1965-2015

50TH ANNIVERSARY

With Due Exercise of Christian Charity, Mutual Confidence, and Understanding:

A Golden Anniversary History of the Wesleyan Theological Society

It is with pleasure that the Wesleyan Theological Society offers you this souvenir magazine as we celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Society. So much of the history offered herein comes from the pages and notes of the official history of the society, The Wesleyan Theological Society:

The Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration, which I edited with Barry Callen. Barry is a joy to work with and his commitment to scholarship and friendship over the years has always been an inspiration to me. A note of thanks goes to the authors of the essays in that volume for their excellent efforts in narrating and preserving our shared past: William Kostlevy, Leo Cox, Don Dayton, John Merritt, Howard Snyder, Jennifer Woodruff-Tait, and especially to Larry Wood and the good people of Emeth Press who have gone beyond the call of duty in publishing the book. I am also indebted herein to the other historians and theologians who taught me the history of the society and instilled in me a love for its work: Paul Basset, Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, Stanley Ingersol, David Bundy, Henry Spaulding, Craig Keen, H. Ray Dunning, Tom Oord, Brent Peterson, and George Lyons. My life is blessed by their friendship and persistent encouragement. The production and documentation of this work would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance of Adam Gossman, Archivist at the David du Plessis Archives at Fuller Theological Seminary where the WTS archives are held. Adam and Beth Sheppard, Archivist at the Duke Divinity School, have also been instrumental in the ongoing digitization of the archives which will be available at the Duke Divinity School online Divinity Archive partnership in late 2015. When it becomes available, it will provide a rich heritage of resources and information about the WTS to the interested scholar and student. Much of what is pictured and written here can be found within that collection.

In writing this history, I have again been impressed by the lives of the ‘saints,’ both living and dead, who have guided our past. We stand indebted to them for their generosity and work and the vitality and scholarship that makes up our history. May the next five decades of the Wesleyan Theological Society continue to honor them and be as rich as our first 50 years.

Steven Hoskins, Trevecca Nazarene UniversityPromotional Secretary, Wesleyan Theological SocietyMarch 2015

Barry CallenWTJ Editor, 1993-2014H. Ray Dunning and George Lyons

1965-2015

50TH ANNIVERSARY

Charles Carter

With Due Exercise of Christian Charity, Mutual Confidence, and Understanding:

A Golden Anniversary History of the Wesleyan Theological Society

In an open letter penned to the membership of the Wesleyan Theological Society in the 1971 Wesleyan Theological Journal, Chairman of the Editorial Committee and Journal Editor Charles Carter noted the several accomplishments of the society in its first half-decade of existence. Indeed, since the society’s inception in 1965, much good had been done. The meetings in the first years of the society had yielded the good fruit of opening dialogues about Wesleyan theology, published a number of substantial ‘position’ papers in the journal on the biblical and theological bases for Wesleyan thought, and created a place for theological friendships to grow across denomination and institutional boundaries. Membership had grown from ninety-two charter members in 1965 to over 250 in five short years. An official constitution was created in 1969 and in 1970 the WTS cemented its relationship with the National Holiness Association, an issue of some concern to the WTS membership. At a meeting with the NHA leadership in 1970, the WTS became an official arm of that society with the responsibility of organizing the NHA educational seminars. At the end of the letter, Carter wrote that the future for the WTS was indeed bright and “with due exercise of Christian charity, mutual confidence, and understanding” the society had much to offer “by way of sound Christian holiness scholarship in this generation….”

This Golden Anniversary history of the WTS is offered as witness that Carter’s estimation was both accurate and prophetic. In these pages, you will find recounted the meetings, theological debates, growth of the society, and the prevailing sense of camaraderie that has pervaded our fellowship since its origin. May it be that the next fifty years will continue to be filled with the Christian charity, confidence, and understanding that has been the hallmark of the Wesleyan Theological Society in our first half-century and that we will continue to live into the vision of our founders.

