Jeremy Begbie published “The Future of Theology amid the Arts: Some Reformed Reflections,” in Christ across the Disciplines: Past, Present, Future, edited by Roger Lundin (Eerdmans). Extracts from his book Theology, Music and Time (Cambridge University Press) were included in the recently published Modern Theologians Reader, edited by David Ford, Mike Higton, and Simeon Zahl (Wiley-Blackwell). In the spring he delivered a Howie Lecture titled “Music and the Shape of Hope” at Union Presbyterian Seminary (Richmond, Va.), taught a class on “What’s So Spiritual about Music?” at the Duke Forward event in New York City, and participated in a panel discussion on art and faith at Gordon College in Wenham, Mass. During the summer he was an invited speaker at a number of events in Europe, including a day conference on convergent worship at St Peter’s Notting Hill (London), a weekend on the arts at St George’s (Berlin), and the third annual conference of the Royal Musical Association Music and Philosophy Study Group, on the theme “Embodiment and the Physical,” at King’s College London.
Kate Bowler published Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel (Oxford University Press).
Luke Bretherton received the 2013 Michael Ramsey Prize for his book Christianity and Contemporary Politics (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams awarded the theological writing prize May 28.
Stephen Chapman published “Martial Memory, Peaceable Vision: Divine War in the Old Testament,” in Holy War in the Bible: Christian Morality and an Old Testament Problem, edited by Heath A. Thomas, Jeremy Evans, and Paul Copan (IVP Academic). For a May conference at the University of Goettingen (Germany), he presented “Joshua 8:2, Covenant and Divine Concession,” and in June he taught and preached on the Old Testament and violence at Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C. During July he spoke on “The Old Testament and the Church after Christendom” at the international meeting of the Society of Biblical Literature (St Andrews, Scotland) and the annual gathering of the Younger Baptist Scholars in the Academy (Georgetown College, Kentucky).
Mark Chaves delivered two invited lectures in April: “Continuity and Change in American Religion,” as part of the Encore Program for Lifelong Enrichment at North Carolina State University, and “The Triangle Clergy Compensation Study: Preliminary Results and Interpretations,” at a meeting convened in Indianapolis, Ind., to discuss the Lilly Endowment initiative Economic Challenges Facing Indiana Pastors.
Maria Doerfler received the Journal of Ecclesiastical History’s 2013 Eusebius Prize for her article “Entertaining the Trinity Unawares: Genesis 18 and the Trinitarian Imagination in Late Antiquity” (forthcoming). She was also named a Summer Fellow for Byzantine Studies at Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, where she was in residence for June and July.
Craig Dykstra gave a plenary address on “Communities of Vocation and Practice” at the biennial conference of the Network on Vocation in Undergraduate Education held March 14–16 in Indianapolis, Ind. At its May commencement, Wabash College (Crawfordsville, Ind.) awarded Dykstra an honorary doctorate for his contributions to the college during his tenure at Lilly Endowment.
Curtis W. Freeman gave the paper “The Early English Baptists and the Radical Puritan Underground” at the Evangelical Theological Society Annual Meeting in Milwaukee, Wis., last November. At a National Association of Baptist Professors meeting in Chicago, Ill., he convened a symposium on the theology of James Wm. McClendon Jr., whose recently republished Systematic Theology (Baylor University Press) includes a critical introduction written by Freeman. In early April he gave an invited lecture, “Mediating Ministry: Ethical and Pastoral Identifiers for Ecclesial Transformation,” at an international symposium celebrating the installation of Professor Henk Bakker to the Chair of Baptist Identity, Theology, and History at Free University in Amsterdam. While in Holland, he also led a seminar at the Baptist Seminary in Barneveld. In June he gave the plenary address “Robinson Crusoe: Teaching Theology and Handing on the Faith” to the College Theological Society at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. American Baptist Quarterly named Freeman its co-editor, and the Baptist World Alliance asked him to serve as chair of the Baptist delegation for the international Baptist-Methodist dialogue.
Mary McClintock Fulkerson published several articles and anthology contributions: “Ethnography: A Gift to Theology and Ethics” and “A Conversation about Ethnography and Poetics in Theological Method,” with Susan Dunlap and Marcia Mount-Shoop, in Practical Matters no. 6 (2013); “Ecclesiology, Exclusion, and Sacraments,” in Ecclesiology and Exclusion: Boundaries of Being and Belonging in Postmodern Times, edited by Dennis Doyle, Timothy Furry, and Pascal Bazzell (Orbis); “Redemptive Disruptions and the Potential Power of Ecclesial Domestic Difference,” in The Household of God and Local Households: Revisiting the Domestic Church, edited by Thomas Knieps-Port le Roi, Gerard Mannion, and Peter De Mey (Peeters); and “Transforming Memory: Re-membering Eucharist,” with Marcia Mount-Shoop, in Theology Today (70.2, 2013).
