Christian Nation or Nation of Christians?
References from Christian Nation or Nation of Christians? - 2018 Lecture with Perry and Fea
Lecturers
Dr. Seth Perry
Seth Perry joined the Princeton faculty in 2014. He is interested in American religious history, with a particular focus on print culture and religious authority. Perry’s most recent work includes “The Many Bibles of Joseph Smith: Textual, Prophetic, and Scholarly Authority in Early-National Bible Culture” in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and “Scripture, Time, and Authority among Early Disciples of Christ” in Church History. Perry’s first book, Bible Culture and Authority in the Early United States (forthcoming June 2018 from Princeton University Press) explores the performative, rhetorical, and material aspects of bible-based authority in early-national America. His current book project is a biography of Lorenzo Dow, the early-national period’s most famous itinerant preacher (his article on Dow appeared in 2015). Perry’s work has appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Common-place, The Huffington Post, and the LA Review of Books. He very occasionally posts at The Junto (earlyamericanists.com). Perry was a Mellon Fellow at the McNeil Center for Early-American Studies in 2011-12. He serves as Departmental Representative for the 2017-2018 academic year.
Prof. John Fea
Professor of American History and Chair of the History Department at Messiah College, in Grantham, Pennsylvania, where he has taught since 2002.
John has lectured widely at institutions such as Duke University, Columbia University, Southern Methodist University, Bucknell University, Gettysburg College, University of Mary Washington, Wheaton College, Grove City College, University of Tennessee, University of Pennsylvania, University of Notre Dame, Woodberry Forest School, Boston Trinity Academy, Georgetown University, Colonial Williamsburg, University of Minnesota, Southwestern Theological Seminary, Northwestern College, Fort Ticonderoga, Syracuse University, Eastern University, Fraunces Tavern Museum, Valparaiso University, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and the David Library of the American Revolution.
He speaks regularly to churches, school and teacher groups, civic groups, and historical societies and has appeared on C-SPAN, National Public Radio, and dozens of radio programs across the country.
John’s essays and reviews on the history of American culture have appeared in The Journal of American History, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, The William and Mary Quarterly, The Journal of the Early Republic, Sojourners, Explorations in Early American Culture, Pennsylvania Heritage, Education Week, The Cresset, Books and Culture, Christianity Today, Christian Century, and Common Place. He has also written for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Fox News, USA Today, Al-Jazeera, Washington Post, CBS News, New York Daily News, AOL News, Houston Chronicle, Austin-American Statesman, Harrisburg Patriot News, Salt Lake City Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Religion News Service, and other newspapers. He blogs daily at The Way of Improvement Leads Home, a blog devoted to American history, religion, politics, and academic life.
His book Was America Founded as a Christian Nation: A Historical Introduction (Westminster/John Knox Press, 2011) was one of three finalists for the George Washington Book Prize, one of the largest literary prizes in the United States. It was also selected as the Foreword Reviews/INDIEFAB religion book of the year.
John is also co-editor (with Jay Green and Eric Miller) of Confessing History: Explorations in Christian Faith and the Historian’s Vocation. (University of Notre Dame Press, 2010), a finalist for the Lilly Fellows Program in Arts and Humanities Book Award.
His book Why Study History?: Reflecting on the Importance of the Past, was published in 2013 with Baker Academic. John’s book The Bible Cause: A History of the American Bible Society appeared in March 2016 with Oxford University Press.
Resources
