Dr. Chad Seales

Biography

Chad Seales is an Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies and the Brian F. Bolton Distinguished Professor of Secular Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He previously taught at the New College of Florida and George Mason University. Seales holds a B.A. from the University of Florida, a Master of Theological Studies from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and a Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research explores the cultural relationship between religion and secularism in American life. He is the editor of the Routledge Handbook of Religion and American Culture, published in 2025, and the author of several books, including 'Religion Around Bono: Evangelical Enchantment and Neoliberal Capitalism' and 'Secular Spectacle: Performing Religion in a Southern Town'. Seales has contributed articles and book chapters on topics such as religious comparison, food and religion, industrial religion, corporate chaplaincy, film and religion, and secularization in the United States. He currently serves as co-editor of the Iconologies book series at the University of Chicago Press.

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