| Stephen Prothero | |
| Birth Date: | 13 November 1960 |
| Birth Place: | Cooperstown, New York |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Religious studies scholar |
| Spouse: | Meera Subramanian |
| Alma Mater: | |
| Thesis Title: | Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) and the construction of "Protestant Buddhism" |
| Thesis Url: | https://www.proquest.com/openview/8718c7aee74d4f09797e6fcbecf1c8dd/1 |
| Thesis Year: | 1990 |
| Doctoral Advisor: | William R. Hutchison |
Stephen Richard Prothero (; born November 13, 1960) is an American scholar of religion. He is the C. Allyn and Elizabeth V. Russell Professor of Religion in America at Boston University[1] and the author or editor of eleven books on religion in the United States, including the New York Times bestseller Religious Literacy.
He has commented on religion on dozens of National Public Radio programs and on television on CNN, NBC, CBS, Fox, PBS, MSNBC, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report.[2] He was the chief editorial consultant for the six-hour WGBH television series God in America[3] and he has served as a consultant on American religious history at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.[4] A regular contributor to USA Today, he has also written for The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, Slate, Salon, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, and The Wall Street Journal. His books have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Russian.
Prothero has argued for mandatory public-school biblical literacy courses (along the lines of the Bible Literacy Project's The Bible and Its Influence), along with mandatory courses on world religions.[5] He delivered the William Belden Noble Lectures at Harvard University on November 18–20, 2008, on the topic: “The Work of Doing Nothing: Wandering as Practice and Play."[6] On the matter of his own personal beliefs, Prothero describes himself as "religiously confused".[7] [8]
Prothero was born in Cooperstown, New York, on 13 November, 1960, the son of "Dr. and Mrs. S. Richard Prothero".[9] He graduated from Barnstable High School in Hyannis, Massachusetts, in June 1978. In June 1982 he received his B.A. in American Studies from Yale College, with latin honors summa cum laude and with distinction. In 1986 he received his M.A. in Study of Religion at Harvard University. On 25 April, 1990 he completed his Ph.D. there on Henry Steel Olcott (1832–1907) and the construction of "Protestant Buddhism." His supervisor was Professor William R. Hutchison.
Prothero is married to the environmental journalist Meera Subramanian.