Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Professors George van Kooten and George Boys-Stones for accepting this revised version of my doctoral thesis for publication. My conversations with Professor Boys-Stones during the development of this project never failed to stimulate and refine my thinking. In the thesis examination process, Professor van Kooten’s critique (along with that of Dr. Jan Dochhorn) proved especially important in clarifying and sharpening the contributions of this work.
I offer my profound thanks and gratitude to Professor John Barclay for his patient and gracious supervision during my three years of study at Durham University. His caring friendship, attentiveness, constant encouragement, and incisive critique have made invaluable contributions to this work and to my formation as a scholar and teacher. I thank as well my secondary supervisor, Professor Francis Watson, not only for his ready support and helpful feedback on my research, but for the many other ways his teaching and leadership shaped my educational experience.
One of the great joys of my time as a student in Durham was found in friendship with others in the department, especially UnChan Jung, Stephen Campbell, Jameson Ross, Richard Rohlfing, and Ben White, among many others. Your companionship, laughter, honesty, support, and love have deeply shaped who I am. You all have my heart.
Many others in the wider Durham University community deserve thanks for their support. I am grateful to the College of St. Hild and St. Bede who supported my studies with gracious welcome and two financial grants. My thanks are due as well to the ever-competent and efficient Durham University library staff for their help, particularly in tracking down many of the works needed for this interdisciplinary project.
Beyond the university, the community of St. Nicholas Church helped us to find our home in Durham through their friendship and love. Among many others too numerous to list, we offer our heartfelt thanks to Jim and Maureen Nevitt for the many ways they cared for us and included us in their lives as a family. You gave us such encouragement and joy in your hospitality and love, thank you. We are deeply grateful as well for our neighbors Mark, Emily, Sophie, and Joel Atkinson. It was such a joy to share life on Frank Street with you all.
The final revisions of this book were completed during my first year of teaching at Prairie College. The joyful friendship of the faculty and staff makes Prairie an ideal place to teach and write. I am grateful to the Dean of Education, Dr. Glenn Loewen, for providing time to devote to this project by lightening my course load during this first year. I thank as well the library staff, especially Kristen Williams and Veronica Lewis, for offering me timely support at key moments of the revision process.
Throughout our time in Durham we have also received crucial support from our friends and family at home in the U.S. We are so grateful to our church family at Christ Church of Central Arkansas for their prayer and financial support. You have showed us abundant generosity and untiring love. Long ago Christ Church planted the seed of this project in my mind and gave me an imaginative frame of reference to undertake it, for there I had some of my first experiences of formation in community. The pastor of Christ Church, Chris Perry, was the first to ignite in me the joy of attentive, rigorous textual study. Thank you, Chris, for all the ways you have supported me and modeled a life truly worth living.
We cannot thank our parents enough for assisting us in so many ways with their constant encouragement, their presence with us at the births of our three girls, their financial support, their attentive care. Without you all of this would have been impossible. Thank you.
Words can never sufficiently describe how Andrea, my wife, has loved and supported me during this project, nor can they communicate my gratitude and love for her. Andrea not only offered me encouragement and helpful feedback on my writing, but she cared daily for me and for our three daughters, all of whom she carried and gave birth to during our three-year stay in Durham. Her patience, gentleness, kindness, and love compose the atmosphere our family breathes. She is truly extraordinary, and this work is dedicated to her.