The MWRC appoints one fellow each academic year, normally for a six month period. The fellowship comes with free accommodation on the campus of NTC and a £50 per week stipend. Information about applying for the 2016-17 fellowship can be found here. Applications are due by 31 March 2016.
Andrew is the post-doctoral research and teaching fellow at the Manchester Wesley Research Centre.
In January 2016, he successfully defended his doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh, where it was examined by Emeritus Professor Hartmut Lehmann (Göttingen and Kiel) and Dr Thomas Ahnert (Edinburgh). His thesis examines the ‘Awakening movement’ (Erweckungsbewegung) in German Protestantism during the Vormärz period (1815-48) in German history. This religious movement was the last nationwide Protestant reform and revival movement to occur in Germany. His thesis interprets the ‘Awakening movement’ as a product of the larger social changes that were re-shaping German society during this time. Theologically, Awakened Protestants were traditionalists. They affirmed religious doctrines that orthodox Protestants had professed since the confessional statements of the Reformation-era. However, Awakened Protestants were also distinctly modern. Their efforts to spread their religious beliefs were successful because of the new political freedoms and economic opportunities that emerged in the early nineteenth century. These social conditions gave members of the emerging German middle class new means and abilities to pursue their religious goals. Adapting Protestantism to modern society in these ways was the most original and innovative aspect of the Awakening movement. More broadly, his doctoral research examined how Europe’s transition to modernity affected the religious beliefs and activities of Protestant communities in Germany, Britain, and the Netherlands during the period from 1750 to 1850.
His research project at the MWRC examines how John Wesley's lifelong reading of German Protestant theological texts (Luther, Arndt, Böhme, Francke and the Halle Pietists, Terstegen, Zinzendorf and the Moravians, Bengel) shaped his preaching, teaching, and writing for early Methodists. By using the special collections at the MWRC and in the John Rylands Library, his research will provide a systematic analysis of these figures' influence on Wesley as well as his interpretation and mediation of them to the wider Methodist movement.
He is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylania and is a graduate of Grove City College and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Most recently, he has been a member of Saint Columba's Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh.
Publications
‘Dissembling Orthodoxy in the Age of the Enlightenment: Frederick the Great and his Confession of Faith’, Harvard Theological Review, 109 (2016), 102-128.
'German Protestants' receptions and interpretations of George Whitefield, 1739-1857’, Wesley and Methodist Studies, (forthcoming 2016).
‘The Enlightenment in the Historical Imagination of Evangelical and Awakened Protestants in Europe, Britain, and North America, c. 1750-1850’, Religion in the Age of Enlightenment, 6 (forthcoming in 2016).
‘European Revivals and the History of Evangelicalism: Moving Beyond the Anglo-American Paradigm’, Fides et Historia, 47 (2015), 1-18.
‘The Committee for the Relief of Distress in Germany: A Case Study of Cooperation and Solidarity between British Evangelicals and German Pietists during the Napoleonic Era’, Pietismus und Neuzeit: Ein Jahrbuch zur Geschichte des neueren Protestantismus, 40 (2014), 163-201.
‘The Religious Landscape of German-speaking Europe and Four Calls for Religious Reforms on the Eve of the German Awakening: Johann August Urlsperger (1780), Emperor Joseph II of Austria (1781), Immanuel Kant (1784), and King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia (1788)’, European Journal of the Theology, 21 (2012), 148-155.
Professor Howard A. Snyder, currently serving as Visiting Director of the Manchester Wesley Research Centre, will be giving the annual Drysdale Lecture at Nazarene Theological College, Manchester, 1 February 2016 at 7:30 PM.
The title of the lecture is 'Christian Mission, Creation, and New Creation'.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
It will be livestreamed at www.livestream.com/ntcmanchester.
Nazarene Theological College, Dene Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2GU.
Tel: 0161-445-3063.
