Randall James Stephens

Professor - British North American

Norwegian version of this page

Email r.j.stephens@ilos.uio.no

Phone +47 22856720

Room 703

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Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 Niels Treschows hus 0316 Oslo

Postal address Postboks 1003 Blindern 0316 Oslo

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Academic interests

Historian of 19th and 20th century religion, American and British culture, conservatism in the US, the American South, environmentalism, and pop music.

Background

Randall J. Stephens is Professor of American and British Studies at the University of Oslo. He previously taught at Northumbria University (Newcastle upon Tyne) and Eastern Nazarene College (Quincy, Massachusetts). He is a historian of religion, conservatism, the South, environmentalism, and popular culture. He is the author of The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South (Harvard University Press, 2008); The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age, co-authored with physicist Karl Giberson (Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011); and editor of Recent Themes in American Religious History (University of South Carolina Press, 2009). His latest book is The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock ’n’ Roll (Harvard University Press, 2018). Stephens has also written for the Atlantic, Salon, the Wilson Quarterly, Christian Century, Books & Culture, the Independent, History Today, the Chronicle of Higher Ed, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. He has been interviewed for news and culture programs on the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, KBYU-FM 89.1, Austrian Youth Radio, and NPR. In 2011-12, he was a Fulbright Roving Scholar in Norway. Stephens is also one of the Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturers. (See full CV here.)

Higher Education

PhD in American History, University of Florida (2003)
MA in American History, Emporia State University (1998)
MA in Theological Studies, Nazarene Theological Seminary (1998)

Select Research Funding

Fulbright Alumni Association of Norway (2022)
Wigeland Fellowship, University of Chicago (2020, postponed)
University of Chicago Research Funds (2020)
The US Embassy London (2015 and 2018)
National Endowment for the Humanities (2016)
The John Templeton Foundation (2008, 2013-2014)
The US- Norway Fulbright Foundation for Educational Exchange (2011-2012)
The Lilly Endowment (2002-2003 and 2007-2009)
The Pew Foundation (2001)

MA and PhD Supervision

Randall is interested in supervising MAs and PhDs in: the history and culture of the US South; American political and cultural conservatism; American liberalism; American religious history; populism; British and American pop music and pop culture; America in the 20th century; the American civil rights movement; African-American history and culture; America in the 1960s; the Vietnam War; 19th century America; abolitionism and anti-slavery; British and American travel literature; American intellectual history; and American environmental history.

Tags: USA, American Studies, American Social history, English, Politics, Environmentalism, Environmental Humanities, USA, Popular Music, Popular Culture, British Studies

