CAPPS, WALTER. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, of Swedish-American background, Walter Holden Capps (1934–1997) was a professor in the Department of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, from 1963 to 1996. Beginning with his academic training and intellectual interests in European Christian theology and philosophy of religion, Capps proceeded to develop innovative research and teaching on the intersections of religion with American culture, society, and political life. He emerged as a public intellectual through his academic and administrative leadership of the Council on the Study of Religion (1977–1984), the California Council for the Humanities (1983–1985), and the National Federation of State Humanities Councils (1985–1987). Elected in California to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1996, Walter Capps served in the Congress for ten months before his untimely death of a heart attack in October 1997. The Walter H. Capps Center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, was established in 2002 to continue his...