Moore

Jonathan Moore

Affiliation:Faculty
Title:Assistant Professor of American Religious Pluralism
Office:Knapp 309-A
Email:
Phone:
740-587-8679

 

B.A. in English and history, Illinois Wesleyan University
A.M. in Divinity from the University of Chicago Divinity School
Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from the University of Chicago Divinity School
 

 

Teaching
 
I came to Denison in the fall of 2009 after four years at Grinnell College in Iowa.  My courses include the following:
 
  • FYS-102, Religions in America
  • FYS-102, From Holy Sabbath to Black Sabbath: Religion and Music in 20th-Century America (Learning Community with Dr. Anna Nekola)
  • Rel-204, Religious Pluralism and American Identity
  • REL-214, The Christian Right in American Culture
  • REL-218, Islamic Traditions
  • REL-240), Muslims in the United States
  • REL-300, Mormons in America
 
I really enjoy working with students on summer research.  Their past projects have included:
 
  • "A Bun in the Oven and an Arrow in the Quiver:  An Inquiry into the Quiverfull Movement and Spiritual Warfare"
  • "An (Un)Holy Union:  Discovering the Particularities in Universalism — Roman Catholic Novels from 1960-2010"
  • "'Islam Is Very Different Than You Think':  Misperceptions of Muslims Reinforced by the Rifqa Bary Case"
  • "The Baha'i Faith in America:  Diffusions of the American Religious Zeitgeist"
  • "The Making of a Christian Woman:  How Evangelicals Balance Faith with Family"
 

 

Scholarship
 
My first book, Suing for America's Soul:  John Whitehead, the Rutherford Institute, and Conservative Christianity in the Courts (Emory Studies in Law and Religion, Eerdmans, 2007), examines the rise of conservative Christian legal advocacy groups in recent decades, and their effects on both evangelical Protestantism and contemporary church-state conflicts.
 
Suing for America's Soul RJ Moore

My book reviews have appeared in Church History, The Journal of Religion, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and The Christian Century. I also assisted Martin Marty in writing two books which grew out of our work together at the Public Religion Project: Politics, Religion, and the Common Good: Advancing a Distinctly American Conversation about Religion's Role in Our Shared Life (Jossey-Bass, 2000), and Education, Religion, and the Common Good (Jossey-Bass, 2000).

My current research projects include a book-length examination of what happened when a merry band of Chicago Wiccans decided to move to Hoopeston, Illinois—a downstate town of six thousand dominated by evangelicals—about eight years ago. The story of this community's initial reaction, and the subsequent interaction between pagans and Christians, fascinates on many levels, and provides important lessons regarding the possibilities and limits for religious pluralism in contemporary America. I'm also researching representations of Muslims in American children's literature, which offers another window into the relationship between religion and national identity.

 

 


 

For more information, contact Sandra Mead.


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