Senior Lecturer
dcmcduff@uncg.edu
DMin, Sewanee: The University of the South
MA Religion, MA Philosophy, Graduate Certificate in Environmental Ethics, AB Political Science, The University of Georgia
Graduate Certificate in Global Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
My primary teaching schedule includes courses in World Religions, Religion in America, Christian History, Religion and Environment, and Religion and Politics. Broadly, my research and teaching interests involve the subject area of Religion and Culture, which includes but is not limited to the relationships between religion and politics, science, and health care. Most of my research revolves around the interdisciplinary conversations between religion and the natural sciences and the ways in which these conversations contribute to ecological conservation and public health. The following question orients my work: In a time of widespread ecological degradation, what is the potential for religion or the religious to offer a significant contribution toward the attainment of sustainable human cultures, which includes a commitment to the valuation and protection of human and non-human life? I explore this question with reference to conceptions of the natural environment from established religious traditions (with a particular emphasis on Christian tradition) as well as through an examination of whether concern and care for life on Earth can be understood as a form of religious expression.
I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science and MA degrees in Religion and Philosophy from the University of Georgia. I have also earned graduate certificates in Environmental Ethics (University of Georgia) and Global Health (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). I studied and completed Doctoral exams in the graduate program in Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before completing my Doctorate at The School of Theology at Sewanee: The University of the South. I have previously taught at the University of Georgia and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I am also a faculty member of the Environment and Sustainability Program Advisory Council (https://ges.uncg.edu/people/advisory-council/) in the Department of Geography, Environment, and Sustainability (GES) at UNC-Greensboro. In addition to my academic work at UNC-Greensboro, I am a member of the Christianity Advisory Group at the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University and a Non-resident Faculty Scholar at the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University.
Nature’s Sacrament: The Epic of Evolution and a Theology of Sacramental Ecology
On Life, Grace, and Vaccines: A Sacramental Approach to Public Health
Sacrament and Science in a Global Health Crisis
Beyond Rights: COVID-19, Conservatives and the Responsibilities of American Christianity. Religion and Global Society (April 29, 2020). https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2020/04/beyond-rights-covid-19-conservatives-and-the-responsibilities-of-american-christianity/
Sacred Immunity: Religion, Vaccines, and the Protection of Public Health in America. J Public Health (Berl.) (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-020-01254-7
The Epic of Evolution and a Theology of Sacramental Ecology. Religions 2019, 10(4), 244. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel10040244.
Department of Religious Studies
UNC Greensboro
Physical Address:
109 Foust Building
Greensboro, NC 27412
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402
Phone: 336.334.5762
Fax:336.334.4258
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