Mark Valeri, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, received the American Society of Church History’s prestigious Philip Schaff Prize, an annual award that recognizes the best book on Christianity’s history by a North American scholar.
Valeri, who is also the Reverend Priscilla Wood Neaves Distinguished Professor of Religion and Politics, won for his book “The Opening of the Protestant Mind: How Anglo-American Protestants Embraced Religious Liberty,” published by Oxford University Press. Using a variety of historical documents, Valeri’s book explores how Anglo-American Protestant descriptions of other religions, and conversion from one religion to another, changed from 1650 to 1765. According to Valeri, these shifts in 18th-century Protestant thought paved the way for modern religious liberty.
The American Society of Church History is a scholarly community dedicated to studying the history of Christianity and how it relates to culture in all time periods, locations and contexts.
