Lynn S. Neal

Religion, Popular Culture, and Everyday Life

Romance novels, fictional television, and fashion designs. These are just a few of the topics investigated by Lynn S. Neal. Her innovative research examines how various forms of popular culture shape our understanding and experience of American religion in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In her first book, Romancing God, Neal provided a new perspective on contemporary evangelicalism by talking with the authors and readers of Christian romance novels. Her co-edited documentary history with Professor John Corrigan traces the history of religious intolerance in the United States through a collection of primary sources (stay tuned for a new edition). Her latest book, Religion in Vogue: Christianity and Fashion in America, due out with NYU Press in December 2019, looks at Christian figures and imagery in the world of high fashion.

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Neal is Professor of Religious Studies and the current Chair of the Department for the Study of Religions at Wake Forest University. An award-winning teacher of Religious Studies​, Neal regularly teaches courses on religion and popular culture, new religious movements, and religious intolerance in America.