The Louise and Richard Goodwin Writing Prize for Excellence in Theological Writing, a competition launched in 2001 and concluded in 2021, recognized upcoming scholars in the theological field. The writing prizes were awarded by the Board of Directors of Theological Horizons, a non-profit corporation fostering reflection and responsibility in the church, the community, and the academy. Awards were given to essays that demonstrate:
creative theological thinking,
excellence in scholarship,
engagement with the Christian tradition, and
commitment to the well-being of the church.
Announcing the 2021 louise & richard Goodwin Prizes for Excellence in Theological Writing
The board of directors of Theological Horizons is pleased to announce THE 2021 LOUISE & RICHARD GOODWIN PRIZES FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEOLOGICAL WRITING
A $2,500 prize has been awarded to Clare Kemmerer (Yale Institute of Sacred Music) for the essay, "Sisters in Complicity: Anti-Judaism at a Late Medieval Convent.” Read our interview with Clare here.
Abstract: Building upon the frameworks developed by Stephanie Jones-Rogers and Elizabeth McRae which centralize the role of women in perpetuating racial violence and discrimination, this paper expands their application to the racial and religious persecution of Jews in late medieval Europe. Offering a case-study of a medieval German convent, this paper seeks to complicate both the study of medieval racial politics and that of medieval women religious. Using artistic, economic and written evidence from the fourteenth-century life at Kloster Lüne, this paper explores the ways that class, gender, and religion allowed the nuns to uniquely participate in a culture of anti-Judaism.
A $1,000 prize has been awarded to Ryan Duerr (University of Dayton) for the essay, “Eco-Lutheranism and the Hidden God.” Read our interview with Ryan here.
Abstract: Recently, Lutheran theologians have started using Martin Luther’s theologia crucis to construct a uniquely Lutheran approach to eco-theology. While Luther’s theologia crucis has, indeed, proven useful in this regard, it has also been used to promulgate an ecological ethic which advocates the alleviation of nature’s suffering in such a way that ignores the scientific consensus concerning the necessity of predation, pain, and struggle for the overall health of biotic systems. In order to correct this trend, I argued that eco-Lutherans ought recover Luther’s notion of God hidden “behind” revelation in order to complement their emphasis on God hidden “in” revelation.
A $500 prize has been awarded to Chengyuan (Rene) Guo (Yale Divinity School) for the essay, “A New Realism: First Generation Chinese American Theology of Liminal Complicity.” Read our interview with Rene here.
Abstract: In the context of COVID pandemic and Sino-American strategic competitions, Chinese Americans have been singled out by our kin and racialized as contagion. However, Chinese American Christians from the PRC should not be considered as pure victims of racism in this Thucydidean circumstance because we are also complicit with perpetuating oppression against other weaker groups. This essay explores liminal complicity as a theological alternatives to liberation and reconciliation, which prioritizes our endless entanglements with structures of violence. This essay develops a new approach to Christian realism that bypasses the danger of liberation-themed grammar and the oppressed/oppressor binary in the Chinese American context.
We are deeply encouraged to see young scholars of such promise and commitment and we offer our warm congratulations to all who participated in this year’s competition
THEOLOGY TODAY: A WEBINAR WITH WINNERS OF THE GOODWIN PRIZES FOR EXCELLENCE IN THEOLOGICAL WRITING
Four young religion scholars tell the personal stories behind their award winning essays and share their perspectives on doing the work of theology here and now. 4/22/2021.
the 2020 louise & richard Goodwin Prizes for Excellence in Theological Writing
A $2,500 prize has been awarded to Jimmy Myers (Duke Divinity School) for the essay, "Give Gifts to the Evildoer: A Rereading of Matthew 5:38-42." (To read an interview with him, click on his name.)
Abstract: What does Jesus teach his followers to practice in Matthew 5:38–42? That is the question that this paper answers, seeking to provide the church a more faithful way of reading, living, and imagining Jesus’s command than has been done in the past. I contend that our collective imaginations as a Christian tradition have been constrained by readings of this passage that have failed to discern its unity and positive character, a character which gives birth to a repeated pattern of gift-giving in response to evildoing that the church––who lives in the “present evil age” (Gal. 1:4) yet follows a God who gives grace to evildoers (us)––has the opportunity to embody in order to bring about something positive, active, and beautiful into God’s creation––loving it, with God, into a new creation.
