Donald A. Yerxa
Donald A. Yerxa | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | July 19, 1950 |
| Alma mater | Eastern Nazarene College, University of Maine |
| Employer | Boston University |
| Known for | Editor, Historian |
| Title | Director, Senior Editor |
| Website | http://www.enc.edu/history/faculty.html |
Donald A. Yerxa is an author, editor, and historian.
Biography
Yerxa received his bachelor's degree in history from the Eastern Nazarene College in 1972 and a master's degree (1974) and Ph.D. (1982) from the University of Maine on a university fellowship. He was a director of The Historical Society (THS)[1] at Boston University and a senior editor of Historically Speaking, published by the Johns Hopkins University Press.[2]
Yerxa is the former chair of the History Department at his alma mater, the Eastern Nazarene College, where he taught from 1977 to 2014,[3] and launched the history department's distinguished lecture series in the 1990s.[4] He was editor of the Conference on Faith and History's journal Fides et Historia from 2011 to 2020.[5] He was a guest co-editor for the European Review's, forum on the Scientific Revolution, and was a contributing editor for Books and Culture magazine.[6] He was a frequent contributor to the Research News & Opportunities in Science and Theology publication for the John Templeton Foundation (JTF) and has been a multiple grant recipient.[7]
Published works
Yerxa has written scores of articles, review essays, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries for a number of publications. He has also conducted over one hundred published interviews of prominent historians and scholars from other disciplines. He is the author of three books, two on naval history: Admirals and Empire,[8] and The Burning of Falmouth,[9] and Species of Origins: America’s Search for a Creation Story[10] with coauthor Karl Giberson. Admirals was described as "solidly researched, clearly and economically written, and intelligently conceived... a useful synthesis filling a gap in the existing literature,"[11] Species of Origins was widely reviewed as a uniquely even-handed and concise contribution to the scholarship on the creation–evolution controversy in the United States. Galileo scholar William Shea lauded the account as the "best-written and most perceptive of the current accounts available,"[12] while author Edward Larson described it as the "next best thing for those of us not enrolled in their courses."[13] Professor of science Michael Ruse described it as “a simply invaluable primer on the subject that should be made compulsory reading for all who have ever thought on science-and-religion ... I can think of no better place to start into the debate about origins — creationism or evolution — than with this book.”[14] It has been the subject of and catalyst for various discussions, conferences, and other books.[15]
Yerxa has also edited seven volumes in the Historians in Conversation series for the University of South Carolina Press. And he has also two edited other volumes: British Abolitionism, Moral Progress, and Big Questions in History (University of South Carolina Press, 2012) and Religion and Innovation: Antagonists or Partners (Bloomsbury, 2016).
References
- ^ The Historical Society
- ^ Historically Speaking
- ^ Plante, Lea (May 2009). "Diplomatic patriarch departs ENC after years of teaching, writing, guiding: Don Yerxa will retire as head of the history department at the end of the academic year after giving over 30 years of service" (PDF). The Christian Scholar. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-06-07. Retrieved 2009-05-13.
- ^ "ENC History Department Lectures". Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
- ^ Conference on Faith and History Archived 2007-08-07 at the Wayback Machine, space provided by Huntington University
- ^ Books & Culture: a Christian Review
- ^ "John Templeton Foundation Grants : Core Themes : Purpose". Archived from the original on 2007-08-24. Retrieved 2007-08-21. & "John Templeton Foundation Grants : Philosophy and Theology : Philosophy of Science". Archived from the original on 2007-08-10. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ Donald Yerxa, Admirals and Empire: The U.S. Navy and the Caribbean, 1898-1945, Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991 ISBN 0-87249-750-X
- ^ Donald Yerxa, The Burning of Falmouth, 1775: A Case Study in British Imperial Pacification, October 18, 1775. Portland: Maine Historical Society, 1976
- ^ Karl Giberson and Donald Yerxa, Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2002 ISBN 0-7425-0764-5
- ^ Journal Storage Archive for the American Historical Review (2 pp.)
- ^ Book blurbs for Species of Origins, from Rowman & Littlefield Archived September 20, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Larson, Edward (November–December 2003). "Don't know much biology.(Science Pages--Species of Origins: America's Search for a Creation Story, by Karl Giberson and Donald Yerxa)(Book Review)". Books & Culture: A Christian Review. 9 (6): 26. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-21.
- ^ National Center for Science Education Archived July 21, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Examples: CONFERENCE EXAMINES EVOLUTION, INTELLIGENT DESIGN, Grove City College, January 05, 2007 Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine and On The Evolution-Creation Struggle by Michael Ruse
External links
- ENC History Department
- Donald A. Yerxa CV Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
- List of Books & Culture contributions by Prof. Yerxa
- Project page for members of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU)