This page includes my recent books, public articles, and reviews. For my academic and peer-reviewed publications, see my CV here.
BOOKS
The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2023): links to reviews here.
Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019): links to reviews here.
Right now: I’m at work on my next book-length project, under contract with Eerdmans Press. The project's title is "Eternal Life Now: The Persistence, Promise, and Peril of Modern Evangelical Spirituality."
This book is a new history of modern evangelicalism told from the vantage point of spiritual practices, ideas of Christian spirituality and self-fulfillment, and the relationship of evangelicalism to popular culture. My story and argument will make the claim that evangelicals have constructed a distinctive way of being spiritual (in simplest terms, of following Jesus or being more like Jesus) that is persistent (there is a continuity to the tradition dating back at least 150+ years), that holds interesting strands of promise (insightful, constructive responses and ideas that resonated broadly), and that also contains strands of peril (thin or shallow responses that have even so become popular). Moreover, "evangelical spirituality" is a tradition that deeply informs modern American, even Western, ideas of spirituality, whether it is self-help or "Christian living" books, or ideas of spiritual journeys and religious maturity.
I'm working on this project through at least early 2026 to please get in touch if you have thoughts or inquiries: dhummel@slbrownfoundation.org
OPINIONS & REPORTING
Meaning in Decline (Comment, September 2024)
The Bestselling Reference Bible That Remade American Evangelicalism (Text and Canon, July 2024)
4 Snapshots of Dispensationalism Today (The Gospel Coalition, February 2024)
The Little-Known History of Evangelicals’ Changing Israel Views (Christianity Today, October 2023)
Shared Texts for a Shared Mission, contribution to "What Does Higher Ed Needs Now: Part One" (Current, September 2023)
Left Behind (Current, May 2023)
When the Best Bible-Reading Tool Made Bible-Reading Worse (Christianity Today, December 2022)
Remote Work, Redux (Current, November 2021)
Is Jemar Tisby's Bestselling Book about Racism a Fluke? (Christianity Today, June 2021)
Is there a "Cosmopolitan Evangelicalism?" (Anxious Bench Blog, November 2020)
John Hagee and the Evolving Basis for Christian Zionism (Righting America Blog, November 2019)
Paula White and the Mainstreaming of American Pentecostalism (Religion News Service, November 2019)
Israel and Evangelicals in the News (Mosse Program Blog, September 2019)
Christian Zionism as Interreligious Cooperation (Baker Institute Blog, September 2019)
Tangled in Apocalyptic Thought (Sightings, September 2019)
Why Many Evangelical Christians Now Celebrate Jewish Holidays (Washington Post, August 2019)
Evangelicals and Holy Land Tourism (Penn Press Log, July 2019)
Christian Zionism: The Interfaith Movement Hiding in Plain Sight (Aeon Magazine, September 2018)
Robert Jeffress was a natural choice to deliver the invocation at the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem (Washington Post, May 2018)
The New Judaizers: How American Pentecostals are Adopting Jewish Trappings in Their Theology, Practices, and Politics (Jerusalem Post Magazine, February 2018)
How the U.S. Lost Its Ability to Mediate Peace in the Middle East (Washington Post, December 2017)
What You Need to Know about Mike Pence's Speech to Christians United for Israel (Washington Post, July 2017)
The New Christian Zionism (First Things, June 2017). See follow-up: Prosperity Politics, October 2017.
Faith, Power, and Violence: The Long Debate Over Religious Fundamentalism (War on the Rocks, August 2016)
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of Matthew Bowman's The Abduction of Betty & Barney Hill (Christianity Today, January 2024)
Review of Rainn Wilson's Soul Boom (Christianity Today, July 2023)
Review of Stephen Bullivant's Nonverts (Current, June 2023)
Review of Anne Perez's Understanding Zionism (Mosse Program Blog, June 2023)
Review of Walter Russell Mead's The Arc of a Covenant (Christianity Today, January 2023)
Review of Gene Zubovich's Before the Religious Right (Christianity Today, September 2022)
Review of Cary Nelson and Michael C. Gizzi, eds. Peace and Faith: Christian Churches and The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, August 2002).
Review of Sam Goldman's After Nationalism (Christianity Today, June 2021)
Review of Lauren Turek's To Bring the Good News to All Nations (H-Diplo roundtable, April 2021)
Review of Vaneesa Cook's Spiritual Socialists (Journal of Church History, April 2021)
Review of Shalom Goldman's Starstruck in the Holy Land (Diplomatic History, February 2021)
Review of David King's God's Internationalists (Journal of Church and State, July 2020)
Review of Charles Cotherman's To Think Christianly (Christianity Today, May 2020)
Review of Sean Durbin's Righteous Gentiles (Journal of the American Academy of Religion, September 2019)
Review of David Hollinger's Protestants Abroad, Melani McAlister's The Kingdom of God Has No Borders, and Ronit Stahl's Enlisting Faith (Modern Intellectual History, April 2019)
Review of Azar Ajaj et al's Arab Evangelicals in Israel (Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, May 2018)
Review of Samuel Goldman's God's Country (Religion & Politics, May 2018)
Review of Gerald McDermott, ed's. The New Christian Zionism (Religion & Politics, June 2017)
Review of John Quigley's The International Diplomacy of Israel's Founders (Passport, September 2016)
Review of Timothy Gloege's Guaranteed Pure (Indiana Magazine of History, March 2016)
Review of Matthew Sutton's American Apocalypse: A History of Modern Evangelicalism (Marginalia Review of Books, October 2015)