Beth Allison Barr Receives Grant from the Louisville Institute

Follow us on Twitter: @BaylorUMediaCom
Media contact: Terry Goodrich, (254) 710-3321
WACO, Texas (July 18, 2013) - Beth Allison Barr, Ph.D., Resident Scholar and assistant professor of European women's history in the department of history at Baylor, has received a $40,000 grant from the Louisville Institute to spend the 2013-2014 year studying the English Bible's influence on perceptions of the Christian woman.
"Not only is this a much-needed historical project, but it has enormous contemporary implications as Christians today wrestle with women's proper roles in the church and family," said Thomas Kidd, Ph.D., professor of history and Senior Fellow at the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion. "Her prestigious grant from the Louisville Institute only confirms the major significance of Dr. Barr's work."
The Louisville Institute's Sabbatical Grant for Researchers Program enables scholars to conduct a major study that can contribute to the vitality of Christianity in North America. Grants of up to $40,000 support year-long research projects that address Christian faith and life, pastoral leadership and/or religious institutions.
The Louisville Institute is funded by the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment and based at Louisville Presbyterian Seminary (Louisville, Ky.). The Institute's fundamental mission is to enrich the religious life of North American Christians and to encourage the revitalization of their institutions, by bringing together those who lead religious institutions with those who study them, so that the work of each might inform and strengthen the other.
"I am extremely pleased by this grant," Barr said. "The generosity of the Louisville Institute will enable my research into how the Reformation era really mattered for women."
During her sabbatical, Barr plans to research medieval and early modern sermon manuscripts in order to complete her book project "Women in English Sermons, 1380-1688." She will also give a lecture entitled "Weak and Silent Vessels: The Impact of the English Bible on Christian Women" at a conference on women in the Bible Sept. 16 at Baylor's Armstrong Browning Library.
Barr specializes in the studies of European women, Medieval and early modern England and church history. She attended Baylor for her undergraduate degree, earning a BA in history and minor in classics in 1996. She then studied at Chapel Hill, receiving her MA in 1999 and Ph.D. in 2004, both in medieval history.
by Rachel Miller, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having "high research activity" by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.
ABOUT THE COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES
The College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University's oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 26 academic departments and 13 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines.