Chris Beneke

Chris Beneke

  • Professor and Associate Dean of First Year Experience and the Bentley Core, History
  • Affiliated Scholar, Faith and Liberty Discovery Center
  • Series Editor, Bloomsbury Publishing
  • Editorial Board Member, Fides et Historia
  • Associate Dean
  • Director
  • Ph.D. Northwestern University
  • B.A. in Independent Major in American Civilization, Cornell University

Teaching Interests

Falcon Discovery Seminar ("Truth, Lies, and Democracy"); Baseball as American History; The History of American Sports; The American Revolution; American Thought; The American Religious Experience; The Early Republic; Colonial North America

Research Interests

American Religious History; History of Religious Toleration; Baseball and American History; American Intellectual History; Colonial North America; History of Integration in the United States; History of Education in the United States

Professional Memberships

  • Colonial Society of Massachusetts 2011-01-01 - Present
  • Conference on Faith and History 2010-06-01 - Present
  • American Historical Assocation 2019-11-23 - 2020-11-23

    • Awards and Honors

  • Top 25 Academic Title, Choice Magazine
  • Outstanding Scholarly Contribution Award, Bentley University

    • Scholarly Contributions and Creative Productions

    Journal Articles

  • Aylesworth, A. B., Beneke, C. J., Betts, R., Carter, N. C., Dove, S., Moriarty, J. (2022). 7 Hard-Earned Lessons From a Curriculum Makeover. Chronicle of Higher Education
  • Harris, T., Beneke, C., Kaplan, B., Brake, W., Haefeli, E. (2022). A European Turn in Early American History? A Discussion of Evan Haefeli’s Accidental Pluralism: America and the Religious Politics of English Expansion, 1497–1662. Journal of Early American History, (12) Issue 1 (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2021). A European Turn in Early American History?: A Discussion of Evan Haefeli's Accidental Pluralism: America and the Religious Politics of English Expansion, 1497-1662. Early American History 18-Nov. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2015). The Myth of American Religious Coercion. Common-place (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2015). When Blasphemy Goes Viral. The New Republic (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). What Kind of Prejudice was Anti-Mormonism?. Mormon Studies Review Vol. 2 75-85.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). Is Religion Losing Ground to Sports?. Washington Post (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). Why Kids Are Losing Interest in Baseball. The Atlantic (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). Why Republicans and Academics Need Each Other. The Chronicle of Higher Education (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J., Fea, J. (2012). The New Religious Test. Philadelphia Inquirer (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J., Stephens, R. J. (2012). Lies the Debunkers Told Me: How Bad History Books Win Us Over. The Atlantic (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and the Most Racially Divisive Position in Sports. Huffington Post (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). "Not by Force or Violence”: Religious Violence, Anti-Catholicism, and Rights of Conscience in the Early National U.S.. Journal of Church and State, (54) 1 May-32. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2011). War's Providence (Essay Review). Fides et Historia November
  • Beneke, C., Grenda, C. (2011). Introduction. The First Prejudice: Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Early America (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). The Free Market and the Founders' Approach to Church-State Relations. Journal of Church and State, (52) 2 323-352. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2009). America's Whiggish Religious Revolution: An Instance in the Progress of History. Historically Speaking, (10) 3 31-35. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2008). The Critical Turn: Jonathan Mayhew, the British Empire, and the Idea of Resistance in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Boston. Massachusetts Historical Review, (10) 23-56. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2006). "Mingle with Us": Religious Integration in Eighteenth and Nineteenth-Century American Education. American Educational History Journal, (33) 1 29-37.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2005). The New, New Political History. Reviews in American History, (33) 3 314-324. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2003). Economy of Faith. Reviews in American History, (31) 4 528-537. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2001). America's Liberal Education. Reviews in American History, (29) 3 338-345. (Link)

