About

William Schultz is an Assistant Professor of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School. His research focuses on the transformation of Colorado Springs from a resort town to a hub of military and evangelical activity. In his work, he explores how the city evolved into a network of evangelical megachurches, media outlets, and missionary groups, and examines the influence of military spending, charisma, and the myth of the American West on this development. Schultz's notable contribution includes his book, Jesus Springs: Evangelical Capitalism and the Fate of an American City, which outlines these historical transformations and their significance in the context of American religious and cultural history.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Philosophy
• History
• Theology
• Art
• Epistemology
• Art history
• Religious studies

Selected publications

• :<i>The Aliites: Race and Law in the Religions of Noble Drew Ali</i>

  History of Religions · 2023-02-01

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• :<i>The Church of Saint Thomas Paine: A Religious History of American Secularism</i>

  The Journal of Religion · 2023

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Religious studies
  • Theology
  PublisherDOI

• I Have Not Loved You With My Whole Heart by Cris Harris

  Oregon Historical Quarterly · 2022-06-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Reviewed by: I Have Not Loved You With My Whole Heart by Cris Harris William Schultz I HAVE NOT LOVED YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART by Cris Harris Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, 2021. Illustrations, maps, notes, index. 224 pages. $19.95 paper. "This is the first moment I realize that events of my life … can be utterly, entirely, completely lost, not to be recovered" (p. 3). So writes Cris Harris at the beginning of I Have Not Loved You With My Whole Heart, an affecting memoir that seeks to preserve things — people, moments, stories — which might otherwise be completely lost. The heart of this book is the relationship between Harris and his father, Renne Harris, an Episcopalian priest who was defrocked after coming out as gay and who died of HIV/AIDS in 1995. Other family members appear in the book, including Harris's mother and two siblings, but they are overshadowed by Renne, a volatile and complex man who was (as depicted by his son) at once hateful and lovable. Harris's childhood in the Pacific Northwest of the 1980s and 1990s was not an easy one, and it is sometimes a difficult story to read — not because of its style (the book is beautifully written) but because of the darkness of the subject matter. Renne was an abusive alcoholic who did not hesitate to strike his children: "He slapped us, pushed us, drummed a knuckle on the side of our heads. If the offense had been serious or the liquor powerful, he would beat us with his fists and feet, his belt swinging in one hand" (p. 54). Violence runs through the story like a red thread, from wasp stings to car accidents. More than a few chapters end with death — as does the book itself, with the death of Renne. Poverty is as omnipresent as violence. This is the story of a family declining from bohemianism to outright poverty. Stories of terrible food (oatmeal for breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and ramshackle vehicles (a car that stalls if it goes uphill) abound. Scholars of the Pacific Northwest will find in this memoir fascinating details of a region in transition. Most of the early chapters are set in the natural world: the forests and shorelines where Harris and his siblings grew up, feeding spider crabs and watching their parents eat fresh oysters by the light of a campfire. Later chapters recount life in a Portland that was not yet [End Page 222] gentrified: "Northwest Portland…. was funky Cinema 21 and the Gypsy and a fish market run by dour lesbians, microbreweries that looked and smelled like breweries, used bookstores, and dozens of tiny hole-in-the wall cafes" (p. 145). Harris chronicles this world with an affection that never sinks into nostalgia, and which does not neglect the realities of violence and deprivation. Few people would think of the Pacific Northwest as a particularly religious place, but this book is very attentive to matters of religion — unsurprisingly, given Renne's occupation. The early chapters follow the rhythms of church time, with Harris and his siblings serving as altar attendants in their father's church. This was religion at its most ritualistic, with services "solemn and ornamented, performed, vested, scripted, dressed up, formal in every sense" (p. 43). But this book is less about "churchly" religion than about how divine providence acts in everyday life. One of the most affecting chapters, "Found Money," relates how Harris and his family dealt with the occasional windfalls of money that came their way. Should the money be stashed in a bank account? Splurged on a rare luxury such as a meal at a restaurant? Given to a needy friend? This is religion not as theology but as a form of practical morality. Ultimately, I Have Not Loved You With My Whole Heart is about storytelling. It is impressionistic and episodic, an approach that occasionally has downsides: stories are sometimes repeated, and now and then it can be difficult to follow the chronology. But the elegance of its prose, the richness of its detail, and the pathos of its story more than offset these matters. This is a deeply moving memoir worth reading...

  PublisherDOI

• Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest. By Crawford Gribben. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. xiv + 210 pp. $29.95 cloth.

  Church History · 2022-06-01

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Survival and Resistance in Evangelical America: Christian Reconstruction in the Pacific Northwest. By Crawford Gribben. New York: Oxford University Press, 2021. xiv + 210 pp. $29.95 cloth. - Volume 91 Issue 2

  PublisherDOI

• 7. Bad Faith: Religious Fraud and Religious Freedom in the “Mighty I AM” Case

  University of Pennsylvania Press eBooks · 2021-12-31

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Epistemic violence, relativism, and objectivity

  Theory & Psychology · 2020 · 1 citations

  1st authorCorresponding
  • Sociology
  • Epistemology
  • Philosophy

  Held (2020) provides an admirable overview of the importance of and challenges associated with epistemic violence. However, likely due to length restraints, she did not attend to an important consideration related to her discussion of epistemic violence: that objective knowledge is not possible. The view that objective knowledge is not possible can be interpreted as a species of relativism. This commentary connects discussions of epistemic violence to an ancient argument against relativism, arguing that those concerned with epistemic violence ought to also be concerned with the potentially dangerous belief that relativism is true.

  PublisherDOI

• Progress in Contemporary Continental or Speculative Philosophy

  Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy · 2018-01-01

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding
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• Depression, Chemical Imbalances, and Feminism

  Journal of Feminist Family Therapy · 2016-10-01 · 10 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Academic and popular audiences have long thought that a “chemical imbalance” is a cause of depression. However, evidence strongly suggests this is not the case. Not only is there little evidence that a chemical imbalance causes depression, but isolating the causes of depression within the biology of individuals marginalizes the importance of psychological and social contributions to individuals’ and families experience of distress. The following review examines the history and evidence of the chemical imbalance hypothesis of depression and then suggests that feminist-informed theories of depression more comprehensively explain depression while avoiding marginalization of psychological and social factors.

  PublisherDOI

• The Chemical Imbalance Hypothesis: An Evaluation of the Evidence

  Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry · 2015-01-01 · 8 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Neuroessentialism: Theoretical and Clinical Considerations

  Journal of Humanistic Psychology · 2015-12-03 · 25 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Neuroessentialism is the view that the definitive way of explaining human psychological experience is by reference to the brain and its activity. This leads to the view that psychological disorders, such as depression, are fundamentally brain disorders. Neuroessentialism has grown increasingly popular for academic and public audiences. It has also attracted critics. This article describes neuroessentialism, the reasons for its rising prominence, and the theoretical and clinical concerns it raises. It connects these concerns to evidence from empirical studies that suggest that neuroessentialistic conceptualization of depression can have negative clinical impacts that need to be considered by mental health professionals.

  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Irving Yucheng Lo

  2 shared

• Annette Clairmont

  Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

  2 shared

• Gerhart U. Ryffel

  Essen University Hospital

  2 shared

• Christine A. Johnson

  Henry Ford Health System

  1 shared

• Sharon Shih-jiuan Hou

  1 shared

• Peter Eickelmann

  Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany)

  1 shared

• Helmut Sies

  Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

  1 shared

• Anne Boissière

  1 shared