Russell Kirk’s Wisdom on Leisure, Work and How Christians Can Best Impact Society

Protestant evangelicals are one of the largest and most influential groups in the United States. Evangelicals are known for participating in international adoptions, volunteering in local churches and a host of philanthropic organizations, and mostly for political activism. Despite all of these activities, evangelicals have not changed American culture. Seth Bartee will offer an explanation and explore how evangelicals think about work and missions. Building on the work of conservative historian Russell Kirk, Bartee will make provocative suggestions for ways in which evangelicals can change culture without making direct political overtures.

Seth Bartee earned his Ph.D. in Intellectual History from Virginia Tech in 2014. Bartee's dissertation. "Imagination Movers: The Creation of Conservative Counter-Narratives in Reaction to Consensus Liberalism," is a consideration of the conservative movement from 1953 until 2010. In 2018, he will publish a chapter in a collection of essays titled The Resurgent Right to be published by Oxford University Press. He teaches History at  East Tennessee State University.  Since 2014, Bartee has served as a Visiting Scholar at The Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal.