Bio
Kathryn Gin Lum specializes in American religious history. Her research and teaching interests focus on the lived ramifications of religious beliefs, and particularly on the relationship between religious and racial othering in the United States. She is author of Damned Nation: Hell in America from the Revolution to Reconstruction (Oxford University Press 2014) and Heathen: Religion and Race in American History (Harvard University Press 2022). She is co-editor, with Paul Harvey, of The Oxford Handbook of Religion and Race in American History (Oxford University Press 2018). She is affiliated with the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) and is Director of the American Religions in a Global Context Initiative (argc.stanford.edu) at Stanford.
Professor Gin Lum received her B.A. in History from Stanford and her Ph.D. in History from Yale.
Academic Appointments
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Professor, Religious Studies
Administrative Appointments
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Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Stanford University (2023 - Present)
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Associate Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Stanford University (2018 - 2023)
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Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies, Stanford University (2012 - 2018)
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Assistant Professor, Department of Religion, Princeton University (2011 - 2012)
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Instructor, Department of Religion, Princeton University (2010 - 2010)
Honors & Awards
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Annenberg Faculty Fellow, awarded to outstanding junior faculty in the Humanities and Arts, Stanford University (2012 - 2014)
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Edwin W. Small Prize, for outstanding dissertation in American History, Yale University (2011)
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Howard R Lamar Center for the Study of the American West Research Fellowship, Yale University (2009 - 2010)
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Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellow, The Huntington Library (2009)
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Research Fellowship, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (2008)
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Summer Pre-Prospectus Fellowship, The Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library (2007)
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Richard J. Franke Fellowship for academic potential in the humanities, Yale University (2005 - 2009)
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History Department Commencement Student Speaker, Stanford University (2004)
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John & Marjorie Hines Prize for Undergraduate Thesis Research in American History, Stanford University (2004)
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Co-winner, Stanford Essay Contest (2003)
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History Scholar, The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (2003)
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John & Marjorie Hines Prizes for best papers in Colonial and Revolutionary America, Stanford University (2003)
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Lindsay Peters, Jr. Prize in Political Science, Stanford University (2003)
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Detur Book Prize for Excellence in flrst year, Harvard University (2002)
Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations
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Founder/Organizer, American Religions Workshop, Stanford University (2012)
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Member, American Studies Committee-in-Charge, Stanford University (2012)
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Affiliate of Asian American Studies, Stanford University (2012)
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Member, Executive Committee, Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University (2011 - 2012)
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Organizer, Religion in the Americas Workshop, Princeton University (2011 - 2012)
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Computer Assistant, History Department, Yale University (2008 - 2009)
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Research Assistant to Koichi Shinohara and Phyllis Granoff, Yale Department of Religious Studies (2006 - 2006)
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Assisted in editing conference papers for publication, Heroes and Saints: The Moment of Death in Cross-Cultural Perspectives (2006 - 2006)
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Paralegal Intern, Elliot & Mayock LLP. Focus: Immigration law (2004 - 2004)
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Member, American Historical Association
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Member, American Academy of Religion
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Member, American Studies Association
Program Affiliations
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American Studies
Professional Education
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Ph.D., Yale University, History (2010)
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M.Phil., Yale University, History (2008)
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B.A., Stanford University, History, with Honors and with Distinction (2004)
2024-25 Courses
- American Religions in a Global Context: Proseminar
RELIGST 359A (Aut, Win, Spr) - Constructing Race and Religion in America
AMSTUD 246, HISTORY 256G (Win) - Researching and Writing Religious History
RELIGST 379 (Win) - What Is Religion? Adventures in Religious Studies, Hong Kong Edition
OSPHONGK 55 (Aut) -
Independent Studies (9)
- Individual Work
AMSTUD 195 (Win) - Individual Work
RELIGST 199 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Individual Work for Graduate Students
RELIGST 389 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Paper in the Field
RELIGST 392 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Research in American Religions
RELIGST 382 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Research in Christian Studies
RELIGST 384 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Research in Religious Thought, Ethics, and Philosophy
RELIGST 388 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Senior Essay/Honors Thesis Research
RELIGST 297 (Aut, Win, Spr) - Teaching Internship
RELIGST 390 (Aut, Win, Spr)
- Individual Work
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Prior Year Courses
2023-24 Courses
- American Religions in a Global Context: Proseminar
RELIGST 359A (Aut, Win, Spr) - Constructing Race and Religion in America
AMSTUD 246, CSRE 246, HISTORY 256G, RELIGST 246 (Win)
2022-23 Courses
- American Religions in a Global Context: Proseminar
RELIGST 359A (Aut, Win, Spr) - Writing Religious History
RELIGST 371 (Win)
2021-22 Courses
- American Religions in a Global Context: Proseminar
RELIGST 359A (Aut, Win, Spr) - Asian Religions in America; Asian American Religions
AMSTUD 281, ASNAMST 281, RELIGST 281, RELIGST 381 (Win) - Readings in Race and Religion in America
RELIGST 348 (Aut) - Why College? Your Education and the Good Life
COLLEGE 101 (Aut)
- American Religions in a Global Context: Proseminar
Stanford Advisees
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Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
Austin Clements -
Postdoctoral Faculty Sponsor
Jason Schwartz -
Doctoral Dissertation Advisor (AC)
Nicole Carroll, Chanhee Heo, Johanna Mueller, Jeffrey Sanchez, Valeria Vergani
All Publications
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The Historyless Heathen and the Stagnating Pagan: History as Non-Native Category?
RELIGION AND AMERICAN CULTURE-A JOURNAL OF INTERPRETATION
2018; 28 (1): 52–91
View details for DOI 10.1525/rac.2018.28.1.52
View details for Web of Science ID 000425379100002
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American Religion and the Rise of Internal Security A Prologue
FBI AND RELIGION: FAITH AND NATIONAL SECURITY BEFORE AND AFTER 9/11
2017: 17–31
View details for Web of Science ID 000400360700002
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Heaven in the American Imagination (Book Review)
JOURNAL OF AMERICAN HISTORY
2012; 99 (3): 880-880
View details for DOI 10.1093/jahist/jas392
View details for Web of Science ID 000312475000024
- The Clergy The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Social History edited by Dumenil, L. New York: Oxford University Press. 2012
- Why the Hell Does Hell Still Matter? Religion Dispatches 2011
- Calvinist/Reformed Tradition and Heritage Encyclopedia of Religion in America edited by Williams, P., Lippy, C. SAGE Publications. 2010
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'The Heavenization of Earth': African American Visions and Uses of the Afterlife, 1863-1901
SLAVERY & ABOLITION
2010; 31 (2): 207-231
View details for DOI 10.1080/01440391003711081
View details for Web of Science ID 000277771500003
- Redeeming the Southern Family: Evangelical Women & Domestic Devotion in the Antebellum South Louisiana History Athens: University of Georgia Press. 2008
- Three Anti-Slavery Woman Writers Early American Abolitionists: A Collection of Anti-Slavery Writings, 1760-1820 edited by Basker, J. New York: The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. 2005
- Stories on the Death of Leland Stanford, Jr. Sandstone and Tile 2004; 28 (1)
- Augustus Leopold Egg's Past and Present: The Coexistence of Compassion and Condemnation in 19th Century British Attitudes Towards the Adulteress Herodotus 2003