Shelby King
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
While completing her doctoral program at the University of California, Santa Barbara, King examined American religious history and cultural studies with a focus on religion, politics, and popular culture in the Cold War era; theory and method in religious studies; and new religious movements. Her research employs archival and primary source materials, along with insights from the history of religions, critical theory, phenomenology, and sociology, to examine the entanglement of secrecy and religion in American political and cultural history. King has taught courses on the history of religions in America, new religious movements, and material religion, as well as a broad range of thematic courses covering religion's intersections with American politics, race and resistance, violence, conspiracy theories, and magic.
Recent Courses Taught
Bad Religion
Reorienting American Religious History
Research Interests
American religious history, secrecy and conspiracy in Cold War America, religion and government, theories of genders and sexualities
Distinctions
- Philip E. Hammond Memorial Award (Sociology of Religion; Religion & Government Studies), UC Santa Barbara, 2019
- W. Richard Comstock Award (Religion & Culture), UC Santa Barbara, 2018
Selected Publications
- "Behold—the Storm Cometh!: Prophecy, Revelation, and QAnon's Great Disappointment," Journal of Religion and Violence (forthcoming)
- "A 'Shadow Takes Form': Brainwashing and Government Religion in the Cold War," Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions (May 2026, forthcoming)
Professional Affiliations
American Academy of Religion
UCSB Center for Cold War Studies & International History
Appointed to the Faculty
2026Educational Background
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
M.A., University of California, Santa Barbara
B.A., Texas State University, San Marcos
