Lauren Horn Griffin
Assistant Professor Louisiana State University
- Baton Rouge LA
Dr. Griffin studies the intersection of religion, technology, media, and nationalism.
Biography
Areas of Expertise
Research Focus
Digital Religion & Nationalist Politics
Dr. Griffin’s research focuses on religion at the nexus of digital media, technology, and nationalist politics, tracing how Catholic and other faith communities craft identity and tradition. She pairs archival inquiry with social-media discourse analysis and digital ethnography to show how stories of origin, crisis, and belonging circulate in today’s computational public spheres.
Accomplishments
PRRI Public Fellow
2025-2026
Provost's Fund for Innovation in Research Grant, LSU
2024
Education
University of California, Santa Barbara
Ph.D.
Religious Studies
2016
Vanderbilt Divinity School
M.T.S.
2010
University of Oklahoma
B.A.
English
2006
Media Appearances
Lauren Horn Griffin
WGVU radio
2024-11-25
Dr. Lauren Horn Griffin discusses White Christian Nationalism and so-called "Trad Catholic Men"
TikTok Catholicism: Beneath the veil of the internet's 'Trad Caths'
WBUR Endless Thread radio
2024-10-18
Two years ago, a headline in The New York Times declared that the hottest club in New York City was the Catholic Church. While that was never true, celebrities and TikTok influencers alike have gotten Catholic-curious over the past few years.
More specifically, there's been an uptick in "Trad Cath" content — internet for "traditionalist Catholic" — promoting traditions like the Latin Mass and women wearing veils in church. A lot of these traditions are vibes and aesthetic-based, and easily translatable to social media.
But scratch the surface, and many Trad Caths have beliefs about how all of society should look, not just church on Sundays. Endless Thread goes to mass to hear the Trad Cath creed and witness the transformation of a former saint of Catholic TikTok.
Opinion | The Coquette Catholic Trend
The Revealer online
2024-09-05
What can this online aesthetic that rejects the tradwife trend for another “trad” expression of femininity tell us about Gen Z, social media, & religion?
Opinion | Why mandating biblical texts in public schools may backfire
Religion News online
2024-07-25
(RNS) — State officials in the South have recently reignited debates over teaching religion in public schools, with Oklahoma’s superintendent of schools issuing a mandate for schools to teach the Bible and Louisiana passing a law requiring schools to display the Ten Commandments.
Catholic Christian nationalism is having a moment
Religion News online
2024-07-23
As Lauren Horn Griffin, assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies at Louisiana State University, wrote at Religion Dispatches, “Trad Caths use Latin, Crusader imagery, and Catholic material culture to manufacture ideas of a once-great White Western civilization currently under threat.” In other words, they have developed a distinctively Catholic version of the Christian nationalist narrative.
Will Anyone Buy Ron DeSantis’ Religious Muddle?
Slate online
2023-07-24
“Overall, it 100 percent makes sense from a Catholic perspective,” said Lauren Horn Griffin, a professor in the philosophy and religious studies department at Louisiana State University. “There’s a real prevalence of military metaphors in Catholicism.” She cited the Knights of Columbus, a popular Catholic men’s organization. “Knight imagery, crusader imagery, are very common. And that often leads to spiritual warfare language. So I think that there’s definitely a spiritual warfare rhetoric in the Catholic past and present.”
Opinion | Like the Bible? You’ll Love a ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ T-shirt — How AI Marketing Shapes Identity
Religion Dispatches online
2023-07-12
Over the past several months, lawmakers on both state and federal levels have worked to pass legislation regulating social media algorithms (especially TikTok). Among other things, the debates have revealed (or reminded us) that a lot of folks fail to understand various aspects of the internet, social media, and especially AI-based recommendation algorithms. But that doesn’t stop them from having an opinion on it.
Articles
How #Trad Catholics Challenge Current Constructions of Christian Nationalism: Counterknowledge, Masculinity, and Elite Aesthetics on Instagram
Journal of Media and Religion2024
I analyze traditionalist Catholic (or Trad) content on Instagram to add digital hyperconnectivity to current conversations about Christian nationalism in the United States. Building on studies of both epistemological and affective shifts in the age of digital hyperconnectivity, I argue that some pockets of right-wing Christian content are not anti-intellectual, but rather construct alternative knowledge bases to challenge mainstream authorities.
The Conversion of the North: Regional Antiquarianism and the Negotiation of Allegiances in Early Modern England
Journal of History and Cultures2018
Research Grants
Recipient
ATLAS Grant
2024-2025
Advancing Public Scholarship Grant
Luce-AAR
2025
Rebirth Grant
Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities
2023
Media
