The Historical Society Announces a Competitive RFP-Based Research Program

Randall Stephens

I posted this notice at the HS blog the other day. A very relevant request for proposals for this blog as well!

Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs: Exploring the Role of Religion in the Origins of Novelty and the Diffusion of Innovation in the Progress of Civilizations

With generous funding from the John Templeton Foundation, the Historical Society is launching a major interdisciplinary grants program in September 2011. It will provide $2.0 million in research support for empirical, conceptual, and interpretive work exploring the role religion may play as a driving force of innovation in human affairs.

The competitive RFP-based research program will award approximately 15 two-year grants of $100,000 each and a few larger grants of $250,000 to support archaeological fieldwork and traditional social science and historical investigation, as well as conceptually-oriented analysis.

Donald A. Yerxa will serve as the Program Leader for Religion and Innovation in Human Affairs. And a distinguished board of advisers will be announced this summer.

A request for proposals will be forthcoming later this summer. For more information, visit the RIHA website (under construction) at www.bu.edu/historic/riha

The John Templeton Foundation (www.templeton.org) serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. The Foundation supports research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. It encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights. The Foundation’s vision is derived from the late Sir John Templeton's optimism about the possibility of acquiring “new spiritual information” and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship. Its motto, "How little we know, how eager to learn," exemplifies its support for open-minded inquiry and our hope for advancing human progress through breakthrough discoveries.

Randall Stephens: The Lion in a Norway Winter

Paul Harvey

I'm a little posted out today, so just a brief Monday detour to throw a shout out to co-blogmeister Randall Stephens, who will be traipsing around Norway next year on a Fulbright "Roving Scholars" fellowship. Here's a story about it in the Boston Globe, with Randall at the lectern in fine form (so tempting to post that photo here, but I'll just let you click to see Prof. Stephens in his element). Congratulations, Randall, hope you can teach those Euros a thing or two about the wacky world of American religious history. From an excerpt in the article, sounds like that's the plan:

“It’s quite an honor,” Stephens said. “It’s the only country in the world that has this particular program. It’s the only one that has a Fulbright program like this sponsored by the host country, so the Norwegian government pays for it as well.”

From American immigration to post-World War II pop culture; from civil rights to the Civil War, Stephen’s talks will range the full expanse of 19-20th century cultural and religious history.

“[It’s about] how Americans make sense of their history,” Stephens said. “It’s a nice coincidence that it’s the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, and how we still fight about this history that dates back 150 years or more … there is a great interest in Europe about these ideological battles that have raged throughout history.”

Christianity and Scholarship in the Public Square, the Guild, and the Church

Paul Harvey

My blog contributors John Fea, Gerardo Marti, and Michael Utzinger joined me last weekend at a really wonderful event, the 20th anniversary conference and celebration of the Lilly Fellows Program at Valparaiso University. John, Mike, and I were postdoctoral fellows there (1993-95 for me, 99-00 for Mike, 2000-02 for John), and Gerardo was there giving a keynote address this weekend to an assembled group of representatives from various church-related colleges and institutions across the country. I was able to catch up with some old friends, meet some new ones (including some rising younger stars in American religious history), and enjoy hearing a variety of papers in Humanities and the Arts around the theme of "Finding One's Place." John Fea has blogged more about the program here. Graduate students who read this blog, make sure and check out the opportunities provided by this 2-year postdoctoral fellowship by clicking here.

Below is some more on a book of reflections on "Christianity in the Public Square" of higher education, based on talks given at the last Lilly Fellows reunion conference in 2007. I'm pasting the below in from John Fea's Way of Improvement Leads Home blog (hope you don't mind, John) -- it includes information on the short book as well as authors, titles, and descriptions of the contents:

_____________________________________

This weekend I just received my copy of For the Whole of Creation: Christianity and Scholarship in the Public Square, the Guild, and the Church, ed. John Steven Paul and James Paul Old (Valparaiso University Press, 2010).

If you are interested in church-related higher education this may be a book worth reading. (I am not sure how to order a copy. Perhaps the best way to obtain one is to contact the Lilly Fellows Program at Valparaiso University--www.lillyfellows.org).

The book includes sections on "The Christian Academic and the Public Square," "The Christian Academic and the Academic Guild," and the "Christian Academic and the Church."

Here is the table of contents:

Foreword: Joe Creech

Tal Howard, "On Plausability, Post-Secularism, and Evangelicalism."

Jeffrey Zalar, "The Roots of Public Virtue in Christian Intellectual Practice."

Colleen Seguin, "Classrooms as Public Spaces."

Paul Harvey, "Exile from Valpo: On Being a Religious Scholar in the Historical Guild at the Public University Amidst a Charged Atmosphere of Religion, Politics, and War."

Maria LaMonaca: "My Teaching Load is None of Your Business, and Don't Steal My Desk: Seeking an Identity Among Academic Guilds."

Heath White: "The Profession is the World: Some Thoughts on Being in the Guild But Not of It."

J. Michael Utzinger, "Faith That Kills?: Reflections on Religion after 9/11."

Kathleen Sprows Cummings, "Have Women Souls?: The Council of Macon and the Dilemma of a Catholic Feminist Scholar."

Martha Greene Eads, "The Professor in the Parish: Beyong Gourmet Coffee and High-Quality Handouts."

John Fea, "Worshipping with 'Christian America': A Historian's Search for a Spiritual Home in Mainstream Evangelicalism."

Scott Huelin: "Dual Citizenship: The Politics of Belonging to Church and Academy."

