new teaching strategies, I work at a teaching-emphasis institution that values continuous teaching development, especially with regard to active learning. So, experimenting with new techniques in the classroom and reflecting on what worked and what didn't and why is valued where I work. That isn't necessarily the case for everyone. And that's OK.<br />
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In general, though, I would caution everyone--especially grad students who are instructors of record--not to try too many new things all at once. There are so many overwhelming things about teaching for the first time--or really, teaching until you develop your own "standard" approach, whatever that may be--that you want to give yourself the opportunity to develop a style before you start changing it. Judicious incorporation of the techniques above can be one way to figure it out. And, if you find yourself interviewing for a job at a teaching-emphasis university like mine, some familiarity with active learning--even if it is only something you tried once <i>but are willing to learn more about</i>--can go a long way in demonstrating that you "fit" as a teacher-scholar.<br />
<br />Cara Burnidgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11352644751882154323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-5066643294251429552018-07-30T16:01:00.000-06:002018-07-30T16:01:31.805-06:00Syllabus Season Pro Tips<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaVHcHaVP-QdgVd88fIuYStO6l3higZQFEdJV62O0i9BZXy_X0k_3QsRNeixy4lhvHdcqbgL3dkeLGfUV1j5wLcA2jDlJ8ARojoVDI7XmOYlmC2Fg88B9kOUFwt-iC6cyylPSvS6GqNk/s1600/IMG_8462.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXaVHcHaVP-QdgVd88fIuYStO6l3higZQFEdJV62O0i9BZXy_X0k_3QsRNeixy4lhvHdcqbgL3dkeLGfUV1j5wLcA2jDlJ8ARojoVDI7XmOYlmC2Fg88B9kOUFwt-iC6cyylPSvS6GqNk/s400/IMG_8462.JPG" width="223" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My bitmoji reacts to Back to School <br />
products hitting the shelves</td></tr>
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As July turns to August, it's approaching that time to recognize that summer is, in fact, ending and the fall semester is approaching again (always too quickly, ammirite?). In an effort to squeeze out as much summer time as possible, I'd like to share two syllabus writing tools I've come to know and love. Both come from the good people at <a href="http://cte.rice.edu/" target="_blank">Rice University's Center for Teaching Excellence</a>.<br />
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On a <i>ridiculously</i> consistent basis, I botch my course schedule. I usually don't have a problem with organizing the content of my course schedule--that may take me awhile, but I enjoy piecing together readings, podcasts, lectures, and in-class activities to create a cohesive course. No, no, the part I regularly mess up is the calendar. As in the actual dates of my class meetings. I will inevitably use a Wednesday date for a Tuesday/Thursday class or, in one instance, just leave out an entire week. (Although that wasn't so bad because my when my wonderful students pointed it out to me it was a happy surprise to have another week of class. Or, at least, I thought so.) I could tell students those errors are there "to see if you were reading closely" but that would work approximately 0 times because a) I'm a terrible liar, b) I want my students to know we all make mistakes (See "<a href="http://cte.rice.edu/blogarchive/2016/7/6/what-is-the-error-climate-of-your-course" target="_blank">What is the Error Climate of Your Course</a>?"), and c) I find it hilarious at this point. What I've started doing instead is turning to the <a href="http://cte.rice.edu/syllabus/" target="_blank">Rice Syllabus Maker</a> created by <a href="http://wcm1.web.rice.edu/" target="_blank">Caleb McDaniel</a>. Plug in what days your class meets, your preferred format, and viola! <br />
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More importantly than the calendar, the tool I've been an evangelist for is the <a href="http://cte.rice.edu/workload/" target="_blank">Course Workload Estimator</a>. The CWE is the answer to one of the questions I as a teacher--and my students as, well, students--consistently ask: how much reading/writing is appropriate for this class? Students and instructors are likely to come to different answers, and many of us expect our students to always want as little work as possible. (I don't think that is accurate, but why is for another post.) Even so, it's important to ask, how do we know--or, ultimately, how do we decide when we don't know for sure--what's appropriate? I don't think it's enough, or good pedagogy, to assume the amount <i>I read/wrote when I was student </i>is the amount my students should be reading or writing. Not only has a lot changed about the way students read, access, or process information, but also--surprise!--my students are not me. Many, if not most, of my students are coming to college from a different background and context than me. I didn't exactly know what I was doing, but as a white woman with academic scholarships I did have well honed study habits, a sense of what a college-level essay looked like, and the economic and social security to treat my classes as my primary "job" and share that "reading" was my hobby during ice breakers. (If you are thinking "Nerd Alert!" you would be accurate.)<br />
