{"id":1369,"date":"2019-09-12T09:42:39","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T13:42:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/?post_type=profile&p=1369"},"modified":"2025-08-07T11:44:01","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T15:44:01","slug":"christopher-h-evans","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/profile\/christopher-h-evans\/","title":{"rendered":"Christopher H. Evans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Evans\u2019 teaching and scholarship focus on the history of Christianity, American religion, United Methodist history, and religion and popular culture. He is the author of several books, articles, and reviews including,\u00a0<\/span>The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and American Culture<\/i>\u00a0(co-edited with William R. Herzog II),\u00a0<\/span>The Kingdom is Always but Coming: A Life of Walter Rauschenbusch<\/i>\u00a0(recipient<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>of an Award of Merit for the best work in history\/biography from\u00a0<\/span>Christianity Today<\/i>\u00a0magazine),\u00a0<\/span>Liberalism without Illusions: Renewing an American Christian Tradition,<\/i>\u00a0<\/span>Histories of American Christianity: An Introduction, <\/i>and<\/span> The Social Gospel in American\u00a0Religion<\/i>. His latest book, <\/span>Do Everything: The Biography of Frances Willard<\/a><\/i> was recently published by Oxford University Press.<\/span> <\/span>An ordained elder in the Upper New York Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Dr. Evans has lectured, preached, and taught in numerous church and professional settings and been a presenter at several academic conferences<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Selected Publications<\/h2>\n

Books<\/h3>\n

Expanding Energy: The Dynamic Story of Christianity in North America. Eugene, OR: Cascade <\/em>Books, 2024 (co-edited with Mark A. Lamport).<\/span><\/p>\n

Do Everything: The Biography of Frances Willard<\/i>. New York: Oxford University Press, 2022<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The Social Gospel in American Religion, a History. <\/em>New York: New York University Press, 2017.<\/p>\n

The Histories of American Christianity: An Introduction<\/em>. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013.<\/p>\n

Liberalism Without Illusions: Renewing an American Christian Tradition<\/em>. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2010.<\/p>\n

The Kingdom Is Always but Coming: a Life of Walter Rauschenbusch.<\/em> Grand Rapids: William Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2004. Reprint edition, Waco: Baylor University Press, 2010. \u2013Award of Merit recipient, Christianity Today<\/span><\/em>(2005).<\/p>\n

Co-Editor (with William R. Herzog II), The Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball, Religion, and<\/em> American Culture.<\/span><\/em> Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.<\/p>\n

Editor, The Social Gospel Today.<\/em> Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.<\/p>\n

Editor, Perspectives on the Social Gospel: Papers from the Inaugural Social Gospel Conference<\/em> at Colgate Rochester Divinity School.<\/span><\/em> Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Social Gospel Liberalism and the Ministry of Ernest Fremont Tittle: a Theology for the Middle Class<\/em>. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996. \u2013Jesse Lee Prize winner for best monograph on American Methodist History.<\/p>\n

Book Chapters<\/h3>\n

\u201cCalled to Arouse, Warn and Save\u201d: The American Fascination with Premillennial Dispensationalism in A Story of Christianity in North America. Eugene, OR: Cascade (co-edited with Mark A Lamport, upcoming 2024).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWalter Rauschenbusch: The Soul of the Social Gospel,\u201d in In the Shadow of a Prophet: The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch, edited by William H. Brackney and David Gushee, 29-44. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2020.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Gospel, The YMCA, and the Emergence of the Religious Left after World War I,\u201d in\u00a0The Religious Left in Modern America: Doorkeepers of a Radical Faith<\/em>, edited by Leilah Danielson, Marian Mollin, and Doug Rossinow, 41-60. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cEngaging the \u2018Public\/Private\u2019 Split: United Methodism and Lessons from the Fundamentalist-Modernist Controversy,\u201d in Unity of the Church and Human Sexuality: Toward a Faithful United Methodist Witness<\/em>, 193-210. Nashville: General Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the United Methodist Church, 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalter Rauschenbusch and the Second Coming: the Social Gospel as Baptist History,\u201d in Through a Glass Darkly: Uses and Misuses of Baptist History<\/em>, Keith Harper, ed. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cWesleyan Tradition.\u201d The Blackwell Companion to Religion in America,<\/em> Philip K. Goff, ed. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic Theology and Economic Equality: Reconsidering Walter Rauschenbusch\u2019s Christianizing the Social Order<\/em>.\u201d Introduction for reprint edition of Rauschenbusch, Christianizing the Social Order.<\/span><\/em> Waco: Baylor University Press, 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball as Civil Religion: The Genesis of an American Creation Story.\u201d The Faith of Fifty<\/em> Million.<\/span><\/em> Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Kingdom of Baseball in America: The Chronicle of an American Theology.\u201d The Faith of<\/em> Fifty Million<\/span><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorical Integrity and Theological Recovery: A Re-Introduction to the Social Gospel.\u201d The Social Gospel Today.<\/em>Westminster John Knox Press, 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cToward a New Social Gospel?\u201d The Social Gospel Today<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefining the Target: Perspectives on the Social Gospel.\u201d Perspectives on the Social Gospel.<\/em> Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1999.<\/p>\n

