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) "Stewarding Studentship: Christian Tradition and Faith-learning Integration in Graduate School"
2025 Denver
National Communication Association (NCA) "The Lexicon of Global Evangelicalism: A Discourse Analysis of Gather25"
OSPR Grant Recipient
Top Paper Award
2025 Virtual
Christian Communication Studies Network (CCSN) "A Living Dialect of Faith: Charting, Coding, and Curating the Christianese Lexicon"

Recent Publications

2025
The lexicon of global evangelicalism: A discourse analysis of Gather25 Journal of Media and Religion (Taylor & Francis) read it!
2025
From the Outrageous to the Scandalous: Re-imagining Christian Thinking and Scholarship in an Age of Tribalism and Ideological Resentment Integratio Press read it!
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

The Lexicon of Christianese

In Progress Target: Fall 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

The Lexicon of Christianese

In Progress Target: Fall 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

In Progress

In Progress
The Lexicon of Christianese Comprehensive reference work documenting specialized insider language of American Evangelicalism Target: Fall 2026
Co-Editor
Stewarding Studentship: Christian Tradition and Faith-learning Integration in Graduate School Collaborative university textbook Target: Fall 2026
Under Review
The Architecture of Holy Hostility: Algorithmic Schema Reinforcement and the Stigmatization of Religious Identity Online Corpus analysis of 726,000 social media entries 2025
Under Review
Oh, the Redefining, Frame-Upending, Reckless Rhetoric Analysis of Cory Asbury's "Reckless Love" controversy 2025

Academic Background

2025
Ph.D. in Communication Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA Dissertation: Evangelical Jargon as Terministic Screens
2020
M.A. in Christian Ministry Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA Graduated with Honors (Omega Nu Lambda)
1998
Dual Bachelor of Music California State University, Sacramento, CA Theory/Composition & Music Management

Professional Affiliations

NCA
National Communication Association Leading scholarly organization for communication studies
BEA
Broadcast Education Association Professional development in broadcast and digital media
RCA
Religious Communication Association Interdisciplinary research in religious communication
CCSN
Christian Communication Studies Network Faith-integrated communication scholarship

Academic Inquiries

Email
denns1@liberty.edu Research collaboration, conference presentations
Phone
(916) 468-3223 Research collaboration, speaking engagements
ORCID
0000-0001-6134-7540 Academic profile and publications