Faculty

Kenneth L. Parker, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
parkerk@slu.edu

Education

1987 to 1990: Post-doctoral studies in Roman Catholic Theology and Church History, Faculty of Theology (French and German sections), University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Research project: The theological development leading to conversion of John Henry Newman.

Ph.D. in Divinity, 1984, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. Dissertation title: "The English Sabbath: 1558-1640". Supervised by Dr. Eamon Duffy, Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Awarded M.A. in Theology, June 1978, Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California. Area of concentration: Late Medieval and Reformation Theology. Studies guided by Dr. Geoffrey Bromiley.

Awarded B.A. in History, December 1975, Houghton College, Houghton, New York.

Recent Publications

Monographs and Critical Editions:

'Practical Divinity': The Works and Life of Richard Greenham, St Andrews Studies in Reformation History (Aldershot, Hants: Ashgate Press, 1998).

The English Sabbath: A Study of Doctrine and Discipline from the Reformation to the Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988).

Articles and Essays:

"Richard Greenham's 'Spiritual Physicke': The Comfort of Afflicted Consciences in Elizabethan Pastoral Care" Penitential Practice in Early Modern Europe, edited by K Lualdi and A. Thayer (Ashgate, 2000)

"La Chiamata alla Sanctificazione: ritlessione sul cammino di un pellegrino metodista/benedettino", in La Santificazione nelle Tradizioni Benedettina e Metodista, edited by Reginald Greggoire and Bruno Corsani (Verona: "Il Segno", Gabrielli Editori, 1998).

"Never on a Sunday: Why Sunday Afternoon Sports Transformed Seventeenth Century England", South Atlantic Quarterly 95.2 (Spring 1996), 339-64.

"The Role of Estrangement in Conversion: The Case of John Henry Newman", in Christianity and the Stranger: Historical Essays , ed. Francis Nichols (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1995), 169-201.

"The Call to Sanctification: Reflection on the Journey of a Methodist/Benedictine Pilgrim", Asbury Theological Journal 50.2 (Fall 1995), 71-82.

Recent Courses Taught

• Introduction to Historical Method
• Research Problems in Christian History (Modern Section)
• Research Seminar (Medieval/Early Modern)
• Research Seminar (Modern Section)

Current Areas of Interest:

"Truth is the Daughter of Time: Exploring the Nature of Historical Theology" An examination of the assumptions that students and scholars bring to the subject.

John Henry Newman's Conversion: The Impact of His Changing Vision of History

The Construction of Puritan Identity in Early Stuart England