The Wesleyan Theological Society was organized and held its initial meeting at the grand Statler-Hilton Hotel in

Detroit, Michigan in April of 1965. About twenty were in attendance and they elected Leo Cox as president, with Merne Harris and W. Ralph Thompson elected as secretary and treasurer. That original meeting was held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the National Holiness Association and the WTS was born out of the vision of NHA president, Kenneth Geiger, and several leading holiness academics to establish a scholarly society

which would be an arm of the NHA. Indeed, Geiger had already organized a series of conferences in the early 1960s which resulted in the publications Insights Into Holiness (vols. I and II) and The Word and The Doctrine. The stated purpose of the society was to provide a forum

for reading papers, to publish those papers in an annual journal, to serve as an arm of the NHA educational seminars, and to encourage young scholars in the field. Membership came through application and sponsorship and the paying of dues.

In November of that year, the WTS held its inaugural meeting at Spring Arbor College with approximately sixty in attendance. The meeting began with a devotional from Merne Harris, included papers by Leo Cox, Wilber Dayton, and Ralph Earle, and charged $3.10 total for all meals during the conference. The society started a tradition

of having an evening inspirational speaker for the conference and at Spring Arbor, J. Sutherland Logan, President of Vennard, brought the address. The memory of Joseph Coleson, oneof the first student members of the WTS who was present at Spring Arbor, is that sessions were held in a single classroom with a simple podium at the front for speakers to read papers and the number of reported attendees may be attributed to the language of “sacred excess.” A motion was made at the business meeting to publish an annual journal for the society, and the Wesleyan Theological Journal first appeared in 1966 with Charles Carter as editor. At the end of its first year, the society reported 92 charter members from an ecumenicity of church bodies: the Methodist Church, United Missionary Church, Salvation Army, Church of the Nazarene, Free Methodist Church, and the Wesleyan Methodist Church. By the end of the decade the society’s membership would grow to over 250.

DECADE ONE

Leo Cox

The Statler-Hilton Hotel

Spring Arbor College Seminary Building, ca. 1960.

With the success of the first meeting and an enthusiasm for its future, the work of the WTS took shape. Meetings in that first decade drew attendees ranging in number from twenty to seventy. Schools with vaunted names in the holiness movement like Asbury, Vennard, Marion, Olivet, Trevecca, and Bethany welcomed the society to their campuses. The officers of the society included notable names as well. Richard Taylor, William Arnett, and Delbert Rose were among the presidents in the first decade and in 1974 Mildred Bangs Wynkoop became the first woman to serve the society in that role. In 1969, the WTS adopted a formal constitution and in 1970 fortified its continuing relationship with the NHA, becoming an official arm of that society with the responsibility of organizing the NHA educational seminars.

The pages of the WTJ in that first decade reflect both a growing intellectual maturity within the society and two issues that became the central concern of the society’s debates as a forum for holiness scholarship: Scriptural Inerrancy and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. While the second issue would flourish in the society’s meetings in the second decade, debating the “inerrancy” question proved the society’s mettle. The matter of inerrancy was tied to the NHA statement of faith which the WTS agreed to uphold and was thus a condition for membership in

the society. In the 1969 constitution of the society a compromise of sorts was struck and members were required to support the statement on the issue there which stated the society held to a “plenary-dynamic” view of Scripture with infallibility tied to the Scriptures as “sufficient and authoritative rule of faith and practice.”

The revised statement appeared in the WTJ in 1970 and paved the way for the society to preserve intellectual honesty and friendship across doctrinal and denominational boundaries, a strength it has shown throughout its history.

Mildred Bangs Wynkoop

DECADE TWOThe second decade of the society’s history began with a meeting

in the campus church at Circleville Bible College. During Decade Two, the society would meet at schools both new and old to the holiness movement: Mount Vernon, Anderson, Asbury, and Nazarene Bible College would host the society and the last meeting of the decade was held at Emory University in Atlanta. The society was led through significant successes and challenges by able leadership. Rob Staples, Melvin Dieter, Laurence Wood, and Paul Bassett served

in the presidency. Leon Hynson, Lee Haines, and Alex Deasley served as journal editors and Wayne Caldwell served as Secretary-Treasurer for most of the decade. A young upstart named Donald Dayton, one of the society’s first legacies as his father Wilber had served the society and read papers at its early meetings, was the Promotional Secretary and the WTJ became a twice-yearly publication in 1979. By 1983, President David Cubie noted that the society’s membership had grown to twelve hundred with over

four hundred of those being student members.

