This program takes advantage of the University's rich offerings in the study of religious and cultural life in America. It provides resources for graduate study in American religious cultures through sociological, historical, theological, and cultural analyses. Particular areas of strength within the program include the history of Christianity in America, black religion, religious diversity, cultural history, religious practices, sociology of American religion, and popular culture.

Students in this program examine religious thoughts and practices in particular cultural contexts – that is, as integral dimensions of the production and reproduction of culture rather than as distinct, isolated forms of human action and reflection. This examination will take place in a combination of courses that offer perspectives on historical trends, methodological variation, and religious diversity. New students will be encouraged to take at least two seminars that focus on two different periods in American religious history and two seminars that focus on theory and method in the study of religion. Students must also enroll in courses that expose them to the diversity of American religious cultures, and will be expected to take seminars in other programs in the GDR as well as in other graduate programs around the university to ensure they meet these requirements. Faculty in a variety of institutional settings, including the Graduate Institute of Liberal Arts, American Studies, History, African American Studies, Sociology, and the Emory Center for Myth and Ritual in American Life are available each year for coursework and consultation.

Students will work closely with their advisor on a specific trajectory for their two years of course work, take their exams in the fall of their third year, and then formally submit their dissertation proposal in the spring term of their third year. All students will also be expected to attend program-sponsored symposia throughout the academic year.

American Religious Cultures Faculty

Elizabeth Bounds (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary, 1994) Associate Professor. Christian ethics, feminist ethics.

Nancy L. Eiesland (Ph.D., Emory University, 1995) Associate Professor. Sociology of religion.

Tom Frank (Ph.D., Emory University, 1981) Professor. History of mainstream Protestantism, church administration and congregational life, Methodist studies.

E. Brooks Holifield (Ph.D., Yale University, 1970) Candler Professor of American Church History. Seventeenth-century American thought, theology in America.

Gary Laderman (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994) Associate Professor. American religious history and cultures.

Richard Martin (Ph.D., New York University, 1975) Professor. Arabic and Islamic studies, history of religions, Islamic theology, religion and social conflict, Islam in America.

Barbara Patterson (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1994) Senior Lecturer. Spiritual practices; cultural studies; feminist theory.

Alton Pollard (Ph.D., Duke University, 1987) Associate Professor. Chair of American Religious Cultures Program. African American religiosity; Southern Africa; Pan-Africanist religious thought and practice; urban studies in the United States.

Russell E. Richey (Ph.D., Princeton University, 1970) Professor. American religious history; Methodism; comparative denominational studies; American civil or public religion.

Dianne M. Stewart (Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary, 1997) Associate Professor. Theologies and religious practices of the African diaspora; Black/womanist theologies; African-derived religions.

Steven M. Tipton (Ph.D., Harvard University, 1979) Professor. Sociology of religion.

Associated Faculty

Sociology:

Tim Dowd

History:

Eric Goldstein

Jonathan Prude

Institute of Liberal Arts:

Allen Tullos