    • Books

  • Beneke, C. J. (2024). Free Exercise: Religion, the First Amendment, and the Making of America 270. New York: Oxford University Press (Forthcoming)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2015). The Lively Experiment: Religious Toleration in America from Roger Williams to the Present Rowman & Littlefield (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). Profane: Sacrilegious Expression in a Multicultural Age 365. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press (Link)
  • Beneke, C., Grenda, C. (2011). The first prejudice: Religious tolerance and intolerance in early America University of Pennsylvania Press
  • Beneke, C. J., Grenda, C. S. (2010). The First Prejudice: Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Early America 416. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2008). Beyond Toleration: The Religious Origins of American Pluralism 304. New York: Oxford University Press (Link)
  • Beneke, C. (2006). Beyond Toleration: The Religious Origins of American Pluralism Oxford University Press (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (). Free Exercise: The First Amendment and America's Moderate Religious Revolution (Forthcoming)

    • Book Chapters

  • Beneke, C. J. (2019). The Historical Context of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment The Cambridge Companion to the First Amendment and Religious Liberty. Cambridge University Press (Link)
  • Beneke, C. (2019). The Historical Context of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment . Cambridge University Press (Link)
  • Grenda, C., Beneke, C., Nash, D. (2014). Introduction: On the modern confluence of blasphemy, free expression, and hate speech . University of California Press (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). Humankind will be your Business: The Study of the Past and the Future of Business Education The Future of Business Education. Palgrave
  • Beneke, C. (2011). The "catholic spirit prevailing in our country": America's moderate religious revolution . University of Pennsylvania Press
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). The ‚ÄòCatholic spirit prevailing in our country‚Äô: America‚Äôs Moderate Religious Revolution The First Prejudice: Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Early America. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). Liberty and Civility: What Benjamin Franklin and George Washington Taught Us About Religious Peace How to Achieve a Heaven on Earth. Pelican Publishing
  • Beneke, C. J. (2009). The Idea of Integration in the Age of Horace Mann Inequity in Education: A Historical Perspective. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books (Link)

    • Digital and Electronic Media, Social Media, Blogs, Podcasts

  • 2023. "The Daily Podcast"
  • 2022. "New York Times"
  • 2019. "Chronicle of Higher Education"
  • 2018. "Washington Post"
  • 2015. "Interview with Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship Podcast"
  • 2015. "Interview with Marginalia: An LA Review of Books Channel"
  • 2014. "Interview"
  • 2012. "Research on Religion (podcast)"
  • 2011. "Religion in American Life (blog)"

