FERRUM, VA (October 25, 2022) – In his new book, The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered, and Why They Still Fascinate, Ferrum College religion professor Eric Vanden Eykel helps readers better understand both the Magi and the ancient and modern interpreters who have studied them.
Vanden Eykel has long been fascinated by the “wise men” or “Magi” in the Gospel of Matthew who come to Bethlehem bearing gifts for the newly born Jesus. He has also been dissatisfied with how he heard scholars and ministers explain the significance of the story. In The Magi — published today by Fortress Press — Vanden Eykel shows how, from a mere twelve verses in the Gospel of Matthew, a varied and vast literary and artistic tradition was born.
“I thought it would be interesting to write a book about who Matthew imagined these characters to be, and how others have thought about them as well,” explained Vanden Eykel. “My hope is that this book will help readers rediscover the Magi and also come to a greater appreciation of the awe and creativity that their story has inspired over the past two-thousand years.”
The Magi is one of two Vanden Eykel books published this month. He also co-edited Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts with Christy Cobb, assistant professor of Christianity at University of Denver. Published by Lexington Books, this collection of essays explores examples of sexual violence and mentions of it in the literature of early Christianity in canonical and noncanonical Christian texts from the first until the fifth centuries CE.
Vanden Eykel, who is also the Forrest S. Williams Teaching Chair in the Humanities at Ferrum College, began work on both books at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic using time he previously spent commuting before the College went online. “One thing I discovered about myself is that I’m someone who deals with stress by taking on additional tasks. I think that’s probably the best explanation for why I’ve spent the past two years working on two different books,” said Vanden Eykel.
Kevin Reilly, vice president for Academic Affairs and professor of Psychology at Ferrum College, said the College is proud of what VandenEykel accomplished in such a short time. “In addition to being an excellent teacher, Dr. Vanden Eykel is a talented scholar. These two works add great value to the literature in both Ancient History and Religion,” said Reilly.
“These books made life exceedingly busy for the past couple of years, but it’s such a rewarding experience to see both of them finally in print,” Vanden Eykel concluded.
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Eric Vanden Eykel, associate professor of Religion and Forrest S. Williams Teaching Chair in the Humanities at Ferrum College, will be available to sign both of his new books — The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered, and Why They Still Fascinate and Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts — during an event held in his honor that will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, November 14, 2022, in the Panthers Den in Franklin Hall on campus.
Learn more about The Magi: Who They Were, How They’ve Been Remembered, and Why They Still Fascinate, published by Fortress Press, here.
Learn more about Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Text, published by Lexington Books, here.
11/5/2021
Associate Professor of Religion Eric Vanden Eykel has announced that he and two colleagues from other institutions will collaborate on a new book project called Judeophobia in the New Testament: Texts, Contexts, and Pedagogy.
“We chose ‘Judeophobia’ because this broader heading incorporates both anti-Judaism and anti-Semitism, as well as other various discriminatory practices against Jews at various points in history,” explained Vanden Eykel.
Vanden Eykel will co-edit the book with R.A. Webb Associate Professor of Religious Studies Sarah Rollens of Rhodes College, and Senior Lecturer in Biblical and Religious Studies Merdith Warren of University of Sheffield. The trio worked together in 2020 when they wrote a journal article on Judeophobia, and earlier this fall when they co-authored a piece that appeared in The Independent.
Vanden Eykel, Rollens, and Warren have enlisted over thirty biblical scholars from around the world to contribute chapters to the book, which will be published sometime in 2023 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
The book will include essays to aid educators in teaching about Judeophobia and the New Testament and other early Christian literature. “The project aims to highlight, for non-specialist readers, how these texts have engendered and promoted Judeophobia in the past and in the present,” said Vanden Eykel. “Our goal is for this book to be at home in any undergraduate biblical studies classroom, as well as seminaries and church Bible studies.”
Learn more about Ferrum College’s religious studies program here.
7/2/2021
Dr. Vanden Eykel visited Rome for research in 2019.
Associate Professor of Religion Eric Vanden Eykel has been appointed the Forrest S. Williams Teaching Chair in Humanities at Ferrum College. This endowed teaching chair designation is given to a tenured faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching and scholarly work, and who is committed to scholarly research within the Humanities.
“I was thrilled to receive news of this appointment, and it’s a real honor to be recognized in this way for my scholarship and teaching,” said Vanden Eykel. His appointment letter describes him as generous and supportive of Ferrum College students and his colleagues.