Video recordings of about 4 1/2 of the 6 presentations from the Methodist Studies Seminar from 5 December are available at: http://original.livestream.com/ntcmanchester
Note: Dr Julie Lunn's presentation wasn't recorded, and the first half of Prof Michael Nausner's presentation wasn't video recorded. However, we have an audio recording of all of Michael Nausner's presentation, which has been uploaded at: http://www.mwrc.ac.uk/methodist-studies-seminars/ The speaking in the first video (Introduction and Mark Olson) doesn't start until about 10 minutes in.
The Seminar will begin at 10:00 a.m. in the Emmanuel Centre on the campus of Nazarene Theological College. Please click here for programme and further details.
Information about the 2016 John Rylands Research Institute-MWRC Joint Visiting Fellowship may be found here. Applications are due by 30 November 2015.
Information about the 2016 MWRC Visiting Fellow Programme can be found here. Applications are due by 11 January 2016.
The next Methodist Studies Seminar will take place on Saturday 5 December 2015 on the campus of Nazarene Theological College. The deadline for submitting paper proposals is 15 September 2015.
Presenting:
Cindy Aalders, D.Phil., visiting fellow, 'When I was a little child': Childhood, memory, and eighteenth-century Methodism'
Robert Gailey, Ph.D., visiting fellow and Deirdre Brower Latz, Ph.D., Principal of Nazarene Theological College, 'A Wesleyan Theology of Compassion'
2:00 PM, Nazarene Theological College, Dene Road, Didsbury, Manchester
Emmanuel Centre Room E3.
Wednesday, 17 June 2015
9:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Speakers:
Glen O’Brien, PhD: ‘John Wesley’s Political Writings: A Global History Approach’
Phil Hamner: ‘The Doctrine of Revelation and Canonical Theism’
Maximilian Hölzl: ‘John Bunyan in his Puritan-Nonconformist Background’
Richard Saunders-Hindley: “‘The Beginning of Heaven”: Wesleyan Expressions of Covenant, Holiness and God’s Eternal Purpose’
Thomas Lau: ‘“You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength!”—The Theological Influences of Uldine Mabelle Utley on John Sung in 1926’
Nazarene Theological College Emmanuel Centre (free entry)
Free lunch will be provided for those who book a place by 14 June by sending an email to:
kelly.yates-2@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
Nazarene Theological College, Dene Road, Didsbury, Manchester, M20 2GU. Tel: 0161-445-3063.
The following have been appointed as visiting fellows for the Manchester Wesley Research Centre for 2015.
Carol Blessing, Ph.D, from Point Loma Nazarene University continued her research on Mary Fletcher and Mary Tooth and presented a paper at the Methodist Studies Seminary at Oxford in April.
Robert Gailey, Ph.D., from Point Loma Nazarene University will be working on a chapter in a book he is co-authoring with Dr Deirdre Brower Latz on compassionate ministries.
David Bundy, Ph.D., will be researching 'The British Roots of the Korean and Japanese Holiness Churches'
Cindy Aalders, D.Phil., from Lincoln College, Oxford, will be researching the Methodist child in eighteeth-century England.
Glen O'Brien, Ph.D., from Booth College, Sydney College of Divinity, is planning to research John Wesley's political writings.
'Beauty in Creation: John Wesley's Natural Philosophy'
given by Revd Dr David Rainey
Senior Lecturer in Theology, Nazarene Theological College
Tuesday, 16 June 2015, 5:00 PM
J.B. Maclagan Chapel, NTC
The lecture will be livestreamed at www.livestream.com/ntcmancester.
For more information, click here
Nazarene Theological College (NTC) is pleased to announce that Dr. Howard Snyder, professor of history and theology of mission at Asbury Theological Seminary (1996-2006), will step in as visiting director for the Manchester Wesley Research Centre until January 2017.
Snyder is taking on primary leadership of the MWRC from Dr. Geordan Hammond, current director, who will have a reduced role with the centre for two years in order to pursue research on George Whitefield’s correspondence.