The WTS needed such able leaders as there was much to discuss and much to accomplish. As the society left its first decade at the 1974 meeting, outgoing president Mildred Bangs Wynkoop noted: “At this, the tenth anniversary of the Wesleyan Theological Society, we must renew our own self-

understanding. We are engaged in a big thing—how big we may not fully realize.” By the end of the decade, the scope of the society’s work and its collective voice as a leader in Wesleyan-Holiness scholarship was busy fulfilling the prophecy of Wynkoop. Due to Don Dayton’s efforts the WTJ was being picked up by many leading theological libraries. Throughout the 1970s and 80s, the society received press in the Christian Century and Christianity Today due to the efforts of Dayton and Howard Snyder. WTS members represented the society

at the Oxford Methodist Studies Institute and the National Council of Churches and the society had a display booth at the American Academy of Religion meeting in a joint venture with other evangelical scholarly societies.

Laurence Wood

Paul Bassett

Wayne Caldwell

Alex Deasley

Don Dayton

Within the society, the decade was devoted to some new initiatives in theological conversation and weathered a great debate about the language of entire sanctification. At the 1975 meeting, President Eldon Fuhrman called for the society to include “outside speakers” in its meetings, an idea which was finally realized in 1983 when John Howard Yoder became the first such scholar invited to speak at a WTS meeting. The society also branched out to include papers on the charismatic, liberation, feminist, and process theology movements in its 1979 meeting, a precursor of fruitful dialogue in decades yet to come.

The issue of entire sanctification and the language of Spirit Baptism was taken up by the society throughout the decade. The debate, present in the society from its genesis, reached its crisis point in a paper by Herbert McGonigle at the WTS meeting in 1973. With McGonigle unable to attend, the WTS audience sat in rapt attention as a cassette tape played a recording of him reading a paper where he suggested that Spirit Baptism and pneumatological language was not present in the writings of John Wesley and early Methodism and therefore questioned its value for a society devoted to the work of Wesleyan theology. The paper set the course for both

the papers and meetings of the WTS throughout the second decade.

1977 saw Paul Bassett’s classic presentation of the two sides of the debate in his “The Fundamentalist Leavening of the Holiness Movement, 1914-1940,” and in 1978 the society devoted its entire program to the question of pneumatology and entire sanctification. President Melvin Dieter called for “forthright dialogue with mutual respect” in his address and papers from both sides were read at the meeting by Robert Lyon, Alex Deasley--a newcomer to the society, George Allen Turner,

and Mildred Bangs Wynkoop. While no real agreement was reached on the issue, the way the society handled its business proved significant. In the last meeting of the decade held at Emory, a meeting where the venerable Albert Outler was the second “outside visitor” who spoke to the society, Theodore Runyon remarked that the debates of the second decade, with the society’s growing membership and influence, noted both the importance and maturity of the WTS over its first twenty years.

John Howard Yoder

DECADE THREE

The Third Decade was one of progress, challenge, and purpose. In his presidential address in 1985, R. Larry Shelton, stated what the history of the WTS had already demonstrated. “It is clear that the WTS is reaching maturity as a scholarly theological society, and is doing theological work that is being recognized and commended even beyond the Wesleyan movement.” The following year, President H. Ray Dunning reported that at the first meeting of the third decade the society had heard from David Lowes Watson and George Hunter III with its theme on

evangelism, added a new officer—second vice-president—to assist with mounting administrative tasks, and the WTJ was now being received by the Library of Congress at its request. During the decade the continuing inclusion of visiting scholars in meetings would become a fixture. Mortimer Arias, Tom Oden, Theodore Jennings, Canon Alchin, and Craig Blaising all graced the meetings with their presence and scholarship. Mature, respected theological scholarship and the growing influence of the society marked its progress throughout the decade.

