Biography
I grew up in a small town in northwest Iowa, with a brief stint in Tallahassee, Florida, during my high school years. I then spent a year in Germany as an exchange student before returning to Iowa to attend Dordt College. After graduate school at the University of Notre Dame I spent time at Williams College and at the Five College Women’s Studies Research Center at Mt. Holyoke, before taking up a position here at Calvin. I spend much of my time writing when I’m not wrangling my three kids.
I am on leave at the University of Notre Dame's Center for Philosophy of Religion for the 2024-25 academic year.
Education
- B.A., History and German, Dordt College
- Ph.D., American History, specialties in women's history and religious history, University of Notre Dame
Academic Interests
Kristin Du Mez’s research areas focus on the intersection of gender, religion, and politics in recent American history. She is the author of the New York Times bestselling Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (Liveright 2020). Coverage of Jesus and John Wayne can be found in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and on NPR, and also internationally (in Germany, the Netherlands, China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and in Al Jazeera). She has written for The New York Times, The Daily Beast, NBC News, and The Washington Post, among other outlets.
Her first book, A New Gospel for Women: Katharine Bushnell and the Challenge of Christian Feminism (Oxford 2015) traces the remarkable life and innovative theology of Katharine Bushnell (1855-1946), an intrepid social reformer and anti-trafficking activist.
Kristin recently released the documentary For Our Daughters, which highlights stories of abuse, betrayal, and resistance in the Evangelical church. She is currently working on Live Laugh Love, a cultural study of white Christian womanhood.
Kristin teaches courses in US women’s history and US social and cultural history, and has enjoyed working with students on historical walking tours of Grand Rapids for the GR Walks app. Topics have included an East Grand Rapids walking tour of Ramona Park, a downtown Grand Rapids historical river walk, and a historical walking tour of beer in Grand Rapids.
For additional information, see kristindumez.com. You can follow Kristin and her research on Twitter and on Facebook, or by subscribing to her newsletter: Du Mez CONNECTIONS | Kristin Du Mez | Substack
Publications
