Georgian Court University
Candidate for Executive Council (2026-28)
Candidate statement
I am a historical theologian whose interdisciplinary research focuses on Catholic history, gender, and early modern France. I first became involved with the ACHA in 2013 while completing my PhD in historical theology/modern Christianity at Saint Louis University, and I am now Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theology at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, New Jersey—an institution originally founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1908, moving to its current location (the former Lakewood estate of railroad mogul George Jay Gould) in 1924. There, I bring historical inquiry into the classroom through courses such as Exploring Christian Theology, Social Justice Ethics, and a graduate-level methods course in theology. In 2024, I led a study-abroad program in Paris focused on the religious history of the city. I also recently had the opportunity to explore the history and heritage of the Sisters of Mercy as an inspiration for our teaching, which has been published in GCU’s NetVUE-funded book, The Enduring Spirit of Mercy at Georgian Court University (GCU, 2025).
My specialization is early modern French theological history, especially the seventeenth century, Jansenism, and the convent of Port-Royal. I like to tell my students that I work on “allegedly heretical nuns” in seventeenth-century France. My current book project, Searching for the Theologian: A Feminist Historical Theology of Port-Royal, uses the life and writings of Mother Angélique Arnauld to develop a historically grounded methodology for feminist historical theology. Using the debates over women’s capacity for theological knowledge during the Jansenist controversy as a starting point, I argue for a methodology that interprets women’s voices as legitimate theological sources—an approach that engages directly with questions of historiography, the silence of archival records, and the recovery of marginalized voices. I have published portions of this research in the Catholic Historical Review, Cistercian Studies Quarterly, and Studies in Spirituality.
I am also a co-editor and regular contributor to the academic blog WIT: Women in Theology (https://womenintheology.org/), where I write on topics ranging from early modern religious history to feminist theology and contemporary culture. In my recent co-edited volume that came from my work on the blog, Women and Public Theology: Emerging Voices (Paulist Press, 2024), my chapter further develops the methodological commitments of my work and highlights new historical-theological approaches to women’s theological contributions in history.
I would be honored to serve on the Executive Committee of the ACHA. I have long valued the ACHA as a welcoming and intellectually vibrant home for scholars working interdisciplinarily in history and theology. My prior administrative experience at my university and in academic societies provides a foundation for this position. I just completed a 3-year term as chair of GCU’s General Education Curriculum Committee while we were revising the university’s general education program. In academic societies, I have provided service and leadership for the American Academy of Religion (past member of the Travel Grants Jury; past member and chair of the steering committee of the Religion in Europe Unit) and the Catholic Theological Society of America (current member of the steering committee of the Women’s Consultation on Constructive Theology). I would welcome the opportunity to support the ACHA’s mission and contribute to the ongoing vitality of the society.