Between the 18th and 19th centuries, a significant number of African Americans were institutionalized for a psychosis known as “religious excitement.” During this Jim Crow era, Black spirituality was often pathologized by white psychiatrists as a form of mental illness. Where a white Christian might have been praised as pious, a Black Christian would be considered delusional or deranged. Weisenfeld’s book, Black Religion in the Madhouse, explores the religious institutionalization of Black Americans and draws powerful connections to contemporary racism, particularly within mental health systems and police encounters. Read More

In the winter of 1936, two dozen black and white ex-sharecropping families settled on some two thousand acres in the rural Mississippi Delta, one of the most insular and oppressive regions in the nation. Remaking the Rural South, by Robert Hunt Ferguson, chronicles their story, and is the first… Read More

As a research fellow for the Project on Lived Theology, Heather Warren explored the Atlanta-based Protestant Hour radio show, which began as one station in 1945 but boasted 600 participating stations by 1963, and sounded a liberal theology that promoted the liberalization of Protestantism throughout its largely southern listening area. Her research culminated in the publication of an article by Cambridge University Press titled “Turn Your Radio On: Liberal Theology in a Southern Register, 1953-1963.” Read More

In association with the University of Notre Dame, The Church Life Journal: A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life recently published a lovely excerpt from Charles Marsh’s book God’s Long Summer: Stories of Faith and the Civil Rights. Read More

In conversation with Lee C. Camp, find out how he navigated shedding the taboos of his evangelical upbringing as he sits down to discuss his memoir, Evangelical Anxiety. Read More

In the winter of 1936, two dozen black and white ex-sharecropping families settled on some two thousand acres in the rural Mississippi Delta, one of the most insular and oppressive regions in the nation. Remaking the Rural South, by Robert Hunt Ferguson, chronicles their story, and is the first… Read More

Facing Death is a collection of Holocaust and genocide scholars’ essays analyzing what this tragedy means for ourselves and our lives on Earth Read More

Watch the keynote address of the 2025 Scoper Lecture in Christian Thought, “Open, Honest and Free: A Celebration of Theological Inquiry Across the University” featuring Charles Marsh, PhD, Commonwealth Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Project on Lived Theology at the University of Virginia. Read More

Register to attend the Virtual Panel Discussion on April 24, 2025 at 8:00 pm, in which three experts chart a path for Faith in the University, moderated by Karen Marsh. Read More

Jenkins examines climate-driven religious practice through a historical lens, reflecting upon 700 years of climate history. Read More