Interview With Jennifer Powell Mcnutt Of Wheaton College -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Southeastern Theological Review
Volume: STR 08:2 (Fall 2017)
Article: Interview With Jennifer Powell Mcnutt Of Wheaton College
Author: Anonymous


Interview With Jennifer Powell Mcnutt Of Wheaton College

Dr. McNutt is a tenured, Associate Professor of Theology and History of Christianity at Wheaton College, IL (since 2008). She completed her PhD in Modern History at the University of St. Andrews in 2008 (Reformation Studies Institute) under the supervision of Professor Bruce Gordon. Reformation history is the primary focus of her teaching and archival research with a particular focus on John Calvin and the legacy of the Reformed tradition. One of the goals of her research is to explore and elucidate the history of Christianity from the Early Modern period through the age of Enlightenment. Her expertise focuses on the history of the clergy, church, and theology in the social, cultural, and political contexts of Europe.

What Got You Interested In Reformation Studies?

Strangely enough, as a child of the manse, I discovered my interest in Reformation studies at the dinner table. Growing up in my Presbyterian household meant scripture, theology, and John Calvin’s Institutes were a regular part of family conversation, and I was hooked. As I look back now, I can see how these formative conversations shaped my faith journey as well as piqued my interest in pursuing a deeper understanding of Reformation history and theology. Travel to Europe as a child further deepened that passion to learn more, and as a ninth grader touring Reformation sites in Germany and Switzerland with my parents, I experienced the opportunity to stand in John Calvin’s pulpit as particularly momentous.

It was then as a student at Westmont College that my formal education in Reformation studies began. I was privileged to have the opportunity to spend a summer semester at the University of Oxford studying the Renaissance and Reformation with (among other faculty) most notably Professor Alister McGrath at Wycliffe Hall. Those months at Oxford involved reading widely in Reformation historiography and deeply in primary sources at the Bodleian Library. During that time abroad, I grew intrigued by how reform efforts inside and outside the Roman Catholic Church led to the reshaping of an entire society. For me, it was the overlap between Christian faith and politics, economics, and culture that drew my curiosity as I simultaneously came to better understand the theological and biblical facets of early-modern concerns and conversations. I did not realize it at the time, but I was developing a methodological fascination

with the interconnected nature of social history and theological history, which characterizes my scholarship and teaching to this day. The web of complexity that surrounds the Christian story of the early-modern period and the legacy of those changes on Christians and...

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