Kelsey Hanson Woodruff

U.S. Archbishop Will Be Beatified, One Step Away From Sainthood

The last year has been a big one for Catholic clergy born in Illinois. New from me: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/09/u...

Are women's rights more at risk than we thought? On the Handmaid's Tale, glass vs. rubber balls, and singing in the shower

Are women's rights more at risk than we thought? Another great essay from @ruthbraunstein.bsky.social

open.substack.com/pub/ruthbrau...

Friends, I hope you’ll share this widely. The @jcblibrary.bsky.social is hiring 2 3-yr research associates for collaborative work on religions and freedoms in the early Americas. Info is here and I’m happy to take questions offline: brown.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/staff-...

2025 was another great year for Religion & American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation! We saw a variety of article topics including health, tourism, media, and more! Check out the three issues that were released this year and the most read articles of this year!

I started this podcast today and plan to assign a few episodes to my students in the Spring! An exceptional example of public scholarship.

This exhibit by James Bielo is really cool. Stop by today at #aarsbl25 if you haven’t seen it yet!

okay, friends, let's do something community-oriented and helpful. #sblaar25 veterans, drop your best conference advice for first-time attendees. be sure to signal boost so folks across bluesky can add on/peruse.

This panel sounds amazing!

In the Twilight of the Christian West: A Theology of Mourning and Resi As far-right authoritarianism resurges under the banner of preserving Western civilization, Mac Loftin reveals how white Christian nationalism’s political will is shaped by a theology of power within ...

orbisbooks.com/products/he-...

Congratulations to my friend and colleague Mac Loftin on the publication of his timely and beautifully written book. @harvarddivinity.bsky.social

Congrats to Will! The cover looks great.

Congratulations! Excited to see this history come into print.

Remembering Phyllis Trible – Baptist News Global Driven by love, she sought to reclaim and restore texts that often were rendered more sexist due to (male) scholars’ chauvinism.

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to write this tribute on the late Dr. Phyllis Trible for @baptistnews.com. She gave many of us permission:
baptistnews.com/article/reme...

Save the date! The Center will once again be hosting our annual reception at the 2025 Annual Meetings of #AAR
Join us Sunday Nov. 23rd at 8pm at the Westin Copley Place in the Huntington Ballroom!
Learn more and pre-register here: raac.indianapolis.iu.edu/aar-2025/

It’s great to see students thinking about this.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

My article, “Outposts in the Wilderness: Post-Evangelical Feminist Communities on Digital Media, 2004-2024” is out with Religion and American Culture.

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Christianity at the Crossroads | Cambridge University Press & Assessment

www.cambridge.org/universitypr...

Delighted to see David Hempton’s book, Christianity at the Crossroads, out in the world. I was a research assistant several years ago for his Gifford Lectures, on which this book is based.

Why Religious Studies Is in Trouble As colleges plan to make cuts, departments in this field are finding themselves on the chopping block.

Virginia Tech, the University of Oregon, Indiana University have all proposed cuts to religious studies programs. Why?

If the University of Chicago Won’t Defend the Humanities, Who Will? Why it matters that the University of Chicago is pausing admissions to doctoral programs in literature, philosophy, the arts, and languages

“Chicago has long helped to keep alive tiny fields & esoteric areas of humanistic study... Without the univ’s support, & the continued training of grad students who can keep these bodies of kn going, entire spheres of human learning might eventually blink out.” www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

It’s on the syllabus! I agree it’s a fantastic chapter.

My Celebrity course is reading it this fall!

We read presidential addresses in one of our required PhD courses as well. We also read some of the award-winning books in the field of the last year.

Haha! Next time, celibacy and charisma.

I’m excited to teach my new course, “Celebrity and Charisma in American Christianity,” this fall at Harvard Divinity School!

Rachel Held Evans And The Specter Of Scopes In Dayton For Rachel Held Evans, living in Dayton, Ohio--of Scopes Trial fame--was a way to combat the legacy of fundamentalism in evangelicalism.

The Scopes trial turns 100 this month. Kelsey Hanson Woodruff writes about the legacy of the Scopes trial in Dayton, TN, and how one resident, Rachel Held Evans, tried to push evangelicalism beyond Young Earth creationism's culture war battle lines.
www.patheos.com/blogs/anxiou...

This was a great interview, Amanda! I enjoyed hearing more about your intellectual journey.

21 state attorneys general, multiple universities, alumni to back Harvard in court battle against Trump - The Boston Globe Two dozen universities, including five Ivy League schools, plan to file an amicus brief, including six that joined the coalition in a filing Monday, court records show.

More than 12,000 Harvard alumni, 21 state attorneys general, and two dozen universities, including five Ivy League schools, filed or plan to file amicus briefs backing Harvard in its court battle with the Trump administration, court records showed.

Congrats!

Shock at Harvard After Government Says International Students Must Go

My international colleagues contribute to the excellent research and the intellectual vibrancy of the university. This is an attack on every classroom, seminar room, and laboratory at Harvard. It is an attempt to dismantle America’s higher education system at large.

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...