Snyder was professor of Wesley Studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto from 2007 to 2012, and has explored Wesley’s perspective of creation care and other areas of Wesleyan theology. He is the author of The Radical Wesley: The Patterns and Practices of a Movement Maker and other books.
“Howard Snyder is a pre-eminent Wesley studies scholar and a really phenomenal churchman, so he’s spent a lot of his life thinking about and helping Wesleyans shape the Church for today,” said Deirdre Brower Latz, principal of NTC. “He’s a kind of prophetic scholar. To have him … consenting to be the visiting director is wonderful.”
As the primary leader of the centre, Snyder will work with two administrative assistants to carry out the day-to-day work of the centre, as well as plan events and work with the centre’s 11 partner institutions.
Now retired, Snyder writes from his home in Wilmore, Kentucky, U.S., and serves as a research supervisor for NTC. Taking on leadership for the Manchester Wesley Research Centre fits his lifelong interest in Wesley studies.
“I was well aware Manchester was a major centre for Wesley studies with the John Rylands library there,” he said. “I‘m looking forward to getting more acquainted with the John Rylands and NTC.”
“I have a long interest in church renewal and revival, so I’m interested not only academically but in terms of practical things the Church can learn and needs today from Wesley and early Methodism. I was raised in the Free Methodist Church, of which I'm still a member. I have a lot of interest not only in early Methodism, but also in the holiness movement and movements with roots in Methodism and the Wesleyan witness, including the Church of the Nazarene and some Pentecostal and Charismatic groups.”
Hammond is pleased that Snyder agreed to the role.
“He’s widely known as a respected voice amongst Wesleyan scholars and ministers, who speaks effectively to academics, ministers, and laypeople. I look forward to seeing how the centre develops under his leadership.”
Snyder has also served as Professor of History and Theology of Mission in the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky (1996-2006), where he still teaches or lectures occasionally, and has pastored in Chicago, Detroit, and São Paulo. He has published a number of books.
The MWRC invites applications for our summer 2015 Visiting Fellow Programme. In addition to accommodation, we are now offering a modest weekly stipend to the fellowship recipient. Applications are due by 31 January. Details about the programme can be found at: /visiting-fellows/
Nazarene Theological College (Manchester, UK) is currently accepting applications for an academic post. The post is open to candidates with specialism in Church History, Historical Theology, Theology or a combination of the three (closing date: 12 Jan. 2015). For details visit the NTC website.
The MWRC is pleased to announce the launch of a new Joint Visiting Fellowship with the John Rylands Research Institute aimed to promote research in the Methodist and Wesleyan traditions. The Fellowship offers accommodation and a stipend for up to six weeks. Applications for the summer 2015 Fellowship are due by 15 December. Full details can be found at: http://www.jrri.manchester.ac.uk/opportunities/manchester-wesley-research/
The MWRC would like to congratulate Junior Fellows who completed their doctorates at The University of Manchester/Nazarene Theological College during the 2013-14 academic year. In Wesley Studies and Theology: Hunter Cummings, Christine Johnson, Josh McNall, and Jerome Van Kuiken; and and in Biblical Studies: Chris Foster. Click here for details about their work.
A draft programme for the next seminar in Manchester on Saturday 6 December is available here.
The 'George Whitefield at 300' conference took place at Pembroke College, Oxford in June 2014. The conference brought together 60 scholars to share and discuss the fruits of their research on Whitefield's life, context, and legacy. More than 40 papers were presented by scholars from the UK, Germany, the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. For a news story on the conference, click here, and for a blog recap of the conference, click here.
Video recordings of presentations at the recent Nazarene Theological College One-Day Theology Conference, MWRC Annual Lecture, and MWRC Postgraduate Colloquium are available on NTC's live-stream page at: http://www.livestream.com/ntcmanchester Follow this link for information about the events.
The 2014 MWRC annual lecture entitled 'Scriptural Holiness: The Wesleys' Use of Scripture' was given by Professor Morna Hooker on 17 June 2014. A video recording of the lecture is available
