Mark Toulouse will be honored as the University of Chicago Divinity School’s Alumnus of the Year on April 19. He will give a lecture in Swift Hall at the Divinity School at 4:30 pm. Toulouse, who retired last spring as Principal and as Professor of the History of Christianity from Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto, previously taught and served as academic dean of Brite Divinity School. An ordained Disciples minister and a PhD graduate of the University of Chicago Divinity School, he is the author of the well-known text, Joined in Discipleship: The Shaping of Contemporary Disciples Identity, and of several other acclaimed books. Please join us next Thursday if your schedule permits. See the announcement below or click the following link (https://ddh.uchicago.edu/news-events/news-releases/) for more information.
Mark G. Toulouse (PhD’84) is the the Divinity School Alumnus of the Year for 2018.
Dr. Toulouse retired last year as Principal of Emmanuel College and Professor of the History of Christianity at Emmanuel College and the Department for the Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. He joined the faculty of Emmanuel College, the University of Toronto’s seminary, in 2009, after serving twenty-three years at Brite Divinity School of Texas Christian University as a historian of religion and culture. Eleven of those years were spent as Dean and Executive Vice-President. He began his work in theological education in 1984, when he joined the faculty of Phillips Theological Seminary in Enid, Oklahoma.
Phyllis D. Airhart (MA’81; PhD’85), Professor of the History of Christianity at Emmanuel College, University of Toronto, wrote in her nominating letter that “I can think of no other Divinity School alum more deserving of this award.”
Dr. Toulouse is the author of numerous articles and books. His books include The Transformation of John Foster Dulles: From Prophet of Realism to Priest of Nationalism (1985); Joined in Discipleship: The Shaping of Contemporary Disciples Identity (1992 and 1997); Makers of Christian Theology in America (1997), Sources of Christian Theology in America (1999), Walter Scott: A Nineteenth-Century Evangelical (1999), and God in Public (2006). The Academy of Parish Clergy named God in Public one of the top ten books of the year. His most recent work (co-authored) is a religious analysis of North American popular culture, The Altars Where We Worship: The Religious Significance of Popular Culture (2016).
An ordained minister of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Dr. Toulouse regularly conducts workshops for ministers and lay people on topics pertaining to North American Christianity, Disciples history and theology, religion and public life, and theological education.