Religion and the American Founding

Sandra Bigtree (Ganatanånù, Village is Full, Bear Clan) is a citizen of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne. Born in Syracuse, she performed weekly on local radio & TV from age 2-18. She is on the Planning Committee of the Skä·noñh—Great Law of Peace Center, and is a Founding Board Member of the Indigenous Values Initiative. She has been a guest editor for special issues for Canopy Journal, Journal of the Council for Research on Religion, and CrossCurrents. With her husband Philip P. Arnold she co-hosts the Mapping the Doctrine of Discovery podcast.

Joel A. Brown is President of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society. The Historical Society is a general ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) with the special mandate to serve all three major streams of the Stone-Campbell movement: Churches of Christ, the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ, and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Joel is a scholar of American religious history and specializes in the study of race and religion in modern U.S. history. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and is currently finishing a book titled Saving Black Metropolis: African American Club Women and Social Christianity in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago.

Katherine Carté is a professor of history at Southern Methodist University. She is the author of Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History, published in 2021, which won the Albert W. Outler Prize. She is also the author of Religion and Profit: Moravians in Early America, and she has published articles in Church History, the William and Mary Quarterly, and Early American Studies. She is currently studying the role of religion, trust, and partisanship in revolutionary-era Savannah, Georgia.

Emily Nelms Chastain is Assistant Professor of Christian History and Methodist Studies at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. She earned a Ph.D. in Theological Studies from Boston University after an MDiv and MA from Claremont School of Theology. She remains a proud alum of The University of Alabama at Birmingham, where she majored in American history. Nelms Chastain studies how belief becomes policy in American Methodism. Her first-book research maps how everyday paperwork – newsletters, petitions, and minutes – reshaped church life and leadership.

Priscilla Eppinger serves as Executive Director of the American Baptist Historical Society.  One of her priorities as curator of the collections is to ensure the inclusion of marginalized voices in the historical record.  A third-generation clergywoman, Dr. Eppinger is American Baptist “by birth and by choice.”  Ordained to Christian ministry in 1994, her ministry resume includes professor of religion at Graceland University and Community of Christ Seminary, educational missionary with the Western Congo Baptist Convention, and pastoral positions in Boston and Plymouth Massachusetts, and in Chicago. 

Theresa Frey-Alexander is the Curator of Education and Interpretation at Shaker Heritage Society, the site of the first Shaker settlement, where she relishes in bringing the history of the Shakers to life through innovative, multi-sensory exhibits and programs. She curated Ann Lee: One Woman’s Revolution, now on view. She holds a B.A. in History from Indiana University and a degree in Education from Siena University. She is also a musician, gardener, artist, and mother.

Michelle Ganz has been the Archives Director for the Dominican Sisters of Peace since 2022. She has previously worked in academic, museum, corporate, and private archives. She has spoken about DEI for most of her career and works to support others who speak on the topic. Michelle regularly speaks to Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) students in classes, in symposia, and through keynote presentations. Michelle has just published her first book, A Practical Guidebook to Trauma-Informed Archival Practice.

Taffey Hall has served with the Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives (SBHLA) since 2003, first as Archivist and as Director since 2016.  She holds a B.A. in history from Tennessee Wesleyan College, M.A. in History/Public History from Middle Tennessee State University, and Ed.D. in Administration and Supervision from Tennessee State University.  She is the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Association of Librarians and Archivists at Baptist Institutions, and a past President of the Society of Tennessee Archivists and former Chair of the Archivists of Religious Collections Section of the Society of American Archivists. 

Christopher Jones is assistant professor of history at Brigham Young University whose research focuses on religion, race, and slavery in early America and the Atlantic world. He is the co-editor of Missionary Interests: Protestant and Mormon Missions in the 19th and 20th Centuries and the author of Connections: Early American Methodism in the Revolutionary Atlantic World (forthcoming). He is also the editor of the Journal of Mormon History.

Lerone A. Martin is the Martin Luther King, Jr., Centennial Professor in Religious Studies, African & African American Studies, and The Nina C. Crocker Faculty Scholar. He also serves as the Director of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute and Senior Editor of the Institute’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Papers Project. Martin is an award-winning author. His latest book, Young King: The Making of Martin Luther King, Jr. chronicles the overlooked adolescence and calling of Martin Luther King, Jr. It will be published by HarperCollins in May 2026.

Spencer W. McBride, Ph.D., is Senior Managing Historian at the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He worked as Associate Managing Historian of the Joseph Smith Papers Project and is the author of multiple books on religion and American political culture, including Pulpit and Nation and Joseph Smith for President.

Ann McShane is the Digital Asset Librarian at Pitts Theology Library, Emory University. They coordinate a digitization program for Special Collections, help maintain legacy digital projects, and work with teams on new library access projects. They are currently a member of the Board of Directors of the Friends Historical Association (FHA), the Executive Board Grants Officer for the Visual Resources Association (VRA), and the Steering Committee for the Institute for Liberal Arts Digital Scholarship (ILiADS).

Dr. Scott Meyer-Kukan is the President & CEO of the E&R Library & Archives and specializes in nonprofit leadership and archival and record management. Scott enjoys making history come alive by analyzing and bringing to light the stories of people and events that have long passed. An avid historian and genealogist, Scott currently lives in Lewisburg, West Virginia, where he is helping the E&R Library & Archives grow in new and exciting directions.

Lisa Minardi is executive director of the Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia as well as Historic Trappe, home to the Center for Pennsylvania German Studies and three historic houses associated with the Muhlenberg family. She is the curator of numerous exhibitions and author of many books and articles on Pennsylvania German art and culture, including Pastors & Patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania and A Colorful Folk: Pennsylvania Germans & the Art of Everyday Life.

Kyle B. Roberts is the Executive Director of the Congregational Library & Archives. A scholar of Atlantic World religion, print, and library history, he is the author of Evangelical Gotham: Religion and the Making of New York City, 1783-1860. He is also an accomplished public historian and digital humanist whose collaborative projects include the Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project, the Maryland Loyalism Project, and Dissenting Academies Online: Virtual Library System.  

The Rev. John Ander Runkle, RA, is an Episcopal priest and historical architect. Ordained in 1999, he has served congregations in Virginia, Washington, DC, North Carolina, and Tennessee. With over forty years’ experience, he has worked for Colonial Williamsburg, surveyed medieval Islamic sites in the Sahara, and led preservation of Anglican worship spaces. Former Cathedral Conservator at Washington National Cathedral, he now leads John Runkle Architects, writes on sacred space, speaks widely, and serves on several church historical boards.

Munir Shaikh is Vice President of Operations and Academic Affairs at Bayan Islamic Graduate School in Southern California. He holds an M.A. in Islamic Studies from the University of California, Los Angeles, and has studied in Morocco, Egypt and Spain. He is an advisor for projects addressing Islam’s place in world history, interreligious and religious leadership issues, and Muslim American community developments, and leads academic world heritage tours to various countries.

Nancy J. Taylor is the Executive Director of the Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS), the national archives of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Nancy started at PHS in 1999 and has served as executive director since 2019. She holds a BA and MA in U.S. history from the University of Texas at Austin and a master’s in library and information science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Gary Phillip Zola is the Executive Director Emeritus of The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives (AJA) and the Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the American Jewish Experience & Reform Jewish History at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR) in Cincinnati. He has served the College-Institute, where he received both his rabbinic ordination and his Ph.D. in American Jewish History, for more than four decades.