Purdue History Professor Will Lecture on Evangelical Conservatism

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Dr. Darren Dochuk, professor of history at Purdue University, will speak on the topic "From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: The Rise of Evangelical Conservatism in Southern California" at 2:30 p.m. Monday, March 21, in Room 116 of Draper Academic Building on the Baylor campus.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is hosted by the Institute for Studies of Religion. Dochuk's lecture will be based on his recent book, From Bible Belt to Sunbelt: Plain-Folk Religion, Grassroots Politics, and the Rise of Evangelical Conservatism.

One of the nation's leading experts on religion and politics in the 20th century, Dochuk "will help us understand where the strong religious influence in politics came from," said Dr. Thomas Kidd, a professor of history at Baylor.

Dochuk, an expert on the rise of religious conservatism in the Republican Party, will focus on politics and religion in the context of southern California and the "Reagan Revolution" of the 1970s and 1980s, Kidd said.

Dochuk received his B.A. in history at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia. He completed his master's degree at Queen's University in Ontario by writing a thesis on religion and politics in Toronto in the late 19th century.

He is a former Fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University. His research at Purdue University focuses mainly on the intersection of politics, religion and culture in post-1940 America.

"The Institute for Studies of Religion is interested in exposing the Baylor community to authors such as Dr. Dochuk, who study religion with scholarly rigor, but who also can effectively communicate that scholarship to students and a broader popular audience," Kidd said.

For more information, contact Kidd at (254) 710-6304 or Thomas_Kidd@baylor.edu.

Draper Academic Building is at 1420 S. Seventh St.

by Susie Typher, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805