Ronald B. Neal is an Associate Professor of Religion in the Department for the Study of Religions at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC. Professor Neal is the author of Democracy in 21st Century America: Race, Class, Religion, and Region (Mercer University Press) and Beyond Death and Jail: Anti-Blackness, Black Masculinity, and the Demonic Imagination (Lexington Books). His teaching and research are in the areas of African American Religious History and Culture, critical theories of religion, religion and politics, gender studies in religion, and religion and popular culture.
Ph.D. Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, Religion, Ethics, and Culture, 2004
M.Div. Interdenominational Theological Center/Atlanta, GA, 1998
B.A. Florida International University, Miami, Fl, Anthropology/Sociology, 1995
PUBLICATIONS
Book
Democracy in 21st Century America: Race, Class, Religion, and Region, Mercer University Press, 2012
Book Chapters
It’s Deeper Than Rap: Hip Hop, the South, and Abrahamic Masculinity,forthcoming essay in Ain’t I a Womanist Too!: Third Wave Womanist Thought. Fortress Press, 2012
Race, Class, and the Traumatic Legacy of Southern Masculinity, forthcoming chapter in Southern Silences. Peter Lang Publishers, 2012
Book Reviews
Erotic Revolutionaries: Black Women, Sexuality, and Popular Culture, Shayne Lee, Journal of African American Studies, June 2012
Representations of Homosexuality: Black Liberation Theology and Cultural Criticism, Roger A. Sneed, Black Theology: An International Journal, Equinox Publishers August, 2012
Cornel West and the Politics of Prophetic Pragmatism, Mark David Wood, The A.M.E. Church Review, April-June 2003
Articles
Savior of the Race: The Messianic Burdens of Black Masculinity, Brill Journal/Exchange, (forthcoming, 2013
When the Demons Speak!: A Response to Roger A. Sneed’s Representations of Homosexuality: Black Liberation Theology and Cultural Criticism, Black Theology: An International Journal Equinox Publishers (forthcoming, 2012)
Beyond Fundamentalism: Reconstructing African American Religious Thought, an article published in the Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion, July 2010
Man Up: Hip, Religion, Masculine Work, an article published in the Journal of Black Masculinity, September 2011
Democracy, Difference, and Reconstruction: Religion, Theology, and the Spirit of Pragmatism, article published inReligion Compass Journal, November 2011
Engaging Abrahamic Masculinity: Race, Religion, and the Measure of Manhood, article published in CrossCurrents Journal, December 2011
Essays
RIP: The Myth of the Black Church, Religion Dispatches, March 18, 2010, www.religiondispatches.org
Did Progressive Christianity Dump Its Savior in Brad Braxton?, Religion Dispatches, July 20, 2009, www.religiondispatches.org
Papers/Presentations/Panels
When Demons Speak: Black Theology, Cultural Criticism, and the Voices of Demonized Black Men, a paper delivered at the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion. It was a part of a session sponsored by the Black Theology Group: Invisible Lives: A Critical Conversation on Roger A. Sneed’s Representations of Homosexuality: Black Liberation Theology and Cultural Criticism, November 20, 2011.
Spike Lee Can Go to Hell: Tyler Perry, Religion, and Southern Masculinity, a paper delivered at the Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association in Baltimore, Maryland, October 20, 2011.
Diasporas and Cultures of Migration, Universite Paul Valery Montpellier 3 Salle Camproux, Session Chair for “Masculinities” section, June 20-23 2011, Montpellier, France
Masculine Work: Engaging Hip Hop, Masculinity, and Religion, A public lecture delivered at Wake Forest University, Sponsored by the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, January 27, 2011
Coptic Studies Conference, respondent to papers on The Future of Coptic Studies: Theories, Methodologies, and Subjects, Wake Forest University, September 17, 2010
Pedagogy and Hope: Teaching Race, Religion, and Politics in an Obama Era Classroom, a paper delivered at the Center for Teaching and Scholarly Excellence, Hofstra University, Hempstead, NY, March 17, 2010
It’s Deeper Than Rap: Hip Hop, Masculinity, and Religion, a paper delivered at Ain’t I a Womanist Too: Third Wave Womanist Religious Thought Conference, Claremont School of Theology, Claremont California, February 25-27, 2010
Daring to Dream Again: Ethical Idealism and 21st Century America, a public lecture delivered at the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies at Davidson College, Davidson, NC, October 29, 2008.
The New Jim Crow and the Reconstruction of Christian Ethics, a paper delivered at the Society for the Study of Black Religion, March 6-8 2008, Charleston, SC
The Dilemmas of Spirit Possession and Jesus Consciousness in the African-American Religious Experience, a paper delivered at the Charles Copher Faculty Lectures, in honor of Dr. Riggins R. Earl, Jr., the Interdenominational Theological Center, April 26, 2006
Teaching Religion in South Carolina, a paper delivered at the Southeastern Conference for the Study of Religion, March 11, 2006, Atlanta, GA
In the Image of Jim Crow: Public Education in 21st Century America and the Public Witness of Benjamin Elijah Mays, a paper delivered at the Southeastern Conference for the Study of Religion, March 10, 2005, Winston-Salem, NC
- REL 101: Introduction to Religion
- REL 345: African-American Religious Experience
- REL 373: Special Topics in African-American Religious Traditions
- REL 374: Black Messiahs and Uncle Toms
- REL 375: Race, Myth, and the American Imagination
- REL 376: Race, Religion, and Film.