Podcast

Sacred & Secular: UW’s Spiritual History | Dan Hummel

Dan Hummel February 20, 2023

Our producer Jesse Koopman, while normally on the other side of the production desk, in this episode sits down with regular host, Dan Hummel. As one of Upper House’s two resident historians and Director of University Engagement, Dan has been researching and recently published an essay* on  UW’s rich Spiritual History In this episode, Dan shares fresh insights that illustrate the fascinating story of the role of faith at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dan earned a B.A. and M.A. from Colorado State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He’s the author of two books on American religious history. The Rise and Fall of Dispensationalism: How the Evangelical Battle Over the End Times Shaped a Nation  & Covenant Brothers: Evangelicals, Jews, and U.S.-Israeli Relations. Born in California, Dan grew up in Germany as a “missionary kid,” and then in Colorado, and since 2010 has called Madison home. Dan and his wife, Veronica, stay busy raising three little boys.

*Some of the history touched on in this podcast is elaborated in The University of Wisconsin and the Ideal of Nonsectarianism: Organized Religion at a Flagship Public University, 1848-2023, a 70-page essay by historian Daniel G. Hummel. An illustrated print publication is available for free at Upper House.