Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2013 | Page 28

Billy

celebrating 30 years, the institute for the study of American evangelicals begins a
project examining the life and career of the man known as “America’s Pastor.”
by Alanna Foxwell-Barajas ’06

A counselor to u.s. Presidents

Image courtesy of the BIlly graham center archIves

since Eisenhower, he has not
only been credited with preaching to more people than any other
individual in history, but is also said to have changed the face of American
evangelicalism. Though the Gallup organization rated Rev. Billy Graham
’43, LITT.D. ’56 as “One of the Ten Most Admired Men in the World” 55
times over the course of his career, a recent Gallup poll showed that
30 percent of Americans under the age of 30 do not know who he is.
As part of a project to assess Billy Graham’s impact on American
religion and culture, the Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals
(ISAE) has secured funding for a book, video, special lectures, and a
conference discussing different dimensions of Billy Graham’s life and
career.
Founded in 1982 by evangelical historians and Wheaton College
alumni Mark Noll ’68 and Nathan Hatch ’68, the ISAE has become an
important contributor to the historical study of American religion. Since
1985, the Institute has published a quarterly newsletter, the Evangelical
Studies Bulletin (ESB), and over the years, the ISAE has undertaken
several long-term research projects—exploring such topics as American
hymnody, the financing of American evangelicalism, the impact of
the foreign missions movement on North America, and evangelicals’
relationship to the mass media.
Under the leadership of Director Dr. Edith Blumhofer and Associate
Director Dr. Larry Eskridge, this current exploration of the career and
legacy of Billy Graham will serve as the theme for the ISAE-sponsored
conference to be held September 26-28, 2013, at the Billy Graham Center.
Wheaton caught up with Dr. Grant Wacker, professor of Christian
history at Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C., one of three editors
of The Worlds of Billy Graham, a forthcoming ISAE-sponsored collection
of scholarly essays that will look at aspects of Billy Graham’s legacy.
The other editors are Dr. Andrew Finstuen, a professor at Boise State
University and an expert on Graham and American intellectual culture;
and Dr. Anne Blue Wills, a professor at Davidson College and expert
on Ruth Bell Graham ’43, L.H.D. ’75.

26     W I N T E R   2 0 1 3