Dr. Brad Gregory, the Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair in Early Modern European History at the University of Notre Dame, is the recipient of the inaugural Aldersgate Prize for Christian Scholarship awarded by Indiana Wesleyan University's John Wesley Honors College. Gregory was awarded the 2011-2012 prize for his book, The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society.
In notifying Gregory of his award, IWU Provost Dr. David Wright said, "Our selection committee believes your book best 'demonstrates how rigorous Christian thought is brought to bear on disciplinary or interdisciplinary forms of scholarly engagement.' Our committee members noted their significant respect for both the breadth and the depth of the details defining your work. Summing up many of their perspectives, one member of the committee went so far as to remark that your work was 'magisterial' in nature."
Approximately 80 nominations were received for the award that recognizes a published book's ability to reflect the highest ideals of Christian scholarship. Gregory will receive $3,500, an engraved glass sculpture from Kokomo Opalescent Glass and the opportunity to offer the keynote address at the April 18, 2013 IWU Faith and Learning Luncheon.
"Gregory's wide-ranging and synthetic study is a model of Christian scholarship that challenges reductionist tendencies among historians and illuminates the character and genealogies of some of the fundamental dysfunctions of contemporary society," said Dr. David Riggs, JWHC executive director. "As the inaugural recipient of the Aldersgate Prize, The Unintended Reformation has set an extremely high standard for the future years."
The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society is published by Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
External selection committee members included: David Lyle Jeffrey, Distinguished Professor of Literature and Humanities, Baylor University; Willem Van De Merwe, Blanchard Chair in Physics, Indiana Wesleyan University (retired); John Wilson, editor, Books and Culture; and Jo Anne Lyon, general superintendent, The Wesleyan Church.
Nominations are open for he 2012-2013 Aldersgate Prize for Christian Scholarship.