Stephens, Randall James (2022). Evangelicals, Race, and Reform: From the Age of Lincoln to the Second Reconstruction. In Burton, Orville Vernon & Eisenstadt, Peter (Ed.), Lincoln’s Unfinished Work: The New Birth of Freedom from Generation to Generation. Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press). ISSN 0807176761. p. 228–254.
Stephens, Randall J. (2021). Seeing Red: Evangelical and Fundamentalist Anticommunism and Political Engagement . In Moore, Andrew S. (Eds.), Evangelicals and Presidential Politics: From Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump. Louisiana State University Press (LSU Press). ISSN 9780807174340. p. 12–35.
Hardwick, Joseph & Stephens, Randall J. (2020). Acts of God: Continuities and change in Christian responses to extreme weather events from early modernity to the present. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change (WIRESs). ISSN 1757-7780. 11(2), p. 1–16. doi: 10.1002/wcc.631.
Stephens, Randall J. (2019). Spirit in the Air: Pentecostal and Holiness Media Innovation in the Twentieth-Century South. In Grem, Darren; Ownby, Ted & Thomas, James G. (Ed.), Southern Religion, Southern Culture: Essays Honoring Charles Reagan Wilson. University Press of Mississippi. ISSN 9781496820471. p. 79–101. doi: 10.14325/mississippi/9781496820471.003.0005.
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “Culture, Entertainment, and Religion in America”. In Corrigan, John (Eds.), The Oxford Encyclopedia of Religion in America. Oxford University Press. ISSN 0190456167. p. 17–38. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.446.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "The Bible and Fundamentalism". In Gutjahr, Paul (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Bible in America. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780190258849. p. 575–590. doi: 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190258849.013.7.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "Popular Culture and Pentecostalism: Comparing Britain and the United States". In Hempton, David & McCleod, Hugh (Ed.), Secularization and Religious Innovation in the North Atlantic World. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780198798071. p. 175–194. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780198798071.003.0010.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). “Recent Developments in the Study of Religion in the US”. Journal of American Studies. ISSN 0021-8758. 51(1), p. 205–214. doi: 10.1017/S0021875816001778.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Religious Liberty’ and the Origins of the Evangelical Persecution Complex". Religion Dispatches.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Of Gods, Presence, Abundant History, and the Challenges of Studying Everyday Religion". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. 48(2), p. 113–119.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). “‘It has to come from the hearts of the people’: Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Race, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act” . Journal of American Studies. ISSN 0021-8758. 50(3), p. 559–585. doi: 10.1017/S00211875815000687.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). “‘Where else did they copy their styles but from church groups?’ Rock ‘n’ Roll and Pentecostalism in the 1950s South” . Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. ISSN 0009-6407. 85(1), p. 97–131. doi: 10.1017/S0009640715001365.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "Remembering Bertram Wyatt-Brown". Georgia Historical Quarterly. ISSN 0016-8297. 99(3), p. 219–223. doi: 10.1353/hsp.2013.0003.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "Understanding the Prosperity Gospel". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. 47(2), p. 55–59.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "From Abolitionists to Fundamentalists: The Transformation of the Wesleyan Methodists in the 19th and 20th Centuries". American Nineteenth Century History. ISSN 1466-4658. 16(2), p. 159–191. doi: 10.1080/14664658.2015.1078141.
Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "'Ohio villains’ and ‘pretenders to new revelations': Wesleyan Abolitionists in North Carolina and Virginia, 1847-1857". In Frank, Lisa Tendrich & Kilbride, Daniel (Ed.), Southern Character: Essays in Honor of Bertram Wyatt-Brown . University Press of Florida. ISSN 0813036909. p. 73–88.
Stephens, Randall J. (2010). "The Holiness/Pentecostal/Charismatic Extension of the Wesleyan Tradition". In Vickers, Jason E. & Maddox, Randy L. (Ed.), The Cambridge Companion to John Wesley . Cambridge University Press. ISSN 0521714036. p. 262–281.
Stephens, Randall J. (2009). "Introduction: Sam Jones--The Georgia Wonder", Sam Jones' Own Book, 1886. University of South Carolina Press. ISSN 1570038279. p. xi–xxii.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "Interpreting American Pentecostal Origins: Retrospect and Prospect". In Harper, Keith (Eds.), American Denominational History: Perspectives on the Past, Prospects for the Future. University of Alabama Press. ISSN 0817381082. p. 173–195.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "'There is Magic in Print': The Holiness Pentecostal Press and the Origins of Southern Pentecostalism" . In Conser, Walter H. & Payne, Rodger M. (Ed.), Southern Crossroads: Perspectives on Southern Religion and Culture. The University Press of Kentucky. ISSN 0813124948. p. 194–230.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "Pentecost for the Southland". Historically Speaking. ISSN 1941-4188. 9(3), p. 27–29.
Stephens, Randall J. (2002). "'There is Magic in Print': The Holiness-Pentecostal Press and the Origins of Southern Pentecostalism". Journal of Southern Religion. ISSN 1094-5253. 5.
Stephens, Randall J. (2000). "The Convergence of Populism, Religion, and the Holiness Pentecostal Movements: A Review of the Historical Literature" . Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. 32(1), p. 51–64.

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Stephens, Randall J. (2018). The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock ’n’ Roll . Harvard University Press (HUP). ISBN 0674980840. 336 p.
Stephens, Randall J. & Giberson, Karl (2011). The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674048188. 384 p.
Jones, Sam & Stephens, Randall J. (2009). Sam Jones' Own Book, 1886. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 1570038279. 539 p.
Stephens, Randall J. (2009). Recent Themes in American Religious History. University of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781570038693. 160 p.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). The Fire Spreads: Holiness and Pentecostalism in the American South. Harvard University Press (HUP). ISBN 9780674046856. 416 p.

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Stephens, Randall James (2022). "The Dust Bowl and the Roosevelt Administration’s Religious Outreach," Seminar on the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the Grassroots in the US, University of Oslo.
Stephens, Randall James (2022). "Religion and the Origins of Rock ‘n’ Roll," ILOS-akademiet, University of Oslo.
Stephens, Randall James (2022). "Class discussion of The Devil’s Music, History of Rock and Roll Music," Purdue University, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Stephens, Randall James (2022). “The Dust Bowl, the Depression, and American Protestant Responses to Environmental Devastation," KLIMER: Climate, Environment, and Energy seminar.
Stephens, Randall James (2022). “‘Catholicism and Communism are swiftly advancing’: White Holiness-Pentecostal Politicization in the 20th Century US,” Manchester Wesley Research Centre, Manchester, UK.
Stephens, Randall James (2022). "Tracing the Origins of Today’s Ultraconservatives". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
Stephens, Randall James (2021). "Why the Beatles Never Stopped Being Fab". Saturday Star. ISSN 1816-4862. p. 8–8.
Stephens, Randall James (2021). "The Beatles Reshaped American Culture, Explaining Their Enduring Appeal". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
Stephens, Randall James (2021). Cool Town: How Athens, Georgia, Launched Alternative Music and Changed American Culture. By Grace Elizabeth Hale. The Journal of southern history. ISSN 0022-4642. 87(4), p. 751–752.
Stephens, Randall J. (2021). Ber paven ta oppgjør med koloniseringsteologi av Liv Mari Lia. [Newspaper]. Vårt Land.
Stephens, Randall J. (2021). Reagerer på at Jesuskvinner inviterer Trump-supportere av Per Åsmund Reymert. [Newspaper]. Vårt Land.
Stephens, Randall J. (2021). Aldri før har færre amerikanere vært medlem av et trossamfunn av Lea Heljesdatter Kvadsheim og Ruth Einervoll Nilsen. [Newspaper]. Vårt Land.
Stephens, Randall J. (2021). "When Climate Catastrophes Spark Religious Turmoil". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "Pop Jesus and Rock ‘n’ Roll in Britain and America in the 1960s and 1970s." American Society of Church History, New York City. Show summary
In the summer of 1966, amid a scandal about The Beatles’ popularity compared with that of Jesus and Christianity, John Lennon tried to clarify what he meant. He was just making an observation, not a judgment, he pleaded. He also noticed other trends in the church that seemed to confirm that believers wanted to reach out to youth. "Even church people are trying to be with it," he said at a press conference, "with sort of pop groups and things." Indeed, by the mid-1960s and into the 1970s American and British evangelicals and mainline Protestants, as well as Catholics, embarked on new missions to young people. They sponsored rock and folk bands at Christian coffeehouses. They created new record labels, and radio shows for what was being called "Jesus rock." And they enlivened their services with drums, electric guitars, and shouting singers. Stalwarts reported on the activities of brethren across the Atlantic and gained ideas from each other about innovation and musical exploration. British efforts—sponsored by Anglicans and non-conformists—preceded American experimentation with pop music and pop culture. But by the late 1960s, American fusions of evangelicalism and rock helped define a new countercultural Christianity. This paper will explore how religious groups hoped to bridge the generation gap in the 60s and 70s. It will also look at the ministerial and musical cooperation that developed between Brits and Americans, asking how promoters, fans, and musicians differed in their political, theological, and cultural orientation. Finally, it will judge the relative success and failures of these efforts amid the troubles of post-Christian Britain and the religious successes of evangelical America.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). Går i samme kirke, men nå truer hudfargen samholdet av Alice Tegle . [Newspaper]. Korsets Seier.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). Forstår nordmenn og norske journalister USA? Av Bård Amundsen, Siw Ellen Jakobsen og Marte Dæhlen . [Internet]. Forskning.no.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). Konservative kristne tilgir Trumps synder av Mari Lilleslåtten. [Internet]. Det humanistiske fakultet forskning.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). Da Gud ble republikaner av Morten S. Smedsrud . [Journal]. Apollon.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). Trump hopper frem på meningsmålingene: – Ikke nødvendigvis dramatisk av Henrik Røyne. [Newspaper]. VG.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "Why Some Evangelicals Refuse To Acknowledge That Trump Has Lost The Election" by Carol Kuruvilla. [Internet]. HuffPost.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "Christian Worship Leader Brings Controversial Prayer Rallies to Cities Roiled by Protests" by Marisa Iati and Sarah Pulliam Bailey. [Newspaper]. Washington Post.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "A Conversation on the 2020 US Election with Former US Ambassador to Norway Barry White and Randall J. Stephens".
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "In Storms, Americans Have Long Seen the Hand of God". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "Southern Elites, Western Libertarians, and the Conservative Coalition". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
Stephens, Randall J. (2020). "Searching for Signs that God Blessed America". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286.
Stephens, Randall J. (2019). “Making Sense of Donald Trump’s Evangelical Support.” Faculty of Theology, University of Oslo .
Stephens, Randall J. (2019). “The Environmental Catastrophe of the Dust Bowl and American Culture.” Fagdag for engelsklærere i Osloskolen, Edvard Munch videregående skole, Oslo .
Stephens, Randall J. (2019). “Making Sense of the American Christian Right.” Nettverksdagen for Engelsklærere i Asker og Bærum, Gyldendalhuset, Oslo.
Stephens, Randall J. (2019). "Race, Rock, and the American South." Lived Religion Symposium, Nord Universitet, Bodø.
Stephens, Randall J. & Stephens, Hilde Løvdal (2019). «Guds mann i Det hvite hus». Kirke og kultur. ISSN 0023-186X. 123(2), p. 111–122. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-3002-2019-02-02.
Soden, Greg & Stephens, Randall J. (2019). "The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock n’ Roll" . [Radio]. New Books Network, Northampton, MA.
Bereza, Sarah & Stephens, Randall J. (2019). "The Devil's Music, an Interview with Author Randall J. Stephens". [Radio]. Music and the Church, St. Louis, Missouri.
Stephens, Randall J. (2019). "Hillbilly Hellraisers: Federal Power and Populist Defiance in the Ozarks. By J. Blake Perkins". Journal of Social History. ISSN 0022-4529. Fall 2019. doi: 10.1093/jsh/shy043.
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “‘Christian rock musicians come from pentecostal ranks!’ Rock ’n’ Roll and Conservative Christianity in Modern America.” Southern Music Symposium, University of Mississippi .
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “The Dust Bowl and the Congregational Council for Social Action in the 1930s.” God’s Climates: Religion and Disruptive Weather, Environmental Humanities seminar, Northumbria University .
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “Writing a Book on Rock Music and Religion.” Organization of American Historians Distinguished Lecturer program, American Studies Department, University of Kansas.
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “The Unlikely Relationship of Rock and Religion.” University of Oslo Library .
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “Evangelicals and Race: From the Age of Lincoln to the Second Reconstruction.” Lincoln’s Unfinished Work conference, Clemson University.
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). "Author’s Response to Peter Webster’s Review of The Devil’s Music". Reviews in History. ISSN 1749-8155.
Trollinger, William & Stephens, Randall J. (2018). "The Devil's Music, Parts I and II". [Internet]. Righting America, Dayton, Ohio.
Smith, Marcus & Stephens, Randall J. (2018). "Randall Stephens: How Christians Came to Embrace Rock & Roll". [Radio]. Thinking Aloud, KBYU-FM, Provo, Utah.
Fea, John & Stephens, Randall J. (2018). "Jesus Is the Rock That Rolls My Blues Away". [Radio]. The Way of Improvement Leads Home.
Miller, Eric C. & Stephens, Randall J. (2018). "The Devil’s Music: How Christians Inspired, Condemned, and Embraced Rock ‘n’ Roll". [Internet]. Religion Dispatches.
Bjørdal, Sondre & Stephens, Randall J. (2018). «Den fordømte musikken». [Newspaper]. Vårt Land.
Jære, Lisbet & Stephens, Randall J. (2018). «Djevelens musikk – som ble kristen». [Internet]. Uniforum.
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). "Evangelicals and Trump—Lessons from the Nixon Era". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
Stephens, Randall J. (2018). “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” . History Today. ISSN 0018-2753.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "'The WORD OF GOD not the WONDER OF THE CROWD!!!!’ The Fundamentalist Rejection of Christian Rock in the 1970s and 1980s." American History Seminar at the Institute of Historical Research, London.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "‘They dress like devils and wear Spandex costumes’: Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and Jesus Rock." Jimmy Carter and the “Year of the Evangelicals” Reconsidered, St Anselm University, New Hampshire.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). “‘Swinging, blue-jeans religion’: Christian Rock and Evangelical Culture in the 1960s and 1970s.” Congregational Library and Archives, Boston .
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). “‘You can’t just sneak Jesus into music!’: Fundamentalism, Popular Culture, and Christian Rock in the 1970s and 1980s.” Colloquium on Religion and History, University of Notre Dame .
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). “‘Like natives at a voodoo ritual’: Race, Rock, and Evangelicalism in the 1950s and 1960s.” Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis .
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "Seeing Red: Evangelical and Fundamentalist Anti-Communism and Political Engagement." Nordic Association for American Studies, University of Southern Denmark.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "Assemblies of God". In Wilson, Charles Reagan; Ownby, Ted; Abadie, Ann J.; Lindsey, Odie & Thomas, James G. (Ed.), The Mississippi Encyclopedia. University Press of Mississippi. ISSN 1628466928. p. 49–51.
Taylor-Rosner, Noémie & Stephens, Randall J. (2017). «Fausses nouvelles, un phénomène aux ancrages chrétiens». [Newspaper]. Présence information religieuse, Quebec, Canada.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "The Sacred Mirror: Evangelicalism, Honor, and Identity in the Deep South, 1790–1860. By Robert Elder". The Journal of the Civil War Era. ISSN 2154-4727. 7(2), p. 318–321.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "Richard Nixon’s Authoritarian Loathing of the Media Lives on in Donald Trump". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
Stephens, Randall J. (2017). "The Klan, White Christianity, and the Past and Present: A Response to Kelly Baker’s Essay". Religion & Culture Forum.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). “‘BEWARE that ye are not led astray': The Fundamentalist Rejection of Jesus Rock in the 1970s and 1980s.” American Studies Association of Norway, Oslo.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "On Bertram Wyatt-Brown, Michael O’Brien, and Southern Distinctiveness". US Intellectual History Blog.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). “Miranda Wilcox and John D. Young, eds., Standing Apart: Mormon Historical Consciousness and the Concept of Apostasy". Mormon Studies Review. ISSN 2156-8022. 3, p. 174–178.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Trump and Palin Exist in an Alternative Universe of Knowledge Denial". Independent. ISSN 0951-9467.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Ted Cruz, Human Dog Whistle". Salon.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Ted Cruz, Not Donald Trump, Is the Scariest Candidate Standing". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Embracing the ‘Silent Majority’–Donald Trump Brings Back the Worst of 1960s America". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
Stephens, Randall J. (2016). "Trump is an Avowed Sinner—So Why Did American Evangelicals Vote for Him?". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, and Race in the Cold War Era". Religion in American History.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "GOP Must Destroy Donald Trump before He Destroys Them". Salon.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "How the Republican Party Became a Haven of Resentment and Rage". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
Stephens, Randall J. (2015). "Why the Republicans' Know-Nothing Outsider Candidates Are Still on Top". The Conversation. ISSN 2201-5639.
