CFH Grad Students Weblog

Check it Out: Kennedy on Science and the Church

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:22:37 +0000

Please check out this link to Point Loma’s Professor Rick Kennedy’s (Former CFH President) latest work. It’s of particular interest to folks interested in science, Darwinism, and how that intersects with faith. The historian/philosopher’s take is engaging if also re-orienting.

As historians, this is an important read. It shows that not only do we not have to check our faith at the door of secular universities, but also that it is a worthwhile (perhaps even necessary) conversation.

http://biologos.org/blog/jesus-history-and-mount-darwin-an-academic-excursion-part-1

CFP: SSHA

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:52:34 +0000

*I get a ton of these CFP through H-Grad, but this one seemed particularly applicable. Perhaps we could get a CFH panel together for this integrating history and theology? Thoughts?*

********

We invite you to take part in the Urban Network panels of the 37th annual
meeting of the Social Science History Association, November 1-4, 2012, in
Vancouver. The members of the Social Science History Association share a
common interest in interdisciplinary and systematic approaches to
historical research (including, but by no means limited to, sociology,
urban planning, geography, demography, economics, and political
science).The SSHA is a particularly good forum for graduate students’
work: we welcome a diversity of scholars at various stages of their careers and
encourage graduate student participation in network events.

The thematic topic of the 2012 annual meeting is “Histories of Capitalism.”
However, we welcome papers and panels on all urban topics. Proposed panel
topics include:

- The Occupy Movement as an urban phenomenon

- Financial Crises and Cities

- Capital and the Rise and Fall of Cities

- Urban Economies

- Vancouver’s History and Development

- Cities of the Pacific Rim

- Olympic Games and Host Cities

- Migration and Immigration

- Cities and the Environment

- Urban Governance

- Crime and Justice in the City

- The Ancient City

To propose a paper or panel please submit: Paper Title, Brief Abstract, and
Contact Information at http://conference.ssha.org/.While we welcome paper
submissions, panel proposals are encouraged. Panels should include an
organizer, discussant, and at least four papers. The deadline for paper
and/or panel submissions is *MARCH 1, 2012.*

For more information on the meeting as well as the call for proposals,
please refer to the SSHA website: http://www.ssha.org or contact either of
the Urban co-chairs (Carl Zimring–czimring@gmail.com or Megan
Stubbendeck– mrs8v@virginia.edu).

We look forward to seeing you in the Fall!

Sincerely,

Megan Stubbendeck and Carl Zimring

Urban Network Co-chairs

Renewing Membership

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:54:48 +0000

Friends, colleagues, countrymen and women…

It’s that time of year to renew membership. Since our membership is free (hip hip horray!), we don’t have to send in a dues check. HOWEVER, what I’d like is for you to touch base with me (the grad rep) to let me know that you are still in graduate school and desire to be a member.

**NOTICE** We are going to make some massive cuts to the membership rolls for the people who have graduated, given up, or got lost somewhere in the 13th layer of NARA.

Please, also, add our fancy new Facebook Page! The other “group” is defunct per Facebook’s new “group” policy.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Conference-on-Faith-and-History-Grad-Students/323046044383504

Thanks all. My contact (to renew membership) is grjones83@gmail.com.

CFH at AHA in Chicago – Just a few weeks!

cfhgradstudents — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 15:16:09 +0000

American Historical Association Meeting

Chicago Marriott Downtown
Saturday, January 7, 2012

The annual breakfast reception of the CFH will be Saturday morning, January 7, in the Cook Room of the Chicago Marriott Downtown, from 8-9 am. All are welcome to join us, especially graduate students.

This will be followed by a stimulating panel discussion from 9 to 11 am in the McHenry Room of the Chicago Marriott Downtown on “Historians, Historiography, and the Confessional Divide,” in which historians from differing faith traditions discuss their perspectives on the intersection of faith and history. Will Katerberg (Calvin College) will chair. The panel will be composed of Bradley Nassif (North Park University), Mark A. Noll (University of Notre Dame), Dana L. Robert (Boston University), Lamin Sanneh (Yale University), and Leslie W. Tentler (Catholic University of America). We expect an interesting dialogue.

Announcement taken directly from: http://www.huntington.edu/cfh/announcements.htm

Please comment, or email me (grjones83@gmail.com) if you’d like to get together. PLEASE do attend the CFH breakfast and panel.

Attending the American Historical Association

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 21:04:11 +0000

The AHA Meeting in Chicago, January 5-8, 2012 is registering. Check it out.

If enough of “us” are going, it would be great to get together. Maybe for a deepdish pizza? (That’s what we do in Chicago, right?)

Leave comments. Tell friends. Let’s do this!

Academic Status Update

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:06:59 +0000

Many graduate students are a part of a largely digital generation and are used to “status updates.” For the sake of developing community here at the CFH Grad Student blog, it would be great if we could share a quick “status update.” Just give us a sentence or two in the comments section about where you are (physically and progressively) in your program.

