Generation Z and Faith
“Generation Z and faith: A thematic analysis of #AsburyRevival TikTok content” was published in Crtitical Research on Religion in July 2025. Through the lens of the 2023 Christian revival at Asbury University in Wilmore, KY, this study explains how Gen Z TikTok users flocked to faith in times of uncertainty.
Prior to the analyis of TikTok videos, the paper provides background information on Generation Z’s anxiety on social media, TikTok as a social media platform, and the study’s theoretical background, Hogg’s Uncertainty-Identity Theory. This background information explains how a generation marked by the societal uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic, political unrest, and climate change find answers through viral Christian trends and events.
Through the analysis of 100 TikTok videos using the hashtag #AsburyRevival between February 10, 2023, and February 21, 2023, three themes were found: (1) Identity shaping through group consensus; (2) bonding through stress, anxiety, and trauma; and (3) extremism as a means for persuasion.
While Gen Z’s attraction to religion in times of uncertainty can be healthy and can provide them with a sense of identity and group belonging, Asbury University’s conservative politics may exclude people of non-white, non-heteronormative backgrounds. Without providing TikTok viewers with the history of the charasmatic Christian movement or with the history of Asbury University, they may be unknowingly seeking answers in a place with a dangerous and exclusionary worldview.
In conclusion, seeking certainty at the 2023 Asbury Revival was helpful for Gen Z TikTok users in that it provided a meaningful sense of community. On the flip side, though, the revival invoked feelings of stress and anxiety for some and subtly promoted the extreme views of some conservative evangelical Christian churches.
To read the full, accepted version of this manuscript, click “Read More” below.
Purity Culture on YouTube
To read the full, accepted manuscript, click “Read More” below.
“Purity Culture on YouTube: Selling Heteronormative Patriarchy as God’s Design” was published in Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly in November 2024. The study analyzes YouTube content from five conservative evangelical Christian influencers who discuss purity culture online.
Prior to the analysis, the paper provides background information on purity culture’s intersection with gender, race, and class and discusses previous research on social media influencers and their persuasive powers. This information is necessary because it contextualizes these influencers’ purity culture beliefs and how impactful the influencers can be in imparting those beliefs on their young audiences.
Through the analysis, themes of heteronormativity, patriarchal submission, and naturalizing patriarchy as God’s design were found in the videos. Most of the influencers discussed the importance of heteronormative marriage (cisgender straight male married to cisgender straight female) and the conservative evangelical belief that homosexuality is a sin. Additionally, the influencers discussed patriarchal submission both in marriage and the church. Finally, a strong emphasis was placed on living through “God’s design” in marriage. God’s design is referred to by the influencers as God’s heterosexual and submissive intention for biblical marriage.
In conclusion, the themes found in this study show the exclusivity and reductiveness of the purity culture lessons being expressed online by these influencers. Since this analysis was conducted, one of the prominent influencer couples in the analysis have begun to reevaluate their purity culture beliefs (in fact, the husband has since revealed that he is now an atheist). As more women in the United States step away from the evangelical Christian church due to the church’s denial of women’s bodily autonomy and women’s rights, the exposure of harmful beliefs being espoused on YouTube could provide young Christians with the context needed to make their own religious decisions.
To read the full, accepted version of this manuscript, click “Read More” below.