Taylor is the author of The Violent Take It by Force, Defying Tyrants, and Scripture People, and is widely regarded as a leading expert on Christian nationalism, religious extremism, and the use (and abuse) of Scripture in public life. His research and commentary have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, NPR’s Weekend Edition, On the Media, Rolling Stone, Politico, The Bulwark, Sojourners, and Religion News Service.
Matthew D. Taylor is an award-winning author, public intellectual, and nationally recognized speaker focused on religion, politics, and democracy in the United States.
Taylor holds a PhD in Religious Studies from Georgetown University and an MA from Fuller Theological Seminary. He currently serves as a Visiting Scholar at Georgetown University’s Center on Faith and Justice and is the creator and host of the award-winning Charismatic Revival Fury podcast and the American Unexceptionalism podcast. Known for translating complex scholarship into accessible, compelling insights, his work combines intellectual rigor with moral clarity and pastoral sensitivity.
His scholarship is deeply shaped by lived experience. Taylor grew up within fundamentalist and evangelical Christianity and has been a member and leader in evangelical, Pentecostal, historical Black Protestant, and mainline Protestant churches. He also served for seven years as a university campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. All of these experiences continue to inform his theological work on faith, power, and democratic resistance.
A highly sought-after speaker, Taylor has delivered lectures, keynotes, and briefings at venues ranging from the U.S. Capitol to Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, Notre Dame, USC, Emory, and the Chautauqua Institution. Across academic, faith, and public settings, he equips audiences with the tools needed to understand—and respond to—the urgent challenges facing religion and democracy today.