My current research is on "The Lives of the College Class." The first project is Country Club and Coffee House: The Social Spaces of the Corporate Class and the Creative Class.

I have studied competition in religious denominations, especially the Presbyterian Church (USA), for some 20 years.  In 2003 I published two books, Called to Teach:  The Vocation of the Presbyterian Educator, an edited volume with Duncan Ferguson based on a 2000 conference at Centre, and Leading From the Center:  Strengthening the Pillars of the Church.  Both were published by Geneva Press, an imprint of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation (PPC). In 2004 I completed a manuscript on the history of Centre College, which is awaiting publication by the college.  This, too, grew out of my work on Presbyterian higher education. In 2008 the denomination published my essay on Rebuilding the Presbyterian Establishment.

My daily scholarly outlet is a blog, The Gruntled Center:  Faith and Family for Centrists.  Launched on August 28, 2005, I have posted an entry every day, with a few breaks, since then.  I try to produce the equivalent of a good newspaper column or op-ed, about 500 words, based on research and analysis.  I write about religion on Sundays, family life Monday through Friday, and something light on Saturdays.  I also write about the theory and practice of centrism.   My two favorite comments on the blog so far: 

"One should read … Gruntled's whole series, ... It is some of the best writing on the web today." (From the blog Opine Editorials); and

"I enjoyed your blog tremendously; you are the oldest blogger I ever knew in person." (From a twenty-something alumna).

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Select Publications

Rebuilding the Presbyterian Establishment.Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) 2008.

Leading From the Center: Strengthening the Pillars of the Church. Louisville: Geneva Press, 2003.

Called to Teach:  The Vocation of the Presbyterian Educator.  Edited, with Duncan Ferguson.  Louisville:  Geneva Press, 2003.

Presbyterian Pluralism:  Competition in a Protestant House. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1997.

Education and the American Family:  A Research Synthesis, ed.  New York Univ. Press, 1989.

"Politics of Mainline Protestant Clergy: Presbyterian Church (USA)." In Pulpits and Politics: Clergy in American Politics at the Advent of the Millennium, edited by Corwin Smidt. Baylor University Press, 2004.

"The Battle of Lexington and Wilmore."  Christianity Today, Vol. 46, no. 3 (March 11, 2002): 46 – 49.

“The ‘Fidelity and Chastity’ Amendment: A Competition to Renew the Presbyterian Church.”  In Reformed Vitality, D. Luidens, H. Stoeffels, and C. Smidt, eds.  Univ. Press of America, 1998.

"The Hidden Class Struggle in American Class and Family Research." Sociological Imagination. Vol. 34 no. 1 (1997): 19 - 27.

"Teaching American Denominational Religion.” Teaching Sociology, 25, 2 (April 1995):159-64.