The society’s officers during the third decade brought a variety of expertise and leadership to the scholarship. Howard Snyder served as both secretary-treasurer and president and Don Dayton was both president and promotional secretary. William Kostlevy began a thirteen-year run as secretary-treasurer in 1992. The presidency was held by Randy Maddox, W. Stephen Gunter, and George Lyons. Susie Stanley served as the society’s second woman president in 1992. Meetings continued to take up important and differing themes in holiness scholarship and were held throughout the U.S. at Western Evangelical, Ashland Theological Seminary, Seattle Pacific University, and United Theological Seminary, with destinations reaching from Pennsylvania to Portland.

H. Ray Dunning

Howard Snyder Randy Maddox

Susie Stanley

Challenges, important and vital to the identity of the society, were taken up during the decade. In 1991, the WTS changed its motto from a fellowship of “Wesleyan-Arminian” scholars to the more apt “Wesleyan/Holiness” designation with the bylaws stating the society’s purpose: “To promote theological interchange among Wesleyan/holiness scholars….” This change signaled another in that same year that became the most significant constitutional issue in the society’s history. The issue of membership and division requiring confessional statement fidelity came to a head. Under the leadership of President Randy Maddox and after much

debate, the society changed its bylaws by dropping the requirement for members to subscribe to any particular statement of faith. This opened membership to all parties interested in the society’s work and any particular requirements for membership in the society were dropped.

Another challenge during the decade occurred in the early 1990s, as well. The WTJ had not been published for a few years and society membership and funds had decreased. In 1993, Barry Callen was elected as journal editor and quickly righted the ship. Due to his hard work and the excellent quality of the essays, the challenge was met. Barry would serve as the WTJ editor until 2014, the longest service in any office of the society’s history.

The renewed language of the bylaws stating the society’s purpose “to promote theological interchange among Wesleyan/holiness scholars” bore rich fruit as the WTS meetings tackled important subjects at its meetings throughout the decade. Eschatology, Social Vision, Modernism, and Wesley’s Aldersgate Experience focused the society’s work on important and emerging issues in Wesleyan theology. Frank Baker gave a paper on “Practical Divinity” at the Seattle meeting and Don Dayton’s presidential address “Preferential Option for the Poor,” in 1990 was a clarion call for a closer reading of Wesley. In 1994, the Wesleyan/Holiness Women Clergy, an

affiliated society of the WTS held its first meeting in Glorietta, New Mexico and the WTS presented its first lifetime achievement award to Robert Traina. As the society proceeded into its fourth decade with the reemergence of the journal and an unwavering commitment to Wesleyan/Holiness scholarship, it found fresh winds of purpose in its sails.

DECADE FOUR With his presidential address in 1995,

Donald Thorsen set the tone for the

coming decade. His address, “Integrating Heart and Mind,” called for a “scholarship produced by people within the Wesleyan/Holiness traditions (that) will intertwine wonderfully with our already vital emphasis on spirituality and holiness.” During the years 1995-2004, meeting themes inclined toward this vision. Worship, preaching, mission, and the dynamics of power were topics that produced valuable scholarship. Other meetings also showed a significant concern to integrate heart and mind in the new century and with current theological trends. “Facing the Future: Wesleyan/Holiness Theological

Resources for the 21st Century” (1997), “Wesleyan Theology in a Postmodern Era” (1999), and “The Holy Trinity” (2000) all delivered significant papers of noteworthy theological interest.

Presidents Steve McCormick, Ken Collins, and Sharon Clark Pearson, among others, provided strong leadership along with Craig Keen and Thomas Oord who both served in the office of Promotional Secretary. The society continued its lifetime achievement award bestowing the honor on Melvin E. Dieter, William Greathouse, J. Kenneth Grider, Susan A. Schultz Rose (the first woman to receive the honor) and Delbert R. Rose, David L. McKenna, and Charles Edwin Jones. In 2000, the WTS gave its first Smith-Wynkoop Book Award to Doug Strong. Among the other early honorees were Billy Abraham and Diane Leclerc.

