Lynneth Miller Renberg

Lynneth Miller Renberg (Ph.D., Baylor University) is Assistant Professor of History at Anderson University in South Carolina. Her research and teaching interests are in gender, dance, emotion, and lay religion. She pursues these topics broadly, both chronologically and geographically, with particular interests in British history, Scandinavian history, and the British Empire.

She has published articles in Sixteenth Century Journal, Church History and Religious Culture, Liminalities, and Dance Research Journal. Her books include an edited collection, The Cursed Carolers in Context (Routledge, 2021), and Women, Dance, and Parish Religion in England, 1300-1640: Negotiating the Steps of Faith (Boydell, 2022). These publications explore how church teachings, theologies, and culture shape the lives and identities of ordinary men and women. She also analyzes how cultural performances (like dance, theater, and song) work to form religious, gendered, and racial identities that impact the lives and experiences of believers. These are powerful forces within church history though often overlooked, particularly in studies of medieval and early modern Christianity.

Lynneth and her husband, Adam, are both active in their church and university communities. These communities, along with their young daughter and small terrier, keep her days quite full. But when she does have free time, Lynneth enjoys reading murder mysteries, baking or watching baking shows, hiking, and traveling.