JDP Faculty in Religion
Faculty at Iliff and those in DU's Department of Religious Studies and the Center for Judaic Studies are listed here.
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Antony Alumkal
Associate Professor of Sociology of Religion
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Effects of race, ethnicity and immigration on religion in the United States; cultural and institutional aspects of American mainline and evangelical Protestantism; dynamics of congregations
Publications:- Paranoid Science: The Christian Right's War on Reality (New York: New York University Press, 2017)
- “Racial Justice in the Protestant Mainline: Liberalism and Its Limits,” in Faith and Race in American Political Life, eds. Robin Jacobson and Nancy Wadsworth (University of Virginia Press, 2012)
- “American Evangelicalism in the Post-Civil Rights Era: A Racial Formation Theory Analysis,” Sociology of Religion 65 (2004): 195-213
Courses:
Race and Religion in the United States
Science and the Christian RightProfessional Label: Sociology of Religion
Email: aalumkal@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3131
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Philip R. Butler
Assistant Professor of Theology and
Black Posthuman Artificial Intelligence Systems
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: the intersections of neuroscience, technology, spirituality and Blackness
Publications:- “Beyond the Zoomiverse” in Ecclesiology for a Digital Church: Theological Reflections on a New Normal, ed. by Heidi Campbell and John Dyer (London: SCM Press, 2022), 155-166.
- “Blackness: Spectres and Monsters are the Future of Theological Subjectivity." Concilium 3 (2021): 21-30.
- “Aime Césaire” Political Theology Network: Critical Theory for Political Theology 2.0, ed. by Alex Dubliet and Vincent LLoyd, June 15, 2021.
- “A Black Tetratic Future: Blackness and the Age of Hyper-Exponentiation (Hyper-4)” Critical Black Futures: Volume I, ed. by Philip Butler, Springer Nature (2021): 37-60.
- Black Transhuman Liberation Theology: Technology and Spirituality (Bloomsbury Academic, 2019).
Courses:
Decolonizing AI
Data Storytelling
Black Theology
Post-/Transhumanism & Process Thought
Black Posthumanism
Neuroscience, Spirituality & Blackness
Professional Labels: Black posthumanism, artificial intelligence, and pluriversal future realities.
Email: preed-butler@iliff.edu
Phone: 303.765.3124
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Christy Cobb
Assistant Professor of Christianity
Department of Religious Studies
University of DenverSpecializations: New Testament (Luke-Acts); Early Christianity; Enslavement; Gender and Sexuality; Ancient Fiction (Greco-Roman, Jewish, and Christian)Publications:- Sex, Violence, and Early Christian Texts. Co-edited with Eric Vanden Eykel. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
- “Entangled Tongues: A Poststructuralist and Postcolonial Reading of Acts 2:1-13” in Journal for Interdisciplinary Biblical Studies (Vol.4.1, Summer 2022), pgs. 1-16.
- Slavery, Gender, Truth, and Power in Luke-Acts and Other Ancient Narratives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 2019.
- “Madly in Love: The Motif of Lovesickness in the Apocryphal Acts of Andrew” in Reading and Teaching Ancient Fiction: Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman Narratives. Sara Johnson, Rubén René Dupertuis, and Chris Shea, Editors. Writings from the Greco-Roman World Supplement Series, Number 11 (Atlanta: SBL Press, 2018), pgs. 27-40.
- “Hidden Truth in the Body of Euclia: Page duBois’ Torture and Truth and the Acts of Andrew” in Biblical Interpretation (Volume 25.1, 2017), pgs. 19-38.