Articles (Journals, Periodicals)<\/h3>\n

\u201cCalled to Arouse, Warn, and Save: The American Fascination with Premillennial Dispensationalism,\u201d in Expanding Energy: The Dynamic Story of Christianity in North America<\/em>, edited by Christopher H. Evans and Mark A. Lamport, 87-102. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2024.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Noblest Ideals of Service\u201d: Sister Jeanie Banks\u2019 Sojourn in London\u2019s East End, 1888-1893,\u00a0<\/em>Methodist History<\/em> 56 (July 2018): 197-210.<\/p>\n

\u201cForum: The Role and Future of Academic Journals,\u201d Religion and American Culture<\/em> 25 (Summer, 2015): 156-163.<\/p>\n

\u201cReflections on the Methodist Historical Pie: Re-engaging the Puzzle of American Methodism,\u201d\u00a0Methodist Review<\/em> 7 (2015): 1-20.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Gospel as \u2018the Total Message of the Christian Salvation,\u201d Church History<\/em> 84 (March 2015): 196-198.<\/p>\n

\u201cTies That Bind: Walter Rauschenbusch, Reinhold Niebuhr, and the Quest for Economic Justice,\u201d in Soundings: an Interdisciplinary Journal 95 (November 2012): 351-369.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Home for Methodism in America\u2013and for Me,\u201d in Focus<\/em> (Winter 2012), 14-21.<\/p>\n

\u201cRethinking Classroom Diversity: Three Student Cultures in a Mainline Seminary,\u201d Teaching<\/em> Theology and Religion 10<\/span><\/em>(October 2007): 223-230.<\/p>\n

\u201cGender and the Kingdom of God: The Family Values of Walter Rauschenbusch,\u201dAmerican<\/em> Baptist Quarterly<\/span><\/em> 19 (December 2000): 352-368.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistory and Theology in the American Methodist Social Gospel: The Public\/Private Split Revisited,\u201d Wesleyan Theological Journal<\/em> 35 (Fall 2000): 159-178.<\/p>\n

\u201cReclaiming an Ecumenical Vision for the 21st Century: The Gospel in an Age of Ambiguity,\u201d American Baptist Quarterly<\/em> 19 (June 2000): 154-163.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom Militant Methodism to Secularized Christianity: The Place of the Social Gospel in American Methodist History,\u201dMethodist History<\/em> 38 (April, 2000):147-159.<\/p>\n

\u201cKnowing Our Stories: Towards a New Paradigm of United Methodist History,\u201d The Quarterly<\/em> Review<\/span><\/em> 19 (Fall, 1999): 237-252.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Gospel as Pastoral Ministry: The Example of Ernest Fremont Tittle,\u201dMethodist<\/em> History<\/span><\/em> 35 (April 1997):135-147.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere Did Our Hope Go?\u201d The Christian Ministry<\/em> (December 1995).<\/p>\n

\u201cRediscovering Grace in an Impossible Calling,\u201d The Christian Ministry<\/em> (January 1994).<\/p>\n

