Seth Dowland

Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies

Phone: 253-535-8125

Email: dowland@plu.edu

Office Location: Hauge Administration Building - 227-I

Status:On Sabbatical

Blog: http://usreligion.blogspot.com/

Curriculum Vitae: View my CV

  • Professional
  • Biography

Additional Titles/Roles

  • Director, International Honors (IHON)

Education

  • Ph.D., American Religions, Duke University, 2007
  • M.A., American Religions, Duke University, 2004
  • B.A. with distinction, Religious Studies & History, University of Virginia, 2001

Areas of Emphasis or Expertise

  • American Christianity
  • Christianity and Race
  • Evangelicalism
  • Gender and Religion
  • Religion and Politics

Selected Publications

Books

  • Gods, Games, and Globalization: New Perspectives on Religion and Sports Chapters 3, pgs. 58-73 (Mercer University Press 2019) : View Book
  • Billy Graham: American Pilgrim Chapters 9, pgs. 216-231 (Oxford University Press 2017) : View Book
  • The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Religion and American Politics Chapters 19, pgs. 225-236 (Wiley-Blackwell 2016) : View Book
  • Family Values: Gender, Authority, and the Rise of the Christian Right (University of Pennsylvania Press 2015) : View Book
  • Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Authority of Scripture Chapters 4, pgs. 71-90 (Pickwick Publications 2011) : View Book
  • Diversity and Dominion: Dialogues in Ecology, Ethics, and Theology Chapters 14, pgs. 157-165 (Wipf & Stock 2010) : View Book
  • Southern Masculinity: Perspectives on Manhood in the New South Chapters 13, pgs. 246-268 (University of Georgia Press 2009) : View Book

Selected Presentations

  • American Society of Church History Annual Meeting, Religion of Fear: Response to Papers on White Christian Denominations & the 1920s KKK, New Orleans (January 2022)
  • American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Women and the New Christian Right: A Response to Emily Suzanne Johnson’s This is Our Message, San Diego (November 2019)
  • American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Feminism and Evangelical Family Men, Denver (November 2018)
  • American Society of Church History Annual Meeting, Teaching American Religious History in the Trump Era, Washington (January 2018)
  • American Society of Church History Annual Meeting, Vanishing Masculinity in the Midcentury YMCA, Denver (January 2017)
  • American Historical Association, Respondent: “American Evangelicals Looking Abroad” panel, New York (January 2015)
  • American Academy of Religion, Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting, Evolving Notions of Christian Manhood in the YMCA, co-presenter Clayton Bracht, Calgary (May 2014)
  • American Society for Church History Spring Meeting, Respondent: “How the Bible Works: Scripture and the Body in Nineteenth Century Religion” panel, Portland (April 2013)
  • American Society for Church History Spring Meeting, Southern Baptist Apostate: Bill Clinton’s Fight with the Religious Right, Portland (April 2013)
  • American Society for Church History, Go, Fight, Win: Masculinity, Sports, and War in the 1919 Inter-Allied Games, Chicago (January 2012)

Accolades

  • Erasmus+ (EU) Staff Mobility Grant, MF School of Theology in Oslo (2019)
  • Wang Center for Global and Community Engaged Education Faculty Research Grant, Pacific Lutheran University (2017-18)
  • Karen Hille Phillips Regency Advancement Award, Pacific Lutheran University (2015-16)
  • Kelmer-Roe Faculty-Student Research Award, Pacific Lutheran University (with Clayton Bracht) (2013-14)
  • Award for Excellence in Teaching Writing, Duke University (2009)
  • Research Travel Grants, Thompson Writing Program, Duke University (2008, 2009, & 2010)
  • Louisville Institute Dissertation Fellowship (2006-07)
  • Summer Research Fellowship, Duke University Graduate School (2006)
  • Mellon Dissertation fellow, Franklin Humanities Institute, Duke University (2005-06)
  • Preparing Future Faculty fellow, Duke University/Elon University (2005-06)
  • Duke University Graduate Fellowship (2001-2006)
  • Phi Beta Kappa (2001)
  • College of Arts & Sciences Fellowship for Undergraduate Research, University of Virginia (2000)

Professional Memberships/Organizations

Biography

Seth Dowland teaches courses in PLU’s International Honors, First-Year Experience, Religion, and Gender, Sexuality, and Race Studies programs. His classes offer interdisciplinary perspectives on American religions, with particular emphasis on the ways religion interacts with gender, race, politics, and violence. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, gender, and American politics in the twentieth century. His book, “Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right”, was published in 2015 by the University of Pennsylvania Press. He is currently working on a project about the history of Christian masculinity in the United States (under contract with Oxford University Press), and is the author of several articles and book chapters on the history of American evangelicalism, including “American Evangelicalism and the Politics of Whiteness“, published in The Christian Century, 2018.