Matthew D. Taylor, Ph.D.
Senior Christian Scholar
Matthew D. Taylor is the senior Christian scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies in Baltimore, where he specializes in American Christianity, American Islam, Christian extremism, and religious politics. His new book, The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening Our Democracy (Broadleaf, 2024), tracks how a loose network of charismatic Christian leaders called the New Apostolic Reformation was a major instigating force for the January 6th Insurrection and is currently reshaping the culture of the religious right in the U.S. He is also the author of Scripture People: Salafi Muslims in Evangelical Christians’ America (Cambridge, 2023). Taylor holds a PhD in religious studies and Muslim-Christian relations from Georgetown University and an MA in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He also serves as an associate fellow at the Center for Peace Diplomacy in New Orleans, where he works on preventing religion-related violence surrounding U.S. elections.
EXPERTISE
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
SELECTED PRESENTATIONS
- Muslim-Christian Relations
- Comparative Religion
- Evangelicalism and Pentecostalism
- Salafism in the U.S.
- Christian Nationalism
- Interreligious Encounter
Books
The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That is Threatening Our Democracy (Broadleaf Books—2024)
Scripture People: Salafi Muslims in Evangelical Christians’ America (Cambridge University Press—2023)
Articles
The Second Coming of Donald Trump, The New Humanist, Feb. 13, 2025.
Once a Beneficent King Cyrus, Trump has Lately been cast as a Biblical Avenger, Religion News Service, Nov. 1, 2024.
Christian Nationalism Gone Global, The Revealer, Oct. 1, 2024
America’s Spiritual Warriors, Liberty Magazine, September/October 2024
How ‘Left Behind’ Got Left Behind, The Bulwark, Sept. 26, 2024
Jesus Among the Antichrists, Sojourners, August 2024.
Trump Prophets are in a Frenzy After Assassination Attempts, Politico, July 21, 2024.
What the Appeal to Heaven Flag Really Means, The Bulwark, June 20, 2024
How Trumpism has Pushed a Fringe Charismatic Theology into the Mainstream, Religion News Service, May 6, 2024
The peril radicalizing some evangelicals goes beyond Christian nationalism, Religion News Service, April 4, 2024
Mike Johnson Is Mainstreaming the Spirituality that Gave Us the Capitol Riot, The Bulwark, Feb. 6, 2024
The Key to Mike Johnson’s Christian Extremism Is Hanging Outside His Office, co-authored with Bradley Onishi, Rolling Stone, Nov. 10, 2023
Mike Johnson, Polite Extremist, The Bulwark, Oct. 30, 2023
Roger Stone and the Key to Trump’s Evangelical Support, The Bulwark, May 31, 2023
Evidence Strongly Suggests Trump Was Collaborating with Christian Nationalist Leaders Before January 6th, co-authored with Bradley Onishi, Religion Dispatches, Jan. 6, 2023
“Dabru Emet’s Imagined Future: Doing Eschatology with an Interreligious Sensitivity” (online forum) American Religion
Book Reviews
An American Biblical Orientalism: The Construction of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Nineteenth-Century American Evangelical Piety by David D. Grafton for Dialog: A Journal of Theology (September 2020)
Sacrifice in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam by David L. Weddle (NYU Press, 2017) for Reading Religion: A Publication of the American Academy of Religion (January 2019)
Why I Am a Salafi by Michael Muhammad Knight (Soft Skull Press, 2015) for the American Journal of Islam and Society, Vol. 35, no. 2 (Spring 2018)
Invited Lecture: “January 6, the 2024 Election, and the Ongoing Radicalization of American Evangelicalism” for the Religious Studies Department at Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA (March 5, 2025)
“The Ascendant Independent Charismatics of the American (and Global?) Religious Right” virtual presentation at the Endangerment of Democracy and Religion –
International Perspectives Conference – Katholische Akademie Berlin (Feb 25, 2025)
Invited Panelist: “Remaining Vigilant: What to Watch for in the Days Ahead” at the 2024 Election Postmortem Conference for University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN (Dec. 7.2024)
“Pressing beyond the ‘White Christian Nationalism’ Framework: Latino/a Christian Trump Advisers and Apostolic Christian Internationalism” at American Academy of Religion conference (San Diego, CA)
“From the 10/40 Window to January 6th: How Evangelical Spiritual Warfare Violence Shaped the Capitol Riot” at American Academy of Religion conference, San Diego, CA (Nov. 24, 2024)
Invited Lecture: “Has Evangelical Christianity Become a Threat to American Democracy?” at Westmont College, Montecito, CA (Nov. 21, 2024)
Invited Workshop: “Render Unto Caesar: Preaching the Gospel from the Cultural Margins” for the University of Southern California’s Center for Religion and Civic Culture, Los Angeles, CA (Nov. 20, 2024)
