James K. Wellman Jr. is Professor and Chair of the Comparative Religion Program in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington. His areas of expertise are in American religious culture, history, and politics. He also works on religion and global issues, particularly related to religion, violence and human security.

Wellman’s publications include an award-winning book, The Gold Coast Church and the Ghetto: Christ and Culture in Mainline Protestantism (Illinois, 1999); edited volumes: Belief and Bloodshed: Religion and Violence Across Time and Tradition (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007), and Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective (Oxford University Press, 2012). His 2008 monograph, Evangelical vs. Liberal: The Clash of Christian Cultures in the Pacific Northwest (Oxford University Press), received Honorable Mention for the Distinguished Book Award by the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion. He recently published, Rob Bell and the New American Christianity, (Abingdon, 2012). His forthcoming book, High on God: How the Megachurch Conquered America, will be published with Oxford University Press in 2017. Wellman can be followed on twitter at wellman4444, and reached on his author Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/JamesKWellman. He is now a regular blogger for Patheos.com and can be read at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/jameswellman/.