Religion, Marriage and Fatherhood Expert Discusses the Role of Religion in Family Life at a Baylor University Lecture
Media Contact: Terry_Goodrich, 254-710-3321
Follow Baylor Media Communications on Twitter: @BaylorUMedia
WACO, Texas (March 26, 2018) – Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion will host W. Bradford Wilcox, Ph.D., professor of sociology and director of the National Marriage Project at the University of Virginia, for a lecture at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, in Cox Lecture Hall, Armstrong Browning Library, 710 Speight Ave.
“A growing number of media stories offer a negative view of the impact that religion has on family life, especially regarding the role of religious men in family life,” Wilcox said. “My lecture will therefore assess the conditions under which religion has a positive or negative impact on families. I pay particular attention to the impact religion has on family men in the U.S. today.”
Wilcox, an expert on marriage and fatherhood, will explore the contribution that families make to the economic welfare of individuals and societies in his lecture, "Focused on the Family? Religion, Marriage and Parenting in America." The event is free with registration and open to the public.
Wilcox is the coauthor of “Soul Mates: Religion, Sex, Love and Marriage among African Americans and Latinos” (Oxford, 2016). His research is regularly featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review Online and The Atlantic.
Wilcox also is the author of “Soft Patriarchs, New Men: How Christianity Shapes Fathers and Husbands” (Chicago, 2004) and co-author of “Whither the Child?: Causes and Consequences of Low Fertility” (Paradigm, 2013, with Eric Kaufmann). For his research, he has received two awards – the Best Graduate Paper Award and the Best Article Award – from the American Sociological Association Religion Section.
As an undergraduate, Wilcox was a Jefferson Scholar at the University of Virginia and later earned his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He has held research fellowships at Princeton University, Yale University and the Brookings Institution.
“Brad Wilcox is one of the country’s leading scholars and public intellectuals on the family, and especially the role of religion in fostering healthy families,” said Byron R. Johnson, Ph.D., director of the Institute for Studies of Religion and Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor.
For more information, call 254/710-7555.
by Brooke Battersby, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked research institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 17,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions.
ABOUT THE INSTITUTE FOR STUDIES OF RELIGION
Launched in August 2004, the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) exists to initiate, support and conduct research on religion, involving scholars and projects spanning the intellectual spectrum: history, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, political science, epidemiology, theology and religious studies. The institute’s mandate extends to all religions, everywhere, and throughout history, and embraces the study of religious effects on prosocial behavior, family life, population health, economic development and social conflict. For more information, visit www.baylorisr.org