October 26: S T Kimbrough, FHS

S T Kimbrough, Jr., is a native of Alabama and a graduate of Birmingham Southern College, Duke Divinity School, and Princeton Theological Seminary (Ph.D. in Old Testament and Semitic Languages). He is currently a research fellow of the Center for Studies in the Wesleyan Tradition at Duke Divinity School. He has taught at the following institutions: Princeton Theological Seminary, New Brunswick Seminary, Institute of Comparative Religion of Bonn University (Germany), Iliricus Theological Faculty (Zagreb), Faculties of Drew Theological School and Wesley Theological Seminary. He has served as the Bell Scholar at the Theological School of Drew University and as the Distinguished Guest Scholar at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He has been a resident scholar of, and continues to be a member of the Center of Theological Inquiry in Princeton, NJ, and has published over sixty books in the fields of music, theology, biblical studies, Charles Wesley studies, and English literature. Kimbrough was the founding president of The Charles Wesley Society and is one of the foremost interpreters of Charles Wesley’s works. During his years in Germany he also was a leading baritone of the Bonn Opera, other opera houses, with extensive television appearances and an extensive discography, particularly of the art song literature of expatriate Austrian and German Jewish composers banned by the Third Reich. For twelve years (1994–2006) he served as Associate General Secretary of Mission Evangelism for the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church and founded its Global Praise Program, publishing eighteen books of global Christian song and numerous companion recordings.

Two of them are related to the 2024 Oxford Institute, namely, new compositions for Charles Wesley’s hymns. It is titled Songs for the World (2001) with new musical settings by composers from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean region, Europe, and America. Another is Help Us to Help Each Other: Hymns for Life and Ministry with the Poor by Charles Wesley with New Musical Settings (2010). Kimbrough’s own poetry has been published in Theology Today, and thirteen volumes of it have been released by Wipf and Stock Publishers. His newest work on Charles Wesley is titled Wrestling the Angel: Charles Wesley Struggles with Vital Questions of Faith (Wipf and Stock, 2022).

December 14: Ken Nafziger, FHS

Ken Nafziger’s work is widely known in many denominations across the United States and Canada. He was music editor of Hymnal: A Worship Book, a hymnal co-published by the Mennonite Church and the Church of the Brethren. He assisted in the preparation of two supplements, Sing the Journey and Sing the Story. In addition, he produced correlated teaching materials and recordings for those hymnals.

Nafziger is professor emeritus of music at Eastern Mennonite University. He retired from teaching at the end of the academic year, 2015-2016. A graduate of Goshen (Ind.) College, he received a Doctor of Musical Arts in music history and literature from the University of Oregon, and was a post-doctoral conducting student with Helmuth Rilling in Frankfurt-am-Main and Stuttgart, Germany.

Ken is the co-founder and now artistic director and conductor emeritus of the Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival now in its 34^th season, an annual event of orchestral, choral, and chamber music in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

February 22: Per Harling, FHS

April 19: Karen Westerfield Tucker

Karen Westerfield Tucker is a United Methodist elder (presbyter), and served a congregation in Rock Island, Illinois, and the Wesley Foundation at the University of Illinois (U-C) before pursuing the doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Notre Dame. She taught at Duke University for fifteen years and has been on the faculty at the Boston University School of Theology since 2004.

Her research interests include North American liturgical history and theology, Methodist/Wesleyan liturgical history and theology, liturgy and pastoral care, ecumenism, and hymnody. In 2002-2003, she was selected as a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology to study the theological and cultural dynamics of hymnals.

She is a past president of the ecumenical and international Societas Liturgica, and for nine years was the editor-in-chief of the society’s journal Studia Liturgica. She is the 2023 recipient of the North American Academy of Liturgy’s Berakah Award in recognition of a “distinguished contribution to the professional work of liturgy.”