Education
Research Interests
Teaching & Administrative Experience
Courses Taught—UW-Colleges & UW-Stevens Point
Post-Secondary Learning Courses Taught & in Development
Continuing Education Seminars Taught
Publications
Invited Lectures
Conference Presentations
Service & Volunteer Work
Awards & Honors
- Ph.D. in Religious Studies, University of Iowa (2012)
- M.A. in Religion, Syracuse University (2005)
- B.A. in Philosophy and Religious Studies, UW-Stevens Point (2003)
Research Interests
- American civil religion, religious nationalism, and Christian nationalism
- The intersection of religion, social justice, and American politics
- Environmental ethics and animal rights
Teaching & Administrative Experience
- Academic Success Associate, UW-Stevens Point Marshfield Campus (2022 - present)
- Lecturer in Religious Studies, UW-Stevens Point (2018 - present)
- Continuing Education Instructor, UW Colleges & UW-Stevens Point (2013 - present)
- Lecturer in Religious Studies, UW Marathon County (2012 - 2018)
- Teaching Assistant, University of Iowa Religious Studies Department (2007 - 2011)
Courses Taught—UW-Colleges & UW-Stevens Point
- REL 101: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
- REL 111: Religious Diversity in Modern America
- REL 202: Introduction to the Study of Religion
- REL 301: Religion and Nature
- REL 318: Religion and Popular Culture
- PHIL 121: Critical Thinking
- UWX PHIL 121: Critical Thinking (online)
- FYS 101: Religion, Literature, and the Quest
Post-Secondary Learning Courses Taught & in Development
- PSL 104: Applied Academic Literacies
- PSL 110: Applied Reasoning (a college-readiness seminar in development)
- PSL 111: Investigating Ideas (a college-readiness seminar in development)
Continuing Education Seminars Taught
- Upward Bound: Information Literacy and Critical Thinking
- Cults and New Religious Movements
- Satan in Myth, History, and Culture
- Thinking the Death of God
- Quest and Creation
- Religion in American Politics
- Christianity and the Environment
- Existential Theology and the Courage to Be
Publications
- “Could Wisconsin's State Parks Really be User Supported?” Silent Sports Magazine (December 2017)
- “Reading Muir from Kayak and Trail,” Silent Sports Magazine (September 2016) https://silentsportsmagazine.com/2016/08/30/reading-muir-from-kayak-and-trail/
- “From Anglo-Saxon Nativism to Executive Order: Civil Religion and Anti-Immigration Rhetoric,” Politics and Religion Volume 9, Issue 3 (Summer 2016) https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/politics-and-religion/article/abs/from-anglosaxon-nativism-to-executive-order-civil-religion-and-antiimmigration-rhetoric/D9FDD5E2BF25EDB1404082E090C9AC05#article
- “The genesis of kinship: A review of William Greenway and Amanda Beckenstein Mbuvi,” The Christian Century Volume 133, No. 11 (May 25, 2016) https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2016-04/love-all-creatures-william-greenway-and-belonging-genesis-amanda-beckenstein-mbuvi
- “Being and Gaia: Seeking Resources toward a Vocabulary for Naturalistic Theology,” Bulletin of the North American Paul Tillich Society Volume 38, Issue 1 (Winter 2012) https://www.napts.org/assets/newsletters/NB381.pdf
- “The Irony of the Secular: Violent Communication at the Limits of Tolerance,” Journal of Religion, Conflict, and Peace Volume 2, Issue 2 (Spring 2010) http://www.religionconflictpeace.org/volume-3-issue-2-spring-2010/irony-secular
Invited Lectures
- “Civil Religious Idolatry for the 9/11 Generation,” University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Faculty Forum (April 2023)
- “Cows are People, Too,” First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau (July 2022)
- “Religion, Conflict, & the Other,” First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau (August 2021)
- “The Religious Dimensions of Secularism,” First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau (July 2020)
- “Nature and the Prophetic Spirit,” First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau (July 2019)
- “Civil Religion in Conflicted Times,” First Universalist Unitarian Church of Wausau, (November 2017)
- “Ecological Apocalypse: From Traditional Symbols to Contemporary Concerns,” University of Wisconsin - Marathon College of Emeriti “Soap Box Lecture” (May 2017)
- “Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric and Civil Religion,” University of Wisconsin - Marathon Lecture and Fine Arts Series “Lunch Hour Lecture” (February 2017)
Conference Presentations
- “Fostering Creative Inquiry on the Two-Year Campuses,” National Conference for Undergraduate Research (April 2023)
- “Totem Flags and the Sacrificial Soldier,” AAR National Meeting (November 2021)
- “Nature and the Prophetic Spirit,” Upper Midwest Regional AAR Meeting (April 2021)
- “From Anglo-Saxon Nativism to Executive Order,” Upper Midwest Regional AAR Meeting (April 2016)
- “The Liberation of Gaia: Ecological Sin as Institutionalized Sin,” Upper Midwest Regional AAR Meeting (March 2013)
- “Ecological Crisis, Green Religion, and Utopian Vision,” Religion, Literature, and the Arts: Futures and Illusions (August 2012)
- “Returning To Gaia: Coming Home to the Earth Mother on the Other Side of Estrangement,” Religion, Literature, and the Arts: Uncanny Homecomings (August 2011)
- “Being and Gaia: Seeking Resources toward a Vocabulary for Naturalistic Theology,” Annual National Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (November 2010)
- “Displacement, Justification, and Ultimate Concern: Christian Identity and the Theology of Hate,” Religion, Literature, and the Arts: Confronting Evil in Thought and Practice (April 2010)
- “Religion, Secularism, and Global Conflict,” Peace and Justice Studies Association Annual National Conference (October 10 2009)
- “Meaning and Existence, Nature and Naturalism: Resisting Reductionism in Reading the Book of Nature,” Religion, Literature, and the Arts: Reading the Book of Nature (April 2009)
- “Violent Communication and the Limits of Tolerance,” Upper Midwest Regional AAR Meeting (March 2009)
- “Zarathustra the Atheist, Zarathustra the Poet: The Creative Tension of Symbolic Disclosure,” Religion, Literature, and the Arts: Theology and Critique (March 2008)
- “Demonization, Compassion, and Ultimate Claims: Confronting Threads of War and Peace in Biblical Thought,” AAR / SBL Upper Midwest Regional Conference (April 2002)
Service & Volunteer Work
- Retention Subcommittee member, UW-Stevens Point branch campuses (2018 – present)
- Faculty Council member, UW-Stevens Point (2021 – 2022)
- Staffing Volunteer, The Pantry food bank at UWSP at Wausau (2020 – 2022)
- Peer Reviewer, the journal of Politics and Religion (2020 – 2022)
- Assessment Subcommittee member, UWSP Philosophy Department (2019)
- Clerical Volunteer, Heartland Farm Sanctuary (2011 - 2014)
- Organizing Volunteer, Sierra Club John Muir Chapter (2011 - 2012)
- Social Committee chair, U. of Iowa Religious Studies Department (2009 - 2011)
- Planning Committee Volunteer, UWSP Take Back the Night (2002)
- Chapter President, Amnesty International, Stevens Point Chapter (1999 – 2002)
Awards & Honors
- Teaching Excellence Award, UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield (2023)