# Stephen Prothero

Stephen Richard Prothero (/ˈproʊðəroʊ/; born November 13, 1960) is an American scholar of religion. He is the C. Allyn and Elizabeth V. Russell Professor Emeritus of Religion in America at Boston University and the author or editor of eleven books on religion in the United States, including the New York Times bestseller Religious Literacy.
He has commented on religion of National Public Radio programs and on television on CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, MSNBC, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report. He was the chief editorial consultant for the six-hour WGBH television series God in America and he served as a consultant on American religious history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. A regular contributor to USA Today, he has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Salon, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal. His books have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Ukrainian.
Prothero has argued for mandatory public-school biblical literacy courses (along the lines of the Bible Literacy Project's The Bible and Its Influence), along with mandatory courses on world religions. He delivered the William Belden Noble Lectures at Harvard University on November 18–20, 2008, on the topic: “The Work of Doing Nothing: Wandering as Practice and Play." On the matter of his own personal beliefs, Prothero describes himself as "religiously confused".

## Early life and education

Prothero was born in Cooperstown, New York, on 13 November 1960, the son of "Dr. and Mrs. S. Richard Prothero". He was the valedictorian of his Barnstable High School class in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in June 1978. In June 1982 he received his B.A. in American Studies from Yale College, summa cum laude and with distinction. In 1986 he received his M.A. in Study of Religion at Harvard University. On 25 April 1990 he completed his Ph.D. there on Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) and the construction of "Protestant Buddhism." His supervisor was Professor William R. Hutchison.

## Books

* God the Bestseller: How One Editor Transformed American Religion a Book at a Time (2023, ISBN 978-0-06-246404-0)
* Religion Matters: An Introduction to the World's Religions (2020, ISBN 978-0-39-342204-7)
* Why Liberals Win The Culture Wars (Even When They Lose Elections) (2016, ISBN 978-0-06-157129-9)
* The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation (2012, ISBN 978-0-06-212343-5)
* God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World—and Why Their Differences Matter (2010, ISBN 978-0-06-157127-5)
* Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—and Doesn't (2007, ISBN 0-06-084670-4)
* A Nation of Religions: The Politics of Pluralism in Multireligious America (2006, ISBN 0-8078-5770-X)
* American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon (2003, ISBN 0-374-52956-6)
* Purified by Fire: A History of Cremation in America (2001, ISBN 0-520-23688-2)
* Asian Religions in America: A Documentary History, co-edited with Thomas A. Tweed (1998, ISBN 978-0-19-511339-6)
* The White Buddhist: The Asian Odyssey of Henry Steel Olcott (1996, ISBN 0-520-23688-2)

## Personal life

Prothero is married to the environmental journalist Meera Subramanian.