Faculty

Jorge A. Aquino, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, specializing in Latin American and U.S. Latinx Christian theologies and religious history, liberation theologies, race and religion, sexuality, and the theo-politics of social movements. He is involved in research, conference work, and publishing activities throughout the Américas (see his academia.edu profile).

Dr. Aquino is a principal researcher in the Theology, Ethics, and Politics Working...

Mark Miller is associate professor of systematic (philosophical) theology.  His mother came from the Philippines, his father from Maine, and they met in the middle as students at USF in the 1960s.  His specialty is human development and redemption, particularly our ongoing, communal conversion to greater knowledge, love, and service of God and all things.  His PhD dissertation is entitled, "Why the Passion?: Bernard Lonergan on the Cross as Communication." His undergraduate degree concentrated...

Erin Brigham directs the Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Social Thought and the Ignatian Tradition and teaches in the department of Theology and Religious Studies. She also directs the St. Ignatius Institute, a living-learning community rooted in academics, spirituality, and solidarity. Passionate about theological research, her most recent books include Church as Field Hospital: Toward an Ecclesiology of Sanctuary and Women Engaging the Catholic Social Tradition: Solidarity Toward the...

A native of County Donegal in the north of Ireland, Cathal Doherty is a Jesuit priest of the Irish province. Prior to joining the faculty at USF in the academic year 2015-16, he previously taught at Boston College and University College Dublin, Ireland. A linguist turned theologian, he completed doctoral degrees in theology (Boston College) and theoretical linguistics (University of California, Santa Cruz).

His main research interests lie in dogmatic, especially sacramental theology, in...

Lilian Dube is an associate professor and former chair of the Theology and Religious Studies Department at the University of San Francisco where she started in 2006 after a decade of teaching at universities in the USA and UK and the University of Zimbabwe, with tenure. In 1999, she made history as the first Black woman to earn a Doctor of Theology degree from Stellenbosch University.

She is the executive director of the film, USF in Zambia: HIV/AIDS and Social Justice, co-author of African...

Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, the Mae and Benjamin Swig Professor in Jewish Studies and the founding Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, has been at USF since 2007. An educator for more than two decades, his primary academic interest is the intersection between identity formation, social justice, and marginalized groups.

Aaron completed his PhD in the Religious Studies Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied the History of Religions...

Aysha Hidayatullah is Associate Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, and she teaches undergraduate courses on gender, sexuality, race, ethics, and religious studies in Islamic traditions. She began teaching at USF in 2008, after receiving her MA and PhD in Religious Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and her BA in Women's Studies and English from Emory University. 

She is the author of Feminist Edges of the Qur'an (Oxford University Press, 2014...

Oren Kroll-Zeldin is the assistant Director of the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice at the University of San Francisco where he is also an assistant professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He is the co-editor of This Is Your Song Too: Phish and Contemporary Jewish Identity (Penn State University Press) and author of the forthcoming book Unsettled: American Jews and the Movement for Justice in Palestine (New York University Press). Oren is the co-founder...

Lois Ann Lorentzen is Professor of Social Ethics in the Theology and Religious Studies Department at the University of San Francisco (USF) and Academic Director, Master in Migration Studies Professor Lorentzen received her PhD in Social Ethics at the University of Southern California. Prior to coming to USF she taught at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.

Professor Lorentzen is the author of Etica Ambiental (Environmental Ethics) and Raising the Bar, editor of Hidden Lives and Human...

Vijaya Nagarajan is an associate professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and in the Program of Environmental Studies. In addition to teaching at the University of San Francisco, she has also taught at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University.

Vijaya's academic interests weave among the fields of Hinduism, Environment, Gender, Ritual, and the Commons. She received her PhD in South Asian Language and Literatures from UC Berkeley. Vijaya has received...

Joseph Nguyen, S.J. is an assistant professor of systematic theology and Christian spirituality. He is a Jesuit priest of the U.S. West Province of the Society of Jesus. Prior to joining the faculty at the University of San Francisco in 2020, he taught courses in Catholic Christian foundations, Christian spirituality, and Ignatian spirituality at Gonzaga University. His research focuses on Christian spirituality with an emphasis on Ignatian spirituality.

Professor Nguyen received a doctorate...

The Rev. Vincent Pizzuto, PhD, is an Episcopal priest and Professor of New Testament and Christian Mysticism in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He received his PhD (STD) in New Testament Exegesis from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (2003).

Seeking to link ancient Christian tradition with contemporary faith, his core courses explore the relationship between historical-critical methods of exegesis and theological interpretations...

Tsering Wangchuk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. His areas of specialization include the intellectual history of Tibetan Buddhism, Buddhist Studies, and history of religions. He has published articles with several peer-reviewed journals. He teaches classes on Buddhism and Himalayan religions and cultures. He is also the Blum Chair in Himalayan Studies. He received his PhD from the University of Virginia...

Peter Claver Ajer holds a PhD in Biblical Studies (New Testament and Early Christianity) with an allied field in Political Science (Peace and Conflict Studies) and a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture. His book, The Death of Jesus and the Politics of Place in the Gospel of John, employs modern theories of political and social geography to determine John's construction of liberating spaces in the Fourth Gospel’s Passion Narrative. His present research methodologies include historical criticism...

