Academics Studying Evangelicals - A Review of Recent Authors

When I first went to NYU, I was surprised by two academic experiences which converged my identity as both an evangelical and media and cultural studies academic. The first experience was when I signed up for a class on Communication and Media in the Life and Education of the Young. One of the texts which I read for that class was Lynn Schofield Clark's From angels to aliens (see below). I was startled to see a serious study of evangelicals that did not immediately fall into the reductive trappings of labelling evangelicals.

The second experience, was becoming aware of Heather Hendershot's work on evangelical consumer culture when she did a presentation at the University. Here was another academic who was working outside of the stereotypical impressions of evangelicals.

This has led me on a quest to identify other academics who are exploring representation and reception issues in regards to evangelicals and media. Below are a few recent examples:

Thomas Beaudoin
Virtual faith: The irreverant spiritual quest of generation x (2000)

Lynn Schofield Clark
Media, meaning and religious identity in the postmodern context: The case of adolescents and their families
Rethinking media, religion, and culture (1997)
Practicing religion in the age of the media (2002)
From angels to aliens: Teenagers, the media, and the supernatural (2003)

Douglas E. Cowan
Religion online: Finding faith (2004)

Lorne L. Dawson
Religion online: Finding faith (2004)

Bruce David Forbes
Religion and popular culture in America (2000)

Heather Hendershot
Shaking the world for Jesus: Media and conservative evangelical culture (2004)

Stewart M Hoover
Rethinking media, religion, and culture (1997)
Practicing religion in the age of the media (2002)

Joel Martin
Screening the sacred: Religion, myth, and ideology in popular American film (1995)

Eric Mazur
God in the details: American religion and popular culture (2000)

Melani McAlister
Epic encounters: Culture, media, and US interests in the middle east (2001)

Colleen McDannell
Material Christianity: Religion and popular culture in America (1998)

Birgit Meyer
Religion, media, and the public sphere (2005)

R. Laurence Moore
Selling God: American religion in the marketplace of culture (1995)

Annelies Moors
Religion, media, and the public sphere (2005)

Hent De Vries
Religion and media: Cultural memory in the present (2001)

* NOTE: If you are aware of additional key academics involved in this study, please contact me and I will add them to the list