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Fortunately, Drs. Elizabeth Barre and Justin Esarey have done the research for us. They scoured the literature pertaining to student reading and writing, which they review in their <a href="http://cte.rice.edu/blogarchive/2016/07/11/workload" target="_blank">explanatory blog post about the CWE</a>. Based on their synthesis of current research, they created a handy tool that gives educators a sense of how much time it takes students to do their coursework. What is particularly helpful is that the estimations are <i>not</i> just based on the page count of the readings or essays you're assigning. The CWE takes the difficulty level into account by prompting you to enter information about how many new concepts are found in the text or how closely you would like students to read (e.g. Is it a newspaper article written for a general audience or is it a journal article filled with jargon from the field?). Similarly for written assignments, the CWE accounts for the differences between assigning written reflections and thesis-driven essays as well as final essays that have received revisions and original drafts. Best of all, you can plug in details of your specific expectations or you can turn to their handy guidelines (found in the explanatory blog post linked above). If nothing else, by using the CWE you can gain a research-based sense of the workload you're requiring aside from any <i>perceptions </i>you, your students, or colleagues may have about the appropriate amount of work to assign students.<br />
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I even get out in front of potential student criticisms by telling my students that I used this tool when I crafted the course schedule. I say so on the very first day of class as we go over class expectations. Even if you're dubious about the utility of the CWE, I do so as a part of my effort to show students that the syllabus didn't fall from the sky. I put my <i>intellectual labor</i> into it. And, I did so based on my expertise and the expertise of colleagues. Its an effort, I hope, demystifies the role and purpose of a professor (I talk about that too). Additionally, based on what we know about <a href="https://www.chronicle.com/article/Why-We-Must-Stop-Relying-on/243213" target="_blank">student biases</a> and other <a href="https://www.aaup.org/article/student-evaluations-teaching-are-not-valid#.W1-Cs34nanc" target="_blank">problems with student evaluations</a> of their professors, the CWE can be one way that you as an instructor can professionally respond to criticisms of your teaching. For example, consulting CWE while planning your course can demonstrate a commitment to teaching effectiveness or attentiveness to current pedagogical development; alternatively, consulting CWE in response to student complaints or poor evaluation ratings could demonstrate responsiveness to criticism <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=XTZEBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=the%20professor%20is%20in&pg=PT171#v=onepage&q&f=false" target="_blank"><i>without</i> the emotive language</a> that makes teaching reflections unbearable. If your institution first values teaching effectiveness (which some schools won't) and if your institution encourages instructional reflection as a part of or separate from evaluation and promotion, then this might be something to consider for teaching development alongside teaching effectiveness. Cara Burnidgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11352644751882154323noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-82338819870007602392018-06-27T10:00:00.000-06:002018-06-28T09:33:14.940-06:00American Religion at the SHAFR 2018 Annual Meeting<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvmrFktoYMoKz5P_tpEshf7Z_NiEr4slpwGkMD0GhxCDv4QWYpl9ER2wTwZOgs5l3IVS5GmUEZXc098-sSANFQvwVcMUZPI2YSOAWp7huDuP8ojHiEEKaVWhCZCdkvhnNniLQsMdtVQ/s1600/2018-05-31+16.09.25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1022" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQvmrFktoYMoKz5P_tpEshf7Z_NiEr4slpwGkMD0GhxCDv4QWYpl9ER2wTwZOgs5l3IVS5GmUEZXc098-sSANFQvwVcMUZPI2YSOAWp7huDuP8ojHiEEKaVWhCZCdkvhnNniLQsMdtVQ/s400/2018-05-31+16.09.25.jpg" width="255" /></a><b>Lauren Turek</b><br />
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Although this year's annual <a href="http://shafr.org/sites/default/files/shafr_18_final.pdf" target="_blank">Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations meeting</a> featured fewer panels and roundtables addressing American religion than previous conferences, there were still a number of noteworthy presentations.<br />
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Particularly exciting was <b>Panel 64: Terms of Endearment: U.S. Sympathies towards Israel, 1960s-1980s</b>, which <a href="https://americanstudies.columbian.gwu.edu/melani-mcalister" target="_blank">Melani McAlister</a> chaired. This panel included two papers that shed light on American religious leaders and the dynamics of the U.S. relationship with Israel: “Rabbi Balfour Brickner and the Interreligious Challenge to American Zionism, 1967-1982," by <a href="http://www.hf.uio.no/iakh/english/people/aca/history/tenured/douglasr/" target="_blank">Doug Rossinow</a> and "Israel, Lebanon, and the Conservative Politics of Religious Persecution, 1978-1983," by <a href="https://www.danhummel.com/" target="_blank">Daniel Hummel</a>. Rossinow's paper used Rabbi Balfour Brickner's activism and writing as a means for exploring how liberal Jewish Zionism grew more contested in the shadow of the Six Day War in 1967 and the Vietnam War. Rossinow suggested that Rabbi Brickner and other Jewish liberals faced a seeming paradox of being dovish on Vietnam yet hawkish on Israel, and that the hawkishness on Israel in time created friction with their erstwhile liberal Christian allies in anti-war organizations such as Clergy and Laity Concern about Vietnam (CALCAV). While this in time pushed some supporters of Israel into closer alignment with the political right, Rossinow revealed that Brickner came to define himself as a "dove Zionist" and an advocate for a two-state solution, charting a distinctive path for himself as a liberal. Hummel pushed the story of U.S.-Israeli relations into the early 1980s, exploring the increasing commitment to Christian Zionism by the religious right after the 1982 Lebanon War. Moving beyond more well-known analyses of eschatology, Hummel argued that Israel garnered support from the Christian right for its invasion of Lebanon by claiming that it was defending religious liberty by seeking to protect a persecuted religious minority (in this case Lebanese Christians/the Maronite Phalange party). Jerry Falwell and other Christian Right stalwarts seized on this defense of international religious liberty, and, as Hummel argued, also used their growing connection with Israel as a means for countering domestic allegations that they were anti-semitic. This panel was fascinating and I look forward to seeing how these conference papers evolve into published work.<br />
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I had the pleasure of presenting a paper on <b>Panel 84: Missionary Politics and U.S. Foreign Policy</b>, which <a href="http://history.utoronto.ca/people/carol-chin" target="_blank">Carol Chin</a> chaired. <a href="http://www.emilyconroykrutz.com/" target="_blank">Emily Conroy-Krutz</a> started off the panel with a tremendous paper entitled, "'The Political Values of the American Missionary'?: Making Sense of the Missionary-Consul Connection in the 19th Century," which considered the fascinating life and work of Divie Bethune McCartee, a medical missionary and diplomat to China and Japan in the mid-19th century. Conroy-Krutz used his dual missionary-diplomat identity to discuss the significance of extraterritoriality in this period as well as to consider ideas of empire and U.S. relations in this era. <a href="https://twitter.com/evabpayne" target="_blank">Eva Payne</a> followed this with a paper on American missionary accounts of the brutal sexual violence that Korean women and girls (especially Korean Christians) faced from the Japanese during the Korean Independence Movement in 1919. “Our Girls Are in the Hands of Savages”: American Missionaries and the Korean Independence Movement," demonstrated the efforts of American missionaries to export their notions of morality and sexual purity abroad, as well as the links they drew between modesty/sexual purity and the capacity for self governance. These views contributed to the critiques these missionaries leveled against the State Department for its stated policy of neutrality in its dealings with Korea. I finished out the panel with a paper entitled "The 'Voice of Salvation': Missionary Radio as Spiritual Warfare behind the Iron and Bamboo Curtains," which examined how evangelicals used communications technology to support their persecuted brethren in the communist world and build a sense of global evangelical community.<br />
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There were several other papers and posters of note on the SHAFR program, which I unfortunately did not see in person but nevertheless would like to highlight. These include:<br />
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<b>Panel 5: Beyond Western Expansion: U.S. Empire in the 19th Century</b><br />
"Kingdoms Come: Visions of Transimperial Mission in the Antebellum Protestant Episcopal<br />
Church" by <a href="https://history.missouri.edu/people/montgomery" target="_blank">Skye Montgomery</a>, University of Missouri<br />
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<b>Poster Session #1</b><br />
"American Educators, Missionaries, and Cultural Pluralism in the Middle East after World War I," by <a href="http://kroc.nd.edu/ph-d/ph-d-students/francis-bonenfant-juwong/" target="_blank">Francis Bonenfant-Juwong</a>, University of Notre Dame<br />
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<b>Panel 34: Influencing U.S. Foreign Policy in the 19th-Century Pacific World</b><br />
"Vatican Influence in the United States: The Roman Catholic Church’s Attempt to Retain Power in the American Philippines," by Matthew Veith, University of Texas, Dallas<br />
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<b>Poster Session #2</b><br />
"Renegotiating Muslim and Turkish Identities in the Ottoman Empire, 1918-1920," by Turgay Akbaba, University of North Carolina<br />
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As always, the annual SHAFR conference was a wonderful and intellectually-stimulating weekend. The conference and society is very welcoming to scholars who study culture (including but not limited to religion) and I hope to see more religion on the program next year. I encourage RiAH readers whose work intersects with empire, foreign relations, or international politics broadly conceived to consider putting in a proposal for SHAFR 2019!<br />
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<br />Lauren Turekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16371471313398753968noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-22079144692435426892018-06-21T07:00:00.000-06:002018-06-21T07:00:09.342-06:005 Questions with Ben Wetzel<b>Cushwa Center</b><br />