\u201cBeware the Black Hole!\u201d The Christian Ministry<\/em> (January\/February 1988).<\/p>\n

Articles (Reference Volumes)<\/h3>\n

\u201cMethodism,\u201d The Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States<\/em>, edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark A. Lamport, 1496-1507. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalter Rauschenbusch,\u201d Encyclopedia of Christianity, Volume IV.<\/em> Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalter Rauschenbusch,\u201d Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers<\/em>. Bristol, England: Thoemmes Press, 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Gospel,\u201d Encyclopedia of Protestantism<\/em>, ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand. New York: Routledge, 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorgia Harkness,\u201d Encyclopedia of New York State<\/em>. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cRobert Payne\u201d and \u201cJames Mudge,\u201d The American National Biography<\/em>. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.<\/p>\n

Miscellaneous Publications and Blogs (Selected)<\/h3>\n

\u201cHow Frances Willard Shaped Feminism by Leading the 19th-Century Temperance Movement,\u201d The Conversation<\/em>, March 2023. <\/span>https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-frances-willard-shaped-feminism-by-leading-the-19th-century-temperance-movement-198974<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHow the Social Gospel Movement Explains the Roots of Today\u2019s Religious Left,\u201d The<\/em> Conversation<\/em>, July 2017. https:\/\/theconversation.com\/how-the-social-gospel-movement-explains-the-roots-of-todays-religious-left-78895<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhy you should know about the New Thought movement,\u201d The Conversation<\/em>, February 2017. https:\/\/theconversation.com\/why-you-should-know-about-the-new-thought-movement-72256<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cHillary Clinton\u2019s Benediction,\u201d in PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly<\/em>, November 11, 2016. http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/2016\/11\/11\/christopher-evans-hillary-clintons-benediction\/33394\/<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cUnited Methodists in Tampa: Looking for Scapegoats, Living in Fear,\u201d in Huffington Post<\/em> May 7, 2012, http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/christopher-h-evans\/united-methodists-in-tampa-living-in-fear_b_1496645.html<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cCivil Religion and Populist Angst,\u201d in PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly<\/em>, January 28, 2010. (http:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wnet\/religionandethics\/episodes\/by-topic\/politics\/christopher-evans-prophetic-civil-religion-and-populist-angst\/5588\/<\/span><\/a>)<\/p>\n

\u201cGrassroots Faith: The Lessons of the Social Gospel,\u201d in Religion Dispatches,<\/em> May 5, 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cA Prayer for Parents,\u201d in Prayers for the New Social Awakening.<\/em> Christian Iosso and Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, eds. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cTop Five Ways that Baseball is a Religion,\u201d The Atlanta Constitution<\/em>, July 19, 2006 (Syndicated nationally).<\/p>\n

Academic Papers\/Panels\/Lectures (Selected)<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe Most Famous Methodist in the World: Recovering the Legacy of Frances Willard,\u201d Lake Chautauqua Ohio, August 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Most Famous Woman in the World: Frances Willard, the Woman\u2019s Christian Temperance Union, and Social Reform in 19th-Century America.\u201d Heidelberg University Center for American Studies, Heidelberg, Germany, June 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Lady Workers\u2019 and the Methodist Forward Movement: Reassessing the Historiography of Transatlantic Social Christianity, 1885-1914,\u201d <\/em>Manchester Wesley Research Centre session, American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA, November 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrances Willard, the Woman\u2019s Temperance Movement, and the Problem of Ahistoricism,\u201d <\/em>Donald S. Metz Lecture, Eastern Nazarene College, November 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cWalter Rauschenbusch: The Soul of the Social Gospel,\u201d <\/em>The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch Conference, Mercer University, Atlanta, Ga, April 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch,\u201d <\/em>The 35th<\/sup> Annual Stanley I. Stuber Lectures, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, April 3-4, 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018This Work Cannot be Done by Proxy\u2019: Methodist Women and the Transatlantic Deaconess Movement,\u201d<\/em> University of Manchester\/Liverpool Hope University session, American Academy of Religion\/Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, Boston, MA, November 2017.<\/p>\n

