Introductory Biography
I was born in Louisiana, but only because my father was in the Air Force at the time. I was reared in the great state of Michigan (Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice!) before coming to Baylor as a 19 year-old junior in 1976. After receiving a B.A. in religion (1978) and an M.A. in church-state studies (1983), I completed the Ph.D. in history at Kansas State (1990).
I am married to Becky Bailey Hankins and have two children (son and daughter) and three stepsons. My son DJ is a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin, and my daughter, Johanna (JoJo), is a graduate of Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas where she played college basketball.
My academic interests lie principally at the intersection of religion, politics, and American culture.
Research Interests
- Religion and American Culture
- Protestant Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism
- Church & State in American History
Courses
- World History, 1400-1750 (HIS 1306)
- Religion and Politics in America (HIS 5361, cross-listed as REL, PSC, and CHS)
- Religion in America, 1877-present (HIS 4369, cross-listed as AMS 4369)
Authored Books
- Francis Schaeffer and the Shaping of Evangelical America. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008.
- American Evangelicals: A Contemporary History of a Mainstream Religious Movement. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2008.
- The Second Great Awakening and the Transcendentalists. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004.
- Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture. Tuscaloosa: The University of Alabama Press, 2002.
- God’s Rascal: J. Frank Norris and the Beginnings of Southern Fundamentalism. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
Forthcoming Book
- Jesus, Gin, and Jazz: How Religion in the Roaring Twenties Set the Stage for Today’s Culture Wars. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming.
Edited Books
- Evangelcalism and Fundamentalism: A Documentary Reader. New York: New York University Press, 2008.
- Edited with Donald Schmeltekopf. The Baylor Project. South Bend, Indiana: St. Augustine’s Press, 2007.
- Edited with Derek Davis. Welfare Reform and Faith-Based Organizations. Waco, Texas: J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, 1999.
- Edited with Derek Davis. New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America, 2nd ed. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2003.
Selected Articles and Book Chapters
- ” ‘We’re All Evangelicals Now’: The Existential and Backward Historiography of Twentieth-Century Evangelicalism.” American Denominational History: Perspectives on the Past, Prospects forthe Future, Keith Harper, ed. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2008.
- “And the Answer is, ‘Yes’” (essay response to articles reviewing Uneasy in Babylon: Southern Baptist Conservatives and American Culture), The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology, 7 (Spring 2003), 50-61.
- “Revisiting the Wall of Separation: A Review Essay,” Perspectives in Religious Studies, 30 (Winter 2003): 463-70).
- “Editorial: Is the Supreme Court Hostile to Religion?: Good News Club et. al. v. Milford Central School (2001) and Santa Fe v. Doe (2000),” Journal of Church and State, 43 (Autumn 2001): 681-87.
- “The Evangelical Accommodationism of SBC Conservatives,” Baptist History and Heritage, 33 (Winter 1998): 54-65.
- “Principle, Perception, and Position: Why Southern Baptist Conservatives Differ From Moderates on Church-State Issues,” Journal of Church and State 40 (Spring 1998): 343-70.
Favorite Web Sites
- Conference on Faith and History
- ISAE (Institute for the Study of American Evangelicals)
- Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
- Center for the Study of American Religion
- H-AmRel Discussion Group (American Religious History)
- AHA (American Historical Association)
- OAH (Organization of American Historians)
- Websites for the history profession (OAH)
- Journal of Church and State Homepage
- Online Resources Related to Church-State Matters
Hobbies & Interests
- Running. Best time in the marathon: 3:09 (Ran in the 100th Boston Marathon, 1996)
- Fly Fishing. San Juan River, New Mexico, and Conejos River, Colorado
- Music: Guitar and Vocals in After Midnight (classic rock band made up of 4 Baylor faculty/staff members)
