Book Talk: Evangelicals and Environmentalism w/Neall Pogue

How did conservative evangelicals go from embracing environmental stewardship to opposing it? Join Dr. Neall Pogue, Assistant Professor of History at UAF, for a thought-provoking discussion of his book, The Nature of the Religious Right: The Struggle Between Conservative Evangelicals and the Environmental Movement (Cornell University Press, 2022).

Drawing from decades of research, Pogue unpacks how the religious right evolved from theologically rooted, eco-friendly philosophies into a political force often hostile toward environmental policy. His work explores the intersection of faith, politics, and environmentalism asking what happens when theology meets ideology, and what that means for our planet today.

Event: Book Talk: Evangelicals and Environmentalism w/Neall Pogue
Date: Thursday, November 13th, 2025
Time: 5pm-6pm
Location: BP Design Theatre
Zoom Option: https://alaska.zoom.us/j/86163157683

About the Author

Dr. Neall W. Pogue is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He specializes in environmental history, religion and ecology, and American political and cultural history.

Motivated by a deep compassion for the natural world, Pogue investigates how belief systems shape responses to environmental challenges. His acclaimed book, The Nature of the Religious Right, offers an intellectual history of the religious right's transformation illuminating the power of rhetoric, theology, and political expediency in shaping environmental attitudes.

Praise for The Nature of the Religious Right

Stellar. Pogue draws on an impressive range of archival and secondary sources to advance a highly nuanced and provocative argument. 
Darren Dochuk, University of Notre Dame

Well written, carefully argued, and based on meticulous historical scholarship.
Susannah Crockford, University of Exeter, Journal of Religion

Exactly what is needed right now to help repair the schism between pro- and anti-environmentalists.
David F. Garner, Spectrum Magazine

About the UAF Department of History

The UAF Department of History explores the human past to better understand the present and inform the future. Faculty and students engage with diverse global and regional perspectives from Alaska and the Arctic to the wider world through rigorous research, critical analysis, and storytelling. Courses cover environmental history, religion and politics, Indigenous studies, world civilizations, and more, preparing students to think deeply about the forces that shape societies and ecosystems.

If you would like to support the UAF Department of History and events like this one, visit uaf.edu/history/give-to-history.php to learn how.