McAuley, Roisin & Stephens, Randall J. (2014). "The Devil's Music". [Radio]. Sunday Sequence, BBC Ulster.
Stephens, Randall J. (2014). "Searching for Something in a Kansas Record Bin". Reverberations.
Stephens, Randall J. (2014). "David Brat, the Anti-experts’ Expert". Christian Century. ISSN 0009-5281.
Stephens, Randall J. (2014). "Unbucklin’ that Ole Bible Belt: Learning about the Solid Religious South from Freaks, Geeks, Outcasts, Losers, Wide-Eyed Prophets, Cranks, and Mountebanks". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. 46(1), p. 66–69.
Stephens, Randall J. (2013). "Jesus Christ and the Life of the Mind by Mark A. Noll". Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. ISSN 0009-6407. 82(2), p. 507–508.
Remillard, Art & Stephens, Randall J. (2013). "Podcast Episode 16: Interview with Randall Stephens". [Internet]. Journal of Southern Religion. Show summary
In this podcast, Art Remillard talks with Randall Stephens, who was the keynote speaker for the sixth annual North American Undergraduate Conference in Religion and Philosophy, held at Saint Francis University. Stephens’s address was entitled, “Evangelical Anti-Intellectualism in Modern America,” which draws from his book, The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age, co-authored with Karl Giberson. Stephens is Reader in History and American Studies at Northumbria University in the UK, and he is a former editor of the Journal of Southern Religion. Stephens begins the conversation by explaining how his keynote will contribute to the conference’s theme, “The Future of Reason.” He also talks about the book’s research, which includes interviews with David Barton and leaders of Focus on the Family. The interview concludes with Stephens discussing his newest project, an examination of rock music and American Christianity.
Beneke, Chris & Stephens, Randall J. (2013). "Why Republicans and Academics Need Each Other". The Chronicle of higher education. ISSN 0009-5982.
Stephens, Randall J. (2013). "High Holy Rollers". The Wilson Quarterly - WQ. ISSN 0363-3276. Summer 2013.
Stephens, Randall J. (2012). No Sympathy for the Devil: Christian Pop Music and the Transformation of American Evangelicalism. By David W. Stowe. The Journal of southern history. ISSN 0022-4642. 78(4), p. 1040–1041.
Stephens, Randall J. (2012). "J. Brooks Flippen, Jimmy Carter, the Politics of Family, and the Rise of the Religious Right. By J. Brooks Flippen. American Historical Review. ISSN 0002-8762. 117(5), p. 1626–1627. doi: 10.1093/ahr/117.5.1626a.
Jakobsen, Hanne Østli & Stephens, Randall J. (2012). «Den religiøse populismens valgkamp». [Internet]. Forskning.no.
Restad, Hilde Eliassen & Stephens, Randall J. (2012). «De kristenkonservatives innflytelse i amerikansk politikk». [Newspaper]. Aftenposten.
Giberson, Karl & Stephens, Randall J. (2012). "Conservative Christianity and Its Discontents". Religion Dispatches.
Beneke, Chris & Stephens, Randall J. (2012). "Lies the Debunkers Told Me: How Bad History Books Win Us Over". Atlantic Monthly. ISSN 1072-7825.
Gluss, Howard & Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "Dr. Randall J. Stephens on Right Wing America: Evangelicals, Conservative Christians, and Christian Psychologists". [Radio]. The Dr. Howard Gluss Show, Phoenix, Arizona.
Zoll, Rachel & Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "Election-year Goals of Christian Group Questioned". [Newspaper]. The Des Moines Register, Iowa.
Barabak, Mark Z. & Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "A Scathing Critique of FDR". [Newspaper]. Los Angeles Times.
Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "The Sunbelt Coalition: Evangelicals and Politics in a New Light". Books & Culture. ISSN 1082-8931. January/February.
Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "Tocqueville’s Discovery of America, by Leo Damrosch". Christian Century. ISSN 0009-5281.
Giberson, Karl & Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "The Evangelical Rejection of Reason". New York Times, USA.
Stephens, Randall J. (2011). "On Teaching with God in America (PBS)". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. 43(2), p. 103–106.
Stephens, Randall J. (2010). "After Redemption: Jim Crow and the Transformation of African American Religion in the Delta, 1875-1915. By John M. Giggie". The Journal of southern history. ISSN 0022-4642. 76(1), p. 173–174.
Stephens, Randall J. (2010). "Billy Graham and the Rise of the Republican South. By Steven P. Miller". Journal of American History. ISSN 0021-8723. 97(1), p. 264–265.
