09/30/08

Michael J. Halvorson, Ph.D.

Education

Ph.D. History, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 2001.   

Dissertation:  Theology, Ritual, and Confessionalization: The Making and Meaning of Lutheran Baptism in Reformation Germany, 1520-1618.

M.A. History, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 1996.

B.A. Computer Science, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, 1985.  Minor History.

Teaching

Assistant Professor of History, Dept. of History, Pacific Lutheran University, 2005-present

Courses offered include History 107: Western Civilization; INTC 111: Authority and Discovery; History 301: Historical Methods; History 323: Middle Ages; History 324: Renaissance; History 325: Reformation; History 332: Tudor/Stuart England; History 497: European Seminar; INTC 248: Mass Movements; and Honors 111.

Part-time lecturer, Dept. of History, Pacific Lutheran University, 1998-2005

History courses offered includes History 107: Western Civilization, History 332: Tudor/Stuart England, History 324: The Renaissance, History 111: Medici Florence (Freshman Experience).  International Core and Honors program courses offered include INTC 111: Authority and Discovery, INTC 247/248: Twentieth Century Mass Movements, and Honors 115/190: Identity, Community, Legacy, and Faith.

Part-time lecturer, Dept. of History, University of Washington, 1999-2002

History courses offered include HSTEU 301: Early Modern Europe, HSTEU 401/402: The Reformation, and HIST 498: European History Seminar.

Writing and Research

Current book project (in process):  Heinrich Heshusius and the Polemics of Early Lutheran Orthodoxy, 1556-1597 (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History, Ashgate Publishing, England)

Current edited collection (pub. date Oct. 2008):  Michael J. Halvorson and Karen E. Spierling, eds., Defining Community in Early Modern Europe (St. Andrews Studies in Reformation History, Ashgate Publishing, England)

Karen E. Spierling and Michael J. Halvorson, “Introduction: Definitions of Community in Early Modern Europe.”  Chapter 1 in Defining Community volume.

Michael J. Halvorson, "Lutherans Baptizing Jews: Community Boundaries and Confessional Polemics in Late Reformation Germany.”  Chapter 10 in Defining Community volume.

Michael J. Halvorson, "Baptismal Ritual and the Early Reformation in Braunschweig," accepted for publication in Archive for Reformation History, an annual journal published under the auspices of Verein für Reformationsgeschichte and Society for Reformation Research (forthcoming).

Michael J. Halvorson, "Jews and Jesuits in a Confessional Age: Heinrich Heshusius and the Boundaries of Community in Hildesheim", Sixteenth Century Journal 39/3 (2008): 639-55.

Book Review of A People's History of Christianity (Vol. 5), Reformation Christianity, edited by Peter Matheson (Fortress Press, 2007). Published in Lutheran Quarterly, vol. 22/1 (Spring 2008), pp. 98-100.

Robert P. Ericksen and Michael J. Halvorson, eds., A Lutheran Vocation: Philip A. Nordquist and the Study of History at Pacific Lutheran University (Tacoma, WA: Pacific Lutheran University Press, 2005)

Michael Halvorson, "Baptismal Ritual and Court Culture during the Late Reformation," Lutheran Quarterly 18 (2004), 405-34.

Michael Halvorson, ed., Loharano (The Water Spring):  Missionary Tales from Madagascar, by Antonette Nilsen Halvorson, 2nd ed. (Seattle, WA: Warren & Howe Publishers, 2003).

Western Civilizations, Testing Guide for Instructors (co-author with Michael Prahl), W.W. Norton (New York, New York), 2005.  Companion volume to Norton Western Civilizations, 15th Edition.

Western Civilizations, Testing Guide for Instructors (co-author with Robert Stacey, Steven Kreis, Maarten Ultee, and Geoffrey Clayton), W. W. Norton (New York, New York), 2002, ISBN 0-393-97941-5.  Companion volume to Norton Western Civilizations, 14^th Edition.

Michael Halvorson is also the author of 30 books about computers and emerging technology.  For a complete list, click Technical Books.

Recent Conferences and Papers

Scheduled to chair a session entitled “Christian-Jewish Encounters in the Sixteenth Century” at the 2008 Sixteenth Century Society Conference in St. Louis, Missouri (Oct. 23-26)

Co-organizer of three panel sessions, "Defining Community in Early Modern Europe I-III", Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Minneapolis, MN, October 25-28, 2007

Michael Halvorson, “Helmstedt University and the Promotion Of Lutheran Orthodoxy in the Late Reformation,” Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 27, 2006.  Organizer of panel “From Insurgency to Orthodoxy: Universities in the Protestant Reformation, 1520-1600”.

Michael Halvorson, “An Innovative Adaptation of Luther’s Catechism in Late Reformation Hildesheim,” North American Luther Forum, April 29, 2006, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN.

Michael Halvorson, "Lutherans Baptizing Jews: Conversion Reports and Confessional Polemics from Late Reformation Germany”, Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Toronto, Canada, October 2004.  Co-organizer of panel with Andrew Gow

Michael Halvorson, “Lutherans, Jesuits, and Jews: Confessional Conflict in Late Reformation Hildesheim”, PLU History Seminar in Honor of Dr. Phil Nordquist, Tacoma, Washington, October 15, 2004

Michael Halvorson, "Baptism and Court Culture: Christening Practices in German Protestant Courts on the Eve of the Thirty Years' War", Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 2003

Michael Halvorson, "Tensions in Lutheran Baptismal Theology and Reform", Sixteenth Century Studies Conference, San Antonio, Texas, October 2002

Committee Work

Michael is currently a member (year 3) of the Honors / International Core Committee at PLU. Consisting of interdisciplinary and some team-taught courses, PLU's Honors and International Core programs explores contemporary issues and their historical foundations using an integrated approach. For more information about the International Core, click INTC.

Society and Non-profit Work

Sixteenth Century Society and Conference

From 2003 to 2005, Halvorson was Technical Advisor to the President and a member of the Executive Council of the Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, an interdisciplinary organization dedicated to the study of the Sixteenth Century. For information about the society and its programs, click SCSC.

Lay Theological Education Committee, Northwest Washington Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

In 2006, Halvorson helped form a group of scholars and educators devoted to expanding theological education opportunities for Lutheran lay people in the Puget Sound region. (One Term, 2006-2007)

Lutheran Compass Center

Halvorson serves on the board of directors of the Lutheran Compass Center, an organization that provides housing, meals, and other services for homeless men and women in King County and Snohomish County.  (Board member since 2001; Vice President 2003-2005; President 2005-2007.) In 2007, Halvorson was also co-chair (with wife Kim) of the first annual Compass Center Auction.  For more information about the work of the Compass Center, click Compass.

Above: Mike cuts opening ribbon with Mayor Greg Nickels to open the remodeled Compass Center Men's Shelter in Downtown Seattle (June, 2005).