Courses:
Christian Classics
Introduction to Christianity
Professional Label: Biblical Studies; Ancient Judaism, and Early Christianity
Email: christy.cobb@du.edu
Office: 270 Sturm Hall, DU
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Miguel De La Torre
Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Social and Political Ethics in the U.S.; Effects of religion on race, gender, and class; Liberationist ethics; Postmodern/postcolonial social theory; critical race theory; gender studies
Publications:
- Embracing Hopelessness, (Fortress Press, 2017)
- Doing Christian Ethics from the Margins (2nd ed.; Orbis Books, 2014)
- Genesis: Belief, A Theological Commentary on the Bible (Westminster John Knox Press, 2011)
- Encyclopedia on Hispanic American Religious Culture, Vols. 1 and 2 (ABC-CLIO Publishers, 2009)
Courses:
Fanon, Foucault, and Friends
Formative White Male Figures in Christian Ethics
Biblical Ethics
Professional Label: Ethics
Email: mdelatorre@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3133
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Sandra Dixon
Associate Professor in Psychology of Religion
Department of Religious Studies
University of Denver
Specialization: Religion and the Human Sciences; Religion and Psychology; Moral Reasoning
Publications:- Augustine: The Scattered and Gathered Self (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 1999)
- Augustine and Psychology, Sandra Lee Dixon, John Doody and Kim Paffenroth (eds.) (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2013)
Email: sdixon@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-2753
Office: DU, Sturm Hall 488 -
Carrie Doehring
Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Pastoral Care; Religion and psychology; Moral stress of religious leadership and chaplaincy; Intercultural and evidence-based spiritual care
Publications:- The Practice of Pastoral Care: A Postmodern Approach (Revised and expanded ed., Westminster John Knox, 2015)
- “Emotions and Change in Intercultural Spiritual Care,” Pastoral Psychology 63.5 (2014):583-96
- “An Applied Integrative Approach to Exploring How Religion and Spirituality Contribute To or Counteract Prejudice and Discrimination,” in APA Handbook of Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality Vol. 2: An Applied Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, eds. K. I. Pargament, A. Mahoney, and E. Shafranske (American Psychological Association, 2013)
Courses:
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Pastoral, Psychological, and Theological Responses
Theodicy and TragedyProfessional Label: Pastoral Care; Practical/Praxis Theology; Social Sciences and Religion
Email: cdoehring@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3169
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Pamela Eisenbaum
Professor of Biblical Studies and Christian Origins
Iliff School of TheologySpecializations: Paul; Epistle to the Hebrews; Jewish-Christian relations; biblical manuscripts; history of biblical interpretation; formation of the canon; the Bible and technology; comparative scripture
Publications:- Paul Was Not a Christian: The Original Message of a Misunderstood Apostle (HarperOne, 2009)
- Invitation to Romans. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2006.
- The Jewish Heroes of Christian History: Hebrews 11 in Literary Context. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997.
Courses:
Formation of the Bible
New Testament Language and Text
Epistle to the RomansProfessional Label: Biblical Studies; Early Judaism; New Testament and Christian Origins
Email: peisenbaum@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3167
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Amy Erickson
Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Hebrew Bible; Biblical Interpretation; Theories of identity and constructions of the self; Poetic and mythological texts in ancient Near Eastern literature; religion and body; Poetry and metaphor (Hebrew Bible)
Publications:- “God’s Birthing and Begetting Body in Job 38:28-30,” in Imagination, Ideology and Inspiration: Reverberations of Brueggemann in a New Generation, eds. Robert Williamson, Jr. and Jonathan Kaplan (Sheffield Phoenix Press, forthcoming)
- “Jonah and the Scribal Habitus,” in Methods, Theories, Imagination: Social Scientific Approaches in Biblical Studies, eds. David J. Chalcraft, Frauke Uhlenbruch, and Rebecca S. Watson (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2014)
- “‘Without My Flesh I Will See God’: Job’s Rhetoric of the Body,” Journal of Biblical Literature 132.2 (2013): 295-313
Courses:
Identity and the Hebrew Bible
The Body and Sexuality in the Ancient Near East and Hebrew Bible
Jonah and Its AfterlivesProfessional Label: Hebrew Bible
Email: aerickson@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 744-1287
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Mark K. George
Professor of Bible and Ancient Systems of Thought
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Hebrew Bible: Pentateuch and Narrative Texts; Subjectivities and Societies in Ancient Systems; spatial studies; critical theory; aniconism; religion and political theory
Publications:- Religious Representation in Place: Exploring Meaningful Space and the Intersection of the Humanities and Sciences, ed. with Daria Pezzoli-Olgiati, Religion and Spatial Studies 1 (Palgrave, 2014)
- “Israelite Aniconism and the Visualization of the Tabernacle,” Journal of Religion & Society Supplement Series 8 (2012): 40-54
- Israel’s Tabernacle as Social Space, Society of Biblical Literature Ancient Israel and Its Literature 2 (SBL Press, 2009)
Courses:
Sacred Space in Comparative Perspective (with Jacob Kinnard)
Deuteronomy
