Darin D. Lenz, Ph.D.
Education
Share why you teach at FPU
Studying at a university should allow students the opportunity to ask difficult questions about the world that we have inherited. Fresno Pacific University, I believe, is the ideal place to ask those questions because of its Anabaptist heritage that encourages both open discussion and critical reflection. I also enjoy the close relationships with students that are developed in the small classes. Finally, it is exciting to be part of a thriving history department that is thoughtfully Christian and thoroughly engaged in helping students succeed and achieve their goals.
Scholarly Interests
History of Christianity since the Reformation, Pietism and evangelicalism, missions history, Christianity and war, and world history
Professional and Service Experience
2006-2011, Assistant Professor, Northwest University (WA)
Honors and Awards
- Phi BetaKappa, 2009
- Stowe Research Fellowship in Mission History, Yale Divinity School, 2011
- Summer Seminar in Military History, USMA, West Point, 2011
Professional Affiliations
- American Society of Church History
- Conference on Faith and History
- Ecclesiastical History Society (U.K.)
- Royal Historical Society (U.K.)
Personal Experiences
I enjoy traveling and mountain bike riding.
Publications and Presentations
- “Christendom beyond the West [A.D. 1000-1500],” and “Bar Hebreaus” in World History Encyclopedia, edited by Alfred J. Andrea. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011.
- Review of T&T Clark Companion to Methodism, edited by Charles Yrigoyen, Jr., in Religious Studies Review, 37, no. 2 (June 2011): 144.
- “Missions (of California),” in Encyclopedia of the Early Republic and Antebellum America, edited by Christopher Bates. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2010.
- “George Muller,” in Encyclopedia of Christian Literature, edited by George Thomas Kurian and James D. Smith III. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2009.
- “‘Visions on the Battlefields’: Alexander A. Boddy, Early British Pentecostalism, and the First World War, 1914-1918,” in The Journal of Religious History 32, no. 3 (September 2008): 281-302.
- “Social Gospel,” in Encyclopedia of the Jazz Age, edited by James Ciment. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 2008.
- Review of Andrew Schulze: Lutherans and Race in the Civil Rights Era by Kathryn M. Galchutt, in Religious Studies Review 33, no. 4 (October 2007): 330.
- Review of Can God and Caesar Coexist? Balancing Religious Freedom and International Law by Robert F. Drinan, S.J., in Fides et Historia 37:2/38:1 (Summer/Fall 2005; Winter/Spring 2006): 287-288.
- Review of The Protestant Interest: New England After Puritanism by Thomas S. Kidd, in Fides et Historia 37:2/38:1 (Summer/Fall 2005; Winter/Spring 2006): 256-257.
- Review of Our God is One: The Story of Oneness Pentecostals by Talmadge French, in Pneuma 26, no. 1 (Fall 2004): 381-383.
- “History, Theology, and Interpretation: The Ephrata Cloister, A Case Study in Public History,” in Concept: Graduate Journal of Interdisciplinary Research 26 (Spring 2003): 67-88.
Recommended Resources
- T. S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral. Harcourt Brace, 1935.
- Shusaku Endo, Silence. Taplinger, 1980.
- Justo L. Gonzales, The Story of Christianity, Vol. 1 & 2. HarperOne, 2010.
- Alan Paton, Cry, The Beloved Country. Scribner, 1987.
- Richard V. Pierard and Robert D. Linder, Civil Religion and the Presidency. Zondervan, 1988.
Other Information
On a personal note, my family and I enjoy California's sunny weather. My wife, Rachael, and I have two sons, Keegan and Braeden, who keep us very busy. As a family we enjoy trips to the beach, soccer, tennis, football, baseball, swimming and bicycling. Basically, in our family, if it involves competition or adventure our boys want to either watch it or try it out themselves.
