Disgraced: How Sex Scandals Transformed American Protestantism

Disgraced is a sweeping religious and cultural history of Protestant sex scandals in nineteenth and twentieth century America. From the birth of the modern press to the advent of the internet age, the book traces the public downfalls of religious leaders who purported to safeguard the morality of the nation.

At first hesitant to report on sexual misconduct among the clergy in order to protect the reputation of Protestantism writ large, newspapers embraced the genre of pastoral scandal in the...