2011 Summer Research Seminar: Congregations and Social Change

Gerardo Marti

Congregations and Social Change:
Adaptation and Innovation among Religious Communities
June 27 - July 22, 2011

I will be directing a research seminar at Calvin College next summer. I've met other readers and contributors from this blog during the oh-so-pleasant Michigan summers and enjoyed the stimulating dialogue and scholarly support encouraged through these seminars. This is an open invitation:

Seminar Description

This research seminar will closely examine the ongoing relationships between congregations and processes of broad ranging, societal change. By incorporating a historical sensitivity and scholarship rooted in a sociological perspective, the seminar will continually connect societal arrangements with adaptation, reaction, innovation, and experimentation in congregational beliefs and practices. The focus will be on congregations of all types (whether church, synagogue, temple, or mosque) and encourages a look at both interpersonal dynamics (beliefs, micro-exchanges, small group interaction, etc.) as well as more macro-level phenomena (globalization, technological shifts, political systems, etc.).

The analytical perspectives on congregations can include --

• singular case studies, particular historical periods,
• whole denominational networks (Mormon wards, eastern orthodox churches, Jewish synagogues, mosques and Islamic centers as well as Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Zoroastrian and other religious temples and missions),
• types of congregations (small, rural, independent, mega, etc.),
• regional centers (Southern California, Manhattan, Chicago Metro), and
• any other appropriate and manageable arena of analysis.

The seminar also welcomes any aspect of congregational life that can be examined in relation to social change, for example,

• changes or comparisons of liturgical design,
• formation and negotiation of political identity,
• mobilization tied to extra-congregational organizations or social movements,
• creation of age-targeted ministry (twenty-somethings to retirees),
• incorporation of creative arts,
• negotiated relationships between religious and civic service structures or public agencies,
• adoption of online social networking or use of new media and technology,
• management of multiethnic/multiracial dynamics,
• etc, etc.

Seminar participants will read sociological and historical literature, engage ethnographic methodology commonly employed in contemporary research, and discuss their own work toward creating a community of scholarship oriented around common concerns. Ideally, each participant will produce a polished piece of writing as a result of the seminar, eg., completing a conference paper, journal article, dissertation chapter, book chapter, or publishable mass-media article. As participants work on their own congregations and social change research during the seminar, they will receive guided feedback in a supportive environment. Housing, daily lunch with other scholars, library access, and a small research stipend is provided for seminar participants.

Who May Apply

This research seminar is most intended for current and recent doctoral students in fields related to religious and organizational studies (sociology, anthropology, history, ethnic studies, folklore, and others). While the seminar is designed toward social science-oriented scholars holding, or advanced to candidacy for, the terminal degree in their field (typically the PhD), I eagerly welcome humanities-oriented scholars as well theologically-oriented participants from seminaries and divinity schools. To the extent possible, I will select a group diverse in gender, ethnic, confessional, and disciplinary backgrounds, and with a variety of research sites (i.e., the confessional and/or social identities of the communities they plan to study). I also plan to choose among applicants a mix of participants ranging from doctoral candidates through recent doctorates in tenure-track positions and scholars working on their first or second books to mid-career scholars retooling with defined projects.

See Calvin Seminars for more information

on the director, guest speakers, and application process.

Application information is at the bottom of the page. Deadline is January 14, 2011.

American Antiquarian Society Fellowship

(An announcement from H-AMREL, about a post-doc at the American Antiquarian Society, which has funded and provided a base for many excellent books and articles in American religious history):

Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society

Scholars who are no more than three years beyond receipt of the doctorate
are invited to apply for the Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship, a year-long
residential fellowship at the American Antiquarian Society. The purpose of
the post-dissertation fellowship is to provide the recipient with time and
resources to extend research and/or to revise the dissertation for
publication. Any topic relevant to the Society's library collections and
programmatic scope, and coming from any field or disciplinary background, is
eligible. AAS collections focus on all aspects of American history,
literature, and culture from contact to 1876, and provide rich source
material for projects across the spectrum of early American studies.

The Society welcomes applications from those who have advance book
contracts, as well as those who have not yet made contact with a publisher.
The twelve-month stipend for this fellowship is $35,000. The Hench
Post-Dissertation Fellow will be selected on the basis of the applicant's
scholarly qualifications, the appropriateness of the project to the
Society's collections and interests, and, above all, the likelihood that the
revised dissertation will make a highly significant book.

Further information about the fellowship, along with application materials,
is available on the AAS website, at
http://www.americanantiquarian.org/post-diss.htm.
Any questions about the fellowship may be directed to Paul Erickson,
Director of Academic Programs at AAS, at perickso AT mwa DOT org

The deadline for applications for a Hench Post-Dissertation Fellowship to be
held during the 2011-2012 academic year is October 15, 2010.

Paul J. Erickson
Director of Academic Programs
American Antiquarian Society

Baylor Oral History Research Fellowship Grant

From the AHA website, information on a grant I had some years ago that led to some very fruitful research time:

Grant of the Week: Oral History Research Fellowships from Baylor University

The Baylor University Institute for Oral History welcomes applications for one annual fellowship for the academic year 2010-11, open to individuals in any field who can benefit from the holdings of Baylor’s oral history collection. The fellowship is designed to bring scholars to Waco, Texas, to work with oral history materials (covering topics of religion, Central Texas history, Texas Baptist history, Baylor history, civil rights, music, theater, historic preservation, judicial history, business history, and rural life) housed in The Texas Collection special library. The fellowship carries a stipend of $3,000. The deadline for applications is June 11, 2010. See the fellowship page for more information and instructions on how to apply.