The most groundbreaking event of the decade was the 1998 joint meeting between the WTS and the Society for Pentecostal Studies. The meeting came about through a long series of dialogues between the societies under the leadership of Donald Dayton—the first person to serve as president of both societies, Cheryl Bridges Johns, Susie Stanley, and William Faupel. Dreams became reality when the two societies met together in March 1998 at the Church of God Theological Seminary in Cleveland, TN (now Pentecostal Theological Seminary) with the common theme “Purity and Power: Revisioning the Holiness, Pentecostal and Charismatic Traditions.” The two societies met together again in 2003 and have continued to hold joint sessions every five years since.

Don Thorsen

Ken Collins Sharon Clark Pearson William Greathouse J. Kenneth Grider David McKenna

Breaking new ground proved a motif in the society’s efforts throughout the fourth decade. The move to a March meeting became permanent for the WTS after the 1998 meeting. In that same year, a new partner society was hailed with the formation of the Society for the Study of Psychology and Wesleyan Theology and the WTS made its first appearance in cyberspace on the website of the Christian Holiness Partnership. To cement their newly formed connection, the WTS and SPS held a joint members reception at the 1999 AAR/SBL, now a yearly tradition. In 2002, the Wesleyan Philosophical Society held its first annual meeting

along with the WTS at Hobe Sound Bible College under the leadership of Brint Montgomery and Tom Oord. The SSPWT sponsored a psychology track that year and decided to hold future meetings in conjunction with WPS on the day before the regular WTS meetings.

The society convened its first international meeting in January, 2003 with the Bahamas’ Wesleyan Fellowship, spearheaded by Carl Campbell and Barry Callen. The theme was “Faith Working Through Love: Wesleyan Traditions Today,” and representatives from over fourteen denominations and independent Holiness churches united at the oldest Methodist structure in the Bahamas

to worship God, hear scholarly papers honoring the 300th anniversary of John Wesley’s birth and sing Methodist hymns. That same

year, Soceidad Wesleyana (Hispanic Wesleyan Society) was founded, a group interested in promoting Hispanic theological education in the Wesleyan tradition that met from 2004-2008 along with the WPS and SSPWT on the day before the regular WTS meeting. The Korean Wesleyan Society also met in conjunction with WTS from 2003-2007, a partnership which produced the society’s second international meeting with that group at Seoul Theological University in 2005.

As the decade came to a close in 2004, the WTS website expanded considerably and moved to Northwest Nazarene University’s Wesley Center Online which was already hosting past issues of the WTJ. The new website, thanks to the leadership of George Lyons, Richard

Thompson, and Tom Oord, meant a new outlook for the society. The fifth decade of the WTS was dawning and with it came a renewed momentum for the society and its work.

Carl Campbell

DECADE FIVE The fifth decade of the Wesleyan Theological Society was one of broadening horizons. The society’s ranks

grew and saw an inclusion of scholars from a number of new and renewed organizations committed to the work of Wesleyan/Holiness theology. With this infusion of new members and perspectives, the boundaries of the Society, both literally and figuratively, widened and deepened the Society’s service to both the academy and the church as it moved fully into the twenty-first century.

The broadening of the membership base of the society marked a return to the “Pan-Methodist” membership of its earliest days. Many of the new members came from the ranks of those churches represented at the initial meeting in 1965. Due to the continued joint meetings between the WTS and the SPS, the number of members from various Pentecostal institutions grew as well. The Society reflected this transformation by holding its annual meetings during the decade at Duke, Anderson, Azusa-Pacific, Southern Methodist and Seattle Pacific universities, sites which embraced the renewed “Pan-Methodist” reality of its membership.