It only takes a minute! You can post as “anonymous,” but tell us who you really are in your comment.

I’ll get us started.

I’m Greg Jones, fifth year PhD student at Kent State, and I’m currently editing my dissertation on Civil War soldiers in southeastern Ohio. I am an adjunct history professor at Kent State and Geneva College, teaching a mix of intro and upper division courses.

Alright everyone… let’s hear the update!

Dispatches from Graduate School – Part 39

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 19:06:17 +0000

Cali Pitchel McCullough is a Ph.D student in American history at Arizona State University. For earlier posts in this series click here. –JF

[Reposted by permission of John Fea's The Way of Improvement Leads Home]

I always enjoy my time in Southern California. Every six weeks I take a quick flight from Phoenix into Burbank to spend the weekend visiting a few of my favorite people. My uncle, a PR executive, lives in Sherman Oaks, and a close friend works for the Associated Press and lives one block off Hollywood Blvd. My geographical zone remains relatively small while visiting. I might enjoy the sunshine and cool air in my uncle’s backyard, or I stay with my friend in her tiny apartment, watching chick flicks and eating take-out.

During the past weekend, I ventured out of my typical routine and drove north and west along the Pacific Coast Highway toward Malibu. Rather than celebrity-watch at a beachside café, I spent Saturday participating in the Western Regional Conference on Faith and History. The Conference met on the campus of Pepperdine University, situated on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. I drove the meandering road from the 101 Freeway into the Malibu Valley before the sunshine and heat dispelled the morning fog, but after the second panel the haze lifted. The ocean views made conference-going a difficult option, but the intriguing panel line-up drew me inside.

The conference theme, “The Historian and the Text,” seemed the perfect forum to discuss History to the People. I submitted my unorthodox proposal to Bryan Lamkin, the President of the Western Regional chapter of the CFH and Professor of History at Azusa Pacific University. My proposal looked more like a call to action than scholarly research, but it undoubtedly aligned with the theme of the conference. To break down the barriers between academic historians and people and to provide the general public with the skills necessary to think historically are two of the main tenants of HTTP.

I presented in a panel entitled “Public Texts” with Steven Wentland, a Professor of Liberal Studies at Azusa Pacific. Dr. Wentland examines the challenges teachers face incorporating the study of religion into lesson plans (despite their overwhelming presence in state standards). He offers some prescriptions, because he suggests “you can’t understand American history without studying religion.”

Ryan McIlhenny, from Providence Christian College, provided comments for Dr. Wentland and I. Dr. McIlhenny suggested we had several points in common, most importantly, our commitment to preserving democracy and diversity in the study of history. HTTP will attempt, through a more democratic use of the historian’s tools, to teach others to lay aside self-interest and see the world from the perspective of someone else. As John Fea suggests, “unlike any other discipline, history requires us to engage the human condition primarily through understanding and empathy, not criticism.” This quote gets to the second point in common between Dr. Wentland and I—the culture wars. If a person encounters the text with the necessary tools, it becomes less easy to condemn the actions of other people. Perhaps we can ease our culture wars by disclosing the ways in which we’ve honed our historical thinking and encouraging such behavior in more people in a more intentional way.

The audience seemed enthusiastic about HTTP. Aside from some brief discussion on this blog, I have not had the chance to present the idea to an academic audience (other than my classmates). I received great questions at the end: How will we achieve nuance and complexity in short blog posts? How will we reorientate the way in which people think about history? How will we protect ourselves against bias? These are great questions, some of which I have already spent a good deal of time thinking through. At HTTP we value specificity and we write and edit in a community. This keeps us morally engaged, accountable, and self-critical. A willingness to work collaboratively, in a community of scholars open to debate and dialogue and the testing of ideas keeps us honest—this goes for all good history.

I had a great experience at the Western Regional CFH. It provided me the opportunity to not only present an idea, but it also gave me the opportunity to think about how my faith plays a role in my commitment to bring history to the people. In preparing for the conference I found a quote by Henri Nouwen, a twentieth century priest and writer. Nouwen, meditating on the gifts given to a body of believers, believed that “the basis of all ministry is the experience of God’s unlimited and unlimiting acceptance of us as beloved children, an acceptance so full, so total, and all-embracing, that it sets us free from our compulsion to be seen, praised, and admired and frees us for Christ, who leads us on the road of service. This experience of God’s acceptance frees us from our needy self and thus creates new space where we can pay selfless attention to others.” Because I have acquired certain skills, I have a responsibility to use these skills in service to others. The website provides a space for me to share these skills outside the classroom, and in hopes, foster a sense of historical thinking that might change the world one person at a time.

CFH Latin America Initiative

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:53:48 +0000

The following is an event recap by former CFH President Rick Kennedy on the Latin America Initiative of the CFH.

