Academic Research & Publications

Advancing understanding of religious communication and evangelical discourse

Recent Conference Presentations

2024 New Orleans
National Communication Association (NCA) "Faith in the City: An Ethnographic Study of Christian Slang and Public Perception"
OSPR Grant Recipient
2025 Las Vegas
Broadcast Education Association (BEA) "Holy Hostility: Religious Hate Speech in AI Moderation"
OSPR Grant Recipient
Top Paper Award
2025 Virtual
Christian Communication Studies Network (CCSN) "Faith, Community, and Student Life"
2025 Denver
National Communication Association (NCA) "The Lexicon of Global Evangelicalism: A Discourse Analysis of Gather25"
OSPR Grant Recipient

Recent Publications

Published

The lexicon of global evangelicalism: A discourse analysis of Gather25

Journal of Media and Religion (Taylor & Francis)

2025 read it!

Examines how Gather25's globally streamed discourse employs standardized lexicon to construct evangelical identity through strategic terministic screens that select missional urgency while deflecting theological complexities.

Forthcoming

From the Outrageous to the Scandalous: Re-imagining Christian Thinking and Scholarship in an Age of Tribalism and Ideological Resentment

Integratio Press

Fall 2025

This book explores the enduring tension between the 'outrageous idea' that Christian scholarship should be unapologetically shaped by faith and the sobering 'scandal' of an evangelical mind too often estranged from rigorous intellectual life.

Christianese
Earnest
Bridge-
building
Biblically
Anchored
Reverent
Clear
Literal
Endearing
Preaching
Lingo
Uplifting
Didactic
Semantic
Precision
Satirical
Wall-
building
Culturally
Crafted
Casual
Ambiguous
Metaphorical
Off-putting
Social
Language
Critical
Performative
Semantic
Drift

Linguistic Network Analysis

The Lexicon of Christianese

In Progress Target: Summer 2026

A comprehensive reference work documenting specialized insider language of American Evangelicalism, providing multi-dimensional analysis of over 500 phrases that function as rhetorical filters shaping evangelical worldview and identity.

Biblical Connection
Interpretive Risk
Tone
Function
Domain
Subculture
Semantic

Click for Christianese

Interactive Phrase Sampler

Blessed Accept Jesus into their heart Armor-bearer Bless her heart Breaking bread Come to Jesus moment Hedge of protection Personal relationship with Jesus Washed in the blood Spiritual warfare

Keep clicking through 150 samples of our 566 phrases

Christianese
Earnest
Bridge-
building
Biblically
Anchored
Reverent
Clear
Literal
Endearing
Preaching
Lingo
Uplifting
Didactic
Semantic
Precision
Satirical
Wall-
building
Culturally
Crafted
Casual
Ambiguous
Metaphorical
Off-putting
Social
Language
Critical
Performative
Semantic
Drift

Linguistic Network Analysis

The Lexicon of Christianese

In Progress Target: Summer 2026

A comprehensive reference work documenting specialized insider language of American Evangelicalism, providing multi-dimensional analysis of over 500 phrases that function as rhetorical filters shaping evangelical worldview and identity.

Biblical Connection
Interpretive Risk
Tone
Function
Domain
Subculture
Semantic

Click for Christianese

Co-Editor

Faith, Community, and Student Life: Thriving in the Academic Exile

Target Publication: Fall 2026

Collaborative university textbook featuring a dozen communication scholars offering foundational wisdom for graduate students navigating faith and academic life. Serving as co-editor and contributing author.

Under Review

The Architecture of Holy Hostility: Algorithmic Schema Reinforcement and the Stigmatization of Religious Identity Online

2025

Introduces algorithmic schema reinforcement model explaining how digital platforms disproportionately associate religious identity terms with hate-labeled content through corpus analysis of 726,000 social media entries.

Under Review

Oh, the Redefining, Frame-Upending, Reckless Rhetoric

2025

Analyzes how Cory Asbury's "Reckless Love" became both celebrated hit and sacred schism, revealing how interpretive communities decode the same lyric as either heroic devotion or divine carelessness.