Keynote Lecture: “Religious Expression and Christian Nationalism: Our Current Politics through a Long-running Constitutional Debate” for Towson University — Constitution Day, Towson, MD (Sept. 17, 2024)
Invited Lecture: “Christian Nationalism, the Capitol Riot, and the Growing Threat to American Pluralism” for Towson University — Osher Lifelong Learning Program, Towson, MD (June 12, 2024)
“The MAGA Martyrdom of Sean Feucht and the Apotheosis of Covid- Superspreader Defiance” at American Academy of Religion conference, San Antonio, TX, (Nov. 20, 2024)
Invited Respondent: “White Christian Nationalism and Its Intersections” for Public Religion Research Institute special session, San Antonio, TX, (Nov. 18, 2023)
Lecture: “Christian Nationalism and the Capitol Riot” for Harvard University, Global Studies Outreach Workshop: Religious Nationalism in a Global Context, (July 31, 2023)
Guest Lecture: “The Capitol Riot, Christian Nationalism, and the American Legal System” for Law and Judicial System seminar at Towson University (Towson, MD)
“Transborder Networks of Christian Internationalism: American ‘Christian Nationalism’ and the Global Apostolic and Prophetic Movement” at Georgetown University – Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and Global Affairs (March 2023)
“Shofars and a Messianic Rabbi at the Capitol Riot? American Christian Nationalism’s Jewish Edge” at the American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, TX (November 2021)
“‘We are going to rule and reign through Trump and under the lordship of Jesus Christ’ – A Stereotype-defying, Immigrant, Christian Nationalist Pastor at the January DC Protests” at the American Academy of Religion, San Antonio, TX (November 2021)
“Between Saudi Authenticity and American Integration: Post-Salafi Shaykhs Straddle National and International Identities” at the British International Studies Association (June 2021)
“Reformed Theology’s Reasons for (and Hesitation about) Interreligious Dialogue” for The Reformed Institute of Metropolitan Washington, Washington, DC (June 2021)
“Engaging Evangelical Christians in Interfaith Dialogue” at the Sisterhood of Salaam Shalom National Conference, Doylestown, PA (November 2019)
“Common-sense Idioms in a Shared Environment: Why do Salafis in America sound so much like Evangelical Christians?” at the North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies, Boston, MA (September 2019)
“White Supremacy, Christian Theology, and the Rising Violence against Jews and Muslims” for Hadassah of Greater Baltimore (May 2019)
“Evangelical Christianity, American Politics, and the State of Israel” for the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation – Interfaith Institute (March 2019)
The Violent Take It By Force: Book launch with Matt Taylor
2024-09-25ICJS Protestant Scholar Matthew D. Taylor has emerged as one of the nation’s preeminent experts on Christian nationalism. In this new book, he pulls back the curtain on the New Apostolic Reformation, a little-known movement of independent Charismatic Christians who see themselves as engaging in spiritual warfare on a massive scale against demonic forces. Matt’s unprecedented access to the NAR movement’s leaders, archives, internal conference calls, and correspondence provides an insider account of the connection between charismatic evangelicalism and hard-right rhetoric. The book makes a compelling case that when people long to conquer a nation for God, democracy can be brought to the brink. Tom Hall, host of WYPR’s Midday show, will moderate. Note: Seating is limited. This event will not be livestreamed, but a video will be posted on the ICJS website shortly afterward.
Christian Nationalism (Un)defined
2024-02-21In the past few years, Christian nationalism has surged to become a powerful force and a major topic in American politics. But even as the conversation about Christian nationalism has proliferated, there are raging debates about how to define it and understand its impact on American politics. This minicourse will try to understand these debates while not taking our eyes away from the peril of Christian nationalism.
Select Publications and Presentations
The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement that is Threatening our Democracy
In this new book, Matthew D. Taylor pulls back the curtain on the New Apostolic Reformation, a little-known movement of independent Charismatic Christians who see themselves as engaging in spiritual warfare on a massive scale against demonic forces.
READ MORECharismatic Revival Fury: The New Apostolic Reformation
Podcast series that details how networks of extremist Christian leaders helped instigate the January 6th Insurrection.
READ MOREMatt Taylor in the News
A collection of articles on Christian nationalism quoting Matt Taylor
READ MORE