Dr. J. Jeffery Tyler of the Hope College religion faculty has received an award through the  Fulbright Senior Scholar Program for his study of exile in southern Germany from 1400 to 1700.

          The award will support Tyler as he explores how
  the practice of banishment and exile defined and shaped
  German society from the later Middle Ages through the
  Protestant Reformation, studying how, why and who city
  magistrates drove from their cities.  He is one of
  approximately only 40 scholars and teachers nationwide
  receiving Fulbrights to Germany for the 1999-2000 academic
  year.
          "I intend to develop a description of south German
  civil society, which takes into consideration legal,
  political and religious dimensions," he said.  "The practice
  of exclusion not only identifies those who are marginalized,
  but also exposes the policies and values of the ruling
  class; a decree of exile or banishment defines the beliefs
  and behaviors deemed acceptable, the peoples and practices
  embraced and tolerated."
          It is the second year in a row that a member of
  the Hope faculty has received a Fulbright award for study in
  Germany.  Dr. John Lunn, who is the Robert W. Haack
  Professor of Economics at Hope, is spending the current,
  spring semester at the University of Goettingen through the
  program.
          Tyler will focus on the cities of Nuremberg and
  Augsburg, where he will conduct research during a spring,
  2000, sabbatical leave from Hope.  He will examine archival
  collections that include court cases, legal briefs and civic
  registers that offer detail about those summoned before the
  court, the charges brought against them and the final
  verdict.
          Tyler's interest in the topic of exile and
  banishment in the Germany of the era is on-going.  Earlier
  this year, his book "Lord of the Sacred City:  The Episcopus
  Exclusus in Late Medieval and Early Modern Germany" was
  published by Brill of the Netherlands as part of the series
  "Studies in Medieval and Reformation Thought."  The book
  explores the way in which Catholic bishops were banished,
  particularly from the cities of Constance and Augsburg, as
  community and church came into conflict while defining their
  political roles.
          In addition to the Fulbright award, his current
  project is also being supported through the college's
  "Towsley Research Scholars Program."  Tyler was named the
  college's second "Towsley Research Scholar" in January of
  1998; the Towsley award is providing support for four years.
          Tyler was a "Fulbright Fellow" in Germany during
  the 1991-92 school year, while pursuing his doctorate at the
  University of Arizona.  "Lord of the Sacred City" is based
  on his 1991-92 research, and he hopes to produce additional
  scholarly articles and a text through his current research
  as well.
          Tyler, a member of the Hope faculty since 1995,
  graduated from Hope in 1982 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 Heiko A. Oberman.
          The Fulbright Program awards grants to American
  students, teachers and scholars to study, teach, lecture and
  conduct research abroad, and to foreign nationals to engage
  in similar activities in the United States.  The program was
  established in 1946 under Congressional legislation
  introduced by former Senator William J. Fulbright of
  Arkansas.
          Each year, the American Scholar Program sends
  nearly 700 scholars and professionals to more than 100
  countries.  The scholars represent a wide variety of
  academic and professional fields, ranging from journalism
  and urban planning, to music, philosophy and zoology.