The Williams Teaching Chair is a two-year appointment with the possibility of extension for another one- or two-year term. While serving, Vanden Eykel will conduct research to support two book projects, one which he is authoring himself about the Magi in the Gospel of Matthew, and another that he is co-editing with a colleague from Wingate University, Dr. Christy Cobb, which encompasses a collection of essays on sexual violence in early Christian literature. His research will also include travel during his upcoming 2022 spring sabbatical, but those details are not final yet.
“I’m hoping to take a few trips and explore opportunities for integrating travel components into some of my courses at Ferrum,” he explained.
“Dr. Vanden Eykel is one of our dynamic and engaging faculty members, and his nomination for the Williams Teaching Chair highlights his accomplishments and brings honor to Ferrum College,” said Dean of Arts & Sciences and Professor of Chemistry & Physics Jason Powell, who nominated Vanden Eykel for the position. “He was recently named a general editor for the Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (JIBS), and I am particularly excited about the book he is writing about the Magi described in the book of Matthew. Look for him to lead an upcoming trip to Rome for members of the Ferrum College community, as well!”
Learn more about Vanden Eykel’s editing position for JIBS.
Learn more about Ferrum College’s Religious Studies program.
5/10/2021
Associate Professor of Religion Eric Vanden Eykel has been named a general editor to the Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (JIBS).
According to the JIBS’ website, the journal “is a peer-reviewed, open access journal [meaning that it can be read at no cost] dedicated to publishing cutting edge articles that embody interdisciplinary, social justice-oriented, feminist, queer, and innovative biblical scholarship.” JIBS “welcome[s] submissions that challenge canonical and/or disciplinary norms and boundaries or that query the field of biblical studies’ relationship to the broader investigation of human religion, culture, and literature.”
Vanden Eykel’s editorship means he will receive article submissions for the journal and search out other scholars in the field who will read the articles and make suggestions to the authors about how to improve their argument. Although his primary interest falls with articles on early Christian literature, Vanden Eykel will be reviewing all submission genres.
“My job as an editor is to help guide and oversee this process, and then to get approved articles ready for publication by helping with copy editing and formatting,” explained Vanden Eykel. In short, he and the other JIBS editors will have a part in just about every step of the publication process.
“I’m really excited to work with this particular journal,” said Vanden Eykel. “The ‘traditional’ questions that many of the journals in our field focus on are certainly valuable, but they often leave a really important question unanswered: ‘Why should any of this matter?’ One of the aims of JIBS, at least from my perspective, is to help readers explore various ways of answering that question.”
JIBS is based in the United Kingdom’s Sheffield Institute for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies at the University of Sheffield. It publishes two issues every year. Learn more about JIBS here.
Click here to learn more about Ferrum College’s major or minor in religious studies.
A group of Ferrum College alumni and friends will travel to Rome, Italy this July 24 – 31, 2020.
The group, consisting of about eight to twelve people led by Ferrum College’s Assistant Professor of Religion Eric Vanden Eykel, will arrive in Rome on July 23. Their exploration of the Eternal City will begin on July 24, with authentic cuisine and visits to museums, archaeological sites, and churches.
Vanden Eykel has visited Rome before and will serve as the group’s tour guide. At Ferrum College, he teaches courses in biblical studies, archaeology, the historical Jesus, and world religions. He received his Ph.D. in Judaism and Christianity from Antiquity from Marquette University in Milwaukee in 2014. He also holds a Master of Art in biblical studies from Marquette and a Master of Divinity from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University in Atlanta.
Priority registration for alumni began on January 31, 2020. Registration to all interested parties will open on March 1, 2020.
To register, visit here.
Learn more about the trip here.
See photos from Vanden Eykel’s May 2019 trip to Rome here.
Classes ended for summer break in May, but Ferrum College’s faculty continued to learn and educate throughout the summer months with trips to Italy, Spain, Sweden, Austria, and Brazil.
Dr. Eric Vanden Eykel
Assistant Professor of Religion Eric Vanden Eykel spent nearly a week in Rome from June 29 through July 5. During his self-described “incredibly short and fast-paced trip,” he attended the Society of Biblical Literature’s annual international meeting, which gives scholars around the world a chance to connect with one another to learn about current trends in biblical studies. Vanden Eykel was also able to visit other landmarks including Ostia Antica, the port city of ancient Rome, and Pompeii, one of the cities buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 B.C.
