The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church is pleased to announce its recipient of the 2020 Nelson R. Burr Prize, Dr. Jonathan S. Lofft. He teaches the history of Christianity at Trinity College in the University of Toronto. He is a Research Fellow of Huron College at Western University, and a member of the academic faculty of Queen’s College at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. A Trustee of the National Episcopal Historians and Archivists, Jonathan serves as vice-president of the Canadian Church Historical Society and of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names. His research interests include Anglican/Episcopal history and identity, hagiography, imperialism, medievalism, and critical place-name studies.

Dr. Lofft is honored for his article published in the September 2019 issue of Anglican and Episcopal History entitled “X Marks the Spot: the Cult of St. Alban the Martyr and the Hagiotoponymy of Imperial Anglicanism in Canada, 1865-1921.” The prize was awarded and received during the 2020 Annual Meeting of the Historical Society.

The Burr prize honors the renowned scholar Nelson R. Burr, whose two-volume A Critical Bibliography of Religion in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961) and other works constitute landmarks in the field of religious historiography. Each year a committee of the Society selects the author of the most outstanding article in the Society’s journal, Anglican and Episcopal History, as recipient. The award also honors that which best exemplifies excellence and innovative scholarship in the field of Anglican and Episcopal history.