Women's Studies in Religion

Rev. Dr. Kirsi Stjerna, The First Lutheran, Los Angeles/Southwest California Synod Professor of Lutheran History and Theology, PLTS of California Lutheran University. She is from Finland, an ordained Lutheran pastor, and a docent at the Helsinki University, Finland. She serves at the Core Doctoral Faculty in the departments of the HCSR as well as Theology and Ethics at GTU. She has been committed to women and gender studies as a teacher and an author in the fields of Christian theology and history. Women’s voices, experiences, and theological texts are engaged in all her classes. Her dissertation on Santa Birgitta from Sweden (Boston University) broke ground in analyzing a medieval woman’s writings as a theological source. Her latest book project, “Women Reformers of Early Modern Europe: Profiles, Texts, and Contexts” is a collaboration of over 30 international scholars, from the intersecting fields of theology, history, and women and gender studies. It marks a milestone for the scholarship on the history of the reformations and on the protestant theological traditions.

Deidre Nicole Green (Ph.D., Claremont Graduate University) is Assistant Professor of Latter-day Saint/Mormon Studies at the GTU, where she offers courses on Christian theology and philosophy of religion. Her research focuses on constructive feminist theology and philosophy of religion, drawing on the thought of Søren Kierkegaard to respond to contemporary issues in these disciplines. Green’s current book project is entitled Joy Enfleshed: Kierkegaardian Visions for Christian Life. She is co-editor with Eric D. Huntsman of Latter-day Saint Perspectives on Atonement (University of Illinois Press). Prior to joining the GTU in 2022, Green was a postdoctoral researcher at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, Brigham Young University. She has held research positions in Copenhagen and Zürich and conducted ethnographic research in Botswana, Rwanda, and South Africa.