Kenneth Draper, PhD

My writing and research has focused on understanding the place of religion in late 19th- and early 20th-century Canada. This is a period which has been characterized as both a period of religious doubt and decline and a period of religious revival and growth. What seems to be happening is a reorientation of the place of religion from a vector of public identity to that of individual and private self-identity. Thus, in public, religious discourse becomes muted, while lay-led movements and practices develop wide followings that move outside of historic denominational boundaries. This leads to a more individualized, privatized experience of religion. Recently, teaching Public History has inspired an interest in the role of memory, particularly when it challenges dominant or national histories.

Current Project

Christian and Missionary Alliance Oral History Project

Conference Presentations

“Higher time, Memory and Canadian History,” Christian Education in a Secular Age Conference, Briercrest College and Seminary, 2021.
“Memory Storming the Boundaries of History: Memory, Time and Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” Western Regional Conference on Faith and History, 2019
“Memory and Place in High River” Presentation at the Conference on Faith and History, Regent University, Virginia Beach, 2016
“Becoming Christian in History Class.” Presentation at the Conference on Faith and History, George Fox University, Newberg, OR, October 7, 2010.
“Denominational History in a Post-Denominational Age.” Presentation at the Conference on Faith and History, George Fox University, Newberg, OR, October 7, 2010.