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About Lane Davis

Lane Davis is an Instructor of Religion at Huntingdon College. His scholarship explores twentieth-century Protestant history.

Lane Davis is an Instructor of Religion at Huntingdon College. Find him on Twitter @TheeLaneDavis

NBN Episodes hosted by Lane:

General History January 3, 2023

The Old Faith in a New Nation

American Protestants and the Christian Past

Paul J. Gutacker

Hosted by Lane Davis
Conventional wisdom holds that tradition and history meant little to nineteenth-century American Protestants, who relied on common sense and "the Bible alone." The Old Faith in a New Nation: American …
American South December 23, 2022

The End of Public Execution

Race, Religion, and Punishment in the American South

Michael Ayers Trotti

Hosted by Lane Davis
Michael Ayers Trotti's The End of Public Execution: Race, Religion and Punishment in the American South (The University of North Carolina Press, 2022) documents the complex religious and cultural textures of …
General History June 30, 2022

Open Hearts, Closed Doors

Immigration Reform and the Waning of Mainline Protestantism

Nicholas T. Pruitt

Hosted by Lane Davis
Open Hearts, Closed Doors: Immigration Reform and the Waning of Mainline Protestantism (NYU Press, 2021) uncovers the largely overlooked role that liberal Protestants played in fostering cultural diversity in America …
General History June 14, 2022

Separating Church and State

A History

Steven K. Green

Hosted by Lane Davis
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson distilled a leading idea in the early American republic and wrote of a wall of separation between church and state. That metaphor has come down …
General History March 11, 2022

Black Fundamentalists

Conservative Christianity and Racial Identity in the Segregation Era

Daniel R. Bare

Hosted by Lane Davis
As the modernist-fundamentalist controversy came to a head in the early twentieth century, an image of the “fighting fundamentalist” was imprinted on the American cultural consciousness. To this day, the …
General History June 14, 2021

Religion and the American Revolution

An Imperial History

Katherine Carté

Hosted by Lane Davis
For most of the eighteenth century, British protestantism was driven neither by the primacy of denominations nor by fundamental discord between them. Instead, it thrived as part of a complex …
General History April 19, 2021

A New Christian Identity

Christian Science Origins and Experience in American Culture

Amy B. Voorhees

Hosted by Lane Davis
In A New Christian Identity: Christian Science Origins and Experience in American Culture (University of North Carolina Press, 2021), Amy B. Voorhees contextualizes this American religious movement and argues that Christian Science …
General History March 8, 2021

Point of Reckoning

The Fight for Racial Justice at Duke University

Theodore D. Segal

Hosted by Lane Davis
Duke University officially integrated its student body in the early 1960s, but the University itself did little to make students of color feel as though Duke was their academic home …
General History March 2, 2021

Calhoun

American Heretic

Robert Elder

Hosted by Lane Davis
In Calhoun: American Heretic (Basic Books, 2021), historian Robert Elder documents the life and thought of one of America's most controversial statesman, John C. Calhoun. A congressman, a vice president, and …
General History February 3, 2021

Mother of American Evangelicalism

The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears

Arlin C. Migliazzo

Hosted by Lane Davis
Arlin Migliazzo’s Mother of Modern Evangelicalism: The Life and Legacy of Henrietta Mears (Eerdmans, 2020) documents the life and ministry of one of the most influential teachers of twentieth-century American evangelicalism …
General History January 19, 2021

Dividing the Faith

The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North

Richard J. Boles

Hosted by Lane Davis
In Dividing the Faith: The Rise of Segregated Churches in the Early American North (NYU Press, 2020), Richard J. Boles argues that, contrary to traditional American religious historiography, interracial worship was …
General History December 24, 2020

The Amateur Hour

A History of College Teaching in America

Jonathan Zimmerman

Hosted by Lane Davis
Jonathan Zimmerman’s The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America (Johns Hopkins UP, 2020) is the first full-length history of college teaching in the United States. It explores a paradox …
General History December 16, 2020

Renewal

Liberal Protestants and the American City After World War II

Mark Wild

Hosted by Lane Davis
In Renewal: Liberal Protestants and the American City after World War II (U Chicago Press, 2019), Mark Wild traces the achievements and losses of American mainline Protestant Christians as they attempted to …
Christian Studies December 2, 2020

The Glass Church

Robert H. Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and the Strain of Megachurch Ministry

Mark T. Mulder and Gerardo Marti

Hosted by Lane Davis
In The Glass Church: Robert H. Schuller, the Crystal Cathedral, and the Strain of Megachurch Ministry (Rutgers UP, 2020), Mark Mulder and Gerardo Marti offer a compelling look at the …
General History November 5, 2020

Between Dixie and Zion

Southern Baptists and Palestine before Israel

Walker Robins

Hosted by Lane Davis
In Between Dixie and Zion: Southern Baptists and Palestine before Israel (University of Alabama Press, 2020), Walker Robins explores how Southern Baptists engaged what was called the “Palestine question”: whether …
General History October 27, 2020

Tornado God

American Religion and Violent Weather

Peter J. Thuesen

Hosted by Lane Davis
In Tornado God: American Religion and Violent Weather (Oxford UP, 2020), Peter J. Thuesen links the “numinous” religious experiences of Americans as they experienced the uniquely destructive weather phenomenon of …