Blake lecture turns spotlight on women in Christianity
The role of women in the Christian tradition
was the focus of the 15th Annual William E.
and Miriam S. Blake Lecture on the History
of Christianity Monday evening.
The role of women in the Christian tradition
was the focus of the 15th Annual William E.
and Miriam S. Blake Lecture on the History
of Christianity Monday evening.
This year’s lecture was presented by Barbara
J. MacHaffie, professor of history and religion
emerita at Marietta College in Ohio.
MacHaffie’s lecture was titled, “Let Her Write of it Who Will: Women,
Scholarship and Christian Tradition.” The lecture was structured around her
book, “Her Story: Women in Christian Tradition,” the second edition of which
was released in 2006 by Fortress Press.
MacHaffie’s lecture, like her book, was constructed using years of others’
research. MacHaffie said the book is “a tertiary text.”
“This is sort of two removed from the primary sources,” MacHaffie said.
Within her lecture, MacHaffie cited numerous scholarly works on the subject
giving a clear and concise background on the topic.
“It was exactly the kind of Blake lecture I envisioned,” said William E.
Blake.
Blake said MacHaffie was able to present the subject in a way that made it
accessible to a wide audience.
“This is a mixed audience,” Blake said. “She adapted beautifully . she
brought it down, but she wasn’t condescending. My aim was to have people
who understood relating the history of Christianity to a wide audience.”
MacHaffie chose to give her lecture from the floor of the Commonwealth
Ballroom rather than from a podium on the stage.
“I just sort of saw this as a teaching moment,” said MacHaffie, who said
she is much more at home as a teacher than a lecturer. MacHaffie has taught
at Marietta College since 1983 but said she only makes speaking appearances,
such as the Blake lecture, every couple years.
The Blake lecture offers speakers $1,000 plus expenses, which on some occasions
hasn’t been enough to secure some speakers. MacHaffie said when she
was invited to speak, she looked up the Blake lecture’s legacy on the Internet
and was impressed.
“I had three reasons (for coming to speak at VCU),” MacHaffie said. She said
she thinks the lectures are helping bring Christianity to a wider audience and
the work of the history department is “terrific.”
The third reason?
“My sister lives in Richmond,” MacHaffie said. “I love Richmond.”
Although her time at Marietta will be done at the end of this semester,
MacHaffie plans to keep busy.
“I’m going to start a new life,” she said. “Doing what? I’m not sure.”
MacHaffie, who received her Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh in
Scotland, said she would like to revisit those roots for her next book.
“Right now, I’d like to do something on Scottish history and culture,” she
said.
Bernard Moitt, chair of the history department, used the Blake lecture as an
opportunity to announce the arrival of two new faculty members who will join
the VCU community in the fall. Andrew Crislip, a graduate of Yale currently
teaching at the University of Hawai’i, will be taking the William E. and Miriam S. Blake endowed chair in the history of Christianity. Andrew Chestnut is filling a world studies position. According to Moitt, Chestnet will be taking the Sullivan chair in Catholic Studies. The school of world studies was unable to confirm Chestnut’s appointment as of press time.
Moitt said he is excited about the additions to the faculty and said that perhaps
one or both of the incoming professors would participate the 2009 lecture.
Blake has some ideas of his own as to what he would like to see at his
eponymous lecture.
“We really would need somebody to come and speak on black Christianity,”
Blake said. “The black church was the heart and soul of the civil rights
movement.”