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The Cushwa Center is pleased to announce that one of its postdoctoral research associates, Benjamin Wetzel, recently accepted a position as assistant professor of history at Taylor University (IN). As Ben transitions into his new role, the center is pleased to welcome Maggie Elmore as a new postdoctoral research associate. Maggie works on Latino/a Catholicism in the 20th century and comes to us from the University of California, Berkeley--you can read more about her <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/news/maggie-elmore-to-join-cushwa-center-as-postdoctoral-fellow-for-20182019/">here</a>!<br />
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Cushwa Assistant Director Shane Ulbrich recently interviewed Ben about his research projects, his perspective on what the genre of biography can do for historians, and his thoughts on the state of the academic job market. An excerpt of that interview is below, with the full transcript available on the Cushwa Center <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/news/five-questions-with-20172018-postdoctoral-fellow-benjamin-wetzel/">webpage</a>.<br />
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<img src="https://cushwa.nd.edu/assets/277758/roosevelthobancurran.jpg" /><br />
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<i>Image Credit: Luzerne County Historical Society</i></div>
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<b>SU</b>: We've kept you busy at the Cushwa Center this year writing book reviews and event recaps, managing the center's monthly blog posts, and helping out with events and administration. At the same time you've managed to teach a course and make progress on two book projects. Tell us about the research you've been pursuing this year.<br />
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<b>BW</b>: I am currently working on two book-length projects. The first is a revision of my dissertation, done at Notre Dame in the history department. That project explores how America's Christian communities debated the righteousness of America's wars from 1860 to 1920. Its main focus is on mainline white Protestants, who exercised the most cultural authority in that period, but it also provides sustained points of comparison with Christian groups on the margins of American life--black Methodists, Roman Catholics, and German-speaking Lutherans. My thesis is that a combination of ideological orientation (theology and its related manifestations) and social position (class, race, geography) did the most to influence how American Christians thought about the wars their nation waged. The manuscript is currently at the revise-and-resubmit stage with Cornell University Press. During my year with the Cushwa Center, I received initial readers' reports from the press and formulated a response letter outlining the changes I would make during revisions.<br />
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My second project is a religious biography of Theodore Roosevelt (under advance contract with Oxford University Press, to be included in its "Spiritual Lives" series). The goal of the series to produce short (80,000 words) biographies of "prominent men and women whose eminence is not primarily based on a specifically religious contribution," but for whom religion (or doubt) was important. The biographies are supposed to cover all the major events of the person's life with special attention to the religious story. My life of TR will pay a lot of attention to his personal faith journey but will also situate him within the broader narrative of American religious history in the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. During my year at Cushwa, I was able to research and write drafts of three chapters and take a short archival trip to work in the Theodore Roosevelt Collection at Harvard University.<br />
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<b>SU</b>: You taught a course for upper-level undergraduates this past semester on "Theodore Roosevelt's America." How did it go?<br />
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<b>BW</b>: I was very pleased overall. The idea was that the course would be about two-thirds on the life of TR himself and one-third on the Gilded Age and Progressive Era as a whole. Of course there was a lot of intersection between the two: themes like empire, race, political developments, and even social and cultural issues all had significant overlap with TR himself. The most successful feature of the course was probably an assignment where each student had to write a short review of a recent (last 20 years) book on TR, give a brief presentation to the class, and take five minutes of questions from classmates. During these sessions I could tell there was real thinking and learning going on and a serious engagement with what professional historians actually do. I am especially glad I was able to teach this course here since I am scheduled to do a related course ("The Roosevelts") during J-Term at Taylor this winter.<br />
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<i>Read the rest <a href="https://cushwa.nd.edu/news/five-questions-with-20172018-postdoctoral-fellow-benjamin-wetzel/">here</a>!</i>Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicismhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05048779443216818266noreply@blogger.com0