    • Presentations

  • Dove, S., Beneke, C. J. (2023). “Charting a Course for Change: How a Change Management Methodology Can Support Large-Scale Curricular Innovation” Presented at the Educause Annual Conference Chicago, IL
  • Kelley, E., Szymanski, D. W., Beneke, C. J., Folchman-Wagner, Z. (2023). “First year seminars & life-Long learning: How do we assess a core value?” Presented at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) Conference on General Education, Pedagogy and Assessments Virtual and New Orleans, LA (hybrid meeting)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2022). “Chair/Discussant” Presented at the New England Historical Association Fall Conference Bentley University
  • Beneke, C. J. (2021). “Consensus and Congestion: Early Republican Protestants Navigating Church, State, and Corporations” Presented at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual Meeting Virtual
  • Beneke, C. J. (2020). “Women and Religious Liberty in Early America” Presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting New York City
  • Beneke, C. J. (2019). “Invited comment on Brent Sirota paper "The Consecration of Samuel Seabury and the Crisis of Atlantic Episcopacy, 1782-1807"” Presented at the Massachusetts Historical Society Early American History Seminar
  • Beneke, C. J. (2018). “A Freedom to Exercise Religion: The Accidental Origins of a Constitutional Right” Presented at the Office of the Provost Constitution Day Southern Adventist University
  • Beneke, C. J. (2016). “Civil Evasions: Slavery, the Founders, and Rules of Religious Tolerance”
  • Beneke, C. J. (2016). “The Puritan Dilemma” Presented at the Society for United States Intellectual History Annual Meeting Stanford
  • Beneke, C. J. (2015). “What Did Religious Liberty Mean for Early American Women?” Presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting New York City
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). “What is Free Exercise to the Slave?: The Case of the Missing Liberty” Presented at the Lecture presented at the Lawrence H. Gipson Institute, Lehigh University
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). “Free Exercise: The First Amendment, the Founders, and the Meaning of Religious Tolerance”
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). “The Myth of American Religious Coercion: Paradoxes of Establishment in the Early Republic” Presented at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual Meeting Philadelphia
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). “The Rise of African American Religion” Presented at the African American History Month Lecture Trinity Christian University
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). “The Specter of Irreligion and the Character of Early National Rights” Presented at the American Political Science Association Annual Meeting Chicago
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). “Tom Paine‚Äôs Return: Free Exercise, Free Enquiry, and the Fate of Irreligious Expression in the New Nation” Presented at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual Meeting St. Louis
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). “Everlasting Choice: The Un-Secular Path of American Religious Rights” Presented at the Radcliffe College, Harvard University Radcliffe Institute Seminar on Comparative Secularization
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). “Tom Paine‚Äôs Return: Free Exercise, Free Enquiry, and the Fate of Irreligious Expression in the New Nation” Presented at the Center for American Politics at Harvard University SPRING 2013 CAPS SEMINAR SERIES Harvard University
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). “Paine's Return: Free Exercise, Free Expression and the Fate of Irreligion in the New Nation” Presented at the Boston American Religious History Seminar Monthly Seminar Boston University
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). “Religion, the Constitution, and the Presidential Religious Test” Presented at the Northwood University Forum for Citizenship and Enterprise Lecture Midland, Michigan
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). “Teaching American Religious History” Presented at the Boston College Conference on American Religious History Biennial Conference: Concluding Symposium Boston College
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). “Comment. ‚ÄúPeople of God? The Role of Political Hebraism in America,‚Äù” Presented at the Southern Political Science Association Annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association New Orleans
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). “Interviewed by Professor Anthony Gill for Research on Religion (podcast)”
  • Beneke, C. J. (2011). “Comment. ‚ÄúBefore the Know-Nothings: Anti-Catholicism in the Early Republic,‚Äù” Presented at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual meeting of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Philadelphia
  • Beneke, C. J. (2011). “Religious Violence and Religious Liberty in the Early National United States” Presented at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting Boston
  • Beneke, C. J. (2011). “Religious Intolerance in America (or Religious Intoleration in America)” Presented at the American Society of Church History Roundtable on Religious Intolerance in America Boston
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). “Comment on ‚ÄúConsidering Religious Liberty: Theological Conflict, Legal Transformations, International Context‚Äù” Presented at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Annual Meeting of the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). “The First Amendment‚Äôs Religious Clauses as Historical Event and Sociological Fact” Presented at the The Historical Society Biennial Meeting of The Historical Society Washington D.C.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). “Comment on ‚Äú(Re)Interpreting the Bible in Early American Culture‚Äù” Presented at the Organization of American Historians Annual Meeting of the Organization of American Historians Washington D.C.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). “‚ÄòNot by Force or Violence‚Äô: The (Relative) Absence of Religious Violence and the American Founding” Presented at the George Washington Forum Making Democracy: Violence, Politics, and the American Founding Ohio University (Athens, Ohio)

