Biography:

Kathlyn Breazeale teaches in the areas of feminist and womanist theologies as well as other theologies emerging from women's experiences. Her research currently focuses upon the theology of marriage, ecofeminist theology, and the use of the arts to teach about gender and social justice.

Education:

• B.S., Northwestern State University, 1973
• B.A., Centenary College, 1978
• M.Div., liff School of Theology, 1988
• Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University, 1996

Biography:

Suzanne Crawford O'Brien's area of specialization is Religion and Culture, with emphases in Native American religious traditions, and comparative studies of minority religious communities in North America, including religion and healing, gender and ethnicity, and religion and popular culture. Her research interests address questions of place and ecology, and how religious belief and practice can work to promote ecological and social justice. Her recent publications include the three-volume American Indian Religious Traditions: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2005), and Native American Religious Traditions (Prentice Hall and Laurence King, 2007). Two projects are currently in the works: an anthology Religion and Healing in Native America: Pathways for Renewal (Praeger Press, 2008), and a monograph Coming Full Circle: Spirituality and Wellness Among Native Communities in Western Washington (University of Nebraska Press).

Education:

• B.A., Willamette University, 1995
• M.A. , Vanderbilt University, 1997
• Ph.D., University of California Santa Barbara, 2003

Biography:

Antonios Finitsis' professional interests and approach are deeply socio-historical. He has always found the intersection between religion and politics fascinating. Since Judeo-Christian religion was shaped under powerful empires, part of his research revolves around the impact of colonial interests and power structures in the development of religious ideas. Human relationships are another favorite topic of Dr. Finitsis, particularly, when these relationships are seen through the lens of the human-divine contact and in the context of spirituality.

Education:

• B.A., University of Athens, Greece, 1992
• M.A., University of Chicago, 1998
• Ph.D., University of Chicago, 2007

Biography:

Trained as a modern American social and cultural historian at Boston College, Andrew Finstuen’s fields of interest include: religion and culture, history of theology, intellectual history, and post-World War II America. His latest research blends social, cultural, and intellectual history by charting how ordinary Protestants interacted with the thought of Reinhold Niebuhr, Billy Graham, and Paul Tillich.

Education:

• B.A., History, Pacific Lutheran University
• Ph.D., American History, Boston College

Biography:

Annal Frenz teaches in the areas of New Testament and Early Christianity, primarily using historical, literary, and cultural approaches to the ancient source material. She also teaches a course on New Testament in the First Year Experience program. Trained as both a Biblical scholar and a cultural historian, her areas of interest include group formation in early Christianity, religions of the Roman Empire, gender and sexuality, magic and medicine, and the impact of cultural constructs of the body on religious expression. Her latest research focuses on constructions of virginity in the formation of female identity in Greco-Roman, Judaic, and early Christian thought.

Education:

• B.S., History, Portland State University, 1980
• M.A., Humanities, The University of Chicago, 1997

Areas of Emphasis:

• New Testament and Early Christianity

Biography:

Joseph Hickey-Tiernan learned from his editorial and support work with Raymond E Brown, his teacher, the power of locating the meaning of Scripture in the context of its first readers and writers. In his own subsequent work teaching and administering programs for religious professionals, Hickey-Tiernan has applied the processes of critical awareness to awakening contemporary learners to their own contextual immersion, in order to harness the spark of biblical texts arcing toward a new horizon. His interests include the co-emergence of meaning and praxis, conceptual models for post-modern understanding, and New Testament as a paradigmatic record of historic transition.

Education:

• B.A., Philosophy & Education, St Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore, 1966
• S.T.B., Theology, St Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore, 1968
• S.T.L., School of Theology, Catholic University, 1971

Biography:

Brenda Ihssen teaches courses in the history of early Christianity, early and medieval Islamic religious history, and specific topics in historical theology and Orthodox Christianity. She also teaches in the First Year Experience and the International Honors programs. Her research is focused primarily on the social ethics found in the writing of fourth-century Cappadocian authors and in monastic and spiritual texts of Orthodox Christianity during the age of the Byzantine Empire. Professor Ihssen has two publications: “St. Basil and St. Gregory's Sermons against Usury: Credit Where Credit is Due,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 16, 2008 and “Smashing God’s Face: Art, Theology and Violence in the Byzantine Empire,” ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies, 2008.

Education:

• B.A., English Literature, Concordia University, Portland, 1990
• B.A., Education, Concordia University, Portland, 1990
• MTS, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Berkeley, 1994
• Ph.D., University of St. Michael's College, Toronto, 2004

Biography:

Patricia O'Connell Killen is an American religious historian with particular expertise in nineteenth and twentieth century Christianity in North America, Catholicism in North America, religion among European immigrant communities, religion in the Western United States, and the development of lived theologies in faith communities. She teaches introductory courses in American religious history and the history of Christianity, and an array of upper-division courses in American religious history and contemporary religious developments in the United States. Dr. Killen was the recipient of the 2007 Award for Teaching Excellence from the American Academy of Religion. Current research includes exploring how people inside and outside the doors of religious institutions in the Pacific Northwest are influenced by and, in turn, affect the natural and social-cultural dynamics of the region. With her colleague Dr. Roberta Brown, Professor of Languages and Literatures, she is preparing "Out of the Shadows: Early Washington Through the Letter Books of A.M.A. Blanchet, Bishop of Walla Walla and Nesqually (1846-1879)" that presents the complex religious, cultural, and social dynamics of the Washington Territory. Some recent publications include Patricia O'Connell Killen and Mark Silk, eds. Religion and Public Life in the Pacific Northwest: The None Zone (Alta Mira Press, 2004), which is the first of a nine-volume series that explores the religious configuration and public presence of religion in different regions of the United States, and Patricia O'Connell Killen, "The Religious Geography of the Pacific Northwest," Word and World 24/3 (Summer 2004): 269.278.

