Harvard Club of Washington, DC

Professor Catherine Brekus A.B. '85, Distinguished American Religious Historian

“America as a Chosen Nation” is the subject of Professor Brekus' talk to the Harvard Club. This program is being held in conjunction with the Harvard Divinity School's Bicentennial celebration.
 

This program will begin with drinks and dinner.

Members and their guests-$45.

Nonmembers-$45. (We hope to encourage you to join the HCW by introducing ourselves via this wonderful program.)
 

Catherine Brekus
Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America
Professor Brekus will deliver a lecture on "America as a Chosen Nation."
                

Education

    AB, Harvard University
    PhD, Yale University
 

Profile

Catherine Brekus is Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America at Harvard Divinity School and in the Department of American Studies. She graduated from Harvard University with a BA in the history and literature of England and America, and she holds a PhD in American Studies from Yale University. Before coming to Harvard she taught at the University of Chicago Divinity School, where she was Professor of the History of Christianity and Religions in America. She was also an Associate Member of the University of Chicago's Department of History and an affiliate of the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality.

Her research focuses on the relationship between religion and American culture, with particular emphasis on the history of women, gender, Christianity, and the evangelical movement. Her current interests include the religious history of American exceptionalism and the relationship of Christianity, capitalism, and consumerism in the United States.

She is the author of many articles and books, including Strangers and Pilgrims: Female Preaching in America, 1740-1845, which explores the rise of female preaching during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, and Sarah Osborn’s World: The Rise of Evangelicalism in Early America, which argues that the evangelical movement emerged in dialogue with the Enlightenment. Brekus is also the editor of The Religious History of American Women: Reimagining the Past, a collection of essays that asks how women's history changes our understanding of American religion, and the co-editor (with W. Clark Gilpin) of American Christianities: A History of Dominance and Diversity, an introduction to the multiple forms of Christian expression in the United States.

Brekus has received several awards, including a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a Henry Luce III Faculty Fellowship in Theology, and a Pew Faculty Fellowship in Religion and American History. Her book Strangers and Pilgrims won the Brewer Prize from the American Society of Church History, and Sarah Osborn's World won the Aldersgate Prize from Indiana Wesleyan University and the Albert C. Outler Prize from the American Society of Church History. She is a Distinguished Lecturer for the Organization of American Historians. In 2014–15 she was named the HDS Outstanding Teacher of the Year.

Selected publications

Classic Poached Salmon in Court Bouillon 
Garnished with cucumber, dill sauce on the side
Chicken Milanese
With Arugula, endive, frisee and grape tomatoes tossed with lemon vinaigrette
Tri-Color Orzo with Quinoa
Sautéed kale with roasted sweet potatoes and dried cranberries
Freshly Baked Sweets
Sliced Fruit