Hola! Graduate student member of the “Asociacion Conference on Faith and History (organism afiliado a la American Historical Association)” should know that they were well represented in Mexico City where CFH has begun to develop partnerships supporting Global Christian Scholarship. Remember this was NOT a conference simply for Latin Americanists. The Latin America Initiative of the CFH is designed to support the communication and shared purpose of scholar-historian-Christians from many disciplines and research interests who work in all the Americas. At the end of the conference, at a meeting in a five hundred year old building where the Spanish Inquisition used to meet, the Spanish-speaking participants from all over Latin America gave hearty applause to the CFH in appreciation for our goal of All-American shared purpose.

I counted four of our US graduate student members giving papers along with maybe six or so other US graduate students in attendance. The four giving papers were Joe Super (University of West Virginia), Erika Heigen (Yale University), Devin Manzullo-Thomas (Temple University) and Jonathan Mikes (School of Intercultural Studies, Fuller Theological Seminary). A large number of graduate students from the University of Mexico attended too. We hope all these scholars become the foundation for the future of CFH’s Latin American Initiative in Global Christian Scholarship.

Here is a copy of the program: http://www.ftl-al.org/images/stories/Programa_FINAL_FINAL_Coloquio_Protestantismo_octubre_20111.pdf

Of the professors from the US who attended, several of us were woefully lacking in Spanish. For any all-America partnerships in CFH to work, the language issue will be a problem while also being maybe the best kind of problem. Unlike many other Global Christian programs where English is the default language known to most, a North-South American collaboration will find that the Spanish speakers and the English speakers are on an equal footing. Most Spanish Scholars do not speak English. Most US scholars do not speak Spanish. There is an amazing array of Spanish-language Christian scholarship that we in the US need to know. It was evident at the conference in Mexico City that Spanish Speaking historians want to know better what we are doing. We are entering a true partnership! Neither Northerners or Southerners will dominate. As Christians we fellowship. Language has long been the great issue hindering a truly global Christianity. With the Latin America Initiative we embrace the issue!

By the way: Mexico City was wonderful! The historic center is amazing. The museums are everywhere and fascinating. The Mexicans everywhere we went treated us very well.

Rick Kennedy

Professor of History

Point Loma Nazarene University

Dispatches from Graduate School–Part 38

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:56:29 +0000

Cali Pitchel McCullough is a Ph.D student in American history at Arizona State University. In this post, she discusses a new urban initiative she is working with called “Agritopia.” For earlier posts in this series click here. –JF [Used by permission The Way of Improvement Leads Home]

For nearly 40 years James and Virginia Johnston and their three sons farmed 171 acres of land situated 25 miles southeast of Phoenix. What once supported cotton, alfalfa, and a humble homestead now contains over 500 single family homes, an elementary school, two eating establishments (including Joe’s Farm Grill of Food Network fame) 15 acres of urban farmland, a community garden, a farm stand, and site plans for both a senior-living community and vast commercial/retail development. The Johnston’s acquired the farmland in 1961, but in 1998, the family and local developer Scott Homes entered into an agreement to begin the design of a special sort of community they would call “Agritopia.”

Agritopia planners offered potential residents 176 home design variations ranging from 1300 to 4500 square feet, allowing people with a broad range of needs and resources to find a home in Agritopia. When designing the homes, the team committed to eight design principles: to reduce physical barriers to relationship; to reduce social/economic barriers to relationship; to promote sharing; to promote a simpler life; to promote the foundation of a true neighborhood; to choose style and beauty over size and sizzle; to honor agriculture; and to create a balanced project. These design principles served as the foundation for all decisions regarding architectural style and land use for the urban farm community.

Agritopia must be understood within a larger social context. The Johnston’s vision for their unique community is not the first to emerge from the desert southwest. For hundreds of years people have attempted to redefine community life and to create alternatives to the troubling urban conditions that have evolved in many sprawling Sunbelt cities. Phoenix itself is on the verge of urban crisis.

Two questions loom large in the coming years: One, how will Phoenicians, in creative and sustainable ways, respond to the growing concern over food access and local food production? Secondly, how will Phoenix residents create viable correctives to what some consider the aggressive, monotonous, and isolating postwar suburban development in the Salt River Valley? Agritopia, in a morass of tile and stucco, provides its own answer. The planners created a “middle ground”—one that incorporates urban living and agricultural production—reflecting a commitment to satisfying the human need for community, and also to meet the very physical needs of its residents by providing locally produced food and opportunities for residents to grow their own food in community gardens.

By looking at Agritopia—its successes and its failures, its novelty and its tradition—we can learn about the ways in which people are thinking innovatively about organizing urban life in Phoenix. Perhaps Agritopia can provide a blueprint for other valley neighborhoods that must build vibrant and healthy communities in order to prevent the erosion of agriculture and kinship in a state founded on both.

The Hermeneutic Circle

cfhgradstudents — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 20:18:48 +0000

Former CFH Grad Representative Jared Burkholder has a new website called The Hermeneutic Circle that may be of interest to readers of this blog. Check it out!

http://www.hermeneuticcircle.com/

Feel free to share links and websites for the community. Send an email to Greg Jones at grjones83@gmail.com. Thanks!