Matthew Elia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Theological Studies
Courses Taught
God-Talk: Ultimate Questions in Theology; Spiritual Exercises at the End of the World; Catholic Social Teaching; Eco-theology and the Colonial World
Education
Ph.D. in Religion (Christian Theological Studies), Duke University, 2019 M.Div., Duke University Divinity School, 2013
Research Interests
- Political Theology and Religious Ethics
- Race, Religion, and Coloniality
- Environmental Justice
- Augustine and the Augustinian Tradition Science and Theology
Publications and Media Placements
Publications
We Are Each Other’s Harvest: Solidarity at the End of the World (in progress)
The Problem of the Christian Master: Augustine in the Afterlife of Slavery, Yale University Press, 2024
Select Refereed Journal Articles:
“Climate Apartheid, Race, and the Future of Solidarity: Three Frameworks of Response,” Journal of Religious Ethics 51.4 (Dec. 2023)
“Slave Christologies: Augustine and the Enduring Trouble with the ‘Form of a Slave,’” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 75.1 (January 2021)
“Sarah’s Laugh, Sodom’s Sin, Hagar’s Kin: Queering Time and Belonging in Genesis 16-21,” Biblical Interpretation 28.4 (Winter 2020)
“Ethics in the Afterlife of Slavery: Race, Augustine, and the Problem of the Master,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 38.2 (Fall/Winter 2018)
Honors and Awards
- Fellowship, Center for Research on Global Catholicism at Saint Louis University. Project Title: “Making Solidarity Global: Climate Migration, Race, and the Future of Catholic Moral Thought” (2024-25).
- Fellowship, Illuminating Theological Inquiry and Christian Ethics Through Training in Psychological Science at Baylor University. Project Title: “Beyond Allyship: How the Psychological Sciences Can Help Theology Reimagine the Virtue of Solidarity” (2023-24).
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Virginia, Multi-disciplinary Engagements Program (2021-24).
- Postdoctoral Fellowship, Duke University Divinity School, Member of ‘God and the Book of Nature,’ Edinburgh University project funded by John Templeton Foundation (2019-22).
- Summer School Fellowship, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Germany (2022).
- Early Career Latinx Religion Faculty Teaching and Learning Workshop, Wabash Center (2020-21).
- Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Completion Fellowship (2018-19).
Professional Organizations and Associations
- American Academy of Religion
- Society of Christian Ethics
- Fellowship for Protestant Ethics
- La Comunidad of Hispanic Scholars of Religion