Dr. J. Jeffery Tyler has been presented the 37th annual "Hope Outstanding Professor Educator" (H.O.P.E.) award by the 2001 Hope College graduating class.
Tyler, an assistant professor of religion, was honored during the college's annual Honors Convocation, held in Dimnent Memorial Chapel on Thursday, April 26, at 7 p.m. The award, first given in 1965, is presented by the graduating class to the professor who they feel epitomizes the best qualities of the Hope College educator.
Tyler has been a member of the Hope faculty since 1995. He is a 1982 Hope graduate.
His teaching emphasis is on the history of Christianity, particularly during the Middle Ages and Reformation. He teaches courses including "Christianity and Conflict," "The Reformation," "Monks, Mystics and Magic"/"Monks, Mystics and Maladies," and "Introduction to the History of Christianity." His courses have also included the Senior Seminars "Dying, Healing, and Thriving: Pursuing the Good Life," and "Education and Christian Ways of Living."
In 1999, he was one of only approximately 40 scholars nationwide to receive an award through the Fulbright Senior Scholar Program for study and research in Germany during the 1999-2000 academic year. In 1998, he received an award through the college's Towsley Research Scholars Program in support of his research, which is examining on how the practice of banishment and exile defined and shaped German society from the later Middle Ages through the Protestant Reformation.
His publications include the book "Lord of the Sacred City: The Episcopus Exclusus in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany," which was published in 1999 by Brill of the Netherlands as part of the series "Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought." He is also the author of numerous reviews and scholarly articles, and has presented several papers and invited addresses.
Tyler graduated from Hope with majors in religion and ancient civilization. He earned a master of divinity from Western Theological Seminary in 1986, and his Ph.D. in history from the University of Arizona in 1995 under the direction of the late Heiko A. Oberman.
His wife, Elizabeth, is a 1984 Hope graduate. They have two sons, Samuel and Roberto.