Molly Worthen
Molly Worthen (born 1981) is a journalist and historian of American religion. She is a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times and a tenured professor at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Early life and education
[edit]Raised in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, she graduated from Yale University in 2003 and earned a Ph.D. in American religious history in 2011.[1]
Career
[edit]Her first book, The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost, a biography of American diplomat and Yale professor Charles Hill, was published in 2006 and reviewed by The Boston Globe and Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times. Her most recent book, Apostles of Reason, examines the history of American evangelicalism since 1945.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Slate, Time, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, The Dallas Morning News, and the Toledo Blade. She is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Her forthcoming book, slated for release on May 27, 2025 is entitled Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History.
Personal life
[edit]Influenced by J.D. Greear and Tim Keller, she converted to evangelical Christianity in 2022.[1][2]
Select works
[edit]Books
[edit]- Worthen, Molly (2005). The Man On Whom Nothing Was Lost: The Grand Strategy of Charles Hill. New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-618-57467-0.
- ——— (2014). Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989646-2.
- ——— (2025). Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History. New York, NY: Convergent Books. ISBN 0593729005.
Articles
[edit]- ——— (June 2008). "The Chalcedon Problem: Rousas John Rushdoony and the Origins of Christian Reconstructionism". Church History. 77 (2): 399–437.
Further reading
[edit]From The New York Times: Lecture Me. Really.
Extract from The Man on Whom Nothing Was Lost in the Yale Alumni Magazine: Man & Myth at Yale
Kakutani's review in The New York Times: From Student and Teacher to Biographer and Subject
From The New York Times Magazine: Onward Christian Scholars
From The New York Times Magazine: Who Would Jesus Smack Down?
From Christianity Today: The Reformer (full text at archive.org)
From Church History: Chalcedon problem: Rousas John Rushdoony and the origins of Christian reconstructionism
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Worthen, Molly; Hansen, Colin (9 May 2023). "What Happened to Historian Molly Worthen?". The Gospel Coalition. Retrieved 2023-05-09.
- ^ Lupfer, Jacob (June 3, 2023). "Molly Worthen's conversion represents a truce in evangelical infighting. Will it last?". Religion News Service. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
External links
[edit]
- Personal Website
- Faculty Page at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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