Methods and Theories of Biblical InterpretationProfessional Label: Hebrew Bible
Email: mgeorge@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3168
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Albert Hernández
Associate Professor of the History of Christianity
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: History of Christianity from Medieval to Early Modern Periods (c. 1100-1650); Religious diversity in Medieval Spain; Mysticism and Pneumatology in Christian History
Publications:- Subversive Fire: The Untold Story of Pentecost (Emeth Press, 2010)
- The Quest for the Historical Satan co-authored with Miguel A. De La Torre,(Fortress Press 2011)
Courses:
Introduction to the History of Christianity
The Holy Spirit: History and Traditions
Violence and Toleration in Medieval Europe
Sixteenth Century Mystics and Reformers
Happiness: A History
Christianity in the Middle AgesEmail: ahernandez@iliff.edu
Phone: 303-765-3180
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Jason Jeffries
Assistant Professor, Religious Studies
Specialization: African American Religions; Religion and Popular Culture; Embodiment and Religion; Critical Race Theory; Black Mythology; Psychology of Religion; Black Sacred Rhetoric and Religion; Black Pentecostalism
Phone: 303-871-4713
Office: University of Denver -
Catherine Kelsey
Dean of the Chapel and Spiritual Formation
Specialization: Vocation; Spiritual life; Theology; Practices of ministryEmail: ckelsey@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3103
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Kishundra King
Assistant Professor Pastoral and Spiritual Care
Iliff School of TheologySpecializations: Pastoral Theology; Pastoral Care & Counseling; Womanist Theology & Practice; Womanist Practical Theology; Childhood Studies; Womanist Ethnography; Qualitative Research
Lectures & Paper Presentations:- Being Womanish: Revisiting and Reimagining Black Girlhood
- Embodiment, Spirituality, and Self Care in Social Activist Work
- A Kaleidoscope Analysis: Toward a Womanish/st Theology
Courses:Intro to Pastoral & Spiritual Care and Counseling
Womanist Pastoral Theology & Care
Practical Theology
Psychodynamic Perspectives in Pastoral Care
Professional Label: Womanist Pastoral & Practical Theologian; Religion, Psychology, & Culture
Email: kking@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3192
Office: Iliff School of Theology
More Info -
Boyung Lee
Professor of Practical Theology; JDP Dean for Iliff; Senior Vice President of Academic Affairs and Dean of the Faculty at Iliff
Specialization: Feminism and Religion; Transformative PedagogyEmail: blee@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 578-4601
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Kristina Lizardy-Hajbi
Term Assistant Professor of Leadership and Formation; Director of the Office of Professional Formation
Iliff School of Theology
Specializations: Leadership theory and praxis; congregational and community formation and change; applied research methods; U.S. Christianities; critical approaches for ministry praxis
Publications:- “Theological Field Education as a Bridge across Disciplines,” Religions 12.1 (2021)
“Processes toward Post/Decolonial Pastoral Leaderships,” Journal of Religious Leadership 20.1 (Spring 2021): 136-67 - “Frameworks toward Post/Decolonial Pastoral Leaderships,” Journal of Religious Leadership 19.2 (Autumn 2020): 100-30
- “Engaging Young Adults: American Congregations 2015,” Faith Communities Today (Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 2016)
- “Kirkwood United Church of Christ,” in How Religious Congregations Are Engaging Young Adults in America, eds. M. Sahlin and D. Roozen (Hartford Institute for Religion Research, 2015): 111-36.
Courses:
Research Methods and Ethics in Lived Religion/Practical Theology
Leadership and Organizational Development
Decolonizing Congregational Leadership
Professional Label: Social Science and Religion; Practical/Praxis Theology; Leadership and Education
Email: klizardy@iliff.edu
Phone: 303-765-3116
Office: Iliff School of Theology - “Theological Field Education as a Bridge across Disciplines,” Religions 12.1 (2021)
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April M. Mack
Assistant Professor of Religion and Social Justice
Iliff School of TheologySpecializations: Black and Womanist Theologies, Christian Ethics, Religious Studies, Religious Violence, African American Identity/Experience in the US
Publications:- Mack, April, “Womanist Ethics as a Contribution to Bioethics,” in A Critical Moment in Bioethics: Reckoning with Anti-Black Racism through Intergenerational Dialogue, ed. Fletcher, Faith E. et al., special report, Hastings Center Report 52, no. 2 (2022): S69– S71. DOI: 10.1002/hast.1376. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hast.1376
- Woodson, April, “I Can’t Breathe”: Neocolonial Geotrauma and Violence in the Age of Trump. De La Torre, Miguel A. (2021). Faith and Reckoning after Trump. Orbis Books.
- Woodson, April Michelle, "“Dialogical Offense:” A Postcolonial Womanist Deconstruction of the Colonial Experience of African American Women Through U.S. Institutional Apparatus Known as Criminal Justice Policy" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1870. https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1870
Courses:
Black Theology: From Cone to Warnock
Womanist Theoethics
Social Issues, Social Ethics
Public Policy: Design, Intersectionality, and Praxis
Feminist Theoethics
God, Religion, and Violence
Race, Religion, and Public Policy as Colonial Tools
Professional Labels:
A decolonial Black feminist scholar and theo-ethicist concerned with ethics related to complex social issues, structural inequality, and holistic justice for marginalized peoples.
