History Faculty
Department of History
Gordon College
Wenham, MA 01984
Stephen G. Alter
Department Chair
Associate Professor
History
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B.M. Southern Methodist University
M.A. Rice University
Ph.D. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Teaching Fields:
U.S. History, American Intellectual History, U.S. Foreign Relations, Postwar American Politics, Modern Britain
Research Fields:
19th Century American Social Thought, the Darwinian Revolution, Critical Bible Scholarship in America
Selected Publications:
“William Dwight Whitney and the Social Dimension of Lexical Diffusion,” Historiographia Linguistica 37: 3 (2010): 321-340.
"Separated at Birth: The Interlinked Origins of Darwin's Unconscious Selection Concept and the Application of Sexual Selection to Race," in Journal of the History of Biology, 40 (Summer 2007): 231-258.
"Race, Language, and Mental Evolution in Darwin's Descent of Man," in Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences, 43:3 (Summer 2007): 239-255.
William Dwight Whitney and the Science of Language (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005).
Darwinism and the Linguistic Image: Language, Race, and Natural Theology in the Nineteenth Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1999).
K. David Goss
Assistant Professor
History
B.A. Gordon College
M.A. Tufts University
Ph.D. Candidate, Boston University
Teaching Fields:
Museum Studies, Public History, Early American Maritime and Intellectual
Research Fields:
Museum Studies, New England Puritanism, American Revolution, New England Maritime
Selected Publications:
The Salem Witch Trials: A Reference Guide. (Westport: Greenwood Press, 2008).
Salem: Cornerstones of a Historic City. (Commonwealth Editions, 1999).
Treasures of a Seaport Town. (Beverly Historical Society and Museum, 1998).
Salem: Maritime Salem in the Age of Sail. U. S. National Park Service, 1987. (AAM Publication Award)
Massachusetts Officers and Soldiers in the French and Indian Wars: 1755-1756 , Society of Colonial Wars and New England Historic and Genealogic Society, 1985.
"Heritage Plaza East: Salem's Experiment in Urban Renewal", Essex Institute Historical Collections, October, 1983.
Jennifer Hevelone-Harper
Professor
History
B.A. Gordon College
M.A. University of Chicago
M.A., Ph.D. Princeton University
Teaching Fields:
Late Antiquity, Byzantium, Early Islam, Medieval and Early Modern Europe
Research Fields:
Christian Spirituality in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Byzantine Gaza and Palestine, Development of Christian Thought
Selected Publications:
“Desert Fathers and Desert Literature,” Encyclopedia of Ancient History (Oxford: Blackwell, 2010).
"Ecclesiastics and Ascetics: Finding Spiritual Authority in Fifth and Sixth-Century Palestine." Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 9.1 (2006).
"Anchorite and Abbot: Cooperative Spiritual Authority in late Antique Gaza," in The Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Conference on Patristic Studies. (Leuven: Peeters, 2006).
Disciples of the Desert: Monks, Laity, and Spiritual Authority in the Sixth-Century. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 2005).
"The Three Heirs of Rome," in A History of World Civilizations from a Christian Perspective, edited by Jerry Pattengale. St. Marion, Indiana: Triangle Publishing, forthcoming.
Thomas Albert Howard
Professor
History
Director, Jerusalem & Athens Forum
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B.A. University of Alabama
M.A., Ph.D. University of Virginia
Teaching Fields:
Modern European History, Modern Germany, Intellectual History, Christianity in Modern Era, JAF Honors Program
Research Fields:
Modern German Theology and Thought, History of Higher Education, Religion and Modernity, Transatlantic History, Historical Thought and Ethics
Selected Publications:
God and the Atlantic: America, Europe, and the Religious Divide. (Oxford, 2011).
(with Mark Noll and James Turner) The Future of Christian Learning: An Evangelical and Catholic Dialogue. (Brazos Press, 2008).
Protestant Theology and the Making of the Modern German University (Oxford University Press, 2006).
Religion and the Rise of Historicism (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
"American Religion and European Anti-Americanism," Hedgehog Review 8 (2006): 116-126
"Jacob Burckhardt, Religion, and the Historiography of Crisis and Transition," Journal of the History of Ideas 60 (January 1999): 149-164
"On Prudence and Historical Inquiry," Fides et Historia 37/38 (2006): 23-34.
Other Activities:
Director of "Critical Loyalty: Christian Vocation at Gordon College," a project supported by the Lilly Endowment
Director of the Jerusalem and Athens Forum, great books honors program
David P. Wick
Professor
History
B.A. Crown College
M.A., Ph.D. University of Washington
Teaching areas:
Ancient Mediterranean, Classical, Bronze Age history, Archeology, Ancient Cultural, Religious and Military Studies.
Research Areas:
Ancient Urban Studies, Classical Religious and Social Change. Ancient Technologies and Social Context. Co-director of Gordon's International Seminar in Greece and the Aegean.
Selected Publications:
"Decoding Ancient History: A Toolkit for the Historian as Detective," co-author with Carol G. Thomas, (Prentice-Hall, 1994, Natural Sciences Book Club Edition, 1996.).
"An Athenian Alchemy: The Survival of Athens as a Destination of Refuge for Foreigners at the End of the Roman Republic," Proceedings of the Third International Conference on European History (Athens Institute for Education and Research, 2006). Paper also delivered at keynote session of the Conference, Athens, Dec. 2005.
ADJUNCT AND PART TIME FACULTY
Agnes Howard
Adjunct Professor
History
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B.A. Cornell University
M.A., Ph.D. University of Virginia
Ute Possekel
Adjunct Professor
History
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Erstes Staatsexamen, University of Hamburg, Germany
Ph.D. Princeton Theological Seminary
Teaching Fields
Patristics, Medieval History, European Reformations, History of Christianity
Research Fields
Early and Medieval Christianity; Syriac Studies, History of Christian Thought, Christianity and Culture, Near Eastern Christianity
Selected Publications
Evidence of Greek Philosophical Concepts in the Writings of Ephrem the Syrian. CSCO Subsidia. Louvain: Peeters, 1999.
“Der Mensch in der Mitte: Aspekte der Anthropologie Hugos von St. Viktor.” Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale 61 (1994): 5-21.
“Bardaisan of Edessa: Philosopher or Theologian?” Zeitschrift für Antikes Christentum 10 (2006): 442-461.
“Orpheus Among the Animals: A New Dated Mosaic from Osrhoene.” Oriens Christianus 92 (2008): 1-35.
“Expectations of the End in Early Syriac Christianity” in Apocalyptic Thought in Early Christianity. Ed. R. J. Daly. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic Press, 2009, 160-173.
“God in the Theology of Ephrem the Syrian” in God in Early Christian Thought: Essays in Memory of Lloyd G. Patterson. Ed. A. B. McGowan, B. E. Daley, and T. J. Gaden. Vigiliae Christianae Supplements 94. Leiden: Brill, 2009, 195–237.
“Bardaisan and Origen on Fate and the Power of the Stars.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 20 (2012), 515-541.