Profile image for Brendan Payne

Brendan J.J. Payne, PhD

Department Chair, History
864.663.0269
brendan.payne@ngu.edu
Unit: College of Humanities and Sciences, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, History
Location: Tigerville

“All truth is God’s truth.”
  • Teaching & Education

    You will learn with me when taking courses in Non-Western History from Latin America to East Asia, surveys, and a History Methods course. Degrees

    • BA, History, Wheaton College
    • MDiv, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
    • PhD, History Baylor University
  • Professional Experience

    My experience includes teaching at the university level since 2015. I have taught full-time at Baylor University and part-time at Central Texas College from 2017 to 2018 and full-time at NGU since 2018.

  • Selected Publications

    Book (Under Contract, Resubmitting after Revisions) Christians Defying Jim Crow: The Multiracial War on Prohibition in the U.S. South. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press.

    Articles “Defending Black Suffrage: African Americans, Poll Taxes, Religion, and Anti-Prohibition in Texas, 1887-1916.” Journal of Southern History 83.4 (Nov. 2017): 815-852. https://doi.org/10.1353/soh.2017.0243. “Southern White Protestant Men, Church-State Relations, and Prohibition in Texas, 1865-1920.” Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 29 (Winter 2015), 92-111. https://doi.org/10.1086/SHAD29010092.

    Encyclopedia Entries (Forthcoming 2021) “African Methodist Episcopal Church”; “Biblical inerrancy”; “Bible Belt”; “Church of God in Christ”; “Gordon, A.J.”; “Payne, Daniel Alexander”; “Prohibition movement”; “Turner, Henry McNeal”; “Willard, Frances”; “Woman’s Christian Temperance Union.” American Religious History: Belief and Society through Time. ABC-CLIO. “Academic Journals”; “Christian Booksellers Association”; “Religious Right.” George Thomas Kurian and Mark A. Lamport, eds. Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States. 5 vols. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

    Blog Entries “African American Agency and (Anti-)Prohibition”; “Religion and Anti-Prohibition.” Points: The Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society. May 4 and June 2, 2016.

    Book Reviews (Submitted and accepted) “Soul Liberty: The Evolution of Black Religious Politics in Postemancipation Virginia. By Nicole Meyers Turner. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2020. 232pp. $29.95 paper.” Journal of Church and State. 27 September 2020. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcs/csaa081. (Submitted) “Modern Moonshine: The Revival of White Whiskey in the Twenty-First Century. Edited by Cameron D. Lippard and Bruce E. Stewart. (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2019. Pp. 291.)” West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies. (Submitted and accepted) “DARREN DOCHUK: Anointed with Oil: How Christianity and Crude Remade Modern America. New York: Basic Books in cooperation with the William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, 2019; pp. viii + 672.” Journal of Religious History 44:4 (December 2020 Special Issue). “Kate Bowler: The Preacher’s Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women in Megaministry. Princeton, NJ: Princeton, 2019; pp. xxi + 338.” Journal of Religious History 44.2 (July 2020). https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12672. “Jemar Tisby: The Color of Compromise: The Truth About the American Church’s Complicity in Racism. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2019; pp. 253.” Journal of Religious History 44.1 (March 2020): 253. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12647. “Crusaders, Gangsters, and Whiskey: Prohibition in Memphis. By Patrick O’Daniel. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2018. Pp. xii, 299. $35, ISBN 978-1-4968-2004-4.)” Journal of Southern History 86.1 (Feb. 2020): 210-212. “Kate Bowler: Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel. New York, Oxford, 2013; pp. xi + 337.” Journal of Religious History 43.4 (Dec. 2019): 557-559. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12622. “John Fea: Believe Me: The Evangelical Road to Donald Trump. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2018; pp. 248.” Journal of Religious History 43.2 (June 2019): 295-296. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9809.12592. “Locke, Joseph L. Making the Bible Belt: Texas Prohibitionists and the Politicization of Southern Religion.” History: Reviews of New Books 46.5 (September 2018): 118-119. https://doi.org/10.1080/03612759.2018.1489686. “Review of Grem, Darren E., The Blessings of Business: How Corporations Shaped Conservative Christianity.” H-South, H-Net Reviews. February 2018. “Robert Wuthnow: Rough Country: How Texas Became America’s Most Powerful Bible Belt State. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014; pp. vi + 654.” Journal of Religious History 40.2 (June 2016): 286-287. “Book Review: Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Spiritual Life. By Nancy Koestere (Eerdmans, 2014).” Priscilla Papers 28.3 (Summer 2014): 28. Review of Early Libyan Christianity: Uncovering a North African Tradition by Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011).” Africanus Journal 4 (November 2012): 46-47.

  • Selected Awards Received
    • Spring 2017 – Baylor University Outstanding Dissertation Award
    • July 2015 – Lynn E. May Jr. Study Grant, Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives
    • June-July 2015 – Bridwell Library Visiting Scholar Fellowship, Southern Methodist University
    • May 2015 – Burney Parker Research Fellowship, Baylor University Texas Collection
    • October 2014 – Guittard Fellows Society Member, Baylor University
    • March 2014  – Conference Travel Grant, John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics, Washington University St. Louis
    • 2012-2017 – Baylor University Graduate School Scholarship; Baylor University Presidential Scholarship
    • 2012-2013 – Guittard History Fellowship Scholarship, Baylor University
    • 2008 – Phi Alpha Theta (History Honors Society); Pi Sigma Alpha (Political Science Honors Society)
  • My Network

    I will gladly involve you in my circle that includes Baylor University History Department faculty such as: Barry Hankins, Andrea Turpin, Beth Barr, Kim Kellison, Julie Sweet, Joe Stubenrauch, Elesha Coffman, and Thomas Kidd. Some other colleagues are fellow Baylor History Ph.D. graduates employed elsewhere are: Lynneth Renburg and Ryan Butler (Anderson U, SC), Adina Kelley (University of Northwestern, St. Paul), Matt Millsap (Northwest Nazarene University), Tim Grundmeier (Martin Luther College, MN), Nick Pruitt (Eastern Nazarene College), Paul Putz (Truett Seminary), Elise Leal (Whitworth), and Joel Illif (Regent).

  • My Story

    My parents, former missionaries to Japan, taught me that evangelical faith and open inquiry can go hand in hand. After the Holy Spirit led me to commit my life to Christ in high school, I sought answers to my questions in Christian higher education. I attended schools in Chicago, Boston, and finally central Texas, where I eventually earned a History Ph.D. from Baylor University in 2017. A year later, I found a new home at NGU. My wife Catherine and I love exploring the Upstate, which reminds us of our childhood homes in the Pacific Northwest. We also enjoy board games, reading, and walking state parks, particularly Paris Mountain.

    Favorite Course to Teach:

    Western Civilization surveys because I get to re-introduce the discipline of history to all kinds of students as exciting and valuable for their development and all kinds of careers.

  • Related Links

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