American Religion and Digital Humanities

BY MICHAEL PASQUIER

Recently, I’ve been collaborating with a small group of scholars on a digital humanities project. As is often the case, we’ve got lots of experience in the humanities—folks from across the disciplinary spectrum of the liberal arts—but hardly any grasp of the technical computer skills necessary to produce a website that meets the incredible standards of today. I’m the only historian of religion involved in the project, which, without getting into the details, focuses on antebellum America. Aside from the many things I’ve learned about xml-this and tangible-interface-that, I’ve also become familiar with the variety of digital humanities initiatives at universities, archives, libraries, and other academic organizations around the country. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to recognize the potential for digital scholarship to transform the way we conduct ourselves as historians in the not-too-distant future. And yet, from what I can gather, there aren’t many folks in the field of American religious history who are at the cutting edge, or even the margins of digital scholarship.

There are plenty of good explanations for why most historians of American religion (and most historians in general) don’t involve themselves in digital humanities projects. First, there is a rather wide disciplinary gulf between computer people and humanities people. Effective communication and working relationships are rare. Truly hybrid scholars are even rarer. Second, the costs for starting a digital humanities project are astronomical compared to the typical research budgets of individual scholars. An NEH Level-1 startup grant, for instance, runs upwards of $25,000, while a Level-2 grant reaches $50,000. But when you’re looking at hiring consultants, traveling to conferences, hosting conferences, and paying graduate students to do the “dirty” work of inputting data—all for a measly prototype version of the still-imagined final product—there’s really no way of knowing how much everything will finally cost. Third, there’s the question of tenure. The framework for peer-reviewing digital humanities materials isn’t quite settled. The online scholarly organization NINES (Networked Infrastructure for Nineteenth-Century Electronic Scholarship) is one of the most respectable outlets committed to the production, collection, and dissemination of information about the digital humanities. For access to NINES’s scholarly projects, click here. For information on its review policy, click here. And for further readings on the digital humanities field, click here. You can also go to the website of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations.

Below, you’ll find a short list of digital humanities projects out there. You’ll notice that some are more or less interactive than others; some resemble traditional archives while others incorporate more visualization tools; some are better suited for the classroom while others are strictly research oriented; some are prototypes and some are final products; some are free access and some require subscription; and some are already relevant to the study of religion in the United States. You’ll also notice how important it is for digital projects to have institutional and university support. Prepare to feel left in the dust.

University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities

Virginia Center for Digital History

Electronic Cultural Atlas Initiative

French and Spanish Missions in North America (This is one of the few sites directly related to religion in America. Our very own Art Remillard was one of its creators!)

Dickinson Electronic Archive

The Walt Whitman Archive

The Ambrose Bierce Project

The Edgar Allan Poe Digital Collection

The 19th-Century Concord Digital Archive

Virtual Jamestown

Digital Archaeological Archive of Comparative Slavery

Sites of (re)Collection

Electronic Enlightenment

Digital Karnak

Know Your Archives, Part VIII: American Catholic Archives Tip Sheet

BY MICHAEL PASQUIER

As all red-blooded Protestants of the 19th century loved a good convent captivity narrative, so too do all blue-blooded historians of the 21st century love a good archival horror story. Sadly, I have no such tale to add to the genre. I spent the better part of six years in and out of archives specializing in the history of American Catholicism. I concentrated my attention on Catholics in the antebellum United States. And I came away with the impression that most archivists of Catholic institutions hardly resemble the image of the gruff guardian of the church’s secrets whose sole purpose in life is to foil the research agenda of even the most alter-boyish of academics. Perhaps this has to do with the apparent harmlessness of my research topic—French émigré priests in the trans-Appalachian West. Or perhaps it’s to do with the fact that, as someone once told me, when it comes to gaining access to the personal papers of Catholic priests, the deader the better.

At any rate, here are a few archives that may help someone out there interested in 19th-century American Catholicism:

Thanks to the collecting acumen of 19th-century librarian and historian James Edwards, the University of Notre Dame Archives (UNDA) has become a sort of clearinghouse for all-things-Catholic in the United States. UNDA’s commitment to the accumulation and dissemination of Catholic Americana made this former graduate student’s life a whole lot easier. One week I could concentrate on the Diocese of Bardstown, Kentucky, collections, and the next I could shift gears to the Archdiocese of New Orleans, finding time in-between to consult microfilm versions of archives previously accessible only in France and Italy. Side note: don’t remind the archivists and priest-historians of Louisville and New Orleans of your love for UNDA. A Louisville priest once told me about his plan to sue UNDA for “stealing” documents related to Kentucky Catholicism; fortunately, cooler heads have prevailed. And if you find yourself in the Archives of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, you’ll notice that most 19th-century manuscripts are photocopied; that’s because an archbishop in the 1890s gave them to Notre Dame's Edwards for safekeeping. Let’s just say the New Orleans folks don’t brag about this fact.

Before you plan your trip to UNDA, look into applying for a Research Travel Grant from Notre Dame’s Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism. You will not find an institution more supportive of American Catholic studies in the United States. I personally owe an incredible debt of gratitude to Timothy Matovina and Kathleen Sprows Cummings of the Cushwa Center for their kindness, generosity, and criticism. They are true ambassadors of the field.

If 20th-century American Catholicism is your thing, then the American Catholic Research Center and University Archives at Catholic University of America is a fine place to start. I consulted the papers of Peter Guilday and John Tracy Ellis (arguably the founding [ordained] fathers of American Catholic history) during my visit a few years ago. Manuscripts related to the Second Vatican Council are especially relevant to recent trends in the field of American Catholic studies. And CUA’s archivists have started to digitize some of their collections, including documents on the burning of the Ursuline Convent of Charlestown, Massachusetts, and the First Vatican Council (the 19th century, it should be said, is also well represented in CUA’s holdings). The archives also offer the Dorothy Mohler Research Grant to folks on an annual basis. Again, an all-around outstanding place to conduct research.

