Del Case was featured in The Boston Globe on January 11 in regards to his upcoming chamber opera, The Prioress's Tale, which deals with religious tolerance. The world premiere of the opera is at 7 p.m. Jan. 17 in Cove Fine Arts Center, and it will be followed by a panel discussion with local Jewish and Christian leaders. An encore performance will occur at 7 p.m. on Jan. 19.
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Professor Lovett and her husband, math Professor Stephen Lovett, led an ENC student trip to Europe in May 2007. Following that, the Lovetts stayed in Vienna, where Professor Carla Lovett continued to do research and writing for her dissertation project.

Aaron Domina (Assistant Professor of Biology) and Jennie Pietra (Biology Senior) spent the summer conducting research in the laboratory of Dr. Ruth Craig at Dartmouth Medical School. They studied a gene/protein called MCL-1, which prevents cell death and exhibits increased levels in various cancers. Jennie attempted to identify a protease responsible for cutting the MCL-1 protein, while Professor Domina developed a system to deliver the MCL-1 gene into cells. The collaboration is continuing into the fall semester as students in Professor Domina’s Biochemistry II laboratory are constructing mutations of the MCL-1 gene.

Karl Giberson is widely published in the area of science and religion, with over a hundred articles and reviews in various magazines. His third book, The Oracles of Science: Celebrity Scientists versus God and Religion, co-authored with leading Spanish philosopher Mariano Artigas, is about to be released from Oxford University Press.

The book has received strong pre-publication endorsements from leading figures in science and religion including Larry Witham, journalist and author of Where Darwin Meets the Bible, Ronald L. Numbers, author of The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design, and Francisco J. Ayala, University Professor at the University of California, Irvine, recipient of the 2001 National Medal of Science, and author of Darwin and Intelligent Design .

Oracles of Science extends the discussion of America’s culture war over origins, begun in Giberson’s previous book, Species of Origins: America’s Search for a Creation Story, co-authored with ENC historian Donald Yerxa.

Giberson is currently working on a fourth book for HarperCollins, God Loves Darwin, too, scheduled to be released in early 2008.

History Professor Donald Yerxa Delivers Paper at National Conference, Conducts Interviews, and Is Invited onto Editorial Board

Mary Lou Shea, assistant professor of religion, successfully defended her dissertation and was awarded the Doctor of Theology from Boston University School of Theology on Mother’s Day, this past May. Dr. Shea’s dissertation, "Medieval Women and Atonement: Hadewijch of Antwerp, Beatrice of Nazareth, Margaret Ebner and Julian of Norwich in Conversation with Anselm of Canterbury," "looked at the works of four women who had experienced God in extraordinary ways – dreams, visions, auditory encounters and such. None were formally trained as theologians... [as] it was forbidden for women to receive such a formal education in medieval Europe, yet all managed to express theology through the recounting of their experiences using letters, poetry, transcriptions and narrative."  Shea and Assistant Professor of Religion Eric Severson will be delivering a paper at the March 2007 meeting of the Wesleyan Theological Society.

The University of South Carolina Press has asked Assistant Professor of History Randall Stephens to write an intro for a book by famed, late-19th century southern revivalist, Sam Jones. USC Press will be publishing this as part of its southern classics series. While completing his book manuscript for Harvard University Press, Stephens also has several chapters he is composing for edited volumes to be published by Columbia University Press, the University of Kentucky Press, the University of Alabama Press, and the University Press of Florida. He has recently conducted interviews for publication in Historically Speaking, and has co-authored a piece on Sufjan Stevens for Books and Culture with Delvyn Case. Stephens has been invited to give lectures at the Southern Historical Association meeting in Birmingham, Alabama, in November 2006, and the University of Machester, Manchester, UK, in April 2007. Stephens also continues to manage and design websites for the Historical Society, the Polkinghorne Society, Open Theology and Science, and the Journal of Southern Religion.