Honorable Mention, National Magazine Awards, Canada

Gold Medal, National Magazine Awards, Canada

Associate Editor,  American Catholic Studies , Villanova University

Manuscript Review Editor, Church History

Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America

"Nature and Religion in America,"

Review of Russell Richey, Methodism in the American Forest

Signs from Field, Forest, and Stream

Vital Nature and Vital Piety: Johann Arndt and the Evangelical Vitalism of Cotton Mather

A religious studies scholar argues that in antebellum America, evangelicals, not Transcendentalists, connected ordinary Americans with their spiritual roots in the natural world.We have long credited Emerson and his fellow Transcendentalists with revolutionizing religious life in America and introducing a new appreciation of nature. Breaking with Protestant orthodoxy, these New Englanders claimed that God could be found not in church but in forest, fields, and streams. Their spiritual nonconformity had thrilling implications but never traveled far beyond their circle. In this essential reconsideration of American faith in the years leading up to the Civil War, Brett Malcolm Grainger argues that it was not the Transcendentalists but the evangelical revivalists who transformed the everyday religious life of Americans and spiritualized the natural environment.Evangelical Christianity won believers from the rural South to the industrial North: this was the true popular religion of the antebellum years. Revivalists went to the woods not to free themselves from the constraints of Christianity but to renew their ties to God. Evangelical Christianity provided a sense of enchantment for those alienated by a rapidly industrializing world. In forested camp meetings and riverside baptisms, in private contemplation and public water cures, in electrotherapy and mesmerism, American evangelicals communed with nature, God, and one another. A distinctive spirituality emerged pairing personal piety with a mystical relation to nature.As Church in the Wild reveals, the revivalist attitude toward nature and the material world, which echoed that of Catholicism, spread like wildfire among Christians of all backgrounds during the years leading up to the Civil War.

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The University’s rigorous academic experience, rooted in the liberal arts, forms an environment in which students and professors are partners in learning. The Villanova community is dedicated to providing a personalized experience that fosters every student’s intellectual and spiritual well-being. As part of their education, students are encouraged to enrich their own lives by working for those in need. Through academic and service programs, students use their knowledge, skills and compassion to better the world around them.


There are more than 10,000 undergraduate, graduate and law students in the University’s six colleges—the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Villanova School of Business, the College of Engineering, the College of Nursing, the College of Professional Studies and the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law. These colleges are the setting for an experience that develops both the heart and the mind, and creates the atmosphere where students are called to ignite change.


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Dr. Grainger is a go-to source to discuss the role and changing face of modern spirituality in America. He can talk about today’s religious trends including the state of main line religions, alternative religions, the religious right and politics, religious fundamentalism, religious violence and culture wars. He can also place today’s religious landscape in a broader historical context. Dr. Grainger’s research focuses on religion and nature – how various religions view the natural world as a place to commune with God.

Evangelicalism

Religion and Nature

Modern Spirituality

American Religious History

History of Christianity

villanova.academia.edu

Dr. Brett Grainger on "Church In The Wild"

Church in the Wild: Evangelicals in Antebellum America”

Local religious leaders discuss impact of Billy Graham

Church revival? More liberals are filling Protestant pews

New twist for deportation opponents: sanctuary in the streets (+video)

Young Scholars in American Religion Program

Summer Research Grant

W. M. Keck Foundation Fellow

Jay and Deborah Last Fellow

Grant for Emerging Writers

Associate Professor of Theology and Religious Studies | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

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