Dr. Sky Johnston
Assistant Professor of History
Education
PhD, History, University of California San Diego, 2019
MA, Ecumenical Studies, University of Bonn, 2013
MDiv, Theology, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2012
MA, History, University of California Irvine, 2008
BA, Comparative Literature and European Studies, University of California Irvine, 2007
Associated Academic Programs
HistoryOne of the major factors that attracted Dr. Sky Michael Johnston to Trinity was its inclusive and tightly-knit community. His teaching philosophy is rooted in what he terms “relational pedagogy.” He fosters relationships with and between his students, recognizing these connections are pivotal to the success of a learning community.
Another compelling aspect of Trinity for Johnston is its position within the broader community of the greater Chicago area. “Trinity serves as a launching pad for students to engage in activities and work in one of the nation’s leading cities.”
Johnston, trained as a cultural historian, employs the methodologies of his field to explore the everyday lives of people. His original research centers on sixteenth-century German lands and delves into popular ideas concerning religion and the natural world, particularly people’s perceptions of the weather. Surprisingly, he discovered that ordinary people in the sixteenth century grappled with many of the same tensions that religious individuals experience today when attempting to reconcile the seemingly random nature of weather with ordered conceptions of the spiritual and physical world. He believes his research provides a valuable reference point for understanding the connections between cultural factors, such as religion, and people’s interactions with nature. Consequently, the topics he investigates intersect with other fields, including the History of Science, Environmental History, Church History, and the History of Knowledge.
Johnston is a firm believer in the empowering potential of studying history. When we lack knowledge of something’s history, we tend to accept it as “just the way things are” or “just the way the world is.” Through the study of history, we gain the understanding that specific factors contributed to the creation of current conditions in the world. This realization can reshape our perspective and help us recognize that people play an active role in influencing many features of our world.
His aspiration for his students at Trinity is that they acquire the skills and confidence to make sense of the world’s complexities. Historians’ methods to comprehend the past are also highly valuable for understanding the events in our lives. Furthermore, studying the history of subjects we care about provides an invaluable perspective on those topics. Johnston believes that many people might not realize just how extensive the scope of what historians study truly is. He states, “Someone out there has likely investigated whatever topic you are interested in.”
Outside of teaching, he enjoys spending time with his family bike riding, hiking, playing board games, or playing Zelda. He’s also a dedicated fan of his favorite sports teams: the LA Kings, the Lakers, and the Chicago Bears. In the past, he was a runner and was a member of the Track and Field and XC teams at UC Irvine. Nowadays, he enjoys playing basketball.
Dr. Johnston is the creator of a global history podcast, “90 Second Narratives,” available wherever you listen to podcasts. His personal website is http://skymichaeljohnston.com.
Courses
Historical Consciousness
Ancient and Medieval Europe
History of Christianity
History of the United States to 1860
Papers Published
“Accounting for a Fruitful Little Ice Age: Overlapping Scales of Climate and Culture in Württemberg, 1560-1590,” Environmental History 27 no. 4 (2022): 722-746.
“Printing the Weather: Knowledge, Nature, and Popular Culture in Two Sixteenth-Century German Weather Books,” Renaissance Quarterly 73 no. 2 (2020): 391-440.
“Pre-Suppression Jesuits in German-Speaking Lands,” in Jesuit Historiography Online, ed. Robert A. Maryks (Leiden: Brill, 2016). Open Access: https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/jesuit-historiography-online/pre-suppression-jesuits-in-german-speaking-lands-COM_192578
“‘What is California? Nothing but Innumerable Stones’: German Jesuits, Salvation, and Landscape Building in the California Missions,” Journal of Jesuit Studies 2 no. 1 (2015): 36-55. Open Access: https://brill.com/view/journals/jjs/2/1/article-p36_2.xml
Papers Presented
“Lessons from the History of Meteorology for Utilizing Earth System Science (ESS) in Climate Communication,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 2022
“Scales of Cultural Responses to Disaster in Early Seventeenth-Century German Lands,” German Studies Association Annual Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2021
“Renaissance Aristotelianisms and Natural Knowledge in German-Speaking Europe,” Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, 2021
“Theology and Nature Together: Towards a New Model of the Shared Development of Science and Religion,” IEG-Forschungskolloquium, Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz, Germany, 2021
“‘Of True Knowledge of the Weather’: Observing Nature and Producing Knowledge in Early Modern German Lands,” Cambridge-Tübingen Workshop, 2020
“Tracing the Networks of Annual Practica Authors through German Universities, 1480-1620,” German Historical Society Annual Conference, 2020
“Ambivalence towards Nature in Early Lutheran Ideas about Weather,” Science Studies Graduate Mini-Symposium with Lorraine Daston, University of California San Diego, 2019
“Pastoral Scholastic Responses to the Devastation of the 1613 Thüringer Sintflut,” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2018
“Considering Popular Peasant Naturalism in Sixteenth-Century Germany,” West Coast Germanists’ Workshop Hosted by GHI WEST, University of California Davis, 2018
“A Brief Cultural History of the Wetterbüchlein in the Long Sixteenth Century,” Herzog August Bibliothek Stipendiatenkolloquium, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, 2017