A $1,000 prize has been awarded to Abraham Wu (Regent College, Vancouver) for the essay, “In Loving Memory: Applying a Theological Anthropology of Trinitarian Personhood to the Problem of Memory Loss.” (To read an interview with him, click on his name.)
Abstract: How should we understand the implications that memory loss has for human personhood? If memory is wholly constitutive for personhood, then human personhood seems imperiled for those suffering from diseases such as dementia. This paper will argue that while memory is indeed constitutive of personhood, it is not wholly constitutive. Instead, this paper will put forward a theological anthropology that seeks to humbly understand human personhood by viewing the human reality from the perspective of an understanding of God. This paper starts from the imago Dei and imago trinitatis in order to understand human beings as "persons-in-relation." This means that one is not merely self-constructed by memory but is also constituted by their relationships with others and—ultimately—in relationship to the God who does not forget (Is. 49:15).
A $500 prize has been awarded to Rachael K. Griggs (University of Dayton) for the essay, “Becoming Pro-Mysterion: Embracing a Future of Mercy for All in Romans 11.” (To read an interview with her, click on her name.)
Abstract: This essay presents an exegesis of Paul’s allegory of the olive tree (Romans 11) within the framework of present-day tragedies caused by antisemitism. While Paul exhorts gentile believers to express humility regarding their newfound position within God’s family, supersessionism has placed the Jewish and Christian faiths in a dichotomous relationship. Greek word studies and models of religious pluralism in this essay demonstrate that supersessionism is a poisonous root from which antisemitism grows. Paul’s revelation of God’s cosmic plan of salvation asks Jesus’s followers—in any era—to become pro-mysterion: to embrace in faith God’s redemptive plan for all.
A $500 prize has been awarded to Timothy Shriver (University of Virginia) for the essay, “Fannie Lou Hamer: Smiling at Satan’s Rage.” (To read his interview, click on his name.)
Abstract: This essay seeks to understand and spell out the underappreciated theological insights of the former sharecropper and front-line Civil Rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer. Using her songs, speeches and the unexpected parallel of Julian of Norwich, the essay argues that Hamer’s informal but robust theological training in the black church gave her a unique capacity to syncretize seemingly contradictory notions of defeat and victory, pain and joy, death and rebirth. The essay concludes that Hamer’s unique syncretic theology and spiritual expression demand that she be placed among the revered ranks of the great contemplatives and mystics of Christian history.
We are deeply encouraged to see young scholars of such promise and commitment and we offer our warm congratulations to all who participated in this year’s competition.
2019 Prize Winners
The $2,500 prize has been awarded to Jonathan M. Platter (University of Cambridge) for the essay, "Divine Simplicity and Scripture: A Theological Reading of Exodus 3:14." Platter’s faculty advisor, professor Ian McFarland, receives an award of $500. Learn more.
The $1,000 prize has been awarded to Hina Khalid (University of Cambridge) for the essay, “At the bedside: a theological consideration of the role of silence and touch in the accompaniment of the dying.” Learn more.
Drew Masterson (Duke Divinity School) has been awarded $500 for the essay, “Challenging Our Limits or Sacrificing Our Relationity? Karl Barth, Colin Gunton, and Transhumanist Anthropologies.” Learn more.
2018 Prize Winners
The $2,500 prize has been awarded to Joseph McCrave (Boston College) for the essay, "Forgiveness as a Virtue for Transitional Justice Contexts: Towards a Constructive Account." McCrave’s faculty advisor receives an award of $500. Learn more.
The $1,000 prize has been awarded to Bryan Ellrod (Emory University) for the essay, “The New Romantics: Authority, Authorship, and the Fragment’s Place in Christian Ethics”. Learn more.
Chris Hazlaris (Yale Divinity School) has been awarded $500 for the essay, “Redeeming a Sinful Theology of Nature.” Learn more.
An Honorable Mention of $200 goes to Matthew Wiley (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) for the essay, “Sacramental Theology in a Secular Age: Charles Taylor and the Evangelical Church.” Learn more.
See more Past Goodwin Writing Prize Winners