Research On Religion

Posts Tagged ‘Mark Noll’

Nathanael Snow on the Evangelical Coalition and Public Choice

How have evangelical Christians been involved in politics ever since evangelical Christians have been around. Studying how these religious individuals become involved in elections and social movements has largely been the fodder of sociologists and political scientists, but our guest — Nathanael Snow, a graduate student in economics at George Mason University — focuses the lens of public choice theory to understand how evangelical politics have changed over time. We learn what public choice theory is, why it can apply to religious groups, and the history of evangelical involvement in U.S. politics from the mid-19th century forward. Nathanael

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Hunter Baker on the Future of Higher Education

Tags: Allen Guelzo, Baylor University, Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, course-in-a-box, George Marsden, higher education, James Q Wilson, Joseph Schumpeter, Mark Noll, Michael Sandel, MOOCs, Notre Dame, online learning, Union University, universities, University of Phoenix, University of Washington

With students heading back to college all across the nation, we take a slight pause from our typical discussions on religion to examine the current state and potential future of higher education with Dr. Hunter Baker, dean of instruction at Union University, and author of two important articles on the future of higher education and Christian universities.

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Rodney Stark on How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists

Frequent guest and popular academic author Rodney Stark joins us to discuss his new book “America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists.” We discuss whether or not spiritual life in the United States is actually on the decline, and then review how the activities of religious Americans have positive spillover effects for society as a whole in a wide range of areas including health, voluntarism, pro-social behavior, the economy, and intellectual life. We even talk about “s-e-x.” This is a wonderful “starter” podcast for new listeners as it covers a number of different themes we have addressed over the past three years.

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Chris Beneke on Religion, Markets, and the Founding Era

Tags: Adam Smith, Founding Fathers, Frank Lambert, Mark Noll, metaphor, Nathan Hatch, rational choice theory, religion and economics, religious choice, religious liberty, wall of separation

To what extent is the term “market” useful in describing or understanding religion, particularly during the era of America’s founding in the late 18th century? We take up this discussion with Prof. Chris Beneke of Bentley University who recently wrote a paper about the use of the “free market” metaphor. We talk about the use of economics to study religion as well as whether the Founding Fathers intended to create a laissez faire landscape for religious competition.

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