“Experiencing Weather in Early Modern Germany,” Kolloquium Neuere Geschichte (Lehrstuhl Prof. Renate Dürr), University of Tübingen, Germany, 2017
“A Century of Weather in Thuringia, 1512-1613,” Stipendiatenkolloquium des Herzog-Ernst-Stipendienprogramms, Gotha, Germany, 2016
“The Rain Falls on Everyone: Weather across Society in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century German Lands,” Thirteenth Workshop on Early Modern German History, German Historical Institute, London, United Kingdom, 2016
“‘When the Storm Dies Down’: Luther’s Reflections on Weather,” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 2015
“Failed Missions of Inclusion: The Dry Climate of California Thwarts German Jesuit Missionaries,” XXXIII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2015
“‘What is California? Nothing but Innumerable Stones’: German Jesuit Missionaries Make Sense of a Foreign Landscape,” Worlds Elsewhere: Globalization in Early Cultures, University of California Irvine, 2014
Awards
- 2020 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal, Division of Arts and Humanities, UC San Diego
Fellowships
- 2023 Semester Research Fellowship, Trinity Christian College
- 2020-2021 Research Fellowship, Leibniz Institute for European History, Mainz
- 2019-2020 Teach@Tübingen Fellowship, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tübingen
- 2018 Scholarship Extension – Doctoral Scholarship funded by the Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel
- 2018 Travel Grant, American Friends of the Herzog August Bibliothek
- 2017-2018 Dissertation Fellowship, Department of History, UC San Diego
- 2016-2017 Fulbright Fellowship, History, Germany
- 2017 Doctoral Scholarship funded by the Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel
- 2016 Herzog-Ernst-Scholarship sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, University and Research Library Erfurt-Gotha
- 2016 Travel Funding, German Historical Institute Washington
- 2016 Dean’s Travel Award, UC San Diego
- 2015-2016 Department of History Travel Grant, UC San Diego
- 2015 Graduate Student Association Travel Grant, UC San Diego
- 2015 Department of History Travel Grant, UC San Diego
- 2014-2015 Summer Research Support for Professor Ulrike Strasser, UC San Diego
- 2013-2014 Regents Fellowship, Department of History, UC San Diego
- 2013 Studienstipendium aus Mitteln zur Qualitätsverbesserung, University of Bonn
- 2012-2013 Work-Study Award of Financial Aid, University of Bonn
Professional Memberships
- American Society for Environmental History
- History of Science Society
- Renaissance Society of America
- Sixteenth Century Society
- + Expertise
-
One of the major factors that attracted Dr. Sky Michael Johnston to Trinity was its inclusive and tightly-knit community. His teaching philosophy is rooted in what he terms “relational pedagogy.” He fosters relationships with and between his students, recognizing these connections are pivotal to the success of a learning community.
Another compelling aspect of Trinity for Johnston is its position within the broader community of the greater Chicago area. “Trinity serves as a launching pad for students to engage in activities and work in one of the nation’s leading cities.”
Johnston, trained as a cultural historian, employs the methodologies of his field to explore the everyday lives of people. His original research centers on sixteenth-century German lands and delves into popular ideas concerning religion and the natural world, particularly people’s perceptions of the weather. Surprisingly, he discovered that ordinary people in the sixteenth century grappled with many of the same tensions that religious individuals experience today when attempting to reconcile the seemingly random nature of weather with ordered conceptions of the spiritual and physical world. He believes his research provides a valuable reference point for understanding the connections between cultural factors, such as religion, and people’s interactions with nature. Consequently, the topics he investigates intersect with other fields, including the History of Science, Environmental History, Church History, and the History of Knowledge.
Johnston is a firm believer in the empowering potential of studying history. When we lack knowledge of something’s history, we tend to accept it as “just the way things are” or “just the way the world is.” Through the study of history, we gain the understanding that specific factors contributed to the creation of current conditions in the world. This realization can reshape our perspective and help us recognize that people play an active role in influencing many features of our world.
His aspiration for his students at Trinity is that they acquire the skills and confidence to make sense of the world’s complexities. Historians’ methods to comprehend the past are also highly valuable for understanding the events in our lives. Furthermore, studying the history of subjects we care about provides an invaluable perspective on those topics. Johnston believes that many people might not realize just how extensive the scope of what historians study truly is. He states, “Someone out there has likely investigated whatever topic you are interested in.”
Outside of teaching, he enjoys spending time with his family bike riding, hiking, playing board games, or playing Zelda. He’s also a dedicated fan of his favorite sports teams: the LA Kings, the Lakers, and the Chicago Bears. In the past, he was a runner and was a member of the Track and Field and XC teams at UC Irvine. Nowadays, he enjoys playing basketball.
Dr. Johnston is the creator of a global history podcast, “90 Second Narratives,” available wherever you listen to podcasts. His personal website is http://skymichaeljohnston.com.
- + Courses, Publications & Research
-
Courses
Historical Consciousness
Ancient and Medieval Europe
History of Christianity
History of the United States to 1860Papers Published
“Accounting for a Fruitful Little Ice Age: Overlapping Scales of Climate and Culture in Württemberg, 1560-1590,” Environmental History 27 no. 4 (2022): 722-746.
