The Portal to Texas History 2023 Research Fellowship Awardee

Benjamin J. Young

Project Title

Suburbs of Zion: Evangelicals and the Making of the Metropolitan South, 1940–2000

Project Description

Young’s dissertation focuses on born-again Protestants in the post-World War II South, tracing how they adapted to, leveraged, and networked between the region’s emerging metropolitan landscapes to become a leading force in American life in the late twentieth century. By situating southern evangelicalism’s evolution and ascent within the rapid growth of southern metropolises like Houston, Atlanta, and the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, this project casts new light on the historical relationships between suburbanization, capitalism, conservatism, race, and religious experience.

Biography

Benjamin J. Young is a PhD candidate in the Department of History at the University of Notre Dame and a 2024–2025 Distinguished Graduate Fellow at the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. His principal research interests lie at the intersections of religion, political economy, and metropolitan development in modern American history. His work has appeared in venues like Cold War History, Modern American History, The Metropole, and The Washington Post. Before coming to Notre Dame, he received his BA in History and Religion from Baylor University.