Adam Perez

Biography

Adam A. Perez earned a doctor of theology in liturgical studies with a secondary area in religion and the arts from Duke University Divinity School. He holds a B.A. in music education from Trinity Christian College (Palos Heights, IL) and a master of arts in religion and music from Yale Institute of Sacred Music and Yale Divinity School (New Haven, CT). After finishing his Th.D., he served as a postdoctoral associate and as music and arts consultant to Goodson Chapel at Duke Divinity School.

A euphonium player by trade, Dr. Perez has served in various worship and music contexts spanning a wide variety of traditions as planner and leader; Adam has served in choral settings as a conductor and tenor and as a guitar-wielding contemporary worship leader. Dr. Perez also hosts the podcast The Worship Nerds that connects worship leaders with worship scholarship.

As a historian, Dr. Perez’s research is focused on the development of praise and worship theology and music, especially its transmission beyond Pentecostal and Charismatic communities and into global mainstream practice. His scholarly work has appeared in the journals Liturgy, Religions, The Hymn, The Journal of the Society for American Popular Music, Reformed Journal, Christian Scholar’s Review, among other places. He is a contributing author to the following volumes: the Oxford Handbook on Music and Christian Theology (forthcoming), the Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Liturgical Theology (forthcoming), Flow: The Ancient Way to Do Contemporary Worship (Abingdon, 2020), and Essays on the History of Contemporary Praise and Worship (Pickwick, 2021). His current collaborative research project on worship leaders and the worship music industry can be found at www.worshipleaderresearch.com.