(Charles) John Sommerville
Professor Emeritus

History Department
University of Florida
PO Box 117320
Gainesville, Florida 32611

3756 NW 28 Place
Gainesville, FL  32605

(352) 378-2808 (home)
jsommerv@history.ufl.edu

THE DECLINE OF THE SECULAR UNIVERSITY (New York: Oxford University, 2006)

HOW THE NEWS MAKES US DUMB: THE DEATH OF WISDOM IN AN INFORMATION SOCIETY (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1999), 155 pp.

Japanese, Indonesian and Thai translations of the above.

THE NEWS REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND: CULTURAL DYNAMICS OF DAILY INFORMATION (New York: Oxford, 1996), 197 pp.

THE SECULARIZATION OF EARLY MODERN ENGLAND; FROM RELIGIOUS CULTURE TO RELIGIOUS FAITH (New York: Oxford, 1992), 227 pp.

THE DISCOVERY OF CHILDHOOD IN PURITAN ENGLAND (Athens: University of Georgia, 1992), 211 pp.
Named by Choice as one of the Outstanding Academic Books of 1992.

THE RISE AND FALL OF CHILDHOOD (Beverly Hills and London: Sage, 1982), 254 pp.

Revised edition of the same, reprinted by Random House, 1990

BARNDOMMENS STORHED OG FALD (Copenhagen: Spektrum, 1992), Danish translation of the same.

GESCHIEDENIS VAN HET KIND (Hague: Fibula, 1992), Dutch translation of the same.

POPULAR RELIGION IN RESTORATION ENGLAND (Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1977), 152 pp.

"Post-Secularism, or Problematizing the Secular," forthcoming from Cambridge UP in the proceedings of a conference in New Zealand on The Future of Christianity in the West.

READER'S GUIDE TO BRITISH HISTORY, ed. David Loades (London: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2003). Contributed "Religion, history of: Secularization."

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF POLITICS AND RELIGION, ed. Robert Wuthnow (Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1998). Contributed "Secularization," pp. 678-681

CHINESE VIEWS OF CHILDHOOD, ed. Anne Behnke Kinney (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1995).Contributed Foreword.

BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF BRITISH RADICALS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY, eds. Richard Greaves and Robert Zaller (Brighton: Harvester, 1982-83). Contributed seven articles

THE FAMILY IN HISTORY; INTERDISCIPLINARY ESSAYS, eds. Theodore K. Rabb and Robert I. Rotberg (New York: Harper, 1973). Contributed the final essay, "Toward a History of Childhood and Youth," pp. 227-235

The same, reprinted by Octagon Books, 1976

"Christian Historiography? A Pragmatic Approach," FIDES ET HISTORIA, 35 (2003), 1-7.

"Post-secularism Marginalizes the University: A Rejoinder to Hollinger," CHURCH HISTORY, 71 (2002), 848-857.

"Stark's Age of Faith Argument and the Secularization of Things: A Commentary," SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION, 63 (2002), 361-372.

"How Daily News Dumbs Us Down," THE WORLD AND I (April, 2001), 64-69.

"Interpreting Seventeenth Century English Religion as Movements," CHURCH HISTORY, 69 (2000), 749-769.

"Resurrecting Religion in a New (Hermeneutical) Dimension," FIDES ET HISTORIA, 30 (1998), 21-30

"Secular Society/Religious Population: Our Tacit Rules for Using the Term 'Secularization,'" JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION, 37 (1998), 249-253

"Surfing the Coffeehouse," HISTORY TODAY, 47 (June, 1997), 8-10.

"Is Religion a Language Game? A Real-World Critique of the Cultural-Linguistic Theory," THEOLOGY TODAY, 51 (1995), pp. 594-599

"Defining Religion and the Present Supreme Court," JOURNAL OF LAW AND PUBLIC POLICY, 6 (1994), 167-180

"The Secularization Puzzle," HISTORY TODAY, 44 (October, 1994), 14-19.

"Why the News Makes Us Dumb," FIRST THINGS (opinion monthly), (October, 1991), 22-27.

