Curriculum Vitae
Joe L. Coker
4208 Grim Avenue  Waco, TX 76710  (254) 710-4665  joe_coker@baylor.edu
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
Ph.D. – Princeton Theological Seminary, 2005.
 Dissertation area: American religious history
M.Div. – Candler School of Theology, Emory University, 1997.
 Emphasis: Church History/Historical Theology.
Regent’s Park College, Oxford University, Trinity Term 1992.
 Additional study of Baptist history.
B.A. – Carson-Newman College, 1992.
 Major: Political Science
 Minor: Baptist Studies
PUBLICATIONS AND PRESENTATIONS
Books and chapters:
“Isaac Backus and John Leland: Baptist Contributions to Religious Liberty in the Founding Era,” in
Faith and the Founders of the American Republic, ed. by Daniel Dreisbach and Mark Hall
(forthcoming from Oxford University Press, 2013).
Liquor in the Land of the Lost Cause: Southern White Evangelicals and the Prohibition Movement,
1880-1915 (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2007).
Articles:
“Editorial Introduction” (as guest editor), Perspectives in Religious Studies 39 (Fall 2012): 201-203.
“‘Cast Out From Among the Saints’: Church Discipline Among Anabaptists and English Separatists
in Holland, 1590-1620,” Reformation 11 (2006): 1-27.
“Developing a Theory of Missions in Serampore: The Increased Emphasis Upon Education as a
‘Means for the Conversion of the Heathens,’” Mission Studies 17 (2001): 42-60.
“The Sinnott Case of 1910: The Changing Views of Southern Presbyterians on Temperance,
Prohibition, and the Spirituality of the Church,” The Journal of Presbyterian History 77
(winter 1999): 247-262.
“A Bibliography of American Temperance Hymnals, 1835–1934,” The Hymn 51 (April 2000): 2836.
“Peace and the Apocalypse: Stanley Hauerwas and Miroslav Volf on the Eschatological Basis for
Christian Nonviolence,” Evangelical Quarterly 71 (July 1999): 261-268.
“Exploring the Roots of the Dispensationalist/Princetonian ‘Alliance’: Charles Hodge and John
Nelson Darby on Eschatology and Interpretation of Scripture,” Fides et Historia 30
(winter/spring 1998): 41-56.
“Sweet Harmony vs. Strict Separation: Recognizing the Distinctions Between Isaac Backus and
John Leland,” American Baptist Quarterly 16 (September 1997): 241-250.
Current projects:
Editing The Complete Works of John Murton, forthcoming from Mercer University Press.
Presentations:
“John Murton and the Use of Non-Biblical Sources by Early English Baptists,” presented at the
Reformation Studies Colloquium, University of St. Andrews, Scotland, September 2010.
“’The Noblest Chivalry’: How Southern Evangelicals Attempted to Redefine and Reclaim Honor in
their Campaign for Prohibition,” presented at the American Society of Church History
annual meeting, San Diego, CA, January 2010.
“’Distilled Damnation’: Southern Baptists and the Prohibition Movement,” presented at the Pruit
Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October 2009.
“From ‘Brothers in Black’ to ‘Black Beasts’: Prohibition and the Decline of Racial Attitudes
Among Southern White Evangelicals, 1880-1915,” presented at the Southeastern regional
meeting of the American Academy of Religion, March 2005.
Book reviews and other writings:
- Natalie Ring’s The Problem South in Journal of Southern Religion (forthcoming 2013).
- “UIM International” in Baker Handbook of Denominations and Ministries, forthcoming
2013.
- Lee Willis’ Southern Prohibition in Florida Historical Quarterly 91 (fall 2012): 273-5.
- Bruce Stewart’s Moonshiners and Prohibitionists in The Journal of Southern History 78
(August 2012): 748-9.
- Mark Noll’s God and Race in American Politics in Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta
Studies 42 (April 2011): 58-9.
- Kent Dollar’s Soldiers of the Cross in Religious Studies Review 32 (July 2006): 206.
- Religion in the Contemporary South in Religious Studies Review 32 (January 2006): 55-56.
- Eugene Genovese’s A Consuming Fire in Koinonia 12 (fall 2000).
- Daniel W. Stowell’s Rebuilding Zion in Koinonia 12 (fall 2000).
- John Wigger’s Taking Heaven by Storm in Wesleyan Theological Journal 34 (spring 1999).
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2008 – present
Lecturer at Baylor University, teaching survey courses such as “The
Christian Heritage” and “The Christian Scriptures” as well as upper-level
courses such as “Church History,” “New Religious Movements,” “Christian
Missions,” and the Religion Department’s Senior Seminar.
2006 – 2008
Assistant adjunct professor at Samford University, teaching “Biblical
Perspectives,” a Bible survey course, and “Cultural Perspectives,” an
interdisciplinary course for freshmen.
2007
Adjunct professor at University of St. Francis extension program, teaching
“Religion in America.”
2005 – 2006
Instructor at Jefferson State Community College, teaching New Testament
survey courses as well as American History and Western Civilization courses.
2005
Adjunct instructor at Bessemer State College, teaching “Ethics and
Society.”
1998 – 2000
Teaching Fellow at Princeton Theological Seminary for Church History
survey courses, covering the early church through the present.
1995 – 1997
Colloquy Leader at Candler School of Theology for “History of Christian
Thought” courses.
TEACHING COMPETENCIES
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American church history
Survey of church history, patristic through modern periods
New Religious Movements
Christian missions: history and theory
Survey of Old and New Testaments
Baptist history
Religion in the American South
History of Christian worship
Ethics and society