Brian C. Wilson


Brian C. Wilson is a professor of American religious history in the Department of World Religions and Cultures at Western Michigan University. His teaching and research address American religious history, new religious movements, religion in the Midwest, and theory and method in the academic study of religion.
In 2019, Wilson received Western Michigan University’s Distinguished Faculty Scholar Award.

Early life and education

Wilson is a native of Santa Clara, California. He earned a B.S. in Medical Microbiology from Stanford University. After three years in the Peace Corps, he completed an M.A. in Hispanic Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, followed by an M.A. and Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Academic career

Wilson joined the faculty of Western Michigan University in 1996. He served as chair of WMU’s Department of Comparative Religion from Summer 2001 to Fall 2007 and again from Fall 2008 to Fall 2010.

Research and publications

Wilson’s scholarship includes work on religion in the American Midwest, spiritual biography, and the historical intersections of religion, medicine, and culture. His books on figures associated with Michigan’s religious and cultural history include studies of John Harvey Kellogg and John Fetzer; the latter has been reviewed in venues such as Reading Religion.

Selected works

Books

*

Edited volumes

*

Awards and honors