"Debate: Religious Faith, Doubt and Atheism," PAST AND PRESENT, 128 (1990), pp. 152-155

"Puritan Humor, or Entertainment, for Children," ALBION, 21 (1989), pp. 227-247

"Anglican, Puritan, and Sectarian in Empirical Perspective," SOCIAL SCIENCE HISTORY, 13 (1989), pp. 109-135

"The Destruction of Religious Culture in Pre-Industrial England," JOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS HISTORY, 15 (1988), pp. 76-93

"Real Childhood or Real Life? Industrialization and Rich Children," STUDIES IN POPULAR CULTURE, 9 (1986), pp. 1-13

"The Religious Music of the 20th and 21st Centuries," RELIGION (University of Lancaster), 14 (1985), pp. 245-267

"The Distinction of Education and Indoctrination in England, 1549-1719," JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF IDEAS, 44 (1983), pp. 387-406

"Why Studying Children's Literature Isn't Fun Anymore," HISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY, 23 (1983), pp. 515-522.

"The Family Fights Back: Its Struggle with Religious Movements," FIDES ET HISTORIA, 15 (1982), pp. 6-23

"Breaking the Icon: The First Real Children in English Books," HISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY, 21 (1981), pp. 51-75

"The Anti-Puritan Work Ethic," JOURNAL OF BRITISH STUDIES, 20 (1981), pp. 70-81

"English Puritans and Children: A Social-Cultural Explanation," JOURNAL OF PSYCHOHISTORY, 6 (1978), pp. 113-137

"Religious Typologies and Popular Religion in Restoration England," CHURCH HISTORY, 45 (1976), pp. 1-10

"On the Distribution of Religious and Occult Literature in Seventeenth-Century England," THE LIBRARY (Oxford), 29 (1974), pp. 221-225

"Toward a History of Childhood and Youth," JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY, 3 (1972), pp. 439-447

"Conversion versus the Early Puritan Covenant of Grace," JOURNAL OF PRESBYTERIAN HISTORY, 44 (1966), pp. 178-197

University of Iowa, 1965-68, Ph.D. granted 1970.

Dissertation: "Popular Religious Literature in England, 1660-1711: A Content Analysis," Committee: Henry Horwitz, Rosalie Colie, Sidney Mead, Stow Persons, William Aydelotte.

University of Reading (England), 1961-62.

University of Kansas, 1956-61, 1962-63, B.A., M.A.

Stanford University, 1968-71 (instructor)

Who's Who in America, 2003
Senior Mentor in History, Pew Younger Scholars Mentoring Program, 2000-03
Senior Fellow, Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, fall 1996
Member, Institute for Advanced Study (Princeton), 1993-94
Fellow, Commonwealth Center for Literary and Cultural Change (Univ. of Virginia), spring, 1994 (declined)
Earhart Foundation Research Grants, summer 1996, 1998, 2000
U. of Florida Research Development Awards, summer 1985, 1989
U. of Florida Humanities Council Grants, summer 1974, 1978
One of six designated President's Scholars at UF, 1977
American Philosophical Society travel grant, 1974
Clark Library seminar fellowship, U.C.L.A., summer 1973
NDEA-IV fellowship, University of Iowa, 1966-67
Exchange scholarship to Univ. of Reading (Eng.), 1961-62

Harvard University, Center for the Study of World Religions
Princeton University
Princeton University, Davis Center for Historical Research
Institute for Advanced Study
University of Virgina
University of Otago, New Zealand
Rutgers University, Center for Historical Analysis
Princeton Theological Seminary
Cambridge University
Oxford University
London University, Institute for Historical Research
Baylor University
American Historical Association (3)
Southern Historical Association (2)
American Academy of Religion
American Society of Church History
Escuela Normal Victor Mercante, Villa Maria, Argentina
BBC Radio 3, 700 Club, NPR Morning Edition

WHAT WE MEAN BY "RELIGIOUS": THE LIMITS OF SECULARIZATION (book length,  completed)

AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW (9)
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY: A CURRENT BIBLIOGRAPHY (7)
JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY HISTORY
ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
CHURCH HISTORY (8)
HISTORY OF EDUCATION QUARTERLY
ALBION (4)
SCRIBLERIAN
JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF RELIGION
THE HISTORIAN
JOURNAL OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
FIRST THINGS
CHRISTIANITY AND LITERATURE
BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW
FIDES ET HISTORIA
BRITISH POLITICS GROUP NEWLETTER

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