Dr. Michael Kugler Professor of History
Education:
Ph.D., University of Chicago
M.A., Western Washington University
B.A., Judson Baptist College
712-707-7056
kugler@nwciowa.edu
VPH 305C
Dr. Kugler primarily teaches European history from the Reformation through the modern era. His research and writing include the Enlightenment era, particularly in Scotland; historical narrative in a variety of forms, including formal history but also film and graphic novels; and more recently, the history of incarnational theology. He has presented papers at a wide variety of conferences and has published reviews and essays in Fides et Historia, The Eighteenth-Century: Theory and Interpretation, The Newsletter of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society , and Scotia.
GEN205 - Interdisciplinary Honors Seminar
(2 credits) A seminar designed to expose Honors Program students to significant issues by means of interdisciplinary study of selected topics chose on a year-to-year basis. Prerequisite: membership in the Honors Program or special permission from Honors Program directors. Note: May be taken more than once provided a different seminar is offered. Must be taken twice to fulfill graduation requirements for the Honors Program. Students may elect to take this course on an ?A?/pass/no pass basis. Up to four credits of GEN205 may be substituted for non-Core Integrative General Education requirements.
HIS250 - Issues in European/World History
(2 credits, non-yearly, consult department) (European/world history) A study of selected, issue-oriented topics in both European and world history more generally. Sample topics have included: The Early Middle Ages, The Scottish Highlands and The Millennium in Historic Perspective. Prerequisite: HIS120HP. Note: May be taken more than once provided a different topic is studied.
"“The Faun Beneath the Lamppost: When Christian Scholars Talk About the Enlightenment,” Christian Scholar's Review (2017)
“A Nebraska Boy’s Comic Strip History of World War II,” The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth (2017)
“Enlightenment History, Objectivity, and the Moral Imagination”, a chapter in Christian Faith and the Historian's Vocation, ed. John Fea (Notre Dame, 2010).
“Adam Ferguson and Enlightened Provincial Ideology in Scotland”, in Adam Ferguson: A Reassessment, v.2, ed. Eugene Heath and Vincenzo Merolle (Pickering and Chatto, 2009).
"The Cross, the Powers, and Enlightenment Techniques of the Self," Fides et Historia (2004).
“How Many Cheers?: Assessing the Enlightenment Grand Narrative of Modern Progress”, presented to the Conference on Faith and History, George Fox University, October 7-9, 2010.
“Civil Piety and Christian Culture in the Debate Over John Home’s Douglas”, presented to the Joint Conference for the Society for the Study of Scottish Philosophy, the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society, and the International Adam Smith Society, Princeton Theological Seminary, June 25, 2010.
“The Faun Beneath the Lamppost: What Christians Often Mean When They Talk About the Enlightenment”, Conference on Secularization and Revival, Baylor University, October 9, 2009.
“Faust’s Bastards: Academic Humility in the Shadow of the Cross“, Conference on Christianity and the University, Baylor University, March 18, 2004.
Professor of History since 1994
Assistant Coach and Goalkeeper Coach, Men's Soccer, Northwestern College (until 2007)
The Conference on Faith and History
The Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society
Hess Fellow, The US Holocaust Memorial and Museum, January, 2017
Calvin College Summer Faculty Fellow, 1997, 2007
Teaching Excellence Award, Northwestern College, 2006
Eric Molen Prize, for the paper "Provincial Intellectuals: A Model for Enlightenment Studies," delivered at the annual conference of the East-Central American Society of Eighteenth Century Scholars, 1992
Century Scholar, University of Chicago, 1986-89
