Rick Kenney (born 1958) is an American historian with interests in cultural and intellectual history, and the religious life in a secular world.

Early life and education

Born in 1958 to Robert Kennedy (a professor at

Hartnell College Hartnell College is a public community college in Salinas, California. Established in 1920 as Salinas Junior College, Hartnell is one of 115 schools that constitute the California Community Colleges, one of the three higher education systems i ...

and former US Naval office) and Donna Jean Barber Kennedy (a church leader), Rick Kennedy grew up in

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area ...

. He started his undergraduate career at

California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

from 1976 to 1978 and then transferred to the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the ...

where he earned his B.A. in history in 1980. After working as an electrician briefly, he then returned to UCSB for his M.A. and Ph.D. in history at the

. Throughout his undergraduate and graduate study, Kennedy was active in several churches and Christian groups. His doctoral dissertation, entitled "Thy Patriarch's Desire: Thomas and William Brattle in Puritan Massachusetts," was directed by Harold Kirker.

Career

After completing his Ph.D. in 1987, he accepted a call to

Indiana University Southeast Indiana University Southeast (locally known as IUS or IU Southeast) is a public university in New Albany, Indiana. It is a regional campus of Indiana University. History The Indiana University Falls City Area Center was established by Floy ...

New Albany, Indiana New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River, opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The population was 37,841 as of the 2020 census. The city is the county seat of Floyd County. It is bounded by I-265 ...

as assistant professor of History and in 1993 was promoted to Associate Professor and then moved to

Point Loma Nazarene University Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) is a private Christian liberal arts college with its main campus on the Point Loma oceanfront in San Diego, California, United States. It was founded in 1902 as a Bible college by the Church of the Nazarene ...

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

in 1995, where he moved through the ranks from Associate Professor to Full Professor.

Personal life

Kennedy has given numerous talks and writes numerous blog posts. He is also an active sailor, and teaches students both in the classroom and on the high seas. Kennedy also serves as Elder of First Presbyterian Church in

, where he also teaches adult

Sunday school A Sunday school is an educational institution, usually (but not always) Christian in character. Other religions including Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism have also organised Sunday schools in their temples and mosques, particularly in the West. S ...

classes.

Selected publications

*Rick Kennedy, "Thomas Brattle and the Provincialism of New England Science, 1690-1720," ''The New England Quarterly'', 63 (1990): 584-600 *Rick Kennedy, "Thomas Brattle: A Mathematician-Architect in the Transition of the New England Mind, 1690-1700," ''Winterthur Portfolio'', 24 (1989): 231-245 *Rick Kennedy, "The Alliance Between Puritanism and Cartesian Logic at Harvard," ''Journal of the History of Ideas'', 51 (1990): 549- 572. Reprinted in ''The American Enlightenment'', ed. Frank Shuffelton (Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press, 1993), 3-26, vol. 11 in the Library of the History of Ideas, series ed. John W. Yolton. *Rick Kennedy, '"The Application of Mathematics to Christian Apologetics in Pascal's Pensées and Arnauld's The Port-Royal Logic," ''Fides et Historia'', 23 (1991): 37-52 *Rick Kennedy, "Miracles in the Dock: A Critique of the Historical Profession's Special Treatment of Alleged Spiritual Events," ''Fides et Historia'', 26 (1994): 7-22. *Rick Kennedy, ''Aristotelian and Cartesian Logic at Harvard: Morton's "System of Logick" and Brattle's "Compendium of Logick"'' (Boston: Colonial Society of Massachusetts and Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1995) *Rick Kennedy, “Increase Mather’s Catechismus Logicus: A Translation and an Analysis of the Role of a Ramist Catechism at Harvard,” co-authored with Thomas Knoles, ''Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society'' 109 (1999): 145–181. *Rick Kennedy, ''Faith at State: A Handbook for Christians at Secular Universities'' (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1995, reprint Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2002) *Rick Kennedy, “Faith and History: Toward a Better Understanding of Balancing of Likelihoods,” ''Fides et Historia'', 29 (1997): 66–73. *Rick Kennedy, ''Student Notebooks at Colonial Harvard: Manuscripts and Educational Practice, 1650-1740'', co-written with Thomas Knoles and Lucia Zaucha Knoles (Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 2003). *Rick Kennedy, ''A History of Reasonableness: Testimony and Authority in the Art of Thinking'' (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2004). *Rick Kennedy, ''Jesus, History, and Mount. Darwin: An Academic Excursion'' (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2008; Cambridge, UK: Lutterworth Press, 2008) *Rick Kennedy, ''The First American Evangelical: A Short Life of Cotton Mather'' (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdman's, 2015) *Rick Kennedy, ''The Winds of Santa Ana: Pilgrim Stories of the California Bight'' (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2022).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Rick 1958 births Living people American historians University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Indiana University Southeast faculty Point Loma Nazarene University faculty