Tanner Moore, Ph.D.

Tanner Moore is a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College, where he teaches courses on Christianity, early modernity, religious medical beliefs, and new religious movements. His research centers on the interpretations of early modern Christian doctrines, particularly heretical and medical beliefs surrounding the Eucharist. 

Moore's book project, "A Gentleman's Calling: Richard Allestree's Transformation of the Church of England, 1619-1700," provides a new lens to explore the religious, political, and social upheavals of Stuart England through the lens of the life of Richard Allestree (1619/21?-1681). Allestree was a soldier, spy, professor, theologian, survivor of the plague (1665) and Great Fire of London (1666), and the supposed author of the best-selling devotional of seventeenth-century England: The Whole Duty of Man (1658), among many other works attributed to his name. Allestree's work contributes to our understanding of the dilemmas faced by the late seventeenth-century clergy, caught between the secular rationalism of the Enlightenment and the wild enthusiasm of Protestant dissenting groups.

Moore's exploration of how Richard Allestree used heretical beliefs to establish a uniquely Anglican position on the Eucharist, "Explanations of the Real Presence and Richard Allestree's Heresy of Impanation in Early Modern England, 1534-1681: Finding God in the Bread," was published in Anglican and Episcopal History (2024). His examination of how perceptions of early modern healing informed American churches' COVID-19 policies, "Covid-19, the Eucharist and spreading disease through Christianity's holiest rite," was published in Theology (2024). His current project explores the role of the senses in developing Stuart Anglican performative religiosity. His future research project explores the sacralization of medicine in Stuart England.

Courses Taught:

RLST 037: History of World Christianity  

RLST 038: Christianity and Medicine                                               

RLST 130: New Religions, Cults, and Secret Societies

RLST 156: Revolt and Reform in Early Modern Europe

INT 198: Internship: CMC Sponsored                                          

XRLS 190: Senior Thesis in Religious Studies