Papers Presented at Professional Conferences
"William James, Inquiry, and Conviction: Lessons For Our Culture Wars," for the conference Exploring Religion, Nature, and Culture,
"Rejected Science: William James's Use of His Father's Beliefs," invited presentation at the History of Science Society,
Invited Participant, Werkmeister Workshop on Science and Religion, Michael Ruse, Chair,
"Beneath and Around the Political Polarization: Science, Religion, and Values Voters," for the conference Change Over Time: The Theology and Science of Evolution,"
"Religion, Values Voters, and the Work of American Studies," for the panel "Religion and the American Studies Classroom," international
Invited panelist and chair, "Roundtable Discussion on Religion and the American Studies Classroom," international
(with John Jett) "Thinking Like a Market: The Way We Think vs. the Way We Act,"
"In Search of William James's Medical Thesis: Physiological Science and Water-Cure Therapies," national History of Science Society meeting, November 2001
"The Grip of Old Methods: The Public Travail of Science and Some Advice from Pragmatism," Interpreting Evolution: Scientific and Religious Perspectives conference, June 2001
"Roots of the Complementary Compromise: William James's Assessment of the Scientific Materialism in his Medical Education," Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science meeting, February 2001
"William James on the Healing Arts," national History of Science Society meeting, November 2000
"Spirit in Nature: William James's Ecospirituality," European Association for American Studies meeting, April 2000
"Spilled Religion: Swedenborgian Contributions to Modern Culture," First Annual Swedenborg Lecture,
"Science, Religion, and Convictions: William James from Crisis to Construction," meeting of Cheiron: The International Society for the History of Behavioral and Social Sciences, June 1999
"Belief Without Certainty: The Young William James in Search of a Cultural Philosophy," national Organization of American Historians meeting, April 1999
"Intellectual Inquiry and the Longing for Certainty: William James Before Celebrity," national American Historical Association meeting, January 1999
"Irresistible Metaphysical Affirmations: The Young William James Between Uncertainty and Convictions," invited paper, The Highlands Institute: Third International Conference on Philosophical Theology, July 1998
"If It's Certain, It Can't Be True: On the Evolution of Science and Religion in Nineteenth-Century American Culture," invited lecture,
"Probabilities and Pragmatism: The Uses of Science in the Development of Theory," invited seminar,
"Spirit in the Skull: William James's First Teaching in Psychology," national Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meeting, November 1997
"From Self to Soul in a Secular Age: Religion in the Psychologies of Josiah Royce, William James, and Mary Whiton Calkins," Cheiron, the International Society for the History of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, June 1997
"The Making of a Pluralistic Religious Faith: William James's Assessment of His Father," national Society for the Scientific Study of Religion meeting, November 1996
"Between Swedenborgianism and Science: William James on Religion and Human Nature," national
"How to Make Our Ideas Scientific: Charles Sanders Peirce in Search of an Audience," poster presentation at the national Organization of American Historians meeting, March 1995
"Before We Can All Get Along: The Case for Intellectual Non-Violence," Fourth Annual Multicultural Institute,
"Science and the Moral Religion of William James," Mallery Lecture,
"William James and 'The More': Science Embraces the Ineffable," national History of Science Society meeting, October 1994
"Didactic Science and Public Persuasion: William James as Pop Psychologist," national History of Science Society meeting, December 1992
"From Virtue to Morality: Republicanism in the Texts and Contexts of William James," national Organization of American Historians meeting, April 1992
"Spirit in Nature: Lifting the Veil on Swedenborg's Influence," national
(with Joseph Witek) "Carl Barks and Uncle Walt: The Disney Studio and the Suppression of the Artist," national
"William James, Darwinism, and the Probabilistic Revolution," Cheiron, the International Society for the History of the Behavioral and Social Sciences meeting, June 1990
"William James's Scientific Education: A Case Study in the History of the Probabilistic Revolution," national History of Science Society meeting, October 1990
"Chance Thinking: William James and the Probabilistic Revolution," Interface '89: Humanities and Technology meeting, October 1989
"Prelude to Pragmatism: William James's Psychology of the Active Mind," national Organization of American Historians meeting, April 1989
"Walt Disney in Person and Production," national Popular Culture Association meeting, April 1989
"Toward a Modernist View of Science: William James on the Role of Belief in Scientific Theory," Interface '88 meeting, October 1988
"The Will to Emote: The Role of Morality and Motivation in William James's Essay on the Emotions," Cheiron meeting, June 1988
"The Personal Religion of William James," California
"William James's Assessment of His Father: The Literary Remains of the Late Henry James," Florida College Teachers of History meeting, March 1988
"From Romantic to Almost Modern: Religion and Esthetics in the Art of Henry David Thoreau and George Inness," Intertextuality: Literary and Cinematic Representation meeting, February 1988
"Philanthropy and Social Change," national Roothbert Foundation Fellowship Conference, 1986
"The Truth of Ethical Narrowness: The Nature and Merits of Absolutism and Relativism,"