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.

---

Connect With Us

Support Our Mission

---

Our Events

Friday, March 28, 2025 – Anthea Butler & Randall Balmer
White Christian Nationalism & the Future of U.S. Politics
University of Colorado Denver, Student Commons Rm. 2600, 1201 Larimer St, Denver

Thursday, April 3, 2025 – Community Discussion Panel
E(x)vangelicalism: Leaving the Church?
Kinship Landing Greenhaus, 415 S Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs

Thursday, April 10, 2025 – Sarah McCammon
The Exvangelicals: Loving, Living, & Leaving the White Evangelical Church
Shove Memorial Chapel, 1010 North Nevada Ave., Colorado Springs

Wednesday, April 23, 2025 – Aaron Griffith
God’s Own Law & Order: The Politics of Punishment in Evangelical America
Heller Center for the Arts & Humanities, 1250 North Campus Heights, Colorado Springs

Thursday, May 8, 2025 – Lucia Hulsether
Capitalist Humanitarianism
Location to be Announced

---

• 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].

• 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.

• White Christian Nationalism & the Future of U.S. Politics

  

  Join us for a moderated discussion between distinguished scholars of American religion, Dr. Anthea Butler, author of White Evangelical Racism: The Politics of Morality in America, and Dr. Randall Balmer, author of Bad Faith: Race & the Rise of the Religious Right, on Friday, March 28th at 6:30pm in the Student Commons at the University of Colorado Denver, Room 2600, 1201 Larimer St., Denver, CO.

  Dr. Butler is the Geraldine R. Segal Professor in American Social Thought at the University of Pennsylvania.

  Dr. Balmer is the John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College.

  This event is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Evangelicalism at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, and is free and open to the public.

  For questions please reach out to [email protected] and [email protected]

---

Our Past Lectures

---