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Institute of Pastoral Studies

Daniel P. Rhodes, ThD

Clinical Professor and Director of Contextual Education

Dr. Rhodes holds an M.Div and a ThD from Duke University Divinity School. His work focuses on the intersection of political theology, ecclesiology, and ethics. He is author (with Tim Conder) of Organizing Church: Grassroots Practices for Embodying Change in Your Congregation, Your Community, and Our World (Chalice Press, 2017), which focuses on community organizing and congregational renewal and editor (with Shea Tuttle and Charles Marsh) of Can I Get a Witness? Thirteen Peacemakers, Community-Builders, and Agitators for Faith and Justice (Eerdmans, 2019). He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Other Journal and is one of the founders of The Black Mountain School of Theology & Community.

Quotes from Students

“Dr Rhodes is an amazing instructor. His lectures and passion is outstanding. He writes his own prayer for class. Cares about each of his students.”

“Professor Rhodes' passion for the subject material provided an excellent learning environment for me to learn. His expertise on the course material gave clarity to questions throughout the semester.”

“Dr. Rhodes is certainly an expert!”

Education

Th.D., Duke University Divinity School, Durham, NC
 Primary focus: Political Theology and Ethics     

M.Div., Duke University Divinity School, Durham, NC

B.A., Taylor University, Upland, IN

Professional/Community Affiliations

  • Society of Christian Ethics (SCE)
  • American Academy of Religion (AAR)
  • Catholic Association of Theological Field Education (CATFE)
  • Association of Theological Field Education (ATFE)
  • The Black Mountain School of Theology & Community
  • International Working Group on Religion and Theology in the Capitalocene

Courses Taught

Regular Required Core Courses:

  • Contextual Education Prep (IPS 578*)
  • Contextual Education Intro (IPS 579*)
  • Contextual Education I (IPS 580*)
  • Contextual Education II (IPS 581*)
  • Moral Theology and Ethics (IPS 553*)

Core Courses for SJ: 

  • Social Context of Ministry (IPS 532)
  • Foundations of Social Justice (IPS 610*)
  • Social Ethics: Global Politics and Economics (IPS 625)
  • Community Organizing and Community Development (IPS 635)

Elective Courses:

  • Apocalypse and Empire: Resistance Theology in Imperial Rome and Imperial Capitalism (IPS 599 Rome*)
  • Catholic Justice and Action, Chicago Style (IPS 599*)
  • Community Organizing and Community Development (IPS 635) in collaboration with a “living lab” at St Ignatius Congregation (Rogers Park, Chicago, IL)
  • Restorative Justice and Peacebuilding (IPS 599) in collaboration with Precious Blood Ministries (Englewood, Chicago, IL)
  • State Discipline and Christian Discipleship (IPS 599)
  • Faith and Fiction (IPS 599)

Publications/Research Listings

Christian Ethics and Social Renewal: From Dystopia and Utopia to Apocalyptic (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming)

Can I Get a Witness: Thirteen Peacemakers, Community-Builders, and Agitators for Faith and Justice, coedited with Charles Marsh and Shea Tuttle (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2019).

Organizing Church: Grassroots Practices for Changing Your Congregation, Your Community, and Our World, coauthored with Tim Conder (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2017).

“Life with the Parish: Jack Egan and a Chicago Neighborhood’s Fight for Housing Justice,” in People Get Ready: Twelve Jesus-Haunted Misfits, Malcontents, and Dreamers in Pursuit of Justice, edited by Peter Slade, et al. (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2022), 215-236.

“In the Union of the Spirit: Cesar Chavez and the Quest for Farmworker Justice,” in Can I Get a Witness: Thirteen Peacemakers, Community-Builders, and Agitators for Faith and Justice, eds., Charles Marsh, Shea Tuttle, and Daniel P. Rhodes (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2019).

“A New Geography of Theological Education and the Ethics of Community-Centered Learning,” with Timothy Conder and Angela Cowser, Religion & Education (Special Issue on the Ethics of Community-Based Education), Vol. 50, No. 1-2 (2024): 120-139.

“Virtue and Power: The Narrative of Reason and the Reasoning of Public Narratives in the Construction of a New Politics of the Collective Good,” Political Theology, Vol. 24, No 5. (2023): 486-506, published online Oct. 24, 2022.

“Theology as Social Activity: Theological Action Research and Teaching the Knowledge of Christian Ethics and Practical Ministry,” Scottish Journal of Theology, 73, no. 4 (2020): 340–57. doi:10.1017/S0036930620000654.

“Whose Revolution? Which Future? The Legacy of Alasdair MacIntyre for a Radical Pedagogy in Virtue,” coauthored with M. Therese Lysaught, Expositions, Vol. 14, No.1 (2020): 97-125.

“Life in the Struggle: Liturgical Innovation in the Face of Cultural Devastation of Disaster Capitalism,” Journal of Moral Theology, Vol. 9, No. 2 (June, 2020): 94-114.

“The Cost of Cheap Freedom and the Liberation of Discipleship,” Review and Expositor, Vol. 116, No.1 (2019): 75-82.