David Edwin Harrell Jr. (February 22, 1930 – March 15, 2021)
was an American historian best known for his scholarship of
religion in the United States.
Harrell was born in
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the List of United States cities by area, largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the co ...
to parents David Edwin (a physician) and Mildred Lee Harrell (a homemaker).
He attended
David Lipscomb College as an undergraduate, and
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...
as a graduate student. He received a Ph.D. in 1962.
Harrell was a professor at
Auburn University, where he served as the Breeden Eminent Scholar of Southern History.
He retired in 2006.
He wrote biographies of
Oral Roberts
Granville Oral Roberts (January 24, 1918 – December 15, 2009) was an American Charismatic Christian televangelist, ordained in both the Pentecostal Holiness and United Methodist churches. He is considered one of the forerunners of t ...
,
Pat Robertson
Marion Gordon "Pat" Robertson (born March 22, 1930) is an American media mogul, religious broadcaster, political commentator, former presidential candidate, and former Southern Baptist minister. Robertson advocates a conservative Christian ...
, and
Homer Hailey, as well as other works about
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement and the
Charismatic movement.
In 2006, he published ''Unto a Good Land: A History of the American People'', a college textbook that discusses the effects of religion in the history of the United States.
Harrell died on March 15, 2021.
References
1930 births
2021 deaths
21st-century American historians
Vanderbilt University alumni
Lipscomb University alumni
Auburn University faculty
People from Nashville, Tennessee
People from Auburn, Alabama
Writers from Jacksonville, Florida
20th-century American historians
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American male writers
American male non-fiction writers
Historians from Tennessee
Historians from Alabama
Historians from Florida
American textbook writers
American historians of religion
American members of the Churches of Christ
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