Panel Respondent, The New Abolition: W.E.B. Du Bois and the Black Social Gospel<\/em> by Gary Dorrien, American Academy of Religion\/Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, Boston, MA, November 2017.<\/p>\n

\u201cRighteous Idealism: The Legacy of the Social Gospel Movement in America,\u201d <\/em>The 44th<\/sup> Annual Henry Barton Robison Lecture, Culver-Stockton College, March 2016.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Gospel and the Civil Rights Movement,\u201d<\/em> The Social Justice Institute (with the Howard Thurman Center and Boston University School of Theology), August 2015.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cReflections on the American Methodist Historical Pie: the State of American Methodist Studies,\u201d <\/em>The Wesleyan Studies section, American Academy of Religion\/Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, San Diego, CA, November 2014.<\/p>\n

“The Social Gospel in Transatlantic Context,” <\/em>Public Lecture sponsored by the Department of Religion and Theology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, March 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cChristianity in the 21st<\/sup> Century: Churches in Crisis,\u201d <\/em>The Ruth Pauley Lecture Series, Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, NC, October 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond Supernaturalism: American Christianity and the Impact of Theological Liberalism,\u201d <\/em>presented at the George Bell House, Chichester, England, September 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo We Still Need a Social Gospel?\u201d <\/em>Annual Winter Refresher lectures at St. Andrew\u2019s College, Saskatoon, SK February 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cTies that Bind: the Christian Economics of Walter Rauschenbusch and Reinhold Niebuhr,\u201d The Niebuhr Society, the American Academy of Religion annual meeting, San Francisco, California, November 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor God and Glory: the Religion of Sports,\u201d 29th Annual Spiritual Life Institute, St. Martin\u2019s University, Lacey, Washington, June 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Would Walter Want?: Walter Rauschenbusch and the Future of Religious Progressivism,\u201d<\/em> spring lecture sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict and the Department of Religious Studies, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, March 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerican Wesleyanism: a Tradition in Search of a Historiography,\u201d<\/em> The United Methodist Church at 40 Consultation, Candler School of Theology, Atlanta, GA, August 2008.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaseball: an American Religion?\u201d<\/em> Founders Annual Lecture on Comparative Religion and Contemporary Life, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, March 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeet the author\u201d panel for The Kingdom is Always but Coming: a Life of Walter Rauschenbusch<\/em>, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion annual meeting, Rochester, NY, November 2005.<\/p>\n

Panel chair, \u201cRochester Religion and Social Reform,\u201d<\/em> Society for the Scientific Study of Religion annual meeting, November 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorical Studies and the Future of Theological Education,\u201d<\/em> St. Paul School of Theology, Kansas City, MO, March 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Historical Significance of Walter Rauschenbusch.\u201d<\/em> Pacific School of Religion Public Lecture, March 2004.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Social Gospel: Then and Now.\u201d<\/em> Asian-American Pastors Consortium at the American Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley, CA., March 2004.<\/p>\n

Panel discussion of book, Faith of Fifty Million: Baseball: Religion, and American Culture<\/em>, Christopher H. Evans and William R. Herzog, ed. sponsored by the Religion and Popular Culture section, American Academy of Religion\/Society of Biblical Literature annual meeting, Toronto, Ontario, November 2002.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018Children Misread Their Parents\u2019: Gender, the Social Gospel, and the Family Ties of Walter and Winifred Rauschenbusch,\u201d<\/em> American Society of Church History winter meeting, Boston, MA., January 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cHistorical Perspectives on Women in the Church and in the World,\u201d<\/em> Baptist Missionary Training School Homecoming Week Lecture, Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, June 2000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"template":"","sth_faculty_type":[24],"sth_phd_student_type":[],"sth_staff_type":[],"sth_alumni_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58417,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/1369\/revisions\/58417"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"sth_faculty_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sth_faculty_type?post=1369"},{"taxonomy":"sth_phd_student_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sth_phd_student_type?post=1369"},{"taxonomy":"sth_staff_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sth_staff_type?post=1369"},{"taxonomy":"sth_alumni_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/sth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sth_alumni_type?post=1369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}