When it comes to regional archives (as opposed to the more national-oriented repositories at UND and CUA), I’d single out the Associated Archives of St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Maryland. Located on the campus of, you guessed it, St. Mary’s, the Associated Archives include the collections of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, St. Mary’s Seminary and University, and the Sulpicians of the United States, effectively offering historians of the early American Catholic Church with no better place to get one’s sea legs. The facilities were recently renovated and the archivists are incredibly generous with their expertise as both librarians and historians.

Lastly, a word of caution to those interested in American Catholic studies of the 19th and 20th centuries. Historians of American Catholicism (myself included) are in the habit of focusing most (if not all) of their attention on Catholic-specific archives like UND, CUA, and St. Mary’s. There are very good reasons for this pattern, not the least of which is the practical appeal of one-stop-shopping. But my recent work in earlier periods of colonial American history—periods covered less thoroughly in the collections of American Catholic repositories—has made me realize just how much I may have missed in my 19th-century studies. Walking into a place like UNDA can be exhilarating—where to begin? when will it end? so much!—but it can also be suffocating.

Photo #1: Knute Rockne, University of Notre Dame
Photo #2: United Mine Workers of America, Catholic University of America
Photo #3: Altar Boy Procession, St. Mary's Seminary and University

Study Grants at Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives

Lynn E. May, Jr., Study Grants
Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives

The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives sponsors a program whereby funds are made available for partial support of research in the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. The grants provide a maximum of $750 per award. Annually, over $5000 in grants are awarded to researchers. The grants are in memory of Lynn E. May, Jr., who served as Executive Director of the Historical Commission from 1971 to 1995 and who was instrumental in the establishment of the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. The deadline for grants for this year is April 1, 2010. Applicants will be notified before the end of April about the awards.

Research funds are available for support to those doing research in the field of Baptist history using the resources in the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives. Graduate students, college and seminary professors, historians, and other writers may apply. The grants are provided to assist in travel and research costs. Application information and forms are available at http://www.sbhla.org/sg_info.htm

The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives is a worldwide center for the study of Baptist history. The SBHLA is one of the major denominational collections in the nation and serves by assignment of the Southern Baptist Convention as the central depository and archives of SBC records. The Library and Archives is located on the fourth floor of the Southern Baptist Convention Building at 901 Commerce Street in Nashville, Tennessee. The library is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. and other hours by special appointment.

Its resources include:

• more than 40,000 books and pamphlets
• 120,000 annuals of Baptist associations and conventions,
• comprehensive files of Baptist newspapers, audio/video recordings, photographs, pamphlets, and 8000 linear feet of archival records and manuscripts,
• approximately 18,000 reels of microfilm of Baptist historical materials,
• significant collections relating to British Baptists and Baptists and evangelicals in Russia and Eastern Europe.
• Additional information with access to the online catalog can be found at www.sbhla.org

FACILITIES AND SERVICES

The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives is available to all researchers. Some collections have access restrictions; therefore, it is good to contact our staff before your visit so your research needs can be met. Some findings aids are available for viewing or downloading from the archives guide or by searching the online catalog.

The research center contains photocopy machines, microfilm readers and reader/printers, a separate research room, microfilm scanner, an audio-visual listening and viewing room and three public access computers.

Researchers may bring their own computers or cameras for use in the research room. A break room is available to researchers and provides free coffee and tea; vending machines supply soft drinks and snacks. Free parking on the ground level of the SBC building is available to researchers in the SBHLA.

For more information on the Lynn E. May Study Grants contact: Bill Sumners, Director, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives, 901 Commerce St., Nashville, TN 37203. Telephone: 615-244-0344. Email: bill@sbhla.org

Friends Historical Collection Fellowship Opportunity

Research Fellowship in Southern Quaker Studies

The Seth and Mary Edith Hinshaw Fellowship provides up to $2,000 for research using the resources of the Friends Historical Collection at Guilford College to study an aspect of southern Quaker history. The fellowship is sponsored by the North Carolina Friends Historical Society to encourage research and use of the Friends Historical Collection. The recipient will be asked to present his/her research and findings at the Society’s annual meeting.

The Friends Historical Collection, located in Hege Library, is the center for the study of Quaker history in the Southeast, with particular emphasis on North Carolina. The collection is open to Guilford students and faculty, Friends, visiting scholars, and genealogical researchers. The collection includes the written records of Carolina Friends from 1680 to the present, printed and microfilmed copies of other Friends records, personal and family papers, the college archives, printed materials by and about Friends worldwide, and sources for the study of Quaker family history.

The Fellowship

We invite applications from a range of backgrounds: dissertation, post-doctoral, and non-academic. We anticipate that the most competitive applications will involve innovative projects of the many concerns to which Friends have turned their attention, including literature, women's issues, family history, and race relations, as well as religious doctrine and controversies. Applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:

• demonstrated understanding of the applicability of our particular holdings to the anticipated project.
• probability that the project will result in a product that will advance the worlds' understanding of the multiple dimensions of religion.
• evidence of the applicant's prior familiarity with and effective use of similar collections. How to Apply

DEADLINE: February 15, 2009

Applicants should send the following materials to Gwen Erickson, Friends Historical Collection, Guilford College, 5800 West Friendly Avenue, Greensboro, NC 27410:

• a three-to-five page statement of research goals, including what progress has been made to date; a statement of how this project will further greater understanding and/or scholarship by placing Southern Quaker history in the context of your subject area, an assessment of how Guilford's materials can further its progress, and an estimate of when the project is expected to be completed.

• a current vita or resume

• if applicant's background does not include published work, include a writing sample

• the names and addresses of three references who are familiar with both the field in which the applicant proposes to work, and with the applicant's work. Please inform your references that they could be contacted.

