2003 Board Meeting

North American Patristics Society, Inc.

Minutes of the Executive Board Meeting

Examination Schools, Oxford, England (Room 5)

21 August 2003

Attending: William Tabbernee (Pres), James Goehring (VPres), Clayton Jefford (Sec/Treas), Jane Merdinger (MatL), Karen Jo Torjesen (MatL), Elizabeth Clark (Ed), Philip Rousseau (Ed)

William Tabbernee called the meeting to order at 4:02 pm.

1. The Board approved the minutes from the May 2002 meeting that was held at Loyola University, Chicago.

2. Report of Officers

a. President (Tabbernee)

Prof. John O’Keefe was recently asked to update the NAPS webpage with respect to relevant and timely information concerning the Society. He has agreed to do so, but requests that another person eventually be found to undertake the task of website maintenance. A motion was offered (Torjesen), seconded (Merdinger) and approved that Jefford contact Carl Griffin, who already maintains the links for the website, as a first contact for the position. Jefford was also asked to contact The Johns Hopkins University Press to determine whether all Society members whose email addresses are known might be added to the NAPS list serve roster for the convenience of future announcements.

b. Vice-President (Goehring)

The transition to Group Travel Plus as handling agent for the annual NAPS meeting is progressing, with a number of small details that must be addressed in the process. Prof. Kenneth Steinhauser has been most helpful in this development. Group Travel Plus will charge the Society 10% of the final meeting cost for its services, a fee that will be paid directly from the Society’s general funds instead of through the registration of participants (at least for this first year). All of the plenary speakers for the meeting have been arranged, and include the following: Gillian Clark, Michael Williams, and Richard Valantasis (banquet speaker).

c. Secretary-Treasurer (Jefford)

As officially approved at the May 2003 meeting of the NAPS, the Society’s name was legally changed through an amendment filed with the State of Kentucky last summer to: ‘The North American Patristics Society, Inc.’

The 2002 NAPS Membership Directory was published and mailed in November 2002.

The NAPS Executive Board met at the annual meeting of the AAR/SBL in Toronto last November to discuss issues associated with the hiring of Group Travel Plus to direct the 2004 annual meeting of the Society. The minutes of that meeting were distributed to the members of the Board via email.

The most recent edition of the Patristics newsletter was published in March 2003, with the next issue scheduled for September 2003. The members of the Board at its May 2002 meeting had requested the change from a January/July publication sequence to a March/September schedule.

Membership for the Society stood at 682 total members as of 11 July 2003 (496 regular members; 186 student members), based upon the number of members who have paid their annual dues to date.

The Society’s financial position remains especially strong, despite a struggling investment market. During the 2003 fiscal year to date, the Society has invested another $10,000 into its money market funds. Expenses for the 2002 annual meeting exceeded income by around $10,000. The balance of Society holdings on 31 July 2003 was $110,110.66.

3. Report of Committees

a. Journal of Early Christian Studies (Clark)

The journal is running smoothly with the change in editorial assistants. Michael Rackett is now in that position, while Catherine Chin is pursuing studies in Italy for the year. Currently, the annual distribution of the journal is well over 1400 issues.

b. Patristic Monograph Series (Rousseau and Tabbernee)

After some discussion with respect to the PMS Board, it has been decided that the NAPS Executive Board, in consultation with the series editor, shall officially appoint the members of the PMS Board. It is hoped that in this process the functions of the individual members of the PMS Board will become more fully developed. Upon the recommendation of Rousseau, a motion was offered (Goehring), seconded (Merdinger) and approved that PMS Board members serve for a term of three years, which may be renewed twice for a total of nine years. This should result in a rotating system that will permit the presence of new board members on an annual basis.

The PMS currently seeks to develop thematic studies, research that is socially and culturally oriented, and theological works that investigate specific historical contexts.

The PMS has reached a point where it may be desirable to increase publicity for the series. It was agreed that an advertisement for the PMS should be made available in each issue of the JECS as soon as that is possible.

4. New Business

a. Amendments to the By-Laws (Tabbernee for Dan Williams)

Williams had indicated a desire that Article 2, Section 2 and Article 3, Section 4 of the NAPS By-Laws be amended to specify certain exact timing and duration of term for Society officers and editors. His recommendations (on file with Secretary-Treasurer) were discussed and tabled until the May 2004 meeting in order to consider alternate wording and considerations to the proposed changes.

b. Establishment of a NAPS Archives (Clark)

Prof. Fred Norris has offered to return his complete set of the Patristics newsletters to the NAPS to be used as an archival copy of the publication. It was agreed that the Secretary-Treasurer would accept the collection for that purpose and would store the materials on site until such time as the Executive Board should decide to establish an archive at a specific location for the materials. Clark has offered to provide a complete set of the JECS for the same purpose.

5. The next annual meeting of the Society will be held at Loyola University Chicago on 27-29 May 2004.

6. William Tabbernee adjourned the meeting at 5:00 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Clayton N. Jefford

02 September 2003

Amended on 01 June 2004 as approved by the NAPS Board on 27 May 2004.