Trinity Professor Selected to be Editor of Church History

Angela Tarango, Ph.D., professor of religion and director of the Mexico, the Americas, and Spain (MAS) program, has recently taken on a new role as an editor for Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. Overseeing the “Christianity in the Americas” (North and South) section alongside her colleague Brandon Bayne of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tarango is helping shape the field’s ongoing understanding of Christianity’s development and significance in the Americas.

Church History, the journal of the American Society of Church History published by Cambridge University Press, is the leading journal in the field of the history of Christianity. Editors for journals like Church History usually are drawn from R-1 institutions, and when asked to take on the challenge, Tarango knew this opportunity might not come again. For Tarango, to be an editor of such a prestigious journal is an exciting venture, and one she couldn’t miss.

“This is a rarer honor for a faculty member at a school of Trinity's size, and highlights Angela’s exceptional scholarship and leadership in the field,” says Chaplain Alex Serna-Wallender ’08. 

With a very busy schedule already at Trinity, Tarango leans on her ability to read quickly and efficiently to get her through the numerous submissions for her journal section. While some other sections of Church History receive 30-40 submissions a year, “Christianity in the Americas” receives over 100. To help manage this large number of submissions, Tarango gets to collaborate with her co-editor, Brandon Bayne, who happens to also be one of her close friends. “It wouldn’t be as fun to do it without one of my best friends in the field, really,” says Tarango. 

One of the most exciting aspects of the editorship is the chance to read the newest research in the field. Tarango is enjoying reading the latest materials and learning more, and the process of giving careful feedback is proving to be very rewarding. During her three-year tenure, Tarango hopes to highlight scholarship in English on Latin American religion, a currently underrepresented area of study. Co-editor Bayne specializes in colonial Latin American religion, while Tarango specializes in modern North American and Borderlands Christianity, making the pair well-equipped to encourage more voices in the field.

“As MAS director, it means a lot to me that we get to cover both North America and South America,” says Tarango. “One of the places where we really want to focus is in Latin America–we’re trying to get bigger, broader, more dynamic scholarship in English.”

Currently, scholarship on Latin American religion does exist, with most of it done in Spanish, which means many English-speaking scholars of North American religions don’t engage with it. Tarango and Bayne are working to broaden this area and bring more knowledge and perspectives to English-speaking circles. 

Tarango’s perspective as an editor combines her reputation for being a fair reviewer with her desire to guide the discipline into the future, with a sharp eye for what’s readable, meaningful, and relevant now.