Miller, Donald

Contact Information

Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion
Director, Center for Religion and Civic Culture
Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences
Office: ACB 130
Phone: (213) 740-8562
E-mail: demiller@usc.edu

Links
Curriculum Vitae

Education

• Ph.D. Social Ethics and Religion, University of Southern California, 1/1975
• M.A. Social Ethics and Religion, University of Southern California, 1/1972
• B.A. Psychology, University of Southern California, 1/1968

Background
Donald E. Miller, Firestone Professor of Religion at the University of Southern California. Donald Miller is the Executive Director of the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC as well as a professor of religion and sociology. He is the author/editor of nine books, including Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement (University of California Press, 2007), Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation (Rutgers University Press, 2008), Armenia: Portraits of Survival and Hope (University of California Press, 2003), GenX Religion (Routledge, 2000), Reinventing American Protestantism (University of California Press, 1997), Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide (University of California Press, 1993), Homeless Families: The Struggle for Dignity (University of Illinois Press, 1993), Writing and Research in Religious Studies (Prentice Hall, 1992), and The Case for Liberal Christianity (Harper & Row, 1981). Currently Professor Miller is involved in several research projects in Rwanda dealing with the experience of survivors of the 1994 genocide. In addition, he is overseeing a Templeton Foundation research initiative on Global Pentecostalism. He is married to Lorna Miller, Director of the Office for Creative Connections at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena. They have two children, Arpi, a doctoral student in sociology at UCLA, and Shont, an attorney, living in Seattle.

Description of Research
Summary Statement of Research Interests
Professor Miller is a sociologist of religion with interest in global religious trends, new patterns of religious practice, and innovative organizational responses to cultural change. In addition, he has done extensive research on genocide, including oral history projects on the Armenian genocide that occurred in 1915 and the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Currently he is overseeing a project on global Pentecostalism and charismatic Christianity that is based in 23 countries.

Research Keywords
religion and social change, Pentecostalism, genocide, violence, faith-based movements, global religious trends

Research Specialties
Religious trends, genocide, oral history, religious ethnography, Pentecostalism

Funded Research
Contracts and Grants Awarded

• Global Pentecostalism (Templeton (John) Foundation), Donald E. Miller, $7,000,000, 01/01/2009-12/31/2013  
• Cecil Murray Center for Community Development (California Community Foundation), Donald E. Miller, $150,000, 06/16/2010-06/15/2012  
• Cecil Murray Center for Community Engagement (Comerica Bank), Donald E. Miller, $25,000, 06/16/2010-06/15/2012  
• Assessment of African American Clergy (Liberty Hill Foundation), Donald E. Miller, $10,000, 05/19/2010-12/31/2010  
• Gang Violence Intervention (California Endowment), Donald E. Miller, Cecil Murray, $493,419, 09/01/2008-08/31/2010  
• American Muslim Civic Leaders Initiative (Ford Foundation), Donald E. Miller, $200,000, 07/01/2008-06/30/2010  
• Post 1992 Civic Role of Religion (Haynes Foundation), Donald E. Miller, Richard Flory, $197,941, 07/01/2008-06/30/2010  
• American Muslim Civic Leaders Initiative (Carnegie Foundation), Donald E Miller, $50,000, 10/01/2007-06/30/2010  
• Leadership Development in the Afician American Community: (Irvine Foundation), Donald Miller, Cecil Murray, $600,000, 12/18/2007-02/18/2010

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions

• Center for Religion and Civic Culture, Executive Director, http://www.usc.edu/dept/LAS/religion_online/index.html

Publications
Book

• Miller, D. E. Healing, Forgiveness and Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda.
• Miller, D. E., Sargeant, K., Flory, R. Spirit and Power: The Global Impact of Pentecostalism. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Flory, R., Miller, D. E. (2008). Finding Faith: The Spiritual Quest of the Post-Boomer Generation. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Miller, D. E. (2007). Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
• Miller, D. E., Miller, L. T. (2003). Armenia: Portraits of Survival and Hope. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
• Flory, R., Miller, D. E. (2000). Gen X Religion. New York: Routledge.
• Miller, D. E. (1997). Reinventing American Protestantism: Christianity in the New Millennium. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
• Miller, D. E., Miller, L. T. (1993). Survivors: An Oral History of the Armenian Genocide. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
• Seltser, B. J., Miller, D. E. (1993). Homeless Families: The Struggle for Dignity. Ilinois, Indiana: University of Illinois Press.
• Miller, D. E., Selster, B. J. (1992). Writing and Research in Religious Studies. Prentice-Hall.
• Miller, D. E. (1981). The Case for Liberal Christianity. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.

Book Chapter

• Miller, D. E. (2011). Civil Society and Religion. Oxford Handbook on Civil Society pp. 257-269. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Journal Article

• Miller, D. E. (2007). Progressive Pentecostals: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 46 (4), pp. 435-445.

Research Report

• Flory, R., Loskota, B., Miller, D. E. (2011). Forging a New Moral and Political Agenda: The Civic Role of Religion in Los Angeles, 1992-2010.

Multimedia Schoalrship and Creative Works

• Photo-essay, "Orphans of the Rwanda Genocide" (Text by Donald Miller; photographs by Jerry Berndt). 80 pages, 2004-2005   
• Photo-essay, "Immigrant Religion in the City of the Angels" (Text by Donald E. Miller, Jon Miller, Grace Dyrness; Photographs by Jerry Berndt). 48 pages., 2001-2002   
• Photo-essay, "Politics of the Spirit: Portraits of Faith and Community in Los Angeles" (Introduction by Donald E. Miller; Photographs by Jerry Berndt). 160 pp., 1997-1998   
• Photo-essay, "Armenia: Portraits of Survival" (Text by Donald E Miller; photographs by Jerry Berndt). 46 pages., 1994-1995

Honors and Awards   

• USC Endowed Professorship, Leonard Firestone Professorship in Religion, 1/1/1996-  
• President, Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, 2005-2006  
• USC Raubenheimer Outstanding Senior Faculty Award, 2002