• permanent and any temporary addresses (e-mail and postal) and phone numbers

Gwen Gosney Erickson Friends Historical Collection Guilford College 5800 West Friendly Avenue Greensboro, NC 27410

Visit the website at http://www.guilford.edu/about_guilford/services_and_administration/library/fhc/NCFHS.html

YSAR Reminder and Repeat

Reminder and Repeat Post:

Here is the latest round of the Young Scholars in American Religion Program. As a current leader of the 2008-2010 group, I encourage everyone to apply, including those who applied for the last round. Those fortunate enough to be selected will have no more valuable professional opportunity. The deadline is mid-October, so pass the word!

Young Scholars in American Religion Program 2009-2011

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI announces a program for early career scholars in American Religion. Beginning in April 2009, a series of seminars devoted to the enhancement of teaching and research for younger scholars in American Religion will be offered in Indianapolis. The aims of all sessions of the program are to develop ideas and methods of instruction in a supportive workshop environment, stimulate scholarly research and writing, and create acommunity of scholars that will continue into the future.

For more information about the Center or the YSAR Program, please visit the Center's website.

Dates:
Session I: April 2-5, 2009
Session II: October 15-18, 2009
Session III: April 15-18, 2010
Session IV: October 14-17, 2010
Session V: April 28-May 1, 2011

Seminar Leaders:

W. Clark Gilpin is the Margaret E. Burton Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Christianity and Theology in the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is a historian of Christianity who studies the cultural history of theology in England and America since the seventeenth century. Among his works is an intellectual biography of Roger Williams, the seventeenth-century advocate of religious liberty. A more recent book, A Preface to Theology, examines the history of American theological scholarship in terms of the theologian's responsibilities to a three-fold public in the churches, the academic community, and civil society.

Tracy Fessenden is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University, specializing in western religious traditions, religion and literature, and American religious and cultural history. Her recent work focuses on religion, race, gender, and sexuality in American cultural history, on the relationship between religion and the secular in American public life, and on questions of religion and violence. She is author, most recently, of Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular, and American Literature.

Eligibility: Scholars eligible to apply are those who have launched their careers within the last seven years and who are working in asubfield of the area of religion in North America, broadly understood.Ten scholars will be selected, with the understanding that they will commit to the program for all dates. Each participant will be expected to produce a course syllabus, with justification of teaching approach, and a publishable research article. All costs for transportation, lodging, and meals for the seminars will be covered, and there is no application fee.To Apply: Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae with three letters of reference directly supporting their application to the program (do not send portfolios with generic reference letters) as well as a 500-word essay indicating 1) why they are interested in participating,and 2) their current and projected research and teaching interests. The deadline for applications is 15 October 2008. Essays, CVs, and letters of reference should be sent to: Director, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, IUPUI, Cavanaugh Hall 417425, University Boulevard, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5140

Southern Jewish Historical Society Grants

Paul Harvey

Click here for information on a variety of grants provided for research in Southern Jewish History, from the Southern Jewish Historical Society, ranging from $1000 archival grants to $6000 "Project Completion" funding. Deadlines for the grant proposals are August 1, 2008.

Young Scholars Program, 2009-2011

Here is the latest round of the Young Scholars in American Religion Program. As a current leader of the 2008-2010 group, I encourage everyone to apply, including those who applied for the last round. Those fortunate enough to be selected will have no more valuable professional opportunity. The deadline is mid-October, so pass the word!

Young Scholars in American Religion Program 2009-2011

The Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI announces a program for early career scholars in American Religion. Beginning in April 2009, a series of seminars devoted to the enhancement of teaching and research for younger scholars in American Religion will be offered in Indianapolis. The aims of all sessions of the program are to develop ideas and methods of instruction in a supportive workshop environment, stimulate scholarly research and writing, and create acommunity of scholars that will continue into the future. For more information about the Center or the YSAR Program, please visit the Center's website.

Dates:

Session I: April 2-5, 2009
Session II: October 15-18, 2009
Session III: April 15-18, 2010
Session IV: October 14-17, 2010
Session V: April 28-May 1, 2011

Seminar Leaders:W. Clark Gilpin is the Margaret E. Burton Distinguished Service Professor of the History of Christianity and Theology in the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is a historian of Christianity who studies the cultural history of theology in England and America since the seventeenth century. Among his works is an intellectual biography of Roger Williams, the seventeenth-century advocate of religious liberty. A more recent book, A Preface to Theology, examines the history of American theological scholarship in terms of the theologian's responsibilities to a three-fold public in the churches, the academic community, and civil society.

Tracy Fessenden is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Arizona State University, specializing in western religious traditions, religion and literature, and American religious and cultural history. Her recent work focuses on religion, race, gender, and sexuality in American cultural history, on the relationship between religion and the secular in American public life, and on questions of religion and violence. She is author, most recently, of Culture and Redemption: Religion, the Secular, and American Literature.

Eligibility: Scholars eligible to apply are those who have launched their careers within the last seven years and who are working in asubfield of the area of religion in North America, broadly understood.Ten scholars will be selected, with the understanding that they will commit to the program for all dates. Each participant will be expected to produce a course syllabus, with justification of teaching approach, and a publishable research article. All costs for transportation, lodging, and meals for the seminars will be covered, and there is no application fee.

To Apply: Applicants must submit a curriculum vitae with three letters of reference directly supporting their application to the program (do not send portfolios with generic reference letters) as well as a 500-word essay indicating 1) why they are interested in participating,and 2) their current and projected research and teaching interests. The deadline for applications is 15 October 2008. Essays, CVs, and letters of reference should be sent to: Director, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, IUPUI, Cavanaugh Hall 417425, University Boulevard, Indianapolis, IN 46202-5140

Religion and Constitutional Thought Summer Seminar

BY JOHN FEA

This call for participants just came across the H-OIEAHC (early American history listserv). It looks like a great opportunity for graduate students and pre-tenured faculty.