Camille Shira Angel, an adjunct professor in the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, is also an ordained rabbi from the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the author of articles including "Crafting a Liturgical Mirror," in the wonderful new anthology The Sacred Encounter: Jewish Perspectives on Sexuality, and "Ruach Acheret-Ruach Hakodesh: Different Spirit-Sacred Spirit" in Torah Queeries: Weekly Commentaries on the Hebrew Bible.

She was the spiritual leader...

Andrei Antokhin is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies. He was born in Moscow, and completed his undergraduate studies in Philosophy at UC Berkeley. Antokhin received his Doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union in the area of History of Christianity.

Professor Antokhin's academic areas of interest include the Ethics of Friendship, World Religions, New Testament, Interfaith Dialogue, Eastern Orthodox Church, and Christian Spirituality. He has been...

Born in Southern California and raised in Central America, Arce's interests include immigration and the family in the United States, religious expressions among new immigrants, and the interactions of religion and gender in Latina/o cultures. She is also interested in the role of media; specifically film, on culture and society, both among immigrant communities and the broader U.S. society. Arce is preparing a dissertation in GTU's Interdisciplinary Studies program, where she will work with...

Noa Bar-Gabai earned her PhD in comparative literature from UCLA. Her dissertation and current research examines Hebrew narratives written by Mizrahi (Arab-Jewish) authors with regard to issues of secularism, postcolonialism, and Jewish nationalism.

Lee is the rabbi at Congregation Beth Shalom in Napa and a Senior Moderator at the Aspen Institute. He has devoted his life to a variety of social justice issues as a teacher, humanitarian and community leader. For fifteen years he was Dean of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles, where he was also Assistant Professor of Leadership and Applied Theology and served as the Smither Visiting Professor of World Religions at the Claremont School of Theology.

Lee...

Kimberly Carfore is an adjunct professor of environmental studies and theology and religious studies. Her research interests include gendered experiences of divinity and embodied theology, nature spiritualities, ancestral skills, and wilderness experience.
 

Reggie Daniels was born in San Francisco. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of San Francisco in 2012 and his Masters at USF School of Management in business in 2014. He will complete his Doctorate of Education in 2018.

In 2012 Daniels received a Merit Scholarship from the University of San Francisco, School of Management. He has been honored with the Black History Month Local Heroes Award and highlighted on KQED; in July 2012, he received the In the Trenches “Change...

Rebecca Gordon received her PhD from Graduate Theological Union. Her latest book is American Nuremberg: The U.S. Officials Who Should Stand Trial for Post-9/11 War Crimes. She publishes regularly at Tomdispatch.com, a project of The Nation Institute.

Prior to teaching at USF, Rebecca spent many years as an activist in a variety of movements, including for women's and LGBTQ+ liberation, the Central America and South Africa solidarity movements and for racial justice in the United States. Her...

Professor Herr has dedicated her life to combating genocide and atrocity, and this passion has motivated her educational and professional pursuits and translates into a strong desire to prevent human rights violations. Ms. Herr received a doctorate in holocaust history from the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. In addition to holding academic positions at Keene State College, Northeastern University, and San Francisco State University, she has also worked...

Nate Hinerman, PhD, LMFT is a philosopher and a psychotherapist and teaches in the School of Nursing and Health Professions and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. He serves as Chair of the San Francisco Bay Area Network for End-of-Life Care, and he is an active member of the USF Faculty-Association PTFA Policy Board. He also maintains a psychotherapy practice, helping clients transition amidst loss.

His research is interdisciplinary, and...

Natalie E. Latteri earned her PhD in History from the University of New Mexico. She teaches Jewish-Christian Relations at USF in the Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice. Latteri is a Fellow of the Russell J. and Dorothy S. Bilinski Foundation (2016-17) and the American Academy for Jewish Research (2015), among others. Her research interests include interfaith (Jewish-Christian) relations, messianism and apocalypticism, Christian apocrypha, polemic, haunting and possession, and...

Sam Mickey is an adjunct professor in the Theology and Religious Studies department at the University of San Francisco. He has also taught at Dominican University of California, Pacifica Graduate Institute, and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and he has worked for the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale. His research and teaching interests include environmental ethics, religion and ecology, and integral ecology.

Brad Onishi is a social commentator, scholar, writer, teacher, coach, and co-host of the Straight White American Jesus (SWAJ) podcast. In everything he does, Brad seeks to make the strange familiar and the familiar strange by providing insight into life’s most fundamental questions. He often speaks about topics related to the radical conservatism and extremist religions that shape our world, some of it right in our own neighborhoods. His show, SWAJ, ranks in the top 50 of Politics shows on Apple...

Born in Miami, AZ, Father Kendall spent his childhood and adolescent years in Phoenix. Upon graduation from the Jesuit High School in Phoenix in 1957, he entered the Society of Jesus at Los Gatos, CA. His course of studies was the usual one for Jesuits. After ordination in 1970 his Superiors sent him to Rome to do graduate studies.

In 1973 Father Kendall completed a licentiate in Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and in 1975 he concluded his Roman years with a doctorate in...

John Nelson is Professor of East Asian religions in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of San Francisco. He is the author of Experimental Buddhism: Innovation and Activism in Contemporary Japan (2013, University of Hawaii; co-winner of the 2014 Numata Prize for 'outstanding book in Buddhist Studies'), two books on Shinto in contemporary Japan (A Year in the Life of a Shinto Shrine [1996], and Enduring Identities: the Guise of Shinto in Contemporary Japan [2000]...