Brevard College Professor Recognized as Unsung Heroine

Brevard College Humanities Division Chair Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle was recently recognized as a 2010 Unsung Heroine by Emory University’s Center for Women in Atlanta, Ga.

Presented annually, the Unsung Heroine Awards honor a handful of women who have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to issues that affect women at Emory University or in the larger community but have not received accolades or formal recognition.

Bringle, who earned her Ph.D. from Emory University, was nominated as an alumna honoree by James Abbington, Associate Professor of Church Music and Worship at Emory’s Candler School for Theology. Abbington noted that Bringle stands out as a Christian feminist whose work has been to “reclaim the lost voices of women” in the church. Bringle challenges ”students to think about their religious traditions in different ways, . . . [and] invigorates church history for students, making the tradition relevant to their lives in ways they never imagined,” he added.

Bringle has taught philosophy and religious studies at Brevard College since 2000. As current president of the Hymn Society in the U.S. and Canada (HSUSC), Bringle was previously recognized in 2002 as an "emerging hymn text writer of the U.S. and Canada." She has won numerous international competitions for hymn texts, and is the author of two single-author collections: Joy and Wonder, Love and Longing (GIA 2002) and In Wind and Wonder (GIA 2007). Her hymns are included in hymnals and supplements of numerous denominations (Mennonite, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, United Church of Canada, and the Church of Scotland), and her translations from the Spanish figure in a bilingual hymnal under production by GIA.

In addition to serving as president of HSUSC, Bringle chairs the committee to create a new denominational hymnal for the Presbyterian Church (USA).Read the full article