Archives and History recognizes Methodist research

MADISON, N.J. (UMNS)-Grants and awards encouraging writing and research on topics related to the history of Methodism have been announced for 2008 by the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History.

The annual grants allow the commission "to support scholarly research and help to ensure that neglected areas of study will receive the attention they deserve," said the Rev. Robert J. Williams, the commission's chief executive. "The mission of the contemporary church is weakened when the strength of our forbearers is not taught to future generations."

The recipients of the Asian, Black, Hispanic and Native American United Methodist History Research Grant are Hannah Kim, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Delaware and instructor at Rowan University, Glassboro, N.J., and Tash Smith, a Ph.D. candidate and graduate teaching assistant at the University of Oklahoma.

Kim's project examines five key "moments" in Korean and American ethnic relations spanning a period between the 1880s and the 1980s. Smith's research will focus on the establishment of Methodist churches within Oklahoma's Native American communities. Both received $1,000 grants.

Two recipients were named for the John Harrison Ness Award recognizing the best papers on a topic in the history of Methodism by a Master of Divinity candidate. First place, a $500 grant, went to Tom Lank for a paper titled "Poetic Sideshadowings of Fundamentalism in Southern Methodism, 1865-1866." Lank is a student of Kenneth Rowe at Princeton Theological Seminary.

The $300 second-place award was given to David Vaughn for his paper "Holistic Visioning: Health and Health Care in Early Methodism." He is a student of Richard Heitzenrater at the Divinity School, Duke University.

Two scholars each received $1,000 for the Women in United Methodist History Research Grants. One grant was awarded to Lisa J. Shaver, assistant professor in the English Department at Baylor University, for research about antebellum women's rhetorical development within the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The other recipient was Rachel Cope, a Ph.D. candidate in American History at Syracuse University, who is writing about 19th-century female religious experiences, particularly in relation to revival movements.

The Women in United Methodist History Writing Award was granted to two papers. One was written by the Rev. Priscilla Pope-Levison, professor of theology and assistant director of women's studies at Seattle Pacific University and titled "A 'Thirty Year War' and More: Exposing Complexities in the Methodist Deaconess Movement."

The other paper was written by Pearl Young, an undergraduate history and physics major at Emory University, Atlanta, and titled "Genius Uncultivated is like a meteor of the night: Motives and Experiences of Methodist Female College Life in the Confederate States of America." Both women received a $500 grant.

More information about the awards is available at http://www.gcah.org/site/c.ghKJI0PHIoE/b.3526373/.