Curriculum Vitae
BENJAMIN J. WETZEL
219 O’Shaugnessy Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
bwetzel@nd.edu
Education: University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
Ph.D. in History, will graduate May 2016
Dissertation: “‘A Sane Americanism’: Lyman Abbott and the Christian Nation at War, 1861-1918.”
Advisor: Mark A. Noll
Baylor University, Waco, TX
M.A. in History, May 2011
Thesis: “A ‘Scourge and Minister’: Lyman Abbott, Liberal Protestantism and American Warfare, 1861-1920.”
Advisor: Barry Hankins
Grove City College, Grove City, PA
B.A. in History, May 2009, magna cum laude
Minor: English
Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles
 “A Church Divided: American Catholics Debate the Spanish-American War.” Journal of
the Gilded Age and Progressive Era (forthcoming, 2015).
 “Onward Christian Soldiers: Lyman Abbott’s Justification of the Spanish-American
War.” Journal of Church and State 54:3 (Summer 2012): 406-25.
Book Chapters
 “Fundamentalists, Liberals, and a Mennonite Third Way: Reexamining the Career of
Bishop Daniel Kauffman.” 104-28. In The Activist Impulse: Exploring the Intersection of
Evangelicalism and Anabaptism. Edited by Jared S. Burkholder and David C. Cramer.
Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2012.
Other Academic Publications
 “The Spanish-American War and its Aftermath.” Contribution to The American Yawp, a
free, online U.S. history textbook. [2013] http://www.americanyawp.com/
 “‘This Sacred Warfare’: Northern Congregationalists Interpret the Civil War.” Bulletin of
the Congregational Library 8:2 (Fall 2011): 2-10.
 s.v. “Old Order Amish Church.” In Baker Handbook of Denominations and Ministries.
Edited by George Thomas Kurian. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, forthcoming.
 “A ‘Third Way’?: The Role of Daniel Kauffman in Mennonite Fundamentalism.”
Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage 32 (January 2009): 12-17.
Book Reviews


Bradley J. Gundlach, Process and Providence: The Evolution Question at Princeton,
1845-1929 (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2013), for Journal of Ecclesiastical History
(forthcoming).
Richard M. Gamble, In Search of the City on a Hill: The Making and Unmaking of an
American Myth (London: Continuum, 2012), for Religion and American History Blog,
http://usreligion.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-strange-career-of-city-on-hill.html [2013]
Fellowships and Grants
 March 2014, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame,
research grant ($633)
 February 2014, Union of Graduate Historians, University of Notre Dame, research grant
($180)
 September 2012, Graduate School Notebaert Professional Development Grant, University
of Notre Dame ($1,088)
 September 2012, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame,
conference presentation grant ($400) [declined]
 September 2012, Union of Graduate Historians, University of Notre Dame, conference
presentation grant ($200) [declined]
 2009-2010, Guittard Fellowship, Baylor University History Department ($13,000)
Scholarly Presentations and Conference Participation
 January 2014, American Historical Association, Washington, DC: “A Church Divided:
American Catholics Debate the Spanish-American War.” [Sponsored by the American
Society of Church History] [Paper accepted, but unable to attend due to inclement
weather]
 January 2013, American Historical Association, New Orleans, LA: “A TwentiethCentury Crusade: Lyman Abbott, Christian Nationalism, and World War I.” [Sponsored
by the Society of Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era]
 April 2010, Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Conference, Houston, TX:
“Occom vs. Occom: English Christianity and Indian Identity in the Late Eighteenth
Century.”
 October 2009, Mid-America Conference on History, University of Oklahoma, Norman,
OK: “The Social Gospel and Racial Reform, 1865-1918.”
Teaching Experience
 Outstanding Graduate Student Teacher Award, Kaneb Center for Teaching and Learning,
University of Notre Dame, 2014.
 January 2014-May 2014, Teaching Assistant for “The World History of Christianity
Since 1900” (taught by Mark Noll, University of Notre Dame)
 August 2013-December 2013, Teaching Assistant for “U.S. History to 1877” (taught by
Patrick Griffin, University of Notre Dame)
 January 2013-May 2013, Teaching Assistant for “History of Modern Africa” (taught by
Paul Ocobock, University of Notre Dame)
 August 2012-December 2012, Teaching Assistant for “U.S. History to 1877: The Growth
of the American Nation” (taught by James Turner, University of Notre Dame)


September 2010-December 2010, Tutor to Chinese Students taking World History II
(taught by Luis Morera, Baylor University)
June 2010-August 2010, Tutor to Athletes, Baylor University Student-Athlete Services
Other Academic Work Experience
 January 2011-May 2011, Graduate Assistant for Dr. James SoRelle, Professor of History,
Baylor University
 June 2010-August 2010, Assistant to the Executive Secretary, American Society of
Church History
 January 2010-May 2010, Graduate Assistant for Dr. Jeffrey Hamilton, Professor of
History, Baylor University, and Dr. Barry Hankins, Professor of History, Baylor
University
 August 2009-December 2009, Graduate Assistant for Dr. David Bebbington, Visiting
Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University
 May 2008-August 2008, Intern, Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society (Lancaster, PA)
 February 2006-May 2009, Research Assistant for Dr. Paul C. Kemeny, Professor of
Religion and Humanities, Grove City College.
Service
 2013-2014, Co-Director, The Colloquium on Religion and History, University of Notre
Dame
 2013-2014, Funding Committee, Union of Graduate Historians, University of Notre
Dame
Professional Memberships
 2012-Present, Society of Historians of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
 2011-Present, American Historical Association
 2011-Present, Conference on Faith and History
 2010-Present, American Society of Church History
 2007-Present, Phi Alpha Theta (Chapter Vice-President, 2008-2009)