    • Reviews

  • Beneke, C. (2020). Review of The Third Disestablishment: Church, State, and American Culture, 1940-1975. 741-743.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2019). Review of Pulpit and Nation: Clergymen and the Politics of Revolutionary America by Spencer W. McBride, and: John Witherspoon's American Revolution by Gideon Mailer. , (39) 1 159-163. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2018). Review of Kenneth C. Barnes, Anti-Catholicism in Arkansas: How Politicians, the Press, the Klan, and Religious Leaders Imagined an Enemy, 1910–1960. , (105) 1 199-200. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2017). Review of Robert Emmett Curran, ed., Intestine Enemies: Catholics in Protestant America, 1605–1791, A Documentary History. , (35) 3 105-107. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2015). Review of Separation of Frank Lambert, Church and State: Founding Principle of Religious Liberty. , (57) 4 786-788. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). Defending American Religious Neutrality. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2014). The Farmers’ Game: Baseball in Rural America.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty. , (82) 4 978-. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2013). Review of The Spice of Popery: Converging Christianities on an Early American Frontier. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). Review of The Accidental Revolutionary: George Whitefield and the Creation of America. , (74) 4 845-846.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2012). From Jamestown to Jefferson: The Evolution of Religious Freedom in Virginia. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2011). The Myth of American Religious Freedom by David Sehat. , (2011) Summer
  • Beneke, C. J. (2010). Religious Intolerance in America: A Documentary History by John Corrigan and Lynn S. Neal. , (XII) (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2009). Preaching Politics: The Religious Rhetoric of George Whitefield and the Founding of a New Nation by Jerome Dean Mahaffey. , (2) 135-137. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2009). Religion in American Politics: A Short History by Frank Lambert; and Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen. , (75) 3 2. (Link)
  • Beneke, C. J. (2009). The Colonial American Origins of Modern Democratic Thought.
  • Beneke, C. J. (2002). Natives and Newcomers: The Cultural Origins of North America by James Axtell.

    • Service

    Service: Department

  • Committee Member for Dylan Gottlieb Tenure Committee 2024-11-01 - Present
  • Committee Member for Co-chair, Department Promotion Evaluation Committee 2019-04-01 - 2019-09-30
  • for Department Webmaster 2007-09-01 - 2016-10-31
  • Committee Chair for Minors Coordinator 2005-09-01 - 2006-05-31

    • Service: Public

  • Officer, Secretary for Friends of Reading Baseball 2018-11-01 - Present
  • Board Member for Reading Babe Ruth 2018-01-01 - Present
  • Board Member for Reading Little League 2015-09-01 - 2018-08-31
  • Committee Member for Cub Scout Pack 733 2012-09-01 - 2015-09-30
  • Officer, Treasurer for Waltham Partnership for Youth 2009-01-01 - 2015-06-30
  • Board Member for Waltham Partnership for Youth 2007-09-01 - 2015-06-30
  • Board Member for Waltham Family School 2007-01-01 - 2013-07-31

    • Service: Professional

  • Committee Member for Dissertation Committee, College of William and Mary 2017-09-01 - 2018-05-31
  • Fellowship Review Panelist for National Endowment for the Humanities 2017-07-01 - 2017-07-31
  • Editor, Book Series for Bloomsbury Publishing (formerly Lexington Books), Religion in American History 2016-05-01 - Present
  • Committee Member for Steering Committee, Spectacle of Toleration Conference and Regional Programming 2012-06-01 - 2013-10-31
  • Committee Member for Long-term Fellowship Review Committee, Massachusetts Historical Society 2012-04-01 - 2012-04-30
  • Editorial Review Board Member for Fides et Historia 2010-09-01 - Present
  • Board of Directors for The Historical Society 2008-01-01 - 2014-06-30
  • Editorial Review Board Member for Journal of The Historical Society 2006-09-01 - 2014-12-31

    • Service: Ph.D. Advising

  • Committee Member 2017/01 - 2017/03
  • Independent Study Advisor 2012/03 - 2013/03

