Rate My Professor John Turner

John Turner is Professor of Religious Studies and History and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at George Mason University. Specializing in American religion, including Mormonism and the history of colonial New England, he teaches and writes about the place of religion in American history. Turner joined the faculty at George Mason University in 2012, following his appointment at the University of South Alabama. He holds a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. His approach emphasizes archival research to resurrect the lives of historical figures from diverse cultures, explored in classrooms enriched by George Mason University's diverse student body, which fosters multifaceted perspectives on beliefs and practices that have shaped human history and contemporary societies.

Turner's research focuses on the history of religion in the United States, particularly Mormonism, evangelicalism, and seventeenth-century Puritanism. He is the author of several influential books: Joseph Smith: The Rise and Fall of an American Prophet (Yale University Press, 2025), They Knew They Were Pilgrims: Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty (Yale University Press, 2020), The Mormon Jesus: A Biography (Harvard University Press, 2016), Brigham Young: Pioneer Prophet (Harvard University Press, 2012), and Bill Bright and Campus Crusade for Christ: The Renewal of Evangelicalism in Postwar America (University of North Carolina Press, 2008). In 2016-2017, Turner received the Fenwick Fellowship from George Mason University Libraries as an associate professor, providing funding to acquire library materials, conduct a study trip to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and obtain archival scans from the United Kingdom for his research on English separatists, which formed the basis of his 2020 publication. He co-created the podcast Antisemitism, U.S.A. with colleagues and contributes to the American Religious Ecologies project at the Center for History and New Media, digitizing the 1926 Census of Religious Bodies.