Stephens, Randall J. (2010). "New Media and the Reshaping of Religious Practice". The Immanent Frame [blog].
Stephens, Randall J. (2010). "The Old New Right". Christian Century. ISSN 0009-5281.
Stephens, Randall J. (2010). "The Past Is No Foreign Country". History News Network.
Stephens, Randall J. (2009). "Devout Racism". Christian Century. ISSN 0009-5281.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "Lowery, Irving E. (1850 - 1929), Print Journalist, Autobiographer / Memoirist, Educator, Methodist Episcopal Clergy". In Gates, Henry Louis & Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks (Ed.), The African American National Biography. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780195160192.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "Fuller, William Edward, Sr." . In Gates, Henry Louis & Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks (Ed.), The African American National Biography. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780195160192.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "Johnny Cash’s Very American Recordings". Christianity Today. ISSN 0009-5753.
Stephens, Randall J. (2008). "What Does Azusa Have to Do with Washington?". The Immanent Frame [blog].
Stephens, Randall J. (2007). "A. J. Tomlinson: Plainfolk Modernist. By R. G. Robins". Church History: Studies in Christianity and Culture. ISSN 0009-6407. 76(3), p. 659–661.
Stephens, Randall J. (2007). "Righteous Indignation: Religion and the Populist Revolution. By Joe Creech". Journal of Peasant Studies. ISSN 0306-6150. 34(2).
Stephens, Randall J. (2007). "Bearing Witness against Sin: The Evangelical Birth of the American Social Movement. By Michael P. Young". H-SHEAR. December.
Stephens, Randall J. & Case, Delvyn (2006). "Hidden Under a Bushel: Sufjan Stevens and the Problem of Christian Music". Books & Culture. ISSN 1082-8931. November/December.
Stephens, Randall J. (2005). "Fire-Baptized Holiness Church of God of the Americas". In Hill, Samuel & Lippy, Charles H. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion in the South. Mercer University Press. ISSN 0865547580.
Stephens, Randall J. (2005). "Jones, Charles Price". In Hill, Samuel & Lippy, Charles H. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion in the South. Mercer University Press. ISSN 0865547580.
Stephens, Randall J. (2005). "Christian and Missionary Alliance". In Hill, Samuel & Lippy, Charles H. (Ed.), The Encyclopedia of Religion in the South. Mercer University Press. ISSN 0865547580.
Stephens, Randall J. (2005). "Redeeming the Dial: Radio Religion, and Popular Culture in America. By Tona J. Hangen". Gulf South Historical Review. ISSN 0892-9025. Spring.
Stephens, Randall J. (2005). "Tell about the South: The 2005 Conference of the St. George Tucker Society". Historically Speaking. ISSN 1941-4188. September/October.
Stephens, Randall J. (2004). "Mountain Holiness: A Photographic Narrative. By Deborah Vansau McCauley, Laura A. Porter, and Patricia Parker Brunner". Religious Studies Review. ISSN 0319-485X. 30(4).
Stephens, Randall J. (2004). "Selling the Old-Time Religion: American Fundamentalists and Mass Culture, 1920-1940. By Douglas Carl Abrams". H-South. September.
Stephens, Randall J. (2002). "The Serpent Handlers: Three Families and Their Faith. By Fred Brown and Jeanne McDonald". The Southern Historian. Spring.
Stephens, Randall J. (2002). "Rebuilding Zion: The Religious Reconstruction of the South, 1863- 1877. By Daniel W. Stowell". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. Winter/Spring.
Stephens, Randall J. (2002). "Hallelujah Lads and Lassies: Remaking the Salvation Army in America, 1880-1930. By Lillian Taiz". Religious Studies Review. ISSN 0319-485X. July.
Stephens, Randall J. (2002). "Close Harmony: A History of Southern Gospel. By James R. Goff". H-South. August.
Stephens, Randall J. (2001). "A Wheel within a Wheel: Southern Methodism and the Georgia Holiness Association. By Briane Turley". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. Winter/Spring.
Stephens, Randall J. (2001). "Barry W. Hamilton, William Baxter Godbey: Itinerant Apostle of the Holiness Movement". Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. ISSN 2161-0355. Autumn.
Stephens, Randall J. (2000). "Redeeming the South: Religious Cultures and Racial Identities among Southern Baptists, 1865-1925. By Paul Harvey". Fides et Historia. ISSN 0884-5379. Winter/Spring.