Education
Ph.D., University of Notre Dame
M.Div., Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
B.A., Middlebury College
Research and Teaching Interests
I have been teaching at the University of South Alabama since August 2006, after finishing a Ph.D. in history at the University of Notre Dame. Along the way, I also earned a Masters of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
My teaching and research center on American culture (specifically, religion) and politics during the 19th and 20th centuries. I'm fascinated over the connections between religion and American national identity, including the perennial debates (dating back to the founding of the republic) over whether the United States was/is a Christian nation.
My first book explores the history of American evangelicalism since roughly 1945. Specifically, I use Campus Crusade as a lens through which to analyze evangelical efforts to restore American politics and education to their "Christian roots." For information on the book, click on the cover:
History is a form of intellectual tourism -- the opportunity to visit different cultures across time. Currently, I have switched gears and am studying nineteenth-century Mormonism, specifically Brigham Young. I had planned a study of Mormonism and more recent American politics but became intrigued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' early Utah period. The subject is fascinating! I truly am in another world. Mormonism in the 1830s or 1850s seems so far removed even from contemporary Mormonism, let alone late-twentieth-century evangelicalism. It's an opportunity to confront new and very different ideas about God, marriage, and the United States.
If you're interested in Mormon History or Mormonism, watch Helen Whitney's PBS documentary, The Mormons (the whole program can be viewed online). Good sources of contemporary information about Mormonism include Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom, By Common Consent, and The Juvenile Instructor (a blog on Mormon History).
For great information of all sorts on American religious history, take a look at this list of resources and see a Religion in American History blog.
