Dr. Sam Reimer is a Professor of Sociology at Crandall University. He received a BA (Hons) in sociology from the University of Waterloo, and his MA and PhD in sociology from the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Reimer joined the faculty in 1996.
Sam’s research is focused on the sociology of religion, and particularly evangelicalism in Canada, Britain and the U.S. His past projects, publications, and presentations include the political tolerance of religious North Americans, the social attitudes of young North American evangelicals, and the gains and losses of Canadian religious groups from immigration.
Sam’s third book, Caught in the Current: British and Canadian Evangelicals in an Age of Self-Spirituality, will be released in April, 2023 by McGill-Queen’s University Press. The book examines the influence of Western culture on the beliefs and practices of active evangelicals in those countries. He has also conducted research on flourishing congregations in Atlantic Canada.
Sam is an Executive Board Member of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches, and serves as chair of Personnel subcommittee. In 2018, Dr. Reimer was awarded “Alan Richardson Fellow” at Durham University in Durham, UK. Sam has also been Visiting scholar at Baylor’s Institute for Faith and Learning, Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society at the University of Victoria, and has taught courses at Shenzhen University and the University of Notre Dame.
Sam Reimer will be partnering with Dr. Stephen Hewko at the Canadian Institute for Empirical Church Research (CIECR), on a project that is designed to be the first representative sample of Canadian churches. The project seeks to understand the current state, health, diversity, and vitality of Canadian congregations in a period shaped by secularization, immigration, and changing patterns of religious participation. Dr. Reimer gratefully acknowledges the support of the Louisville Institute’s Grant for Researchers.
Education
BRE, Briercrest College
BA (Hons), University of Waterloo
MA, University of Notre Dame
PhD, University of Notre Dame
Other Professional Appointments
Visiting Fellow, Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, 2013
Alan Richardson Fellow, University of Durham, 2018
Courses Taught
- Research Methods
- Advanced Research Methods
- Classical Social Theory
- Modern Social Theory
- Sociology of Education
- Sociology of Religion
- Modern Life and Personal Identity
- Evangelicalism in Canada
- Population and World Hunger
- The Good Society
- Environmental Sociology
- Introduction to Sociology
Honours & Scholarships
- Louisville Institute Grant for Researchers, 2026-2027
- Research grant from Stronger Philanthropy, 2016
- Stephen & Ella Steeves Research Stipend, Crandall University, 2016
- The Stephen & Ella Steeves Award for Excellence in Research, Crandall University, 2008 & 2016
- Scholarship to attend “New Conversations in Science and Religion: What Difference Might Critical Realism Make?” Conference at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, 2015
- The Stephen & Ella Steeves Award for Excellence in Teaching, Crandall University, 2014
- Research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, 2010 and 2014
- Centre for Research on Canadian Evangelicalism Research Grant, 2008-2009
- Stephen S. Steeves Sabbatical Award, Atlantic Baptist University, 2005
- Visiting Scholar, Institute for Faith and Learning, Baylor University, 2005-2006
- Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Research Award, 2004
- Coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities Initiative Grant, 2000-2003
Select Publications & Presentations
“The weak(ening) link between religiosity and morality: Evidence from five Western Countries.” First author with Galen Watts. (2025). Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. https://doi.org/10.1111/jssr.12960.
Caught in the Current: British and Canadian evangelicals in an age of self-spirituality. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023.
A Culture of Faith: Evangelical Congregations in Canada. Montreal and Kingston: McGill Queen’s University Press, 2015. Coauthored with Michael Wilkinson.
“Symbolic Pollution and Religious Change: The Religious Imaginary of Anglo-Canadian Spiritual but not Religious Millennials.” (2024) Second author with Galen Watts. Sociology of Religion https://doi.org/10.1093/socrel/srae012.
“Political Tolerance in Canada: Are religious Canadians and Americans more intolerant?” (2021) Canadian Review of Sociology, 58(4):531-548. doi: 10.1111/cars.12358.
“Comparing the Social Attitudes of Young Adult Evangelicals in Canada and the United States: Differences in Subcultural Boundaries among Evangelical School Graduates” (2020) First author with David Sikkink. Canadian Review of Sociology 57(1): 80-104.
“The Sources of Grassroots Social Conservatism in Canada.” (2019) Second author with Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme. Canadian Journal of Political Science 52(4): 865-881.
“The gains/losses of Canadian religious groups from immigration: Immigration flows, attendance and switching.” (2018)First author with Rick Hiemstra. Studies in Religion 47(3): 327-44.
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