Education

  • Ph.D., Washington University, 1974
  • A.M., Washington University, 1972
  • A.B., Wheaton College, 1968, summa cum laude

Professional Experience

  • President, Wake Forest University, 2005-2021
  • Provost, University of Notre Dame, 1996-2005
  • The Andrew V. Tackes Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, 1999
  • Vice President for Graduate Studies and Research and Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, 1989-1996
  • Acting Dean, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame, 1988-89
  • Associate Dean, College of Arts and Letters and Director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame, 1983-1989
  • Assistant to Full Professor, Department of History, University of Notre Dame, 1975-1988
  • Director of Graduate Studies, History, University of Notre Dame, 1980-1983
  • Charles Warren Fellow, Harvard University, 1977-1978
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, The Johns Hopkins University, 1974-1975
  • Executive Council, American Society of Church History, 1981-1984

Publications

Books

  • The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 22: Sermons and Discourses, 1739-1742, co-edited with Harry S. Stout, Yale University Press, 2003
  • Methodism and the Shaping of American Culture, editor, Kingswood Books/Abingdon Press, 2001
  • The Democratization of American Christianity, Yale University Press, 1989. Paperback edition, 1991.
  • The Professions in American History, editor, University of Notre Dame Press, 1988.
  • Jonathan Edwards and the American Experience, co-editor with Harry S. Stout, Oxford University Press, 1988.
  • The Search for Christian America, co-authored with George M. Marsden and Mark A. Noll, Crossway Books, 1983.
  • The Bible in America: Essays in Cultural History, co-editor with Mark A. Noll, Oxford University Press, 1982.
  • The Sacred Cause of Liberty: Republican Thought and the Millennium in Revolutionary New England, Yale University Press, 1977.

Selected Articles

  • “The Second Great Awakening and the Market Revolution,” in David Konig, ed., Devising Liberty: The Conditions of Freedom in the New American Republic, Stanford University Press, 1995.
  • “Mormon and Methodist: Popular Religion in the Crucible of the Free Market,” Journal of Mormon History, Spring 1994
  • “The Puzzle of American Methodism,” Church History, June, 1994.
  • “Evangelicalism as a Democratic Movement,” in George M. Marsden, Evangelicalism in Modern America, Eerdmans, 1984
  • “Millennialism and Popular Religion in the Early Republic,” in Leonard Sweet, ed., The American Evangelical Tradition, Mercer University Press, 1983.
  • “Elias Smith and the Rise of Religious Journalism in the Early Republic,” in John B. Hench, ed., Printing and Society in Early America, American Antiquarian Society, 1983.
  • “Sola Scriptura and Novus Order Seclorum,” in Nathan O. Hatch and Mark A. Noll, eds., The Bible in American Culture, Oxford, 1982.
  • “New Lights and the Revolution in Rural New England,” Reviews in American History, September, 1980.
  • “The Christian Movement and the Demand for a Theology of the People,” Journal of American History, December, 1980.
  • “The Origins of Civil Millennialism in America: New England Clergymen, War with France, and the Revolution,” William and Mary Quarterly, July, 1974, pp. 407-430. Reprinted in Stanley N. Katz and John M. Murrin, eds., Colonial America: Essays in Politics and Social Development, Knopf, 1983, pp. 497-517.

Grants/Fellowships

  • Writing Fellowship at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, May-June, 2005
  • National Endowment for the Humanities Research grant to edit volume of sermons for the Yale University Press Edition of the Works of Jonathan Edwards, 1981-1983, renewed, 1983-85
  • Indiana Committee for the Humanities, Grant ($30,000) for a Series of 11 Lectures for 1981-82, “The Professions in American History”
  • Lilly Endowment Grant ($14,000), Fall, 1979 for Conference “The Bible in American Culture”
  • Research Fellowship, Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Harvard University, 1977-78
  • Fred Harris Daniels Fellowship, American Antiquarian Society, Summer, 1977
  • American Council of Learned Societies, Summer Fellowship, 1976
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of History, The Johns Hopkins University, 1974-75

Honors

  • Awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest honor for state service granted by the Office of the Governor, 2021.
  • Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2014
  • Inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, 1996
  • Elected President of the American Society of Church History for the year 1993.
  • Co-winner of the 1990 John Hope Franklin Publication Prize for best book in American Studies for The Democratization of American Christianity, Yale University Press, 1989
  • Society for Historians of the Early American Republic 1989 Book Prize for The Democratization of American Christianity
  • Awarded the 1988 Albert C. Outler Prize in Ecumenical Church History by the American Society of Church History for The Democratization of American Christianity
  • Named to the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars, 1990
  • Elected to three-year term on Executive Council, American Society of Church History, Fall, 1980
  • Named to edit a volume of Jonathan Edwards’ Manuscript Sermons by The Yale Edition of his Works, 1978
  • Dissertation cited for distinction by American Society of Church History, 1975 (2nd place in Brewer Prize Competition)
  • The Paul Fenlon Teaching Award for Arts and Letters, presented by Sorin Hall, University of Notre Dame, 1981

Volunteer Responsibilities

  • Chair, Division I Board of Directors, National Collegiate Athletics Association, 2012-2015
  • Division I Board of Directors, National Collegiate Athletics Association, 2010-2015
  • Chair, Committee on Athletics Certification, National Collegiate Athletics Association, 2007-2010
  • Chair, National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities Board of Directors, 2012-2013
  • Campaign Chair, United Way of Forsyth County Inc., 2010-2011
  • United Way of Forsyth County, Inc. Board of Directors, 2009-
  • National Council on the Humanities Member, June 2000-
  • St. Joseph Medical Center, South Bend, Indiana Elected to Board of Trustees, 1993 Chair of the Board, 1998-2000
  • National Advisory Board of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, 1996-1999
  • Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, California Board of Trustees, 1998-
  • United Way of St. Joseph County, Indiana
  • Chair, Community Planning Division, 1990-92
  • Chair, Evaluation and Allocation Division, 1987-89. Leadership of a committee of 49 volunteers who evaluate the United Way agencies and dispense $3 million annually.
  • Board of Directors, United Way of St. Joseph County, 1987-92