The Lecture Series: Public Scholarship on Religion, Gender, Pleasure, and Politics with Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton

Taught Live - July 9, 23, August 6 and August 20 at 11am Pacific time. Replays are yours to keep.

Many of us are asking questions about how we arrived here:

-Why are cults so prominent in U.S. history?

-When did 'family values' become a weaponized political stance?

-How did Christian nationalism rise to such prominence?

-What is the true story of Mary Magdalene and the history of gender/religion?

We are seeing the effects of centuries and decades of deliberate, focused erasure. 

Politicians who feel violence in the Middle East is fulfilling the times prophecy …

Policies restricting women’s bodies rooted in purity, modesty and control …

Impact that feels individual actually has a collective history.

It didn't begin with us.

It was shaped by centuries of religion, politics, culture, and power.

And once you understand that history, something in us changes.

We stop asking,

"What's wrong with me?"

…and we begin asking,

"Where did we learn this?"

That shift changes everything.

Welcome to

The Uncover Institute

Public scholarship on religion, gender, pleasure, and politics.

A place where we can explore the ideas that have shaped our lives—not through fear or dogma, but through curiosity, history, and rigorous scholarship.

If you've ever wondered...

Why did Christianity become so political?

Where did purity culture actually come from?

Why are women's stories so often erased?

How did America produce so many new religious movements?

...I hope you'll join me.

Because I believe understanding our history is one of the first steps toward becoming free.

We'll begin with four lectures in my inaugural series:

Lecture 1. The Rise of the Religious Right: How U.S. Christianity Became a 
Political Movement

Lecture 2. The Invention of Female Purity: Religion, Sexuality, and the Making of the "Good Woman"

Lecture 3. Mary Magdalene and the Women History Rewrote: Gender, Authority, and the Politics of Christianity

Lecture 4. American Exceptionalism: From Mormonism to Megachurches…Cults, Capitalism & the Business of Faith in the U.S.

Meet Dr. Kimberly Rose Pendleton 

Dr. Kimberly is an expert on Religious Trauma and Purity Culture, an intimacy coach, educator, and thought leader on pleasure, relationships, sensuality, and love.

She is the founder and creator of UNCOVER, a 6.5 million dollar global education company offering transformative online programs and immersive retreats in destinations including Napa Valley and Paris.

She interned at the UN, has a degree in religion from Yale and a PhD in American and Women’s Studies, and has been published in academic peer-reviewed journals.

Drawing on her academic background and years of experience working with thousands of women, Dr. Pendleton specializes in helping high-achieving women soften into love, reclaim desire after religious or sexual trauma, and build lives rooted in authenticity rather than shame. She also mentors visionary entrepreneurs in creating thriving, sustainable online businesses without sacrificing pleasure or presence. 

Her work bridges scholarship, trauma-informed coaching, and embodied practice, offering a revolutionary approach to healing that sees pleasure not as indulgence, but as a pathway home.