CSGS is pleased to announce that Kelsey Hanson Woodruff will join the center in July as a postdoctoral faculty researcher for a pilot project titled “Moving Past God and Guns: Strengthening Scholarly and Public Understanding of the Intersection of Guns and Religion.” This one-year research study is made possible with a grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. In addition to research, Woodruff will teach two courses at Wesleyan, including American Religion and Media, in fall 2026.
“Dr. Hanson Woodruff brings an expertise in Christianity and gender that will enhance the center’s longstanding emphasis on the role of religion in the history and contemporary context of firearms in the United States.” said Joseph Slaughter, assistant professor of history and religion.
Woodruff has a PhD in religion with a secondary field in anthropology from Harvard University. She is currently working on two books: Faithful Dissent: Post-Evangelical Feminist Communities on Digital Media, under advance contract with Oxford University Press; and On the Days When I Believe: The Life and Spiritual Legacy of Rachel Held Evans is a religious biography of the well-known writer Rachel Held Evans, forthcoming from Eerdmans Publishing in 2027.