The Institute for Constitutional Studies is pleased to announce its ninth annual residential summer research seminar, to be held June 8-14, 2008, in Washington, D.C. This year's topic is "The Influence of Religion on Constitutional Thought." Judge Michael McConnell (Tenth Circuit United States Court of Appeals) and Professor Mark Noll (University of Notre Dame) will teach the seminar. The application deadline has been extended to May 5.

Description: Religious thinking has influenced many of the most fundamental features of American constitutional thought. This seminar will explore some of those developments, with focused discussion of selected readings in the morning sessions and paper presentations in the afternoon. Among the topics that may be considered are: (1) Puritan and Reformed Protestant contributions to constitutionalism, republicanism, and revolution; (2) the colonial Great Awakening (Jonathan Edwards) and ideals of society; (3) William Penn and Quaker ideas of political order; (4) Anglicanism, constitutional monarchy, and Loyalist protest; (5) Presbyterian ecclesiology (e.g., John Witherspoon) and ideas of federalism and representation; (6) Baptist theology (including the rejection of infant baptism, e.g., Isaac Backus) and rising individualism and rejection of religious establishment; (7) Masonic ideas (and opposition to them) in the formation of early republican ideology; (8) varying religious appropriations of the Enlightenment; (9) the Second Great Awakening and the rise of voluntarism and civil society; (10) the religious roots of abolitionism and proslavery thought; (11) Lincoln’s theology; (12) women as leaders in church and state; and (13) the 19th-century Roman Catholic critique (e.g., Orestes Brownson) of liberalism.

Participants are not limited to these topics, but may prepare and present papers ranging across the modern history of constitutional democracy, based on any significant connection between religious and constitutional thought, broadly construed. For more information please visit our website.

On Being a Scholar of Religion in the Historical Guild at the Public University Amidst a Charged Atmosphere of Religion, Politics, and War

PAUL HARVEY

We've had several entries on the "Why I Teach" history meme posted here (scroll down for three different responses so far), on this blog revised to "Why I Teach Religious History." I've promised (or threatened) readers my own contribution, and yet whenever I come up with something, my co-contributors trump me with something better. I've already lost the loathe-off. So here's my self-cannibalized contribution.

Last summer I was privileged to attend a "reunion" of folks in various disciplines who had passed through the Lilly Fellows Program in Humanities in the Arts (perhaps more accurately named "Prozac Fellows," or nowadays "Zyprexa Fellows") at Valparaiso University, for me two years astounding both for frustrations (including the famous Valpo salad -- one piece iceberg lettuce, one slice frozen red tomato, nothing else), but more importantly for its emotional and intellectual richness.

At the reunion conference I gave a presentation on our relationship with our respective professional disciplines and ancillary academic societies, thinking aloud in ways that may respond to this meme. I've posted the full contribution here (note: Word document); for those (presumably everybody on the planet) with better ways to spend their time, I'm posting below an excerpt as my scattershot (denuded and perhaps less than penetrating) thoughts on the meme "Why I Teach." Sometime later I'll respond to the meme "Why I'd Like Not to Be Teaching Just Right Now Since I Can't Make Any Significant Progress on My Book That I Keep Trying to Get Back To," but first I have some papers to grade.
_____________________________________

Exile from Valpo: On Being a Scholar of Religion in the Historical Guild at the Public University Amidst a Charged Atmosphere of Religion, Politics, Market Culture, and War

During my tenure as a Lilly Fellow, I never quite thought of Athens, Jerusalem, and Colorado Springs in the same breath, or as in some kind of intellectual triad. Now I do, and I’d like to use this talk to explore a little bit about why. And I want to think about how Athens and Jerusalem intersect in the public square of a university in the midst of a highly charged atmosphere of religion, politics, and war.

. . . Whatever else I had envisioned for my academic life before, it generally had not included teaching classes at a university established only during the 1960s, mostly at the behest of Hewlett-Packard executives who were demanding an engineering training school in exchange for establishing a plant in town; and it had not included teaching classes now full of students ranging from 18 to 65 years of age, many of whom come in full fatigue gear straight from counter-insurgency training exercises at Fort Carson or one of the other local military outposts; and it had not included classes full of forty-something women who may come or not depending on whether the babysitter shows up, or whether the kid throws a tantrum because the mother has to miss yet another T-ball game; and it had not included teaching my Civil War class to students who easily compared their own post-Iraq PTSD experiences with those of the soldiers from Chancellorsville or Cold Harbor or Antietam that they were reading about. . . .

And while at Valparaiso, it did not occur to me that a great number of my students for a substantial portion of my career so far would be thinking not of Athens, or of Jerusalem, or even of Aspen or the Sigma Chi party, but rather of Belgrade, Baghdad, and Fallujah; and not of the Southern Baptists, the Presbyterian Church of the United States, or of Missouri Synod Luthernaism, but instead of Focus on the Family and New Life Church (lately of Ted Haggard infamy).

By contrast, my training at Valparaiso had compelled me to think about the meaning of my interest and my faith within the context of a largely secularist academy; and perhaps even to prepare for battle to defend my chosen course of academic study, and my faith. As it turns out, those have been the least of my worries, for reasons I’ll discuss below. More troubling to me has been the devaluing of our guilds, and of higher education generally, in public discourse, and of the increasing implication that scholarship is just so much spin that can be put on par with any other subject. Thus, I rise today not to bury my guild, or point out its shortcomings, but mostly to defend it, and to suggest (perhaps heretically) that the discipline of history has been has been reasonably non-hostile terrain for scholars who study faith.

. . . the revolution of taking religion seriously in the guild of history did not start with this generation; Perry Miller had done it much earlier with the Puritans. And, to be sure, the revolution has a long ways to go before the former monarch—secularization theory—has been fully overthrown. Catherine Brekus’s new volume The Religious History of American Women, for example, begins with a bracingly critical essay pointing out how inadequately American religious historians have incorporated women into their stories in a way that fundamentally alters the very questions we ask about the past, as opposed to the “add women and stir” method which leaves the prevailing assumptions and simply adds a token paragraph about women actually existing.

That being said, it bears repeating that the guild of history has been in the business of “getting” religion, and scholars from church-related schools have had a lot to do with that. I would even argue, against the position of many of my colleagues who feel more beleaguered or embattled, that the historical guild is a relatively amenable place for scholars of faith, and for scholars who study faith. Those who do military history or economic history, I might suggest, probably have a greater reason to feel slighted; their fields have been out of fashion (not in the world of public history of popular history, where military history is all too popular, but specifically within groups such as the American Historical Association) and more neglected than is the case with religious history. In a recent debate in a historical journal, in fact, the intellectual historian David Hollinger actually complained that religion had been getting “too much” attention in recent discussions of American history. He may or may not be right, but the fact that he could make that assertion plausibly shows how far we have come, as well perhaps of a certain sense of resentment that it has engendered.

There could scarcely be a better place than Colorado Springs for someone who seeks students genuinely interested in engaging with America’s religious past, and who know in their own souls why it must be taken seriously and studied respectfully. I don’t have to deal with the “so what” question. And honestly, I don’t feel that I’ve had to deal, at least very much, with that in the larger guild. So I feel fortunate that a social history revolution designed for very different purposes has, however accidentally, given religion a place at the intellectual table of American history; and that I have such ongoing and vital contact with students who do not dismiss religion (as might be common in other state schools) or who take it for granted as the common language of their culture. . . . Instead, my teaching situation allows me to think fruitfully and nearly daily about the relationship of religion to the public square, and to hash out all the complicated questions that comes out of that. . . .

Where I think the true danger lies is in the larger sense of the disconnection from academia to public life and purpose. Academia bears its share of fault for this, and that share of fault seems to be scrutinized and agonized about constantly, not least by historians who are always wondering why no one reads their books unless it happens to be about a Founding Father, a Great Civil War Battle, or a Famous Sexual Scandal from the past (I’m exaggerating, of course, but not by all that much). I’ve had some experience with this side of things in Colorado, too, and I’d like to conclude with that story. In my years here, I guess, I’ve become religiously committed to the survival and further development of public higher education . . .

A few years ago, the gadfly David Horowitz came through town, looking for a few professors to egg on in debate. Foolishly, I took him up on it, forgetting a basic historical principle that debate with a fundamentally dishonest polemicist is always stupid . . . . Not to bore with details, but an exchange posted on the internet, led to a response by the host of the largest AM talk radio show in the state of Colorado, in the form of a newspaper editorial. This produced from me a brief letter published in response, which then produced an entire hour-long episode ofthe radio show devoted to moi. I didn’t hear it and didn’t even know it was on, as I happened to be teaching that hour (one of the contentions made, I should add, was that professors at Colorado’s public universities never taught, since they hated students and teaching, in addition of course to hating America, and forced their graduate students to do all their teaching for them). However, somebody later sent me a tape of the episode, where I heard the following: “perhaps someone could call in and report on [add sinister voice here] Professor Harvey’s ideological inclinations.” Following the program, and before I had heard it or even know that such a thing had transpired, I was deluged with hate email from all over the state. Apparently they objected to highly controversial statements I had made, such as that historians of all stripes and inclinations do their best to weigh the evidence carefully and present as rich and nuanced a view of historical events as they can in the classroom. . . .

This incident blew over quickly . . . Nonetheless, it made me think of the basic values of historians, and what we bring into our research and into our teaching. It also made me think hard about a comment a number of students have made in recent years during various religious history classes that I have taught – that they could not tell what I “believed in,” so they had to ask. My consistent response has been to refuse to answer, telling them that my job is to help them explore religious beliefs in a historical context, and that these issues are sensitive and divisive enough, especially in our very politicized town, that I feel it best in the context of a state-supported university to keep my convictions to myself for the purpose of these classes.

My immediate colleagues surrounding me – a devout atheist who teaches medieval history as well as the history of Christianity on the one side, and a devout Episcopalian who teaches German and Jewish history on the other side – take very different stances, making their own convictions clear upfront and at the beginning of the semester. I don’t claim that one stance is better than another; indeed, I value the diversity and variety just in the first 3 doors of my hallway. We have very different religious convictions; we think about and teach history very differently; and we learn from each other and relish each other’s intellectual company. Most importantly here, I think, is the feeling that Christian scholars (or atheist scholars, for that matter, or whoever) who take up oppositional stances against their guilds risk losing some very important protections and freedoms which those guilds provide them. Moreover, while the guilds promote scholarly objectivity and neutrality, those values depend on deeper moralities of fairness, justice, and (for the historian) empathy. The episode recounted above was more amusing than frightening to me, in part because I knew my state-supported university and my historical associations had supported and valued my forays into research and teaching in American religious history.

I don’t know yet how best to communicate how I value this to a larger public. My sense is that the larger public, at least in my state, believes that scholars who aren’t in the sciences, and maybe even those who are, produce what amounts to propaganda which has no more value in the larger marketplace of ideas than any other bloviating talking head. This is why, I think, our students have such difficulty distinguishing between “opinion” and “argument.” Haven’t we all heard it – “you just mean you want my opinion, right,” after I have just told them “I’m looking for you to make a solid argument based on a clear thesis supported by concrete evidence drawn from your research.” The culture of opinion, and for that matter market culture, threaten the pursuit of scholarly excellence, and this is a trend which I hope our scholarly guilds will resist with firm religious conviction.

