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David Morgan

Professor of Religious Studies
Religious Studies
Box 90964, Durham, NC 27708-0964
Department of Religious Studies, Durham, NC 27708

Research Interests


An interest in the material culture of enchantment led Morgan to explore the role that images play in practices of enchantment in everyday life, and culminated in Images at Work, which was published by Oxford University Press in 2018.

The Thing about Religion: An Introduction to the Material Study of Religion, will be published by the University of North Carolina Press in 2021.

Selected Grants


Material Religion: State of the Art

ConferencePrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Henry Luce Foundation, Inc. · 2015 - 2015

Fellowships, Gifts, and Supported Research


Research & Travel Grant · 2004 - 2005 Awarded by: Stichting Porticus, Amsterdam for research project entitled "Visual Religion: The Intercultural Role of Images in the Modern History of Christian Missions”
NEH Humanities Fellowship · 2001 - 2002 Awarded by: National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue a project entitled “A History of the Religious Tract in Nineteenth-Century America”
Postdoctoral Fellowship in the History of Art and Humanities · 1996 - 1997 Awarded by: J. Paul Getty for research on the book project entitled Protestants and Pictures
Pew Postdoctoral Fellowship in Religion and American History · 1994 - 1995 Awarded by: Yale University to support research on Protestants and Pictures