    • Service: University

  • Task Force Member for Micro credentials Task Force 2024-12-01 - Present
  • Committee Member for Context & Perspectives Review Committee 2024-10-01 - Present
  • Student Organization Advisor for Falcon Baseball Club 2024-10-01 - Present
  • Committee Member for Associate Dean for Wellbeing and Bentley Plus Search Committee 2024-10-01 - 2024-12-31
  • Committee Member for Falcon Discovery Seminar FirstGen Connect AIG 2024-05-01 - Present
  • Committee Member for Cronin Awards Committee - Present
  • University Senate for Faculty Senate 2022-09-01 - 2022-12-31
  • Committee Member for Cronin Advising Award Committee 2023-04-01 - Present
  • Committee Member for Curriculum Communication Committee 2022-01-01 - 2022-04-30
  • Committee Member for Faculty Advisory Group for Registrar Search 2022-01-01 - 2022-01-31
  • Committee Chair for Promotion and Tenure Committee 2021-07-01 - 2022-07-31
  • Task Force Chair for Task Force 5 2021-04-01 - 2022-07-31
  • Task Force Member for NECHE Accreditation Team 2020-12-01 - 2021-04-30
  • Committee Member for LMS Evaluation--Administrative Group 2021-01-01 - 2021-03-31
  • Task Force Chair for Task Force 4 2019-12-01 - 2021-05-31
  • Task Force Member for Ad-Hoc Group to Provide a Bridge to Bentley for HS Grads 2020-05-01 - 2020-05-31
  • Committee Member for Promotion and Tenure Committee 2019-07-01 - 2022-07-31
  • Committee Member for Promotion Evaluation Committee, Philosophy Department Candidate 2019-03-01 - 2019-09-30
  • Committee Member for Dean of Business Search Committee 2018-05-01 - 2019-03-31
  • for Undergraduate Curriculum Advisory Group 2018-01-01 - 2018-08-31
  • Coordinator for American Studies LSM 2013-11-01 - 2022-02-28
  • Mentor (Faculty) for First-Year Advisor 2014-08-01 - 2015-07-31
  • Committee Member for ATC/Library Director Search Committee 2014-03-01 - 2014-04-30
  • Committee Member for Promotion and Tenure Committee 2013-08-01 - 2016-07-31
  • for Impact Blog 2012-08-01 - 2013-08-31
  • Task Force Member for Shared Governance Task Force 2012-03-01 - 2012-12-31
  • Task Force Member for NEASC Accreditation Team 2012-01-01 - 2012-04-30
  • Committee Member for Center for Women in Business 2011-10-01 - 2012-04-30
  • Committee Member for EQUIS Task Force 2010-07-01 - 2011-05-31
  • Committee Member for Academic Advising Advisory Board 2010-01-01 - 2010-05-31
  • Committee Member for Faculty Database (Digital Measures) Faculty Advisory Committee 2010-01-01 - 2010-05-31
  • for Wilder (Teaching) Professors Steering Committee 2009-09-01 - 2010-05-31
  • Committee Member for Spiritual Life Advisory Board 2009-01-01 - 2012-02-28
  • Committee Member for Dean of Arts and Sciences Search Committee 2009-06-01 - 2010-04-30
  • Committee Member for Hoffman (ethics) Prize Committee 2008-04-01 - 2011-04-30
  • Committee Member for Honor’s Council Advisory Board 2008-01-01 - 2010-05-31
  • Committee Member for President’s Inaugural Planning Committee 2007-09-01 - 2008-05-31
  • Mentor (Faculty) for Bentley chapter of STAND, student anti-genocide network 2006-09-01 - 2011-09-30
  • Committee Member for Academic Integrity Advisory Council 2006-09-01 - 2010-05-31
  • Committee Member for Research Committee 2006-09-01 - 2010-05-31
  • Committee Member for Faculty Senate Planning Committee 2006-09-01 - 2008-05-31
  • University Senate for Faculty Senate 2005-09-01 - 2008-05-31
  • Committee Member for Curriculum Committee 2005-09-01 - 2006-05-31
  • Committee Member for Academic Integrity Board 2004-09-01 - 2008-05-31
  • Committee Member for Student Affairs Committee 2004-09-01 - 2005-05-31
  • Committee Member for Class Book Committee 2002-09-01 - 2008-05-31