Email: [email protected]
First Year at Gordon-Conwell: 2021
Expertise: Christian Ethics; Bioethics; Aging and End-of-life Ethics; Technology & Ethics
Biography:
Dr. Ridenour’s primary interests are in the areas of theological, philosophical and social ethics, with attention to Scripture, history, and systematic theology. Her book Sabbath Rest as Vocation: Aging toward Death with Bloomsbury/T&T Clark (2018) explores the meaning of death and aging in the theologies of St. Augustine and Karl Barth. In this work, she explores the impact of aging and death on virtue ethics, bioethics, and the significance of intergenerational relationships within the church. Her more recent research concerns technology and digital devices given their impact on moral development, spirituality, and relationships. Other publications include numerous journal articles and book chapters for edited volumes that address issues of aging and death, but also the goals of medicine, re-enchanting nature, Augustinian ethics, the virtue of presence, Christology, and union with Christ among other themes. A copy of her recent article can be found here: “‘Elderhood’ and Sabbath Rest as Vocation: Identity, Purpose, & Belonging” for the Journal of Population Ageing.
Before arriving at Gordon-Conwell, Ridenour taught undergraduate theology and ethics in light of Augustinian spirituality. She is passionate about the foundations of theological ethics and looks forward to exploring this theme further in the classroom. Ridenour also participates in her local faith community of First Baptist Church Sudbury, MA where her husband serves as the senior pastor. For recreation, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family.
Degrees
- BA (Union University)
- MA (Yale Divinity School)
- PhD (Boston College)
Publications
- Sabbath Rest as Vocation: Aging toward Death. London: Bloomsbury/T&T Clark, 2018.
- “Elderhood and Sabbath Rest as Vocation,” Journal of Population Ageing, July 19, 2021.
- “The Gift and Virtue of Presence: Catholic and Protestant Dialogue and the Future of Christian Ethics,” in Reimagining the Moral Life: On Lisa Sowle Cahill’s Contributions to Christian Ethics. Edited by Ki Joo Choi, Sarah M. Moses, and Andrea Vicini, SJ. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2020, 172-86.
- “Re-enchanting Nature and Medicine” Christian Bioethics, 25:3 November 2019, 283-98.
- “Suffering, Death, and the Significance of Presence” in Treating the Person: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives on Medicine and the Body. Edited by John Fitzgerald and Ashley Moyse. Routledge Press, 2019, 184-196.
- “Union with Christ as the Ground of Christian Ethics in St. Augustine and Reformed Augustinianisms” in Normative Dimensions: Scripture, Tradition, and Reason in Christian Ethics. Edited by Bharat Ranganathan and Derek Woodard. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, 187-206.
- “The Meaning of Death and the Goal of Medicine: an Augustinian and Barthian Reassessment,” Christian Bioethics 23:1 April 2017, 60-76.
- “Introduction” with Boaz Goss, Christian Bioethics, 23:1 April 2017, 1-6.
- “The Role of Community,” with Lisa Sowle Cahill in Dying in the Twenty-First Century: Towards a New Ethical Framework for the Art of Dying Well. Edited by Lydia S. Dugdale. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2015, 107-30.
- “Imaging God through Union with Christ,” in Convictional Civility and the Future of Theological and Cultural Engagement in the Early Decades of the 21st Century: Essays in Honor of David S. Dockery. Edited by C. Ben Mitchell, Carla Sanderson, and Gregory Alan Thornbury. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, 2015, 95-108.
- “The Coming of Age: Curse or Calling? Toward a Christological Interpretation of Aging as Call in the Theology of Karl Barth and W.H. Vanstone,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 33:4 Fall/Winter 2013, 151-67.
- “Making Sense of the Roman Catholic Directive to Extend Life Indefinitely,” with Lydia S. Dugdale, MD, The Hastings Center Report 41:2. March-April 2011, 28-9