Vanden Eykel described his time in Italy as “like stepping in and out of time capsules. One minute you’re walking down a crowded street, and the next, you’re standing in a building nearly 2,000 years old. It is a city of layers, and a fantastic opportunity to experience the past.” See photos from Vanden Eykel’s trip here.
Dr. Patty Suppes
Associate Professor of Spanish Patty Suppes received a faculty development grant to present her papers at two July conferences in Valencia, Spain: “Leyenda, tradición, y violencia en El león dormido de Marian Izaguirre” at the Congresos Internacionales de Literatura Hispánica, and “Rosario Ferré y su ‘Cocina de la escritura’: Una alternativa al canon como modelo de composición” at the Asociación de Estudios de Género y Sexualidades. Between conferences, Suppes was also able to visit family and friends with her son who accompanied her on her trip. She was also excited to run into Taiki Sawabe and his wife Mizuho at the Barcelona airport; the couple previously spent two years at Ferrum College with the Japanese Outreach Initiative program.
“I’m so grateful for the faculty development grant that allowed me to participate in two conferences in Valencia, Spain, and I’m glad that I was able to do some site visits in between the conferences,” said Suppes. “The opportunities for students to study and intern abroad are tremendous, and I can’t wait to meet with faculty in various majors to talk about how to help students participate.” See photos from Suppes’ trip here.
Gregory Rock (second from left)
Gregory Rock, Ferrum College’s Iron Mountain Brass director and adjunct music faculty member, traveled to Salzburg, Austria in late July 2019 to take part in the Salzburg Music Festival. Rock played the sackbut or Baroque Posaune – a trombone from the Renaissance and Baroque eras – in a collaborative project with players from UNC Chapel Hill; University of the Arts of Bremen, Germany; Schola Cantorum of Basel, Switzerland; and Mozarteum University of Salzburg, Austria. The group provided music for Catholic Mass at the Salzburg Cathedral on Sunday morning, July 28.
Although most of the musicians had not played together before, Rock was struck by music’s common language: “There were many languages spoken among the musicians from German to Austrian, to even Russian and French as well as English. The language of music prevailed and we were able to put together a substantial music project in just a very short time.” See photos from Rock’s trip here.
Read more about the Salzburg Music Festival here.
Dr. Tina Hanlon
Professor of English Tina Hanlon spent 24 days in four Nordic countries: Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Estonia. During the biennial Congress of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature held in Stockholm, Sweden in August, Hanlon presented her paper, “Female Voice, Power, and Agency in the Appalachian Folktale ‘Whitebear Whittington’ and its International Antecedents.” Four other speakers from different countries presented along with Hanlon; “We had no contact in advance but our papers fit together very well and all dealt with images of women in different fairy tale traditions,” she explained.
Hanlon also participated in additional conference activities including receptions, tours, a mentoring lunch spent with a young Hungarian woman, and a big buffet in the Golden Hall of Stockholm City Hall where the Nobel Prize banquet is held annually in December. “[I was] excited to learn more about the folklore and literature of Scandinavia and share new insights in my E-Term course on World Folktales and Literature. I feel very lucky to have [had] this opportunity to meet with colleagues from all over the world at the IRSCL Congress,” she said. See photos from Hanlon’s trip here.
Rio de Janeiro. Photo by Dr. Chris Mayer.
Chris Mayer, associate professor of recreation leadership, traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in May, to give four presentations at the International Conference on Interpretation on his book, You Can Do It! Your guide for developing non-personal interpretive products in Brazilian protected areas. Mayer’s book, co-authored with Ryan Finchum and Lorena Brewster, was written to help protected area managers plan and create interpretive products that contribute to public support for the conservation of biodiversity in conjunction with the Partnership to Conserve Biodiversity in the Amazon. He explained the conference’s theme of “Acting Locally, Connecting Globally,” gave attendees the opportunity to link their efforts across professional boundaries, international borders, and cultural differences.
“The International Conference welcomed interpreters from around the world to share ideas and inspiration and discuss the latest global trends in this important field,” said Mayer. “It was the most impressive conference I ever attended because of the open exchange of ideas and experiences among the multi-national attendees.” See photos from Mayer’s trip here.
Learn more about the International Conference on Interpretation here.