Paul Griffiths published a review of Metaphysics, by Adrian Pabst, in International Journal for Philosophy of Religion (72.2, 2012) and provided the foreword for Philosophy and the Christian Worldview: Analysis, Assessment and Development, edited by David Werther and Mark Linville (Continuum). During the spring semester he delivered several lectures: “What Remains in the Resurrection? A Broadly Thomist Argument for the Presence of Nonhuman Animals in Heaven,” as the annual Thomas Aquinas Lecture at Blackfriars, Cambridge, and at a symposium on teleology and eschatology in Thomas Aquinas at Blackfriars, Oxford; “The End: An Eschatological Assay,” eight lectures delivered at the invitation of the University of Cambridge Faculty of Divinity over the Lent term as the 2013 Stanton Lectures; “On Mary’s Mortality, in Conversation with John Henry Newman,” at a symposium on Catholic Mariology at the University of Dayton (Ohio); “The Impossibility of Owning the Immaterial and the Natural Right to Ownership: Resolving a Tension in Catholic Thought,” the keynote address at a symposium on intellectual property at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis, Minn.; “Did Mary Die? John Henry Newman on Mary’s Mortality,” the annual Newman Legacy Lecture at the National Institute for Newman Studies, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pa.; and “The Song of Songs and the West’s Grammar of the Flesh,” at a symposium on the Song of Songs at Harvard Divinity School sponsored by the Center for the Study of World Religions.
Richard Hays delivered “The Creed as Hermeneutical Lens for Reading Scripture—and Vice-Versa” on June 6 at the Ancient Evangelical Future Conference at Trinity School for Ministry in Ambridge, Pa., and “Intertextual Fusions in Matthew’s Use of Scripture” during the 68th general meeting of SNTS (Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas) in Perth, Australia, July 23–26.
Richard Lischer’s “A Book’s Life” was the cover story for the spring books issue (May 1) of The Christian Century, and a 2012 contribution to that magazine, his devotional essay “Stripped Bare,” received an Award of Merit from the Church Associated Press. Lischer served as one of the preachers in Duke Chapel for Good Friday and, in September, as lecturer for the Faith and Life Series at St. Paul Lutheran Church, Davenport, Iowa.
Randy L. Maddox published “Introducing the Wesleyan Theological Tradition” as the preface to The Global Wesleyan Dictionary of Theology (Beacon Hill) and “James Erskine’s Critique of John Wesley on Christian Perfection,” in Proceedings of the Wesley Historical Society 59 (2013). In August he delivered a plenary address on Charles Wesley’s eschatology to the annual meeting of the Charles Wesley Society at Durham University, England, and participated in the 13th meeting of the Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies, which he serves as secretary.
David Marshall published Tradition and Modernity: Christian and Muslim Perspectives (Georgetown University Press), a volume he edited and introduces. He also published two articles in Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations: “Muhammad in Contemporary Christian Theological Reflection” (24.2, 2013) and “Roman Catholic Approaches to the Qur’an since Vatican II” (24.3, 2013). In May he facilitated the 12th annual Building Bridges Seminar for Christian and Muslim scholars in Doha, Qatar, on the theme “The Believing Community: Christian and Muslim Scholars.” In June he addressed the clergy conference of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Nottingham, England, on Muhammad and the Qur’an and also ran a three-day course on “Understanding Islam” at St Stephen’s House, Oxford, a Church of England seminary.
Chris Rice’s book Reconciling All Things, co-written with Emmanuel Katongole, was translated for distribution in South Korea, where he traveled in August to lead a retreat on the theme of Christian community for 200 faculty and administrators of Seoul Foreign School. In May he gave a plenary address, “God’s New We: From Caregiving to Community,” at a Christian Community Health Fellowship conference in Atlanta, Ga., attended by 400 Christian health professionals working in marginalized communities. At the end of the month, he and Edgardo Colón-Emeric co-facilitated the fifth annual Duke Summer Institute: “The Ministry of Reconciliation in a Divided World.”
