John G. Turner, Assistant Professor of History

John G. Turner
Assistant Professor of History
University of South Alabama

American and American Religious History

Office:
376 Humanities Building
Department of History
University of South Alabama
Mobile, AL 36688-0002

Phone:
251/460-7373
251/460-6750 (fax)

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 focus has been twentieth-century U.S. History, and my research has focused on post-1945 American evangelicalism. Specifically, I've written a history of Campus Crusade for Christ. 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 am switching gears and studying nineteenth-century Mormonism, specifically Brigham Young. 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, the United States, and a host of other fascinating topics.

If you're interested in Mormon History or Mormonism, watch Helen Whitney's recent documentary, The Mormons (the whole program can be viewed online). Good sources of contemporary information about Mormonism include By Common Consent, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Newsroom, and 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.

To learn more about me, see my CV.

To access course syllabi:

Summer 2008

HY 136 (U.S. History since 1877)

HY 437 (U.S. History since 1945)

Previous Semesters

HY 135 (U.S. History to 1877)

HY 136 (U.S. History since 1877)

HY 538 (Twentieth-Century U.S. History) (click here for revised list of readings for HY 538)