About

Donald Earl Miller

Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion and Professor of Religion and Sociology

Contact Information
E-mail: demiller@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-0278
Office: ACB 130

LINKS
Curriculum Vitae
Faculty Profile on Departmental Website
 

Biographical Sketch
Donald E. Miller, Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. Donald Miller is the Executive Director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC as well as a professor of religion and sociology. He is the author/editor of nine books, including Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (University of California Press, 2007), Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation (Rutgers University Press, 2008), Armenia: Portraits of Survival and Hope (University of California Press, 2003), GenX Religion (Routledge, 2000), Reinventing American Protestantism (University of California Press, 1997), Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide (University of California Press, 1993), Homeless Families: The Struggle for Dignity (University of Illinois Press, 1993), Writing and Research in Religious Studies (Prentice Hall, 1992), and The Case for Liberal Christianity (Harper & Row, 1981). Currently Professor Miller is involved in several research projects in Rwanda dealing with the experience of survivors of the 1994 genocide. In addition, he is overseeing a Templeton Foundation research initiative on Global Pentecostalism. He is married to Lorna Miller, Director of the Office for Creative Connections at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. They have two children, Arpi, a doctoral student in sociology at UCLA, and Shont, an attorney, living in Seattle.
 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History
Executive Director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture, 01/01/1996-  
Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1993-  
Director, School of Religion, University of Southern California, 2003-2008  
Associate Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1981-01/01/1993  
Visiting Scholar, Cambridge University, 01/01/1981-01/01/1982  
Assistant Professor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1975-01/01/1981  
Visiting Scholar, Cambridge University, 01/01/1978-01/01/1979  
Instructor, University of Southern California, 01/01/1972-01/01/1975  
 

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Miller is a sociologist of religion with interest in global religious trends, new patterns of religious practice, and innovative organizational responses to cultural change. In addition, he has done extensive research on genocide, including oral history projects on the Armenian genocide that occurred in 1915 and the Rwandan genocide in 1994.
 

Research Keywords
religion and social change, Pentecostalism, genocide, violence, faith-based movements, global religious trends
 

Research Specialties
Religious trends, genocide, oral history, religious ethnography,Pentecostalism
 

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions
Center for Religion and Civic Culture,http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/religion_online/index.html
 

Multimedia Scholarship and Creative Works
Photo-essay, "Politics of the Spirit: Portraits of Faith and Community in Los Angeles" (Introduction by Donald E. Miller; Photographs by Jerry Berndt). 160 pp., 1997-1998   
 

Honors and Awards
Endowed Professorship, Leonard Firestone Professorship in Religion, 1/1/1996-  
President, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2005-2006  
USC Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award, 2002  
 
 
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