Terry Shoemaker is an Americanist scholar focusing primarily on the connections between religion and popular culture, namely sport. This includes the ways that sport mirrors religiosity, and the competition between religious and sporting commitments. He has published studies on this topic including studies on pickleball, skateboarding, and spirituality. His first monograph, Religions and Sports, published in 2024, is available now.
An additional interest of Professor Shoemaker is the dynamics of religious change and adaptation. He spent years collecting qualitative data detailing life after leaving American evangelical communities.