Mark Hulsether

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My overall goals in research and teaching are to seek the richest possible understanding of the interplay between religion, culture, and politics in recent U.S. history, to conceptualize this interplay within the broadest set of cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives that I can bring into focus, and to engage with the most interesting set of cases I can devise. All this is toward a goal of improving the understanding of these subjects in the contexts where I work—from international scholarly networks to my classroom, and from the University of Tennessee to wider publics.

If we imagine this field as a set of concentric circles, then the inner circle is work on religion and society in the U.S. since 1945. Many of my publications and upper level classes fall within this category. My middle circle of interest is an effort to understand recent issues in the context of the history of North America, especially since the Civil War but extending to the years before European conquest. One of my bread and butter classes on religion in the United States and some of my publications fall here. Two more circles represent wider horizons of interest—my efforts to situate US culture within global contexts, and my participation in cross-disciplinary conversations about methods for interpreting culture. Although such broad horizons obviously require a less comprehensive mode of study, they do not necessarily imply a lower level of interest. Some of my major research projects and course preparations in recent years have fallen here, including articles on methodological questions in religious studies and cultural studies and courses on both method in religious studies and religion in global contexts.

If any two overall concerns inform my work, they are to explore how specific examples of religious thought and practice fit within larger fields of sociopolitical power, and to promote dialogue between the study of religion and scholarship in cultural history, American Studies, sociology, and cultural studies.

Education

• Ph.D., with vote of distinction on qualifying exams, Program in American Studies, University of Minnesota, 1992
• M.Div., Magna Cum Laude, Yale University Divinity School, 1984
• B.A., Liberal Arts, St. Olaf College, 1979

Fields of Interest

• Religion in North America
• Religion, Culture, and Politics in Recent US History
• Religion and Popular Culture
• Twentieth Century Protestant Social Thought
• Interdisciplinary Methods for the Study of Religion and Culture

Contact Information

Mark Hulsether
Professor
507 McClung Tower
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-0450

Phone: 865-974-2466
Email: mhulseth@utk.edu