Biography

Kevin M. Burton (Ph.D. 2023, Florida State University, Religion) studies the relationship between minority religions and evangelicalism in the antebellum United States, particularly in reference to politics, race, and gender. He has presented numerous academic papers at conferences and published several journal articles, academic book reviews, and encyclopedia entries. One of his recent publications, “Adventists and the Military,” appeared in the Oxford Handbook of Seventh-day Adventism (2024).

His first book, tentatively titled, Apocalyptic Abolitionism: How Immediate Millennialists Helped Abolish Slavery and Reform America is under contract with New York University Press. This book argues for a strong relationship between apocalypticism and social reform politics in antebellum America. Social reform discourse and evangelical historiography have long emphasized millennialism and virtually ignored apocalypticism in political contexts. However, Apocalyptic Abolitionism treats millennialism and apocalypticism as intimately connected concepts that are distinguishable by time: the former is defined by gradualism (the millennium will eventually come), while the latter is rooted in immediatism (the millennium is coming now!). Immediacy gives millennialism apocalyptic force by positioning the “unreformed” on the threshold of doom before the arrival of prophesied violence, thus encouraging reform to avert divine judgment. This suspended nature of the apocalyptic present was a driving force within antebellum reform movements.

Burton has received some awards for his work in American religious history. In 2022, he received the Porterfield Prize, which recognizes excellence in research by a graduate student at Florida State University. In 2023, he defended his doctoral dissertation with distinction, and in 2024 he was selected to participate in the Young Scholar’s in American Religion program hosted by the Center for the Study of Religion & American Culture at Indiana University Indianapolis.

Since 2021, Burton has served at Andrews University as the Director of the Center for Adventist Research and Assistant Professor of Church History at the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary. He teaches graduate courses on American religious history, historiography, and research methods. He has previously taught American religious history at Florida State University and American history at Southern Adventist University.