The History of Christianity faculty at Baylor examine and explore the rich expressions of the Christian faith across a wide variety of cultures, with a focus on the Reformations of the sixteenth century to the present. Our studies focus upon significant figures, institutions, and movements in the history of global Christianity, especially as it impacted and was affected by culture. Christianity is a World Religion and students will be exposed to many different approaches to the study of the history of Christianity, including the study of the institutional church, its theology and teaching, as well as intellectual, social, cultural, and gender approaches. Baylor is committed to teaching and learning the breadth of Christian traditions in the world. This area welcomes curiosity in all areas of the Christian narrative. The faculty is especially strong in Baptist Studies and Pentecostalism, World Christianity Studies, and the European Reformations of the sixteenth century.
Area faculty include Drs. Doug Weaver, Carlos Cardoza-Orlandi, Elizabeth Flowers, and David Whitford.
Baylor University has a wealth of resources among its faculty across many disciplines. Featured below are Affiliated Faculty members from other departments and schools who have served as outside readers on our dissertations. We invite you to click on the names of these Affiliated Faculty to learn more about their area of expertise.
Dr. Beth Allison Barr - History Department; Area of Research: Women and gender identity in medieval and early modern English sermons.
Dr. Brian Brewer - Truett Seminary; Area of Research: The Reformation and post-Reformation periods of Christianity; sacramental theology within Anabaptist writings, Martin Luther's works, and that of other reformers in the sixteenth century and the subsequent Free Church movements.
Dr. Elesha Coffman- History Department; Area of Research: American intellectual history, American religion, print culture.
Dr. Barry G. Hankins - History Department; Area of Research: Religion and American culture; Protestant Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism; and Church & State in American History.
Dr. Heidi J. Hornik - Art Department; Area of Research: Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art History.
Dr. Monique Ingalls- Center for Christian Music Studies; Area of Research:Christian congregational music; gospel music in global perspective; religious music in digital culture; the music of global Pentecostalism; how congregational music operates in processes of community creation, boundary formation, and conciliation.
Dr. Philip Jenkins - History Department; Area of Research: Global Christianity, past and present; new and emerging religious movements; and twentieth century US history, chiefly post-1975.
Dr. Ronald Angelo Johnson- History Department; Area of Research: Early U.S./African American history, especially diplomacy and religion.
Dr. Kimberly R. Kellison - History Department; Area of Research: American South; Civil War and Reconstruction; and Religion in the American South.
Dr. Andrea Turpin - History Department; Area of Research: U.S. Women and Gender, U.S. Religious and Intellectual History, History of U.S. Higher Education, 19th- and 20th-Century U.S.
Dr. William Weaver - Great Texts Program; Area of Research: Renaissance Humanism, Early Modern English Poetry, Classical Tradition, and History of Rhetoric.
Dr. Matthew Whelan- Honors College; Area of Research: Latin America, Catholicism.
Dr. David Wilhite - Truett Seminary; Area of Research: Patristics.