Prothero, Stephen (Richard) 1960-

views updated

PROTHERO, Stephen (Richard) 1960-

PERSONAL: Born November 13, 1960, in Cooperstown, NY. Ethnicity: "White." Education: Yale University, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1982; Harvard University, M.A., 1986, Ph.D., 1990.

ADDRESSES: Office—Department of Religion, Boston University, 745 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA02215. E-mail[email protected].

CAREER: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, instructor in religion, 1988; Yale University, New Haven, CT, visiting lecturer in religious studies and American studies, 1990; Georgia State University, Atlanta, assistant professor of religious studies, 1990-95; Boston University, Boston, MA, assistant professor and director of undergraduate studies, 1996-2000, associate professor of religion, 2000—.

MEMBER: American Academy of Religion, American Historical Association, American Society of Church History, American Studies Association, Phi Beta Kappa.

AWARDS, HONORS: Lyndon Baines Johnson legislative intern, U.S. House of Representatives, 1981; Sinclair Kennedy traveling fellow in India and Frederick Sheldon traveling fellow in India, both Harvard University, 1988-89; American Academy of Religion, grants, 1992-93, 1996, 2002, award for best first book in the history of religions, 1997, for The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott; Young Scholars in American Religion fellow, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana University-Purdue University—Indianapolis, 1992-94.

WRITINGS:

(With Gardiner Shattuck, Edward Queen II, and others) The Encyclopedia of American Religious History, Facts on File (New York, NY), 1996, revised edition, 2002.

The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott, Indiana University Press (Bloomington, IN), 1996.

(Editor, with Thomas Tweed) Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1999.

Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America, University of California Press (Berkeley, CA), 2001.

American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon, Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2004.

Author of introduction to Big Sky Mind: Buddhism and the Beat Generation, edited by Carole Tonkinson, Riverhead (New York, NY), 1995; contributor to other books, including Practicing the Religious: Lived Religionin America, edited by David Hall, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1997. Contributor of articles and reviews to scholarly journals, including Theosophical History, Tricycle: Buddhist Review, Quest, Religion and American Culture: Journal of Interpretation, Wall Street Journal, and Harvard Theological Review.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, January 1, 2001, Mary Carroll, review of Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America, p. 887; November 15, 2003, Bryce Christensen, review of American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon, p. 551.

Books and Culture, January-February, 2004, Philip Jenkins, review of American Jesus, p. 8.

Choice, June, 2001, P. Harvey, review of Purified by Fire, p. 1829; April, 2002, W. Fontaine, review of The Encyclopedia of American Religious History, p. 1394.

Economist (U.S.), March 10, 2001, review of Purified by Fire, p. 6.

First Things: Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, December, 2003, review of American Jesus, p. 59.

Journal of American History, March, 2002, David C. Sloane, review of Purified by Fire, p. 1545.

Journal of Religion, April, 2002, Bradford Verter, review of Purified by Fire, p. 288.

Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2003, review of American Jesus, p. 1213.

Library Journal, January 1, 2001, Jay Stephens, review of Purified by Fire, p. 115; October 1, 2003, Gary P. Gillum, review of American Jesus, p. 83.

New York Times, January 8, 2004, R. Scott Appleby, review of American Jesus, p. E9.

New York Times Book Review, December 28, 2003, Michael Massing, review of American Jesus, p. 7.

Psychology Today, November-December, 2003, Kathleen McGowan, review of American Jesus, p. 83.

Publishers Weekly, November 20, 2000, Jana Riess, review of Purified by Fire, p. S14; October 13, 2003, review of American Jesus, p. 73; October 13, 2003, Andy Crouch, "Mom, Baseball, Apple Pie, and Jesus" (interview), p. 75.

More From encyclopedia.com