Russell E. Richey published Denominationalism Illustrated and Explained (Cascade). He presented his resource paper on ecclesiology in United Methodism to the UMC Committee on Faith and Order in Nashville, Tenn., on March 17, and then to the UMC Connectional Table in Chicago, Ill., at the end of April. He also delivered “Theological Education in American Methodism,” the opening plenary address for the consultation “The UMC after Tampa: Where Do We Go from Here?” that convened April 4 at Emory University. Richey served as co-chair for the Wesley/Methodist Historical Studies working group at this summer’s Oxford Institute of Methodist Theological Studies and as co-director of Asbury Theological Seminary’s Wesleyan Studies Summer Seminar. The Historical Society of the United Methodist Church recently elected him president for the 2014–17 term.
Meredith L. D. Riedel published “Historical Writing and Warfare,” in The Oxford History of Historical Writing, vol. 2, 400–1400, edited by Sarah Foot and Chase Robinson (Oxford University Press), and “Syriac Sources for Byzantinists: An Introduction and Overview,” in Byzantinische Zeitschrift (105.2, 2012). Last fall she presented “From Innovation to Restoration: The Legacy of Constantine in Tenth-Century Byzantium” at the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference at Villanova (Pa.) University. In the spring, the Wabash Center awarded her a place in its 2013–14 workshop for first-year theological school faculty.
Lester Ruth published Longing for Jesus (Eerdmans), which considers worship at Christ Temple, an African-American Holiness Church in Jackson, Miss., at the turn of the 20th century. In June he lectured on a theology of worship at the Worship Symposium of the Methodist School of Music in Singapore, and in August he presented a paper comparing classic evangelical hymnody and contemporary worship music at the Christian Congregational Music Conference at Ripon College in Cuddesdon, England.
Beth M. Sheppard published a review of The Riddles of the Fourth Gospel: An Introduction to John, by Paul N. Anderson, in Biblical Interpretation (21.1, 2013).
Laceye Warner was preacher and plenary speaker for June 17 at the Duke Youth Academy in Durham, N.C., and gave the July 1 talk “Wesleyan Roots” at the Texas Youth Academy, held at Southwestern University in Georgetown. At the Texas Annual Conference of the UMC in May, she served on a panel reporting on theological education. Warner spoke July 7 and 14 as part of the Summer Scholars Series at Millbrook Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., and in September gave a talk at New Creation UMC in Durham, N.C., titled “Saving Women.”
Will Willimon is editing a series on Christian theology for Abingdon Press that will be introduced this fall with his book Incarnation: The Surprising Overlap of Heaven and Earth. He published “Making Ministry Difficult,” his thoughts on moving from the episcopacy to seminary teaching, in The Christian Century (Feb. 4, 2013). In the spring he spoke at pastors’ schools in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Ohio, North Dakota, and Canada. He met with Florida UMC pastors during Holy Week for a preaching workshop and preached at First UMC in Pensacola, Fla., on Easter. In April he gave lectures on preaching at Sioux Falls (S.D.) Seminary; spoke on new church development and on preaching and the principalities and powers at a national assembly of Free Methodists in Canada in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; co-led, with Chris Seitz, the College of Preachers in Dallas, Texas; and gave the Dillard Lectures at St. Paul UMC in Richmond, Va. He preached and lectured at the national Festival of Homiletics in Nashville, Tenn., May 14–15, and in July preached at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in metro Kansas City. In June he was appointed pastor of Duke Memorial UMC in Durham, N.C.
Brittany Wilson was appointed assistant professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School as of July 1. She delivered a lecture titled “Incarnation” at the Duke Youth Academy in Durham, N.C., and served on the honorary committee for Beverly Gaventa’s retirement ceremony in Princeton, N.J.
Norman Wirzba made presentations on food and faith at Queen Anne UMC in Seattle, Wash., in May and at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, N.C., in June. He also participated in June at a “Theology, Science, and Evolution” colloquium hosted by the Colossian Forum. July 1–5 he taught “On Soil and Salvation: Reconciliation and the Land” at the Vancouver School of Theology. In September he presented “Justice and the Land” at the University of Florida and, at the end of the month, hosted a national event he organized, “Summoned Toward Wholeness: A Conference on Food, Farming, and the Life of Faith,” at Duke Divinity School.
Lauren Winner gave the May commencement address at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Mich.; served as faculty for the Preaching Excellence Program of the Episcopal Preaching Foundation, held May 26–31 in Richmond, Va.; and preached in June at the Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Ore., and at the consecration of Anne Hodges-Copple, bishop suffragan of the (Episcopal) Diocese of North Carolina.