Disciples History

Due to inclement weather and dangerous road conditions, the DCHS building will be closed on Wednesday, January 19. Staff will work remotely from home.

Registration for the 2022 Kirkpatrick Conference is now open. This academic conference, Visions of Wholeness: Systemic Racism, Antiracism, and “Reconciliation” in Our Shared History and Tradition will be held March 18-19, 2022, at Phillips Theological Seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The conference is sponsored through DCHS’s Kirkpatrick Lecture Endowment.

The registration fee for the day and a half event is $70, which includes three meals. Register for in-person or livestream attendance here.

Bringing together leading Disciples and Stone Campbell scholars and church leaders, this is an academic conference open to the public. Papers and panel discussions will critically analyze the impact of systemic racism in Disciples and Stone-Campbell history and tell important stories of resistance to it from the earliest days of our movement to the present time. We will conclude with a conversation about where we go from here as we live more fully into the antiracism priority we have claimed as a church.

Rev. Dr. William Barber II, will present the keynote address on Friday evening of the conference. Rev. Dr. Frank Thomas will be the preacher for the closing worship on Saturday, and Rev. Terri Hord Owens will give the charge as the conference closes. Rev. Sandhya Jha will open the conference on Friday morning. On Saturday morning, participants will gather at Reconciliation Park in the Greenwood Community for a remembrance of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre.

Major grant funding provided by Reconciliation Ministries and the Oreon E. Scott Foundation, in addition to partnerships and sponsorships from various Disciples ministries, makes it possible to offer travel grants. Applications for grant funds will be available in January.

DCHS President Rick Lowery announces his retirement next year. Lowery will retire by September 2022 after the selection of his successor. Lowery was installed as DCHS President in November 2017. Under his leadership, DCHS has moved forward with its project of digitizing and making many of its resources available online through its recently established Digital Commons website. It has launched the peer-reviewed, online-only Journal of Discipliana for scholarship of issues in the historical and contemporary life and thought of Disciples  and the broader Stone-Campbell Movement. Lowery has edited a book about Disciples Restructure, as well as a book of prayers by presidents and staff of general ministries, and has recruited authors for forthcoming biographies of key Disciples leaders, with a special focus on historically underrepresented groups. DCHS is sponsoring a major academic conference on "Systemic Racism, Antiracism, and Reconciliation in Our Shared History and Tradition" in March 2022. The DCHS Board has initiated a search process following the general church's Executive Search Model to find Dr. Lowery's successor.

For a more detailed announcement see: 

https://disciples.org/ecumenical/historical-society-president-to-retire-in-2022/

The DCHS building is open to the public during posted hours. We follow the latest CDC guidelines and state and federal laws concerning businesses and in-door gatherings.

In the current Omicron variant surge, we ask that all visitors wear masks while inside the building.

Visitors may call (615) 327-1444 or email info@discipleshistory.org for reservations to do research or tour the Campbell Mansion.

The Editorial Committee of the Journal of Discipliana invites manuscript submissions in all areas of the Stone-Campbell Movement. Editors are seeking contributions grounded in original research which defend a clear thesis and inform specialists and/or general readers. Articles should explore issues relevant to all aspects of thought and religious life and practice within the historical or contemporary Stone-Campbell Movement.

The General Editor of the Journal of Discipliana, an online only, open access journal, is Mark G. Toulouse, who works in consultation with an editorial committee. Scholars from the three primary streams of the Stone-Campbell Movement: the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, the Churches of Christ (a cappella), and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) serve on the editorial committee. Dr. Richard H. Lowery, president of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society is publisher.

Teachers of graduate students are encouraged not only to submit their own scholarly endeavors but those of their most promising students. The Historical Society seeks to cultivate the work of young scholars through the Isaac Errett Award, an essay contest which each year honors an outstanding student essay.

Manuscripts should follow the Chicago Manual of Style and the SBL Handbook of Style and are to be 5000-6500 words (or approximately 18 - 20 pages, double-spaced) with footnotes. Submit in Microsoft Word to General Editor, Dr. Mark G. Toulouse at journalofdiscipliana@discipleshistory.org. 

DCHS President Rev. Dr. Richard H. Lowery's most recent publication, Wellsprings of Hope: Prayers for a Prophetic New Visions for Disciples is now available.

In this new collection of 52 weekly reflections on Isaiah 35, the hallowed passage about finding new life, new faith, and new prophetic vision in challenging times and places, walk alongside other Disciples and congregations toward a new vision for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Copies of the book are available from Chalice Press, including a discount for bulk purchases.

https://chalicepress.com/products/wellsprings-of-hope

To learn more about the book here is an interview between Dr. Lowery and Chalice Press President Brad Lyons:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIwl5kxd65s&feature=youtu.be