Welcome
The Center for the Study of Evangelicalism is a space for developing cutting-edge research on religious movements where scholarship is guided by the needs of our community. We are a bridge for connecting scholars to the rich context of religious life in Colorado Springs, and for bringing local community members to the table as we shape the future of scholarly research through open dialogue and engagement.
Recognizing that the concept of evangelicalism resonates across time and space with different people in different ways we take a nonpartisan, decentralized, and bottom-up approach to its study. By engaging with a diversity of faith communities, spiritual traditions, and scholarly disciplines, we seek to build an understanding of evangelicalism reflective of its global diversity, and people’s everyday experiences.
We welcome scholarly endeavors in conversation with diverse communities that open doors for reflection, collaboration, and inquiry into the question of evangelicalism.
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Our Events
Thursday, May 8, 2025, 6pm – Lucia Hulsether
Capitalist Humanitarianism
Fellowship Hall, First United Methodist Church, 420 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903
- Religion & Capitalist Humanitarianism; an Evening with Lucia Hulsether
Join us on Thursday, May 8th, at 6pm in the Fellowship Hall at First United Methodist Church, 420 N Nevada Ave, Colorado Springs, CO 80903, for a lecture by Lucia Hulsether, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Skidmore College.
Hulsether will discuss her book Capitalist Humanitarianism which blends historical and ethnographic styles to study social investment strategies from Christian fair traders to luxury social entrepreneurship conferences, from US finance offices to Guatemalan towns flooded with their loan products, from service economy desperation to the internal contradictions of social movements. Hulsether argues that capitalist humanitarian projects are fueled as much by a profit motive as by a hope that racial capitalism can redeem the losses that accumulate in its wake.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30pm, and a public Q&A will follow the lecture.
- Crime, Punishment, & Evangelicalism; An Evening With Aaron Griffith
Join us on Wednesday, April 23rd, at 6pm in the Heller Center for Arts & Humanities, 1250 N Campus Heights, for a lecture by Aaron Griffith, Assistant Professor of American Church History at Duke Divinity School.
Griffith will discuss his work on how Evangelicals shaped, and were shaped by, the American criminal justice system, the subject of his book God’s Law & Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America, winner of the 2022 “Best Book in History & Biography” award from Christianity Today.
The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5:30pm, and a public Q&A will follow the lecture.
- E(x)vangelicalism: Leaving the Church?
Join the Center on Thursday, April 3rd, at 5:30pm for a conversation with a panel of local Colorado Springs residents around leaving the evangelical church and what it means to them. The panel will be at Kinship Landing, 415 S Nevada Ave., in the Greenhaus.
The discussion will serve as a prelude to the lecture by Sarah McCammon, author of The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church on Thursday, April 10th in Shove Memorial Chapel.
The panel will be moderated by Professor Jeffrey Scholes and Gary Alan Taylor. Light refreshments will be provided.
For inquiries, contact Kurt Bricker, [email protected].
- Exvangelicalism & Political Division, an Evening with Sarah McCammon
The Center for the Study of Evangelicalism is excited to host Sarah McCammon, National Political Correspondent for NPR & Co-Host of the NPR Politics Podcast, to discuss her book The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, and Leaving the White Evangelical Church on Thursday, April the 10th, 2025 in Shove Memorial Chapel, 1010 North Nevada Avenue. This lecture is being generously co-hosted by the Colorado College Chaplain’s Office.
Doors open at 5:30pm, and the lecture starts at 6pm. There will be a public Q&A and a book signing after the event. The event is free and open to the public.
McCammon’s work focuses on political, social, & cultural divides in America, including abortion policy and the intersections of politics and religion. She has covered several presidential elections, including the 2016 campaign, when she reported on the rise of the Trump movement, divisions within the Republican Party over its future, and the role of religion in those debates.
For inquiries about the event, contact Ben Slightom, [email protected].
Our Past Lectures
Christopher W. Hunt
In this lecture, Christopher W. Hunt, Assistant Professor of Religion at Colorado College, discusses his new book Jimmy’s Faith: James Baldwin, Disidentification, and the Queer Possibilities of Black Religion which explores James Baldwin’s Evangelical roots and unpacks his use of Christian language and symbols throughout his life and work.
In this bonus conversation, Christopher W. Hunt discusses his research project and future projects on the intersections of race, gender, sexuality, and religion with Benjamin M. Slightom, postdoctoral fellow in the Center for the Study of Evangelicalism.
Tim Alberta
In our inaugural lecture, journalist and author Tim Alberta considers the entanglement of faith in politics in America based on his bestselling 2023 book The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism.
In this bonus conversation, Tim Alberta further explores the role of religion in the future of American politics with Benjamin M. Slightom, postdoctoral fellow in the Center for the Study of Evangelicalism.