Lenny Lowe

Associate Professor and Chair of Religious Studies

EDUCATION

• Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Religion in the Americas, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• M.T.S. in the Ancient Mediterranean World, Duke University
• B.A. Biblical Studies, Kentucky Christian University

RESEARCH INTERESTS

I specialize Black Atlantic traditions, like Haitian Vodou, in which West and Central African traditions have encountered and recombined with Euro-American Christian traditions. For me, these traditions are rich and exciting forms of cultural creativity. They frequently frustrate efforts by scholars to pin down specific religious traditions, and they demonstrate the fluidities, historical and cultural contingencies, and the ultimately bricolage character of what we call “religion.”

COURSES TAUGHT

• RELS 101: Approaches to Religion
• RELS 105: Intro to World Religions
• RELS 210: Theories of Religion
• RELS 230: The Christian Tradition
• RELS 250: Religions in America
• RELS 298: Black Atlantic Religions
• RELS 360: Myth, Ritual and Symbol
• RELS 370: Millennialism, Apocalypticism, and Conspiracy in American Religion
• RELS 450: Senior Seminar
• RELS 451: Capstone Colloquium
• HONS 175: Make Believe or Make Belief?
• HONS 255: Myth, Ritual, and Symbol in the Study of Religion

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

• “The Blood of a Pig Has No Power: Lame Selès and the Spirit-Filled History of the Haitian Revolution.” The Journal of Haitian Studies. 2020, Vol. 26 (2), p. 4-30.
•  “We Pray, We Dance, and People are Healed, But We are Not Like Them: Haiti’s Konvèti Consensus and Its Limits,” in Evangelicals, Catholics, and Vodouyizan in Haiti: The Challenges of Living Together, edited by Celucien Joseph and Lewis A. Clormeus. New York: Bloomsbury, 2024 
• “Where Have All the Oungan Gone?” Nova Religio 26, no. 4 (2023): 8–32.  
• “Life Outside: Pentecostalism, Poverty, and Excess in Haiti.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 90, no. 3 (2022): 618–35.  

BOOK REVIEWS

• Lowe, Lenny J. “Life at the Center: Haitians and Corporate Catholicism in Boston, by Erica Caple James.” New West Indian Guide 99, no. 3–4 (2025): 411–12. 
• Lowe, Lenny J. “Vodou in the Haitian Experience: A Black Atlantic Perspective Ed. by Celucien L. Joseph and Nixon S. Cleophat (Review).” Journal of Haitian Studies 25, no. 2 (2019): 305–8.

ONLINE BOOK REVIEWS

• Lowe, Lenny J. “The Priest and the Prophetess: Abbe Ouviève, Romaine Rivière, and the Revolutionary Atlantic World by Terry Rey (Review).” Reading Religion (May 19, 2020).

ONLINE PUBLIC SCHOLARSHIP

• Lowe, Lenny J. “The Only Surprising Thing About the ‘Demon Sperm’ Doctor’s Views Is That They’re Shared By Many Evangelicals.” Religion Dispatches (July 30, 2020).