Breanna J. Nickel
Assistant Professor of Bible and Religion
Education
- B.A. Goshen College, 2010
- M.A. Yale Divinity School, 2013
- Ph.D. University of Notre Dame, 2018
Contact
- breannajn@goshen.edu
- Wyse Hall, 3rd floor
Hello, everyone! I am a teacher/researcher in the areas of interreligious relations and peacebuilding, scriptural hermeneutics, and the history of Christianity. My current projects include:
- Developing a new Global Studies track focusing on interreligious relations, including options for student exploration of religious diversity in Indiana/Illinois and a May Term course in Israel/Palestine.
- Research project on 15th/16th century Anabaptist/Jewish relations in Germany.
- Research project on medieval European Christian perceptions of Islam.
Below is a list of many of my favorite courses to teach. Also, do you have an idea for a course you think the Bible & Religion Department should offer? If so, contact me!
- Religion in America
- Religious Landscapes: Pluralism & Extremism
- Islam
- Intro to World Religions
- Christian Theologies
- Liberation Theologies
- Biblical Themes of Peace
- Jesus & the Gospels
- Engaging the Bible
- Identity, Culture & Community
- Philosophy – Directed Readings
- “Women, Nonviolence and Interreligious Collaboration.” In Women, Creativity, and Nonviolence, edited by Anna Hamling. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022.
- “The Influence of Medieval Scholastic Theology on the Anabaptists.” In T&T Clark Companion to Anabaptism, edited by Brian Brewer. New York: T&T Clark/Bloomsbury, 2021.
- Aelred of Rievaulx: Liturgical Sermons 3: Durham Collection. Edited and translated with the Catena Scholarium. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2019.
- “The Anabaptists’ Tie to Trinitarianism.” Conrad Grebel Review 37, no. 2 (Fall 2019): 163-170.
- Three Pseudo-Bernardine Works. Edited and translated with the Catena Scholarium. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2018.
- “Comparative Methods in Undergraduate Pedagogy: Transforming Teaching in Trying Times.” (Roundtable). American Academy of Religion, November 19-22, 2022.
- “Creative Crusade Pedagogy” (Organizer and Presider). Medieval Academy of America, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, March 9-13, 2022.
- “Adapting the Meaning of a Mennonite College Education.” Mennonite Church USA Annual Convention, Cincinnati, OH, July 6-10, 2021.
- “Medieval Scholastic Theology” (Session Presider). International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 10-15, 2021.
- “The Status of Medievalist Film Studies Today” (Roundtable Discussant). International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 10-15, 2021.
- “Peter the Venerable on Islam as Mixed ‘Heresy’.” Medieval Academy of America, University of California, Berkeley, March 26-28, 2020.
- “The Future of the Female Voice in Medieval Monasticism.” Illinois Medieval Association Annual Conference, St. Mary’s College, IN, February 21-22, 2020.
- “Employing Interdisciplinarity: Early Modern Legacies, Future Challenges” (Conference Co-Coordinator and Panel Chair). University of Notre Dame, September 20-21, 2019.
- “Balthasar Hubmaier’s “Scholastic” Experience: Reconstructing his Freiburg Years.” Mennonite Theological Centre Conference, Toronto, Ontario, June 14-16, 2018.
- “Balthasar Hubmaier on the Human and Divine Wills.” Sixteenth Century Society Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 26-29, 2017.
- “Pseudo-Bernard’s Tractatus de statu virtutum in Translation: Composition, Content, and “Bernardine” Themes.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 11-14, 2017.
- “Balthasar Hubmaier on the Lord’s Supper: Real Absence or Real Presence?” Presence and Absence: Annual Graduate Student Conference, Indiana University Bloomington, April 7-8, 2017.
- “Augustinian Influence in Meister Eckhart’s German Sermons: the Word & the Image in the Soul.” International Congress on Medieval Studies, Western Michigan University, May 12-15, 2016.
2022 Faculty Scholarly Activity Grant / American Academy of Religion Mininger Center, Goshen College
2022 IDEA Grant – Israel/Palestine Course Development Global Studies, Goshen College
2021 Faculty Scholarly Activity Grant / Medieval Academy of America Mininger Center, Goshen College
2021 “Global Classroom” Teaching Grant Office of International and Off Campus Programs, Augustana College
2020 “Balthasar Hubmaier’s Expulsion of the Regensburg Jews” Individual Research Grant, American Academy of Religion
2019 “Balthasar Hubmaier’s Expulsion of the Regensburg Jews” Faculty Research Fund Award, Augustana College
2019 The “Same God” Project Teaching Grant, Humanities Fund, Augustana College
2017 Graduate Travel and Research Grant Nanovic Institute for European Studies, University of Notre Dame
American Academy of Religion
Anabaptist-Mennonite Scholars Network
International Society for the Study of Medievalism
Peace and Justice Studies Association
Sixteenth Century Society
Society for Reformation Research
Society of Biblical Literature
The Medieval Academy of America