Quaker Money: Research Fellowship

The Gest Fellowship for the Study of Comparative Religion

Each year Haverford College Special Collections offers three one-month, $2,000 fellowships to researchers interested in exploring the various ways of expressing religious belief in the world using the unique resources of our Quaker Collection. We invite applications from researchers at various stages in their career and from any discipline. The most competitive applications creatively explore concerns to which Friends have turned their attention, including literature, mysticism, women's issues, family history, race relations, and American Indian affairs, as well as religious doctrine and controversies. Application requirements, deadlines and a complete list of past fellows and their topics are available at http://www.haverford.edu/library/special/gestfellowship/.

The Quaker Collection

The Quaker Collection was founded in 1833 and presently consists of some 35,000 printed volumes and 300,000 manuscripts. Our holdings span the history of Quakerism from 17th-century Britain to the resent day in many parts of the world. Information by and about the=20Society of Friends can be accessed here in many formats and categories. Highlights include the Jenks Collection of early books and pamphlets, meeting records, organization and family papers, journals and diaries, English and American Quaker serials, and a comprehensive collection of Quaker fiction. Because of Quaker involvement in the social justice movement and Pennsylvania's location in the history of the United States, these materials also lend themselves to many kinds of study beyond the Society of Friends.

AAS Visiting Academic Fellowships

Announcement: American Antiquarian Society Visiting Academic Fellowships, 2008-2009

The American Antiquarian Society (AAS) invites applications for its 2008-2009 visiting academic fellowships. At least three AAS-National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships will be awarded for periods extending from four to twelve months. Long-term fellowships are intended for scholars beyond the doctorate, for which senior and mid-career scholars are particularly encouraged to apply. Up to twenty short-term fellowships will be awarded for one to three months. The short-term grants are available for scholars holding the Ph.D. and fordoctoral candidates engaged in dissertation research. Special short-term fellowships support scholars working in the history of the book in American culture, in the American eighteenth century, and in American literary studies, as well as in studies that draw upon the Society's preeminent collections of graphic arts, newspapers, and periodicals. The deadline for applications is January 15, 2008. For further details about the fellowships, as well as application materials, go to http://www.americanantiquarian.org/fellowships.htm

The AAS is a research library whose collections focus on American history, literature, and culture from the colonial era through 1876. AAS, which was the first historical organization in the United States whose mission was national in scope, aims to collect, preserve, and make available as complete a record as possible of the printed materials documenting the early American experience. Although the AAS is located in the northeast, its holdings span the full range of U.S. history, offering rich resources for historians of American religion. In particular, our collection of nineteenth-century denominational and religious newspapers and periodicals is one of the most extensive in the U.S. For detailed descriptions of the collections, please consult the guidebook, Under Its Generous Dome, available online at http://www.americanantiquarian.org/collections.htm

Paul J. Erickson, Director of Academic Programs, American Antiquarian Society
508-471-2158

Reminders -- grant and paper opportunities

I'm reposting (for those who don't scroll down on blogs, and for those just now joining our game in progress) some excellent grant and paper opportunities posted here earlier by Kelly Baker and John Fea . Note that the paper prize deadline is Sept. 21.

1) The Religion and American Culture Caucus of the American Studies Association is pleased to announce its fourth annual best paper prize. Any paper that examines religion in the United States, broadly understood, and is on the program of the national American Studies Association meeting in Philadelphia is eligible for the award. Papers should be submitted electronically to dsigler at mail (dot) utexas (dot) edu by September 21. Papers should be double-spaced, in a 12pt font and contain full citations.The winner will be selected by a jury of three scholars in the field and will be announced at the caucus meeting on Friday, October 12, at 5pm. The meeting will take place at the Philadelphia Marriott, Room 501. The prize, a two-year subscription to _Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation_, has been generously provided by the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at IUPUI. If you have any questions, please contact Matt Hedstrom, hedstrom at princeton (dot) edu, or Danielle Sigler(email above).

2) Today I received announcements for two residential fellowships offered by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Of particular note to readers of this blog is the “E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Fellowship in Early American Religious Studies.” This dissertation fellowship is open to Ph.D candidates in any discipline “researching any aspect of religion in North America in the Atlantic World.” And you have plenty of time to apply—the deadline is March 1, 2008.The other fellowship is the two-year Barra Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2008-2010. The Barra Fellowship is not geared specifically to scholars studying religion, but I know that the Center is certainly open to considering those working in this area. The deadline is November 1, 2007 and I believe the search committee conducts preliminary interviews at the AHA.

McNeil Center Fellowship -- John Fea

Fellowship Announcement: McNeil Center for Early American Studies

Today I received announcements for two residential fellowships offered by the McNeil Center for Early American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Of particular note to readers of this blog is the “E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Fellowship in Early American Religious Studies.” This dissertation fellowship is open to Ph.D candidates in any discipline “researching any aspect of religion in North America in the Atlantic World.” And you have plenty of time to apply—the deadline is March 1, 2008.

The other fellowship is the two-year Barra Postdoctoral Fellowship for 2008-2010. The Barra Fellowship is not geared specifically to scholars studying religion, but I know that the Center is certainly open to considering those working in this area. The deadline is November 1, 2007 and I believe the search committee conducts preliminary interviews at the AHA.

On a personal note, I was a fellow at the McNeil Center in the late 1990s and I cannot say enough positive things about the experience. This is a wonderful community of early American scholars convened by Dan Richter, the Center’s director. (Richard Dunn, the founding director, ran the Center during my stint as a fellow). My seventeen months in residence at Penn gave me opportunities to write, research, visit archives, present my work, share dissertation drafts, and network with other scholars. I am very grateful for the experience. If you do early American history I encourage you to apply. For more details, see the McNeil Center website.