“Printing the Weather: Knowledge, Nature, and Popular Culture in Two Sixteenth-Century German Weather Books,” Renaissance Quarterly 73 no. 2 (2020): 391-440.
“Pre-Suppression Jesuits in German-Speaking Lands,” in Jesuit Historiography Online, ed. Robert A. Maryks (Leiden: Brill, 2016). Open Access: https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/jesuit-historiography-online/pre-suppression-jesuits-in-german-speaking-lands-COM_192578
“‘What is California? Nothing but Innumerable Stones’: German Jesuits, Salvation, and Landscape Building in the California Missions,” Journal of Jesuit Studies 2 no. 1 (2015): 36-55. Open Access: https://brill.com/view/journals/jjs/2/1/article-p36_2.xml
Papers Presented
“Lessons from the History of Meteorology for Utilizing Earth System Science (ESS) in Climate Communication,” History of Science Society Annual Meeting, Chicago, Illinois, 2022
“Scales of Cultural Responses to Disaster in Early Seventeenth-Century German Lands,” German Studies Association Annual Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2021
“Renaissance Aristotelianisms and Natural Knowledge in German-Speaking Europe,” Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, 2021
“Theology and Nature Together: Towards a New Model of the Shared Development of Science and Religion,” IEG-Forschungskolloquium, Leibniz Institute of European History, Mainz, Germany, 2021
“‘Of True Knowledge of the Weather’: Observing Nature and Producing Knowledge in Early Modern German Lands,” Cambridge-Tübingen Workshop, 2020
“Tracing the Networks of Annual Practica Authors through German Universities, 1480-1620,” German Historical Society Annual Conference, 2020
“Ambivalence towards Nature in Early Lutheran Ideas about Weather,” Science Studies Graduate Mini-Symposium with Lorraine Daston, University of California San Diego, 2019
“Pastoral Scholastic Responses to the Devastation of the 1613 Thüringer Sintflut,” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2018
“Considering Popular Peasant Naturalism in Sixteenth-Century Germany,” West Coast Germanists’ Workshop Hosted by GHI WEST, University of California Davis, 2018
“A Brief Cultural History of the Wetterbüchlein in the Long Sixteenth Century,” Herzog August Bibliothek Stipendiatenkolloquium, Wolfenbüttel, Germany, 2017
“Experiencing Weather in Early Modern Germany,” Kolloquium Neuere Geschichte (Lehrstuhl Prof. Renate Dürr), University of Tübingen, Germany, 2017
“A Century of Weather in Thuringia, 1512-1613,” Stipendiatenkolloquium des Herzog-Ernst-Stipendienprogramms, Gotha, Germany, 2016
“The Rain Falls on Everyone: Weather across Society in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century German Lands,” Thirteenth Workshop on Early Modern German History, German Historical Institute, London, United Kingdom, 2016
“‘When the Storm Dies Down’: Luther’s Reflections on Weather,” Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Vancouver, Canada, 2015
“Failed Missions of Inclusion: The Dry Climate of California Thwarts German Jesuit Missionaries,” XXXIII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2015
“‘What is California? Nothing but Innumerable Stones’: German Jesuit Missionaries Make Sense of a Foreign Landscape,” Worlds Elsewhere: Globalization in Early Cultures, University of California Irvine, 2014
- + Awards & Fellowships
-
Awards
- 2020 Chancellor’s Dissertation Medal, Division of Arts and Humanities, UC San Diego
Fellowships
- 2023 Semester Research Fellowship, Trinity Christian College
- 2020-2021 Research Fellowship, Leibniz Institute for European History, Mainz
- 2019-2020 Teach@Tübingen Fellowship, Faculty of Humanities, University of Tübingen
- 2018 Scholarship Extension – Doctoral Scholarship funded by the Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel
- 2018 Travel Grant, American Friends of the Herzog August Bibliothek
- 2017-2018 Dissertation Fellowship, Department of History, UC San Diego
- 2016-2017 Fulbright Fellowship, History, Germany
- 2017 Doctoral Scholarship funded by the Rolf und Ursula Schneider-Stiftung, Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel
- 2016 Herzog-Ernst-Scholarship sponsored by the Fritz Thyssen Stiftung, University and Research Library Erfurt-Gotha
- 2016 Travel Funding, German Historical Institute Washington
- 2016 Dean’s Travel Award, UC San Diego
- 2015-2016 Department of History Travel Grant, UC San Diego
- 2015 Graduate Student Association Travel Grant, UC San Diego
- 2015 Department of History Travel Grant, UC San Diego
- 2014-2015 Summer Research Support for Professor Ulrike Strasser, UC San Diego
- 2013-2014 Regents Fellowship, Department of History, UC San Diego
- 2013 Studienstipendium aus Mitteln zur Qualitätsverbesserung, University of Bonn
- 2012-2013 Work-Study Award of Financial Aid, University of Bonn
Professional Memberships
- American Society for Environmental History
- History of Science Society
- Renaissance Society of America
- Sixteenth Century Society