Education:

• B.A., Gonzaga University, 1974
• M.A., Stanford University, 1976
• Ph.D., Stanford University, 1987

Areas of Emphasis:

• Christian Tradition
• American Church History
• Modern Church History
• Church History Studies
• International Core

Biography:

Douglas E. Oakman has been with the faculty of Pacific Lutheran University since 1988. Prior to that he taught at Santa Clara University, the University of San Francisco, and San Francisco Theological Seminary. He was chair of the Religion Department from 1996-2003 and is now serving as Dean of Humanities. Oakman has published numerous articles applying the social sciences to biblical studies, is the author of Jesus and the Economic Questions of His Day (Edwin Mellen, 1986) and with K. C. Hanson the award-winning Palestine in the Time of Jesus: Social Structures and Social Conflicts (Fortress Press, 1998). During the 1990s, he participated in archaeological excavations at Jotapata and Cana in Galilee.

Education:

• B.A., University of Iowa, 1975
• MDiv., Christ Seminary-Seminex, 1979
• Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, 1986

Biography:

Kevin J. O'Brien teaches courses in Christian ethics, comparative ethics, and environmental ethics. In addition to the Department of Religion, he teaches in the International Honors and the Environmental Studies programs, with every course emphasizing the importance of thinking critically about contemporary moral issues. His research focuses on the interconnections between religious faith and social justice, human ethics and environmental concerns, scientific data and moral commitments. He wrote the essays "Toward an Ethics of Biodiversity: Science and Theology in Environmentalist Dialogue" in the volume Ecospirit (2007) and "Thinking Globally and “Thinking Locally: Ecology, Subsidiarity, and a Multiscalar Environmentalism” in The Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture (2008). He is also the author of a forthcoming monograph entitled An Ethics of Biodiversity: Christianity, Ecology, and the Variety of Life (Georgetown, 2010) and co-editor of the forthcoming textbook Grounding Religion, Rethinking Nature: A Field Guide to Religion and Ecology (Routledge, 2010).

Education:

• B.A., Religion, Earlham College, Richmond, IN, 1999
• M.A., Theology, Union Theological Seminary, NY, 2001
• Ph.D., Ethics and Society, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 2006

Areas of Emphasis:

• Christian Social Ethics & Environmental Ethics

Biography:

Samuel Torvend teaches courses in the history of Christianity and historical courses on specific topics. In all of these courses, his early interest in the relationship between Christian insights and practices with a culture's social, economic, and political systems continues to engage students with the power of religion to shape public life. He also teaches an introductory course in the International Honors Program and offers a course on early or medieval Christianity in Rome where students travel to Assisi, Orvieto, and Ostia Antica. His current research focuses on the origins of social welfare in the sixteenth century and the use of the visual arts to promote reform.

Education:

• B.A., History, Pacific Lutheran University, 1973
• MDiv., Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa, 1978
• M.A., Theology, Aquinas Institute of Theology, Dubuque, Iowa, 1980
• Ph.D., Historical Theology, St. Louis University, St. Louis, 1990

Biography:

Marit Trelstad is interested in how Christian theological ideas influence and are influenced by their contexts and authors. In her scholarship concerning teaching religion and in the field of theological anthropology, she advocates the empowerment, respect and communal responsibility of individuals. The importance of individual creativity and voice is seen within multiple avenues of her work in theology: Christology / soteriology, the doctrine of God, anthropology, pedagogical theory, feminist and process theologies, and contemporary applications within areas such as pastoral care and counseling. She is increasingly concerned with building conversational bridges between conservative and liberal religious perspectives. Publications include Cross Examinations: Readings on the Meaning of the Cross Today (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2006).

Education:

• B.A., Religion and English, St. Olaf College, 1989
• M.A., Systematic Theology, Luther Northwestern Seminary, 1994
• Ph.D., Philosophy of Religion and Theology, Claremont Graduate University, 2000

Biography:

Michael Zbaraschuk teaches courses in Christian theology. He is currently interested in Christian identity in the contemporary European and North American scene, Christianity in Latin America, Religious pluralism, and the 19th-century roots of 20th and 21st century religious issues. His research interests are currently focused on the expression of religious ideas in 20th-century literature, the use of religious language in politics in North American contexts, and how religious ideas translate into policies of ecological conservation in Costa Rica.

Education:

• B.A., Humanities and Spanish, Walla Walla College, 1993
• M.A., Religion, Claremont University, 1998
• Ph.D., Religion, Claremont University, 2002