With the broadening of horizons within its membership came a broadening of scholarship within the society. The commitment to Wesleyan/Holiness theology was as strong as in previous decades with scholars from within the ranks of the society like Randy Maddox, Elaine Heath, Craig Keen, and Billy Abraham leading the

way. A grand parade of visiting scholars--Walter Brueggemann, Jürgen Moltmann, Amos Yong, Christine Pohl, Stanley

Hauerwas, I. Howard Marshall, Bruce McCormack, and Miroslav Wolf among them--addressed the annual meetings with papers on theological friendship, pastoral theology, biblical hermeneutics, and

theology and the sciences. The inclusion of scholars from the Lutheran, Reformed, Pentecostal, and Roman Catholic traditions and a growing number of graduate student papers, which accounted for over twenty percent of all papers presented during the meetings, contributed to a robust and ecumenical decade of scholarship. Many of these papers,

presenting the finest in Wesleyan scholarship and often in dialogue with other theological traditions, made their way into the pages of the society’s journal under the judicious leadership of Barry Callen whose tenure as journal editor came to an end in 2014.

I. Howard Marshall, Bruce McCormack, and Tom Noble

Billy Abraham and Jason Vickers

Walter Brueggemann

Tom Oord, Jurgen Moltmann,and Amos Yong

The broadening of horizons also meant recognizing the importance of contributions from new voices and important contributors to the life of the academy and church. The “Dissertation of the Year” award was created in 2006. Mark H. Mann, Joanne Cruickshank, Geordan Hammond, Brent D. Peterson, and Patrick Alan Eby were among the first to be honored with the award. The Society renewed its commitment to exploring the Wesleyan witness to the modern world and

one of the more important conversations of the decade belonged to pastors and scholars who presented papers linking the church and academy. To honor those whose worked bridged the two, the Pastor/Preacher/Scholar award was also established in 2006. Award winners during the decade included Brian Postlewait, Major JoAnn Shade, Dan Boone, and Steven Borger.

The scholarly societies associated with the WTS also helped to broaden the work of the society and in 2011 the WPS and the SSPWT invited noted scholar John Caputo of Syracuse University to speak on the theme of suffering. Lifetime Achievement Awards

were presented to Paul Bassett, Rob Staples, Howard Snyder, and Susie Stanley to honor their work as leading scholars in the Wesleyan/Holiness tradition. As the decade came to an end, the society honored Sam Powell for his tenure as secretary-treasurer and new officers Jason Vickers, Doug Koskela, Scott Kisker, and Brent Peterson came on board to lead the society as it celebrated its golden anniversary.

As the Wesleyan Theological Society makes its way into its second half-century of service, it is clear that there is much to be proud of and that the Spirit of God has been with us in our first fifty years of

history. From that first meeting in 1965 much has remained true of our fellowship. The history of the WTS confirms our responsible allegiance to the study of Wesleyan/Holiness theology, many journals full of valuable scholarship and a concern for academic integrity, pastoral devotion, and the world to which we minister. If our past is any indication, there is rich life awaiting us in our future.

Barry Callen and Howard SnyderDiane Leclerc and Paul Bassett

Presidents1965 Leo Cox, Richard Taylor 1966 William M. Arnett 1967 Lowell Roberts1968 Merne A. Harris 1969 Ralph E. Perry1970 Robert A. Mattke1971 George H. Blackstone1972 Robert A. Mattke1973 Delbert R. Rose1974 Mildred Bangs Wynkoop1975 Eldon Fuhrman1976 Rob L. Staples1977 Melvin E. Dieter1978 John A. Knight1979 Laurence W. Wood1980 Wayne G. McCown1981 Paul M. Bassett1982 David L. Thompson1983 David L. Cubie1984 R. Larry Shelton1985 H. Ray Dunning1986 Frank G. Carver1987 Howard E. Snyder1988 Luke L. Keefer1989 Donald W. Dayton1990 Randy L. Maddox1991 W. Stephen Gunter1992 Susie C. Stanley1993 George Lyons1994 Donald A. D. Thorsen1995 Kenneth J. Collins1996 Wesley D. Tracy1997 Douglas M. Strong1998-1999 Albert L. Truesdale2000 Steve McCormick2001 Sharon Clark Pearson2002 David Bundy2003 Henry H. Knight III2004 Philip R. Meadows2005 Craig Keen 2006 Carl C. Campbell2007 Diane Leclerc2008 Thomas Jay Oord2009 Thomas Noble2010 Rob Wall2011 Elaine Heath2012 Michael Lodahl

