Dr. Nancy R. Howell
Professor of Theology and Philosophy of Religion and Oubri A. Poppele Professor of Health and Welfare Ministries
Phone: 913-253-5012
Email:
Curriculum Vitae
"The general principle shaping my decisions about courses and pedagogy is that students must learn to think deeply and theologically in order to respond effectively to the needs of the church and local community."
Education
PhD, MA, Claremont Graduate School
ThM, MDiv Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
BS, College of William and Mary
Denomination
United Methodist
Discipline or Specialty
Theology and Philosophy of Religion
Disciplinary/Research Interests
Science and religion (especially studies of primate behavior and how that knowledge affects theological reflection)
Ecology and theology
Process theology, feminist theology, liberative theologies, decolonial theology
Exploring Human Origins: What Does It Mean To Be Human?
What do you hope your students come away with when they leave your classroom?
When students complete a course or leave a classroom, I hope they carry with them theological curiosity that stems from a deep love of God. That curiosity is the beginning of pastoral imagination that responds to an understanding of God’s faithfulness and presence in the world by caring for and respecting nonhuman nature and human diversity.
What is your teaching style?
My teaching is online, hybrid, and face-to-face, but regardless of the delivery format, my teaching is a dialogue with students. Dialogue engages student interests and situations so that the content of a courses is less abstract and has relevance to their social locations, lives, and ministries. The dialogue brings external scholars to class in person or through publications into the conversation. My goals is to motivate students and to provide tools that enable life-long learning and theological reflection and action.
Representative Courses Taught
Science, Theology, and Ministry
Liberation Theology in the U.S.
Process Theology
Advanced Seminary: Theology and Immigration
Leading across Difference
Organizing for Change
Recent Publications
“Engaging Indigenous Epistemology, Decolonizing the Western Worldview,” Religious Studies Review (2023, online).
“Scientific Data, Ecological Conversion, and Transformative Affect.” HST Teologiese
Studies/Theological Studies 77, no. 3, Art. #6518, 2021: 8 pages.
https://hts.org.za/index.php/hts/article/view/6518;
https://doi.org/10.4012/hts.v77i3.6518.
“Lessons from the Breakroom.” In Open and Relational Leadership: Leading with Love, edited by
Roland Hearn, Sheri D. Kling, and Thomas J. Oord, 57-60. Grasmere, ID:
SacraSage, 2020.
“Have You Ever Wondered What It’s Like to Be a Chimpanzee?” In Putting Philosophy to
Work: Toward an Ecological Civilization, edited by John B. Cobb, Jr. and Wm. Andrew
Schwartz, 43-61. Anoka, MN: Process Century Press, 2018.
“God and Nature.” In Gender: God, Macmillan Interdisciplinary Handbooks, edited by Sian
Melvill Hawthorne, 351-365. Farmington Hills, MI: Macmillan Reference USA, 2017.
“Locating Nature and Culture: Pan-Homo Culture and Theological Primatology.” Verbum et
Ecclesia 36, no. 3, Art. #1440, 2015: 9 pages.
http://dx.doi.org/10.4012/ve.v36i3.1440.
Creating Women's Theology: A Movement Engaging Process Thought, edited with Monica A. Coleman and Helene Tallon Russell (Wipf and Stock, Pickwick Publications, 2011).
"Embodied Transcendence: Bonobos and Humans in Community," Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 44:3 (September 2009).
"Gordon Kaufman: From Agency to Creativity," American Journal of Theology and Philosophy 29:1 (January 2008), 34-43.
"Uniqueness in Context," American Journal of Theology and Philosophy 28: 3 (September 2007), 364-377. Reprinted in Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 42:2 (June 2008), 493-503.
A Feminist Cosmology: Ecology, Solidarity, and Metaphysics (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press; Humanity Books, 2000).
