Joseph Slaughter is a scholar of Christianity, capitalism, technology, and war. His first book, Faith in Markets: Christian Capitalism in the Early American Republic, demonstrates how religious identities in the United States' early decades influenced economic decision-making and the formation of the American capitalist system. His work also explores how religion shaped the way Indigenous peoples and North American colonists approached warfare, while his current research focuses on the religious lives of 19th century U. S. firearm manufacturers. He is also sought after for his expertise on evangelicalism in the U. S.

Before coming to Wesleyan, Slaughter taught early American, naval, and world history at the U.S. Naval Academy. He earned his PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park in December 2017. Prior to his doctoral studies, he served in the U.S. Navy as a C-2 Greyhound pilot on the USS Harry S. Truman and a catapult and arresting gear officer on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.