Matthew Puffer

Matthew Puffer received a BS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University, an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his PhD in Religious Studies (Theology, Ethics, and Culture) from the University of Virginia. Prior to joining the Christ College faculty he was a Catherine of Siena Fellow in the Ethics Program at Villanova University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.

His research and teaching explore competing normative visions of the human person, especially rival versions of the imago dei and human dignity and their implications for issues in biomedical, economic, environmental, and war and peace ethics. He is currently working on a monograph that examines Augustine’s understanding of the imago dei as it develops across a half-century of letters, sermons, and treatises.

Puffer co-edited Comparative Religious Ethics: Critical Concepts in Religious Studies and has published in Modern Theology, the International Journal of Systematic Theology, the Journal of Religious Ethics, the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, and in edited volumes.

He teaches the FIrst-Year Program, “Christian Tradition,” and a popular seminar on “Science, Technology, and Society.” Beginning in fall 2020, Prof. Puffer will serve as the Coordinator of the First-Year Program.

Companies

• Assistant Professor of Humanities and Ethics Valparaiso University (2016)
• Patricia H. Imbesi Saint Augustine Fellow Villanova University (2019 — 2019)
• Catherine of Siena Postdoctoral Fellow Villanova University (2015 — 2016)
• Postdoctoral Fellow Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture (2014 — 2015)

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Religious Studies University of Virginia (2009 - 2014)
• Master of Divinity (MDiv) Princeton Theological Seminary (2003 - 2009)
• BS, Chemical Engineering North Carolina State University (1995 - 1999)
• North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (1993 — 1995)
• Apex High School (1992 — 1993)
• Washington Township High School (1991 — 1992)