Last May Chris submitted his thesis to be considered for The John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, given by the Research Center at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
And he won!!!! Oh my gosh, he won!!!!
We found out at the end of December, just before we left town to visit family. Chris called me when he got unofficially informed by one of his references and former Head of School. I was in the car at the time, and started screaming and laughing. It scared poor Jayce at first, but he eventually laughed at my laughter. Chris screamed and yelled in the hallway at school where he had received the email. He was the only one there, which is apparently how it goes in that post-exam pre-Christmas season. Unless you are writing in your office, which he was. Last week when we arrived home from our Christmas travel, he had the official letter waiting for him, which caused another round of freaking out and celebrating.
The award comes with a cash prize, which obviously we are thrilled about. It also comes with additional money to cover his expenses in travelling and speaking at universities upon invitation, and he has already been invited to 3 good ones despite the fact that the news hasn’t even been published on their website yet! Furthermore, the award winners are expected to attend an award ceremony and colloquium held in Heidelberg Germany, so we’ll be headed there this May. Yaaaayyyyy!!!!
The award is given annually to only 12 post-doctoral scholars from all over the world, and is given for the best doctoral dissertation or first post-doctoral book related to the topic "God and Spirituality." There were only 2 New Testament recipients and Chris was one of them. If interested, you can read more about the award here. I tried to wait around until things were announced on their website, but I just can’t hold it in anymore. :)
I have so many thoughts on this. I am so proud, but still processing, just trying to wrap my head around it all. I will never actually publish this post if I don’t just cut myself off though, I’ve been trying to write this for days and I keep going off on long tangents. So perhaps expect a post (or more) on the subject in the future. :)
For now, please just excuse the fumbling and bumbling of a proud proud wife.
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