The John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis has named Abram Van Engen its next director, effective July 1. Along with the appointment, he also will be a professor of religion and politics.
Van Engen is the Stanley Elkin Professor in the Humanities and is chair of the Department of English in Arts & Sciences.
Van Engen will assume full directorship of the center beginning with the 2026-27 academic year. During the 2025-26 year, he will lead alongside Mark Valeri, outgoing director and the Reverend Priscilla Wood Neaves Distinguished Professor of Religion and Politics, to ensure an effective transition.
Van Engen has published widely on religion and literature, focusing especially on 17th-century Puritans and the way they have been remembered and remade in American culture. His books include “Sympathetic Puritans: Calvinist Fellow Feeling in Early New England” (Oxford University Press, 2015), “City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism” (Yale University Press, 2020) and “Word Made Fresh: An Invitation to Poetry for the Church,” published last year.
Read more about Van Engen’s appointment on the Religion and Politics website.
