Catherine Brekus
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Catherine Anne Brekus is Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America at
Harvard Divinity School Harvard Divinity School (HDS) is one of the constituent schools of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school's mission is to educate its students either in the religious studies, academic study of religion or for leadership role ...
. Brekus' work is centered on American religious history, especially the religious history of women, focusing on the
evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
tradition. Brekus received a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
degree in history and literature from
Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
in 1985, having submitted the honors thesis ''Women in the Chartist Movement: Historical and Literary Images''. She received a
Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
degree in
American studies American studies or American civilization is an interdisciplinarity, interdisciplinary field of scholarship that examines American literature, History of the United States, history, Society of the United States, society, and Culture of the Unit ...
from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
with the dissertation ''"Let Your Women Keep Silence in the Churches": Female Preaching and Evangelical Religion in America, 1740–1845''. Brekus' works have included a history of female
preaching A sermon is a religious discourse or oration by a preacher, usually a member of clergy. Sermons address a scriptural, theological, or moral topic, usually expounding on a type of belief, law, or behavior within both past and present contexts. E ...
in America entitled ''Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740–1845'' (1998) and a history of early evangelicalism based on a woman's
diaries Diaries may refer to: * the plural of diary A diary is a written or audiovisual memorable record, with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally bee ...
entitled ''Sarah Osborn's World: The Rise of Evangelical Christianity in Early America'' (2013). She has also edited volumes on ''The Religious History of American Women: Reimagining the Past'' (2007) and, with W. Clark Gilpin, ''American Christianities: A History of Dominance and Diversity'' (2011). She has been involved in efforts to reprise women's role within American religious history, organizing the first
conference A conference is a meeting, often lasting a few days, which is organized on a particular subject, or to bring together people who have a common interest. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always d ...
on the topic in the United States in 2003. __NOTOC__


Published works


Books

* * ''The Religious History of American Women: Reimagining the Past''. Editor. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. 2007. . . * ''American Christianities: A History of Dominance and Diversity''. Edited with Gilpin, W. Clark. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. 2011. . * * ''Sarah Osborn's Collected Writings''. Editor. By Osborn, Sarah. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. 2017. .


Book chapters

* "Restoring the Divine Order to the World: Religion and the Family in the Antebellum Woman's Rights Movement". In Carr, Anne; Van Leeuwen, Mary Stewart. ''Religion, Feminism, and the Family''. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. 1996. pp. 166–182. . * "The Revolution in the Churches: Women's Religious Activism in the Early American Republic". In Hutson, James H. ''Religion and the New Republic: Faith in the Founding of America''. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. 2000. pp. 115–136. . * "Children of Wrath, Children of Grace: Jonathan Edwards and the Puritan Culture of Child Rearing". In Bunge, Marcia J. ''The Child in Christian Thought''. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2001. pp. 300–328. . * "Female Evangelism in the Early Methodist Movement, 1784–1845". In Hatch, Nathan O.; Wigger, John H. ''Methodism and the Shaping of American Culture''. Nashville, Tennessee: Kingswood Books. 2001. pp. 135ff. . * "Interpreting American Religion". In Barney, William L. ''A Companion to 19th-Century America''. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing. 2001. pp. 317–333. . . * "Remembering Jonathan Edwards's Ministry to Children". In Kling, David W.; Sweeney, Douglas A. ''Jonathan Edwards at Home and Abroad: Historical Memories, Cultural Movements, Global Horizons''. Columbia, South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press. 2003. pp. 40ff. . * "Sarah Osborn's World: Popular Christianity in Eighteenth-Century America". In Wilkins, Christopher I. ''The Papers of the Henry Luce III Fellows in Theology''. 6. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada. 2003. . * "Protestant Female Preaching in the United States". In Keller, Rosemary Skinner; Ruether, Rosemary Radford. ''Encyclopedia of Women and Religion in North America''. 2. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press. 2006. . * "Introduction: Searching for Women in Narratives of American Religious History". In Brekus, Catherine A. ''The Religious History of American Women: Reimagining the Past''. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. 2007. pp. 1–50. . . * "Sarah Osborn's Enlightenment: Reimagining Eighteenth-Century Intellectual History". In Brekus, Catherine A. ''The Religious History of American Women: Reimagining the Past''. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press. 2007. pp. 108–141. . . *


Journal articles

* * "Interchange: History in the Professional Schools". With
Baughman, James L. James L. Baughman (January 10, 1952 - March 26, 2016) was an American mass communication historian, and the Fetzer-Bascom Professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Early life and educatio ...
;
Dudziak, Mary L. Mary Louise Dudziak (born June 15, 1956) is an American legal theorist, civil rights historian, educator, and a leading foreign policy and international relations expert. She is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law at Emory University. Her ...
; Koehn, Nancy F.; Lederer, Susan E.; Zimmerman, Jonathan. ''The Journal of American History''. 92 (2): 553–576. 2005. . . * * * * "Religion and the Biographical Turn". With Schmidt, Leigh Eric; Salvatore, Nick; Sutton, Matthew Avery; Applegate, Debby. Forum. ''Religion and American Culture''. 24 (1): 1–35. 2014. . . * *


Other periodical articles

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See also

*
History of women in the United States The history of women in the United States encompasses the lived experiences and contributions of women throughout American history. The earliest women living in what is now the United States were Native Americans. European women arrived in th ...
*
Protestantism in the United States Protestantism is the largest grouping of Christians in the United States, with its combined denominations collectively comprising about 43% of the country's population (or 141 million people) in 2019. Other estimates suggest that 48.5% of the U ...
*
Women and religion The study of women and religion examines women in the context of different religious faiths. This includes considering female gender roles in religious history as well as how women participate in religion. Particular consideration is given to h ...
*
Women in Christianity Women have played important roles in Christianity especially in marriage and in formal ministry positions within certain Christian denominations, and parachurch organizations. Although more males are born than females naturally, and in 2014, the ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brekus, Catherine 21st-century American historians American historians of religion American women historians Christianity and women Harvard Divinity School faculty Harvard College alumni Historians of Christianity Historians of the United States Living people University of Chicago Divinity School faculty Women's historians Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women