Steven Foertsch
Sociology of Religion
Education
M.A., Sociology, Baylor University, 2022
M.A., Sociology, The New School for Social Research, 2020
B.A., History and Sociology, Assumption College, 2017
Biography
Steven Foertsch is an award-winning doctoral candidate in the sociology of religion program at Baylor University and research assistant at the Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR). After receiving his bachelor's degree in history and sociology, he went on to complete his master's degree in sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York, NY focusing on political sociology. Since then, he has earned a master’s degree in sociology from Baylor University with an emphasis on quantitative methods and the sociology of religion.
From experiences ranging from AmeriCorps to the United Nations, Steven focuses on the sociology of ideology and its generation. He has conducted a variety of studies to research these belief systems, ranging from Transhumanism, Mahāyāna Buddhism, organizational Satanism, QAnon, and contemporary Christofascism.
With this background, Steven is looking forward to continuing his research into ideology, intersections of belief, social and political philosophy, emerging and New Age religious groups, political economy, deviance, and pluralism. Upon graduation from Baylor, Steven aspires to attain a research, teaching, or policy role to expand his knowledge further.
You can read some of Steven's publications here: https://philpeople.org/profiles/steven-foertsch
Recent Publications
Foertsch, Steven, Rudra Chakraborty, and Paul Joosse. 2024. “Asymmetric Conflation: QAnon and the Political Cooptation of Religion.” Politics and Religion 17(1): 58-80.
Foertsch, Steven. 2024. “A Book Review of Graeber, David, and Wengrow, David: The Dawn of Everything.” Humanity and Society 48(1): 100-102.
Melton, J. Gordon, Ferguson, Todd, and Steven Foertsch. 2023. “The Others: Finding and Counting America’s Invisible Churches.” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 62(4): 901-912.
Foertsch, Steven. 2023. “Metamodernity, American Transcendentalism and Transhumanism in Japanese Anime.” Anime, Philosophy, and Religion. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press.
Foertsch, Steven and Christopher M. Pieper. 2023. “A Social History of Christofascism.” Routledge International Handbook of Sociology and Christianity. Oxfordshire, UK: Routledge.
Jang, Sung Joon, Foertsch, Steven, Johnson, Byron R., Ozbay, Ozden, and Fatma Takmaz Demire. 2023. “Religiosity and Deviance among College Students in Turkiye: A Test of Ascetic Theory.” Deviant Behavior 49(9): 1334-1348.
Foertsch, Steven. 2023. “Michael L. Mickler, The Unification Church Movement. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022, 82 pp.” Journal of Daesoon Thought and the Religions of East Asia 3(1): 161-163.