2013-2014 Jason Vickers2015 Richard Thompson2016 Douglas Koskela2017 Scott Kisker

Editors of theWesleyan Theological Journal1965-1972 Charles W. Carter 1973 Harvey J. S. Blaney1974-1975 W. T. Purkiser1976-1978 Leon O. Hynson1979-1981 Lee M. Haines1982-1986 Alex R. G. Deasley1987-1992 Paul M. Bassett1993-2014 Barry L. Callen2015-Present Jason Vickers

Secretary-Treasurer1965-1967 Merne A. Harris1968 Wilbur T. Dayton1965-1971 W. Ralph Thompson1972 Richard S. Taylor1973-1975 O. D. Lovell1976 Armor D. Pelsker1977-1983 Wayne E. Caldwell1984-1988 William Arnett1989-1991 Howard E. Snyder1992-2005 William C. Kostlevy2005-2014 Samuel M. Powell2015-Present Brent D. Peterson

Promotional Secretary1967-1969 Arthur M. Climenhaga1968-1969 Ora D. Lovell1970-1972 Charles Carter1972-1973 William Arnett1973-1974 J. Duane Beals1974-1986 Donald W. Dayton1986-1990 Melvin E. Dieter 1995-1998 Stephen Lennox1998-2001 Craig Keen2002-2010 Thomas Jay Oord2010-2014 Brent D. Peterson2015-Present Steven Hoskins

Lifetime Achievement Award Winners1994 Robert A. Traina 1995 James Earl Massey 1996 Melvin E. Dieter 1997 William M. Greathouse 1998 David A. Seamands 1999 J. Kenneth Grider 2000 Susan A. Schultz Rose and Delbert R. Rose 2001 David L. McKenna 2002 A. Wingrove Taylor 2003 Charles Edwin Jones 2004 H. Ray Dunning2005 Richard S. Taylor2007 Paul Bassett 2008 Rob L. Staples2009 Barry L. Callen 2010 Donald Dayton 2011 Howard S. Snyder 2012 Susie Stanley 2013 William J. Abraham2015 David Bundy

Pastor/Preacher/Scholar Award2006 Brian Postlewait, Jeren Rowell, William Watty2007 Robert Branson2008 Robert Luhn2009 Ronald V. Duncan2011 Major JoAnn Shade2012 Dan Boone and Andrew Kinsey2013 H. Mark Abbott2014 Steven Borger2015 Henry W. Spaulding, II

Dissertation Award2006 Mark H. Mann2007 Benjamin L. Hartley2008 Joanne Cruickshank2009 Geordan Hammond2010 Brian Clark2011 Brent D. Peterson2012 Stanley J. Rodes and Patrick Eby2013 Steven Joe Koskie2014 Kevin Watson

Smith/Wynkoop Book Award2000 Douglas M. Strong. Perfectionist Politics2001 William J. Abraham. Canon and Criterion2002 Diane Leclerc. Singleness of Heart2003 Laurence A. Wood. The Meaning of Pentecost2004 Floyd T. Cunningham. Holiness Abroad2005 Samuel M. Powell. Participating in God: Creation and Trinity2006 James Earl Massey. African Americans and the Church of God (Anderson, Ind.): Aspects of a Social History2007 Howard A. Snyder. Populist Saints: B. T. and Ellen Roberts and the First Free Methodists2008 Charles Jones. The Wesleyan Holiness Movement: A Guide2009 J. Randall Stephens. The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South2010 Randy L. Maddox and Jason E. Vickers, eds. The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley2011 John Wigger. American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists2012 Dean Fleming. New Beacon Bible Commentary: Philippians2013 Jennifer L. Woodruff Tait. The Poisoned Chalice: Eucharistic Grape Juice and Common-Sense Realism in

Victoriam Methodism2014 Robert W. Wall (with Richard B. Steele). 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus2015 Priscilla Pope-Levison. Building the Old-Time Religion: Women Evangelists in the Progressive Era

1965-2015

50TH ANNIVERSARY

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