Lerone A. Martin is Associate Professor in Religion and Politics at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

Martin is the author of the award-winning Preaching on Wax: The Phonograph and the Making of Modern African American Religion (New York University Press, 2014), which tracks the role of the phonograph in the shaping of African American religion, culture, and politics during the first half of the twentieth century. The book was the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize for outstanding scholarship in religious history by a first-time author from the American Society of Church History.

In support of his research, Martin has received a number of nationally recognized grants and fellowships, including the National Endowment for the Humanities, The American Council of Learned Societies, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, and the Louisville Institute for the Study of American Religion.

Martin earned his B.A. from Anderson University and his Master of Divinity Degree from Princeton Theological Seminary before completing his Ph.D. at Emory University in 2011. Martin joined the Center’s faculty in 2014 as Assistant Professor after a postdoctoral fellowship with the Center. From 2010-2013, Lerone was the Assistant Professor of American Religious History and Culture at Eden Theological Seminary.

Martin has served as a research consultant for continuing education and recidivism at New York’s Sing Sing State Prison, as well as an instructor at Georgia’s Metro State Prison and currently the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. His commentary and writing have appeared in popular national media outlets including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and CNN.

Currently he is writing a book on the relationship between religion and national security in American history, which will be published by Princeton University Press.