Email: ammack@illiff.edu -
Ben Nourse
Assistant Professor in the Department of Religious Studies
Specialization: Asian Religions; Buddhist Studies; Tibetan Studies; History of the Book in AsiaEmail: Benjamin.Nourse@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-3539
Office: DU, Sturm Hall 482 -
Sarah Pessin
Professor of Philosophy and Jewish Thought, Department of Philosophy; Hecht Interfaith Chair; Center for Judaic Studies
University of DenverSpecialization: Jewish philosophy; Neoplatonisms; Comparative Jewish, Islamic and Christian medieval philosophy; Modern Jewish philosophy; post-Holocaust theology (esp. Levinas); philosophical theology; philosophy of religion
Publications:
- Pessin, S. (2013). Ibn Gabirol's Theology of Desire: Matter and Method in Jewish Medieval Neoplatonism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Pessin, S. (2019). The Jewish Tradition. (B. Foltz, Ed.), Medieval Philosophy: A Multicultural Reader. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
- Pessin, S. (2018). America’s Love Problem: How Oprah’s Call to Friendship Feeds Bannon’s Call to Racism (or: On Three Strains of Liberal Lovesickness). Political Theology Network. Retrieved from https://politicaltheology.com/americas-love-problem/
- Pessin, S. (2014). Islamic and Jewish Neoplatonisms. In P. Remes & S. Slaveva-Griffin (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Neoplatonism (pp. 541-58). Durham: Acumen Press/ Routledge.
- Pessin, S. (2017). Khoric Apophasis: Matter and Messianicity in Islamo-Judeo-Greek Neoplatonism. In M. Fagenblat (Ed.), Negative Theology as Jewish Modernity. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Courses:
Jewish Philosophy
Levinas
Neoplatonism
Maimonides
Philosophy of Religion
Religious Existentialism
Medieval Philosophy (Islamic, Jewish, Christian)
Professional Label: Comparative Neoplatonisms; Jewish Philosophy; Comparative Medieval Philosophy; Philosophical Theology; Post-Holocaust Theology; LevinasEmail: spessin@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-7731
Office: DU, Sturm Hall 265 -
Carl Raschke
Professor of Philosophy of Religion
Department of Religious Studies
University of Denver
Specialization: Continental Philosophy/Philosophy of Religion; Political Philosophy/Political Theology; Globalization Theory
Publications:- Neoliberalism and Political Theology: From Kant to Identity Politics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2019.
- Postmodern Theology: A Biopic. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2017. ISBN 1498203892.
- Critical Theology: Introducing an Agenda for an Age of Global Crisis. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2016. ISBN 9780830851294.
- Force of God: Political Theology and the Crisis of Liberal Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2015. ISBN 9780231539623.
- Postmodernism and the Revolution in Religious Theory: Toward a Semiotics of the Event . Studies in Religion and Culture. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press, 2012. ISBN 9780813933085.
Courses:
Globalization and Religion
Political Theory
Theory of the Subject
Kant on ReligionEmail: carl.raschke@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-3117
Office: DU, Sturm Hall 273
Look at the video here on Dr. Carl Raschke's university lecturer award. -
Alison Schofield
Associate Professor of Hebrew Bible and Judaic Studies
Department of Religious Studies
University of Denver
Specialization: Hebrew Bible and Judaic Studies; Dead Sea Scrolls; Religious and cultural influences of ancient Israel, Egypt and Babylonia
Publications:- Schofield, Alison. “Reading Sectarian Spaces: Critical Spatial Theory and the Case of the Yahad” in The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Study of the Humanities. Proceedings from the 2013 IOQS Meeting in Munich. E. Tichgelaar, A. Schofield, S. Thomas, eds. Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah 125. Leiden: Brill, 2018, pp. 176–194.
- Schofield, Alison. “Re-Placing Priestly Space: The Wilderness as Heterotopia in the Dead Sea Scrolls” in A Teacher for All Generations: Essays in Honor of James C. VanderKam, vol. 1, E. Mason, K. C. Bautch, A.K. Harkins, D. Machiela, A. Schofield, S. I. Thomas, E. Ulrich, eds. Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism, Volume: 153. Leiden: Brill, 2011, pp. 469-490.
