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Chair in Christian Social Ethics

Prof David P. Gushee

PhD Union Theological Seminary (1993); MPhil Union Theological Seminary (1990); MDiv Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1987); BA College of William and Mary (1984)

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David P. Gushee (1962; PhD, Union Theological Seminary in New York) served as an assistant professor for Christian Ethics at SBTS (Louisville, KT) from 1993–1996, before taking up various consecutive academic posts in moral philosophy at Union University (Jackson, TN). In 2007 he moved to Mercer University in order to serve as its Distinguished University Professor of Christian Ethics.

Gushee has written and/or edited over 30 books and 150 book chapters, journal articles and reviews, in addition to many opinion contributions to the popular press. Some of his most notable books are, Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust (1994, based on PhD-thesis), The Sacredness of Human Life (2013), Changing Our Mind (2014, 2017) and After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity (2020).

In March 2021 David Gushee was appointed as Professor of Christian Social Ethics by the Executive Board of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) with IBTS. Christian ethics has long held a central place in the research agenda of IBTS and David Gushee’s appointment as Senior Research fellow will significantly reinvigorate this work both in the academic and public spheres. The appointment exemplifies the creative nature of the collaborative partnership between the VU and IBTS. The chair is part of the faculty department of Beliefs and Practices at the VU and focuses on PhD student supervision. Besides his work as a new professor in Amsterdam, Gushee continues his work for Mercer University, Atlanta (GA). 

Research Interests

"My interests are in Christian social ethics, with broad coverage: political ethics, sexual and family ethics, human rights and genocide, anti-racism and racial injustice. I can stretch to cover bioethics, gender, ecological ethics, economic ethics. I am the author of two of the major works in the field. In recent years, I have become a pioneer in studying post-evangelicalism."

Publications

FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS – BOOKS IN PRODUCTION

The Travail of Job. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2026.

Christianity and Democracy Today: International Perspectives. Editor, with Paul Silas Peterson. Abingdon,

UK: Routledge, 2025.

PUBLICATIONS – BOOKS

The Moral Teachings of Jesus: Radical Instruction in the Will of God. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2024

Defending Democracy from its Christian Enemies. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023.

Introducing Christian Ethics. Canton, MI: Front Edge, 2022.

After Evangelicalism: The Path to a New Christianity. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2020. Nominated for Grawemeyer Award.

Justice and the Way of Jesus: Christian Ethics and the Incarnational Discipleship of Glen Stassen. Editor, with Reggie L. Williams. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020.

In the Shadow of a Prophet: The Legacy of Walter Rauschenbusch. Editor & Contributor, with William H. Brackney. Macon: Mercer University Press, 2020.

Moral Leadership for a Divided Age: Fourteen People Who Dared to Change Our World. With Colin D. Holtz. Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2018.

Still Christian: Following Jesus Out of American Evangelicalism. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2017.

Letter to My Anxious Christian Friends: From Faith to Fear in Unsettled Times. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016.

Evangelical Ethics (Library of Theological Ethics). Editor, with Isaac B. Sharp. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2015.

Changing Our Mind: A call from America’s leading evangelical ethics scholar for full acceptance of LGBTQ Christians in the church. Canton, MI: Read the Spirit Books, 2014. Third Edition, 2017. Translation completed: Georgian. Translations in development: Swahili, Mandarin, Spanish

In the Fray: Contesting Christian Public Ethics, 1994-2013. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014.

Evangelical Peacemakers: Gospel Engagement in a War-Torn World. Editor/Contributor. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2013.

Glen Harold Stassen: Baptist Peacemaker, Global Christian Ethicist (Festschrift), Co-Editor/Contributor, with Reggie L. Williams. Perspectives in Religious Studies 40, no. 2 (Summer 2013). “Editorial Introduction” (101-108); “An Interpretation of the Christian Ethics of Glen Harold Stassen” (181-193).

The Sacredness of Human Life: Why an Ancient Biblical Idea is the Key to the World’s Future. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2013. Nominated for Grawemeyer Award; Winner, Georgia Author of the Year Award.

Yours is the Day, Lord, Yours is the Night: A Morning and Evening Prayer Book. Editor, with Jeanie Gushee. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2012. Reisssued as A Morning and Evening Prayerbook. New York: HarperCollins, 2018.

A New Evangelical Manifesto: A Kingdom Vision for the Common Good. Editor/Contributor. St. Louis: Chalice Press, 2012.

Religious Faith, Torture, and Our National Soul. Co-editor and Contributor, with Jillian Hickman Zimmer and J. Drew Zimmer. Macon: Mercer, 2010.

The Scholarly Vocation and the Baptist Academy. Co-editor and Contributor, with Roger Ward. Macon: Mercer, 2008.

The Future of Faith in American Politics: The Public Witness of the Evangelical Center. Waco: Baylor, 2008.

Only Human: Christian Reflections on the Journey toward Wholeness. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005. First book in my “Enduring Issues in Christian Life” series with Jossey-Bass.

Getting Marriage Right: Realistic Counsel for Saving and Strengthening Marriages. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004.

Kingdom Ethics: Following Jesus in Contemporary Context, with Glen H. Stassen. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity, 2003. First Edition translations completed: Japanese, Bulgarian, Spanish, Indonesian, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Finnish. Second Edition, substantially revised: Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016. Second edition translations in development: Russian, Korean.

Christians and Politics Beyond the Culture Wars: From Despair to Mission. Editor/Contributor. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000.

Toward a Just and Caring Society: Christian Responses to Poverty in America. Editor/Contributor. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1999.

The Future of Christian Higher Education. Co-Editor and Contributor, with David S. Dockery. Broadman & Holman, 1999.

