Shawn Varghese
Specialties
- Modern American Religion and Race
- American Intellectual History
- Civil Rights Movement
- American Evangelicalism
Education
- Ph.D, The University of Texas at Dallas, 2020
- Th.M., Dallas Theological Seminary, 2011
- B.M., New York University, 2007
Academic Interests and Research
I am interested in the intersections of American Race and Religion. These topics cross at every major turn in American history. I am mostly interested in the effects that the push for equality, demonstrated in the civil rights movement, had on American religion, namely evangelicalism. I am personally inspired by the resilience of 20th-century black protestants from both mainline and conservative Christian traditions, who have spearheaded movements towards racial and cultural diversity within American religion.
I am currently working on editing my dissertation, "From Every Tribe, Tongue, and Nation: The Role of Dallas Theological Seminary in Shaping African American Evangelicalism," into a book. I am also exploring how the experiences of Black Americans and their push for racial and cultural equality resonated with other oppressed groups around the world.
Publications
- “Charismatic Movement,” “Civil Rights Movement,” “Tony Evans,” and “Pat Robertson” in American Religious History: Belief and Society through Time, edited by Gary Smith, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, forthcoming December 2020
- Review, The State of the Evangelical Mind, Edited by Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and Christopher J. Devers, Themelios Vol. 45, No. 1 (April 2020)
- [In Preparation] “’If the Bible and Blackness Bump Heads, Blackness Must Go’: Constructing a Black Evangelical Theology.”