Dr. Phillip Luke Sinitiere Professor of History Ph.D., University of

Dr. Phillip Luke Sinitiere

Professor of History

• Ph.D., University of Houston (History), May 2009

• M.A., Sam Houston State University (History), May 2001

• B.A., Sam Houston State University (History), December 1999

Bio

Dr. Phillip Luke Sinitiere is Professor of History at CBS. A long-time Houston resident

who grew up in Humble, Dr. Sinitiere holds degrees from Sam Houston State University

(B.A., M.A., History) and the University of Houston (Ph.D., History).

Dr. Sinitiere’s research interests include American religious history, world history,

African American religion, and religion in world history. His books, articles, and essays

have covered topics on American evangelicalism, Christianity in world history, and race

in American religion.

At both the high school and college levels, Dr. Sinitiere has taught classes in American

history, world history, European history, religion in the modern civil rights movement,

religion in America, history of Islam, historical memory, global Christianity, world

religions, modern America, and speech communications. In recognition of his teaching

and service at Second Baptist School, Dr. Sinitiere was a State Finalist for the Preserve

America/Gilder Lehrman History Teacher of the Year Award (2008) and won the Joseph

B. Whitehead Educator of Distinction Award (2008). At Sam Houston State University, he

received a NAACP Faculty Freedom Fighter Award (2009). At CBS, his efforts towards the

college’s strategic planning process garnered a Cross-Functional Team Research Award

(2013).

During 2010-2011, Dr. Sinitiere participated in the prestigious Seminars @ Calvin

program at Calvin College. In 2010, “The Power of Race in American Religion,” led by

Michael Emerson (Rice University), examined the dynamics of race and inequality in

American religious history. In 2011, “Congregations and Social Change,” led by Gerardo

Marti (Davidson College), considered how congregations’ impact American religious

culture. In 2013, Dr. Sinitiere served as the Scholar in Residence at the African American

Library at the Gregory School, located in Houston’s Fourth Ward. Co-sponsored by the

Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning at Rice University, Dr.

Sinitiere’s research fellowship focused on W. E. B Du Bois and the Civil Rights Movement

in Texas. In 2015, he participated in the Summer Workshop on African American Texas

History (SWATH), sponsored by Texas Southern University.

Outside of the classroom, Dr. Sinitiere organized a public forum on behalf of Sudanese

refugees, which included a teacher training workshop on African history (2006). He

delivered the keynote address at the SHSU-NAACP annual banquet (2010). He lectured

on W. E. B. Du Bois at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst (2009) and at Greater

Zion Missionary Baptist Church’s Black History Month services (2009, 2010). He also

participated in SHSU’s Hispanic Outreach Initiative as a discussion leader for the

Encuentro Film Series (2010). At CBS, Dr. Sinitiere co-led the Faculty Book Club (2012).

At CBS, Dr. Sinitiere teaches courses on Western Civilization, the history of Christianity,

Humanities, and African American religious history.

For Dr. Sinitiere’s personal webpage, click here. Contact Dr. Sinitiere by

email: phil.sin[email protected]

Publications

Books

• Holy Mavericks: Evangelical Innovators and America’s Spiritual Marketplace (NYU

Press, 2009), co-authored with Shayne Lee.

•Protest and Propaganda: W. E. B. Du Bois, The Crisis, and American History (University

of Missouri Press, 2013), co-edited with Amy Helene Kirschke.

•Christians and the Color Line: Race and Religion After Divided by Faith (Oxford

University Press, 2013), co-edited with J. Russell Hawkins.

•Salvation with a Smile: Joel Osteen, Lakewood Church, and American Christianity (NYU

Press, 2015).

•James Baldwin: God's Black Revolutionary Mouth, Library of African American

Biography (Rowman & Littlefield, under contract; 2017 publication date expected)

Articles and Essays

• “Catholic Evangelicals and Ancient Christianity,” in Vatican II Forty Years Later:

Envisioning the Church of the Future, ed. William Madges (Orbis, 2006), 340-367.

•“Of Borders and Boundaries: World History, World Christianity, and the Pedagogy of

Religion,” World History Bulletin 23/1 (Spring 2007): 7-14.

•“From the Oasis of Love to Your Best Life Now: A Brief History of Lakewood

Church,” Houston History 8/3 (Summer 2011): 2-9.

•“Of Faith and Fiction: Teaching W. E. B. Du Bois and Religion,” The History Teacher 45/3

(May 2012): 421-436.

•“Preaching the Good News Glad: Joel Osteen’s Tel-e-vangelism,” in Global and Local

Televangelism, eds. Pradip Ninian Thomas and Philip Lee (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012),

87-107.

•“A Legacy of Scholarship and Struggle’: W. E. B. Du Bois and the Political Affairs of His

Twilight Years,” Political Affairs (Summer 2013).

•“Will the Evangelical Church Remove the Color Line?: Historical Reflection on Divided

by Faith,” Christian Scholar’s Review XLIII/1 (Fall 2013): 41-63.

•“Introduction” (co-authored with J. Russell Hawkins), in Christians and the Color Line:

Race and Religion After Divided by Faith, eds. J. Russell Hawkins and Phillip Luke

Sinitiere (Oxford University Press, 2013), 1-11.

•“W. E. B. Du Bois as Print Propagandist” (co-authored with Amy Helene Kirschke),

in Protest and Propaganda: W. E. B. Du Bois, The Crisis, and American History, eds. Amy

Helene Kirschke and Phillip Luke Sinitiere (University of Missouri Press, 2014), 28-48.

•“W. E. B. Du Bois’s Prophetic Propaganda: Religion and The Crisis, 1910-1934,” in

Protest and Propaganda: W. E. B. Du Bois, The Crisis, and American History, eds. Amy

Helene Kirschke and Phillip Luke Sinitiere (University of Missouri Press, 2014), 190-207.

•“Epilogue” (co-authored with Amy Helene Kirschke), in Protest and Propaganda: W. E.

B. Du Bois, The Crisis, and American History, eds. Amy Helene Kirschke and Phillip Luke

Sinitiere (University of Missouri Press, 2014), 241-254.

•“Leadership for Democracy and Peace: W. E. B. Du Bois’s Legacy as a Pan-African

Intellectual,” in Leadership in Colonial Africa: Disruption of Traditional Frameworks and

Patterns, ed. Baba J. Jallow (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 202-239.