Daniel J. Watkins

Areas of Specialization

Early Modern and Modern France, the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, Global Catholicism, Book History, Digital History

Education

Ph.D., The Ohio State University
M.A., University of Florida
B.A., University of Florida

Academic Interests & Research Narrative

My research focuses on religion, culture, and politics in early modern Europe. My first book, Berruyer’s Bible: Public Opinion and the Politics of Enlightenment Catholicism in France explores the unique ways that members of the Society of Jesus participated in and reacted to the intellectual debates of the French Enlightenment. I am currently working on two new research projects. The first is a digital history project on the role that missionary writings played in shaping European perceptions of the non-European world. The second is a monograph project on religion and emigration in the borderlands of eastern France during the French Revolution. I work with both archival and published sources and utilize the methodological frameworks of cultural history, social history, intellectual history, the history of the book, and digital history. I also research and write about pedagogy and issues in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Selected Publications

Books

Berruyer’s Bible: Public Opinion and the Politics of Enlightenment Catholicism in France. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021. 

Belief and Politics in Enlightenment France: Essays in Honor of Dale K. Van Kley (edited with Mita Choudhury), Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment 02:2019. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019. 

Articles

“Skepticism, Criticism, and the Making of the Catholic Enlightenment in France: Rethinking the Career of Jean Hardouin,” Journal of Jesuit Studies 6 (2019): 486-504.

“The Two Conversions of François de La Pillonnière: A Case Study of Rationalism and Religion in the Early Enlightenment.” Eighteenth-Century Thought 6 (2016): 33-58.

“Religion and Trade through Jesuit Eyes: Bringing Early Modern Central Asia into the World History Classroom.” World History Connected 10, no. 3 (2013). 

Essays

“A Suppression Revisited: Jansenism, Conservatism, and the Anti-Jesuit Ordinances of 1828.” In Belief and Politics in Enlightenment France, Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment 02:2019. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2019.

“An Enlightenment Bible in Catholic France: Isaac-Joseph Berruyer’s Histoire du peuple de Dieu (1728-1758)." In Vernacular Bibles in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era. Leuven: Peeters Press, 2017.

Selected Activities

Awards

• Baylor University College of Arts and Sciences Teaching Innovation Grant (2024)
• Elizabeth Vardaman Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduates (2024)
• Guittard Book Award for Historical Scholarship for Berruyer’s Bible (2022)
• Guittard Book Award for Historical Scholarship for Belief and Politics in Enlightenment France (2020)

Fellowships

• Gale-ASECS Non-Residential Fellowship (2022)
• Baylor University Libraries Fundamentals of Data Research Fellowship (2021)
• National University of Ireland Moore Institute Visiting Research Fellowship (2018)
• Stanford University Libraries Gustave Gimon Visiting Scholar Fellowship (2015)
• Newberry Library Short-Term Fellowship for Individual Research (2010)

Grants

• Theodore E. D. Braun Research Travel Fellowship from the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (2018)
• Arts and Humanities Faculty Research Grant from the Baylor University College of Arts and Sciences (2017)
• Research Enhancement Grant from the Baylor University Office of the Vice-Provost for Research (2016)
• Elaine S. and John C. Rule Research Travel Award from The Ohio State University Department of History (2010)

Regular Course Offerings

• Undergraduate:
  • HIS 1300 | US in Global Perspective - Coming to America
  • HIS 2395 | Research Writing: History
  • HIS 4333 | The French Revolution 
  • HIS 4343 | Nationalism in Modern France
• Graduate:
  • HIS 5320 | Seminar in European History – Religious Toleration in Enlightenment Europe
  • HIS 5391 | History Pedagogy

Other Courses Taught

• Undergraduate:
  • DH 2300 | Introduction to Digital Humanities
  • HIS 1307 | World History Since 1500
  • HIS 4318 | Capstone Seminar in European History – Napoleonic Europe

Work with Students

• Accepting M.A. students
• Accepting undergraduate research interns
• Willing to advise undergraduate theses and independent research

Follow Dr. Watkins on:

Twitter: @watkinsdanielj

Personal Website: Daniel J. Watkins