A Bolder Pulpit: Reclaiming the Moral Dimension of Preaching, with Robert H. Long. Valley Forge: Judson Press, 1998.

Preparing for Christian Ministry: An Evangelical Approach. Co-edited with Walter Jackson. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996.

The Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: A Christian Interpretation. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1994. Translation: Die Gerechten Des Holocaust: Warum nur wenige Christen den Juden halfen. Wuppertal: One Way Verlag, 1997. Second Edition: Righteous Gentiles of the Holocaust: Genocide and Moral Obligation. St. Paul: Paragon House, 2003.

Articles

2020-2024

Review of Rain of Ash: Roma, Jews, and the Holocaust, by Ari Joskowicz. Christian Century (October 2024): 90-

91.

“The Anabaptist Genius.” Leader (MennoMedia) 22:1 (Fall 2024): 2-4.

Review of End Time Politics: From the Moral Majority to QAnon, by Keri Ladner. Christian Century (July 2024):

83-84.

“Eine Gegenüberstellung christlicher Politkrichtungen in den Vereinigten Staaten.” Zeitschrift für Theologie und

Gemeinde (ZThG) 29 (2024): 201-216.

Foreword to Michael W. Austin, Humility. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2024.

Foreword to Grace Ji-Sun Kim, When God Became White. Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 2024.

109-120.

Foreword to Ashley Hardingham, Discerning Inclusion. Eugene, OR: Resource Publications, 2024.

Foreword to Helen Paynter and Maria Power, eds., The Church, the Far Right, and the Claim to Christianity.

London: SCM Press, 2024.

“US evangelicalism: An elegy.” Journal of American Culture 47 (2024): 6-10.

“The Baptist Tradition.” In Harold Heie and John G. Stackhouse, Jr., eds., Following Jesus: Perspectives from

Twelve Christian Traditions. Orange City, IA: 2024.

“Understanding the Ideology of Guns.” Christian Century (January 2024): 88.Foreword to Brian Cunnington, Open Wide the Gates. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2023.

“Reversing the Rain of Death That Threatens Us All: On the Christian Ethical Meanings of Species Loss.” With

Alexander John Paul Lutz. Journal of Reformed Theology 17 (2023): 1-24.

“Christianity in North America.” With Isaac B. Sharp. In Kenneth R. Ross, et. al, editors, Christianity in North

America. Volume 7, Edinburgh Companions to Global Christianity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University

Press, 2023, 132-143.

“Jedediah Purdy’s Democratic Vision.” Review. Christian Century (May 2023): 87-88.

“The Christian Moral Witness of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.” In Kenneth Archer and Zachary Tackett, eds., Celebrating

Life in Community: Reflections in Social Ethics and the Church, Essays in Honour of Murray W. Dempster.

Oxford: Regnum Books International, 2023, 87-98.

Foreword to Isaac B. Sharp, The Other Evangelicals. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2023.

“Introducing Introducing Christian Ethics.” Journal of European Baptist Studies, November 2022.

“The Problem of Authoritarian Reactionary Christianity.” Political Theology Network, October 2022.

Foreword to Justin Bronson Barringer and Maria Russell Kenney, editors, Practicing the Kingdom: Essays on Hospitality, Community, and Friendship in Honor of Christine D. Pohl. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2022.

“Toxic Religion, Toxic Churches and Toxic Policies: Evangelicals, ‘White Blessing,’ and COVID-19.” In Stacey Floyd-Thomas, editor, Religion, Race, and COVID-19: Confronting White Supremacy in the Pandemic. New York: NYU Press, 2022, 231-244.

“Baptists and Sociopolitical Involvement.” In Erich Geldbach, editor, Baptists Worldwide: Origins, Expansion, Emerging Realities. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2022, 86-100.

Foreword to reissue of Reinhold Niebuhr, An Interpretation of Christian Ethics. Reinhold Niebuhr Library. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2022.

Afterword to Harold Heie, Let’s Talk: Bridging Divisive Lines Through Respectful and Inclusive Conversations. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021.

“Foreword to Jacob Alan Cook, Worldview Theory, Whiteness, and the Future of Evangelical Faith. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021.

“Fractured Truth in Post-Trump America.” In Miguel De La Torre, editor, Faith and Reckoning After Trump. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2021, 36-46.

Foreword to Paul E. Knowlton and Aaron E, Hedges, Better Capitalism. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021.

Foreword to Justin R. Phillips, Know Your Place. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2021. “The Limits of Biblical Ethics for Christian Ethics Today.” In Volker Rabens, ed., New Approaches to Biblical Ethics: An Interdisciplinary Dialogue. Leiden: Brill, 2021, 392-404.

Foreword to Ken Whitt, God is Just Love. Canton, MI: Front Edge, 2021.

Foreword to Richard H. Hiers, A Nation of Immigrants. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2021.

Review of Protectors of Pluralism, by Robert Braun. In Holocaust and Genocide Studies 34, no. 3 (Winter 2020): 522-523.

Review of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Christian Humanism, by Jens Zimmermann. In Political Theology (21 January, 2021).

“Dignity: A Protestant Perspective.” In Matthew R. Petrusek and Jonathan Rothchild, eds., Value and Vulnerability: An Interfaith Dialogue on Human Dignity. South Bend, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 2020.

“Katie Cannon’s Enduring Contribution to Christian Ethics.” Interpretation 74, 1 (2020): 23-30.

For earlier articles and book chapters, please contact us at info@ibts.eu.

Memberships & Networks

Senior Columnist, Baptist News Global

Board of Directors, Word & Way

Advisory Board, Scholars’ Conference on the Holocaust and the Churches

Contributing Editor, Sojourners

Fellow, American Jewish Committee, Christian Leadership Initiative

Member, Center for Theological Inquiry