Eric Stephen

Eric Stephen is an Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida’s School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies with a courtesy appointment in Religious Studies. He holds a PhD in Religion from Harvard University and a JD from Yale Law School. His research focuses on the intersection of religion, law, and secularism in American history, particularly how legal frameworks shape religious identity and vice versa. Key projects include analyzing late 19th-century secularism’s legal roots and modern religious activism’s influence on Supreme Court cases like Hobby Lobby and Kennedy v. Bremerton.

Education includes a BA from Wesleyan University (2013), MTS from Harvard Divinity School (2016), and dual PhD/JD degrees from Harvard and Yale (2023). He teaches courses on constitutional law, law and politics, and religion-sexuality intersections.

Research interests span American legal history, Gilded Age freethought movements, and the Free Exercise/Establishment Clauses. His work bridges religious studies, political science, and legal theory, with publications in journals like American Religion Journal and International Journal of Sport and Religion.

He has received prestigious awards including the Yale Law School Legal History Fellowship and the John L. Loeb Research Fellowship. Professional service includes roles as a Founding Editor of the Yale Journal of Law & Liberation and Co-Chair of the AAR Secularism & Secularity Unit.

Teaching spans constitutional law, religious pluralism, and bioethics, with experience at Yale Law School, Harvard, and Wesleyan. His skills include statistical analysis (Stata/R-Studio), GIS mapping, and multilingual proficiency in Spanish and German.