Email: aschofie@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-2752
Office: DU, Sturm Hall 271 -
Eric C. Smith
Assistant Professor of the History of Christianity and New Testament Studies
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Christian origins; New Testament and other early Christian literature; Jewish-Christian relations in antiquity; Materialist theories of religion; religion and spatial theory; Biblical reception and exegesis
Publications:- Paul the Progressive? : The Compassionate Christian’s Guide to Reclaiming the Apostle as an Ally (Chalice Press, 2019)
- Jewish Glass and Christian Stone: A Materialist Mapping of the "Parting of the Ways" (Routledge: 2018)
- Foucault’s Heterotopia in Christian Catacombs: Constructing Spaces and Symbols in Ancient Rome (Palgrave Macmillan: 2014)
Courses:
New Testament
Biblical Exegesis
History of Christianity
Ancient Christian PracticesProfessional Label: Biblical Studies, New Testament, and History of Christianity
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Andrea Stanton
Associate Professor of Islamic Studies
Department of Religious Studies
University of Denver
Specialization: Islamic Studies; Middle Eastern history; media and politics; nationalism and sovereignty
Publications:- “Celebrating Muhammad’s Birthday in the Middle East,” in Identity Discourses and Communities in International Events, Festivals, and Spectacles (Palgrave, 2014)
- “Islamic Emoticons: Pious Sociability and Community Building in Online Muslim Communities,” in Internet and Emotions, eds. Tova Benski and Eran Fisher (Routledge, 2013)
- “‘Part of Imperial Communications’: British-Governed Radio in the Middle East, 1934-1949,” Journal of Media History 19.4 (2013): 421-35
- This Is Jerusalem Calling: State Broadcasting in Mandate Palestine (University of Texas Press, 2013)
Courses:
Contemporary Islam
Qur’an and Hadith
Islamic FundamentalismsProfessional Label: Islamic Studies
Email: andrea.stanton@du.edu
Phone: 303-871-3503
Office: DU, Sturm Hall 272 -
Dheepa Sundaram
Assistant Professor of Hindu Studies
Department of Religious Studies
University Denver
Specializations: South Asian Religious Traditions; Rituals, Praxis, Media and Performance; Gender, Caste and Performance in South Asia; Sanskrit and Tamil Poetics; Literature and Performance; Digital/Virtual Religion
Publications:- "Social media, hashtags and state-sponsored cultural marketing 1" in Digital Hinduism (Routledge, 2019)
- Current monograph project Globalizing Darśan: Virtual Soteriology and Hindu Branding
Courses:
Modern Hinduism
"Woman as the Gateway to Hell": Gender and Identity in South Asia
History of Yoga
Religion in the Virtual Space
Performing IndiaProfessional Label: South Asian Studies; South Asian Religious Traditions; Hindu Studies
Email: dheepa.sundaram@du.edu
Phone: 303.871.2888
Office: Sturm Hall 487F -
Katherine Turpin
Associate Professor of Religious Education
Iliff School of Theology
Specialization: Religious education; Practical theology; Teaching about difference, social location, and structural inequality; Relationships between education and social change; Vocational development in youth and young adults
Publications:- Drama Tweens: Engaging the Bible with Younger Adolescents (Wipf and Stock, 2016)
- Nurturing Different Dreams: Youth Ministry Across Lines of Difference, co-authored with Anne Carter Walker (Pickwick Press, 2014)
- Branded: Adolescents Converting from Consumer Faith (Pilgrim Press, 2006)
Courses:
Teaching and Learning in the Community of Faith
Practical Theology
Education and Social Change
Children in the Community of Faith
Pedagogy and the Teaching of ReligionProfessional Label: Religious education
Email: kturpin@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3139
Office: Iliff School of Theology -
Ted Vial
Professor of Theology and Modern Western Religious Thought
Iliff School of Theology
Specializations: Modern Theology; Enlightenment and Post-Enlightenment Theories of Religions; Religion in the Public Square; Gender in Early German Romanticism
Publications:- Modern Religion, Modern Race (Oxford, 2016)
- Schleiermacher: A Guide for the Perplexed (T & T Clark, 2013)
- Liturgy Wars: Ritual Theory and Protestant Reform in Nineteenth-Century Zurich (Routledge, 2004)
- Ethical Monotheism, Past and Present: Essays in Honor of Wendell S. Dietrich, co-editor (Brown Judaic Studies, 2001)
Courses:
Race and Religion
Religion, Gender, and Judaism
The Pantheism Controversy
The Atheism Controversy
Theory and Methods in the Study of Religion
Religion in the Public SquareProfessional Label: Modern theology
Email: tvial@iliff.edu
Phone: (303) 765-3166
Office: Iliff School of Theology