Our Research Teams
This research team focuses on how cultures in the Roman Catholic Church have facilitated the abuse of power. We seek to understand how the church's hierarchical and clericalist structures have led to the abuse and exploitation of vulnerable populations within the church. In previous years, we have paid special attention to how Catholic leaders have responded to the crisis of clergy-perpetuated sexual abuse (see "Past Projects"). Going forward, we will be developing research agendas that use interdisciplinary lenses to better recognize how power is being abused, while also offering concrete ways to work against the abuse and cultivate a healthier faith community.
This research team focuses broadly on the intersections of religion and power as they relate to gender and sexuality. For this academic year (2022-2023), our research project focuses on the complex intersections of and entanglements between political theology, gender, and formation. Some questions our work will begin to explore include: How is gender formed by theological beliefs and practices, and how does that impact the political sphere? How has it been formed by societal and political structures and how has that shaped our theological frameworks and practices? How do politics and religion themselves form how we do and think about gender? And finally, how might theological discourse and practice serve as a resource for how we think about and do gender in the political sphere? We will begin to explore these complex, and at times controversial, entanglements through three fronts: descriptive, constructive, and public. We’ll explore what cultural and religious factors shape how we think and do gender in our contemporary landscape. We’ll explore what resources religion offers, looking first to apophatic theology. We will consider how these intersections shape and are shaped by the public, hosting campus and community conversations.