Teresa Delgado, Ph.D.

Dean and Professor

St. John's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Union Theological SeminaryB.A. Colgate University

Teresa Delgado, Ph.D., is Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University, NY. She received her doctorate from Union Theological Seminary (NYC), under the guidance of the trailblazing womanist theologian Dr. Delores S. Williams. She has published on topics ranging from decolonial theology, diversity in higher education, transformational pedagogies, constructive theology and ethics, and justice for racially, ethnically and sexually minoritized persons, including her essays, “Metaphor for Teaching: Good Teaching is Like Good Sex,” (Teaching Theology and Religion, July 2015) and “Beyond Procreativity: Heterosexuals Queering Marriage,” in Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms (NYU, 2014). Dr. Delgado’s book, A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom, was published in September 2017 (Palgrave Macmillan); co-authored with Dr. Victor Anderson (Vanderbilt University), “For the Beauty of the World: The Moral Imaginary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s World House,” is included in Reclaiming the Great World House in the 21st Century: Cross-Disciplinary Explorations of the Vision of Martin Luther King, Jr. (University of Georgia, 2019). Her poetry, “Summer Solstice,” is included in the collection Unruly Catholic Feminists: Prose, Poetry, and the Future of the Faith (SUNY, 2021).

Addressing the need for greater diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, Dr. Delgado mentors doctoral students of color to nurture their success in the academy, church and world. A Senior Fellow of the Ford Foundation, she has served on the board of the Hispanic Theological Initiative; as well as a member of the mentoring consortium of the Forum for Theological Exploration; and the advisory committee of the Wabash Center for Teaching & Learning in Theology and Religion. Dr. Delgado served as President of the Board of WESPAC (Westchester People’s Action Coalition), a leading force of social justice activism in Westchester County, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Colgate University and The Ursuline School.

Books

A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017.

Augustine and Social Justice. Teresa Delgado, John Doody and Kim Paffenroth, eds. Lanham, MA: Lexington Books/Rowman and Littlefield, 2015.

Articles and Chapters in edited volumes

“And Still Swimming: Women, Religion and the Legacy of Marilyn Thie and Wanda Warren Berry,” in Women and Religion, Philosophy and Feminism: The Colgate Heritage in Honor of Professors Marilyn Thie and Wanda Warren Berry, Christopher Vecsey, ed. Hamilton, NY: Colgate University Press, 2019.

“For the Beauty of the World: The Moral Imaginary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s World House,” with Dr. Victor Anderson (Vanderbilt University), Reclaiming the Great World House in the 21st Century: Cross-Disciplinary Explorations of the Vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., Vicki L. Crawford and Lewis V. Baldwin, eds. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2019.

“US Latino/a Contributions to the Field: Retrospect and Prospect,” with Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, María Teresa Dávila and Victor Carmona, Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. Volume 38, No. 2, Fall/Winter 2018.

“A Letter to the Trump Administration,” in American Values, Religious Voices: 100 Days. 100 Letters. Andrea L. Weiss and Lisa M. Weinberger, eds. Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati Press, 2018.

“Symposium - A Puerto Rican Decolonial Theology: Prophesy Freedom,” with M.T. Dávila, M. Pagán, M. Lee, N. Pineda-Madrid, Horizons 45 (2), 412-433.

“On Authority, Empowerment and Shelf-Life,” Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 32.1, Spring 2016.

“Metaphor for Teaching: Good Teaching is Like Good Sex,” Teaching Theology and Religion, Vol. 18, Issue 3, July 2015, 224-232.

“Beyond Procreativity: Heterosexuals Queering Marriage,” in Queer Christianities: Lived Religion in Transgressive Forms. Kathleen Talvacchia, Mark Larrimore and Michael Pettinger, eds. New York: New York University Press, 2014.

“Hagar,” in Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception, Vol. 10, ed. Hans-Josef Klauk, et.al. Berlin/New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2014.

“A Delicate Dance: Utilizing and Challenging the Sexual Doctrine of the Catholic Church in Support of LGBTIQ Persons,” in More Than a Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church, Vol. 1: Voices of Our Times. Christine Firer Hinze and J. Patrick Hornbeck II, eds. New York: Fordham University Press, 2014.

“Dead in the Water…Again,” in Theological Perspectives for Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness: Public Intellectuals for the 21st Century. Ada María Isasi-Díaz†, Mary McClintock Fulkerson and Rosemary Carbine, eds. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

“A Journey toward Wholeness, A Journey to God: Physical Fitness as Embodied Spirituality,” co-authored with Dr. Tracey C. Greenwood (Eastern University), The Journal of Religion and Health, October 2011.

“This is my body…given for you: Theological Anthropology Latina/mente,” in Frontiers in Catholic Feminist Theology: Shoulder to Shoulder. Susan Abraham and Elena Procario-Foley, eds. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2009.

“Freedom is Our Own: Toward a Puerto Rican Emancipation Theology,” in Creating Ourselves: African Americans and Hispanic Americans on Popular Culture and Religious Expression. Benjamín Valentín and Anthony B. Pinn, eds. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2009.

“Prophesy Freedom: Puerto Rican Women’s Literature as a Source for Latina Feminist Theology,” in A Reader in Latina Feminist Theology: Religion and Justice. María Pilar Aquino, Daisy Machado and Jeanette Rodríguez, eds. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 2002.

Online Publications

“Accountable to the Ancestors,” response to Rebecca T. Peters, Trust Women: A Progressive Christian Argument for Reproductive Justice (Beacon Press, 2018) Syndicate Theology Online, April 2019. https://syndicate.network/symposia/theology/trust-women/

“On Cornerstones: teaching social justice as a theological value…after #Charlottesville,” Teaching, Religion, Politics, a blog of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, August 24, 2017. https://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/2017/08/cornerstones-teaching-social-justice-theological-valueafter-charlottesville/

“Managing Heated Debate on Politics and Religion,” Teaching, Religion, Politics, a blog of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, March 23, 2017 (https://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/2017/03/managing-heated-debate-on-politics-and-religion/)

“Op-Ed – an open letter in opposition to the nomination of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as Attorney General,” in Sojourners (online), January 10, 2017. “Wading into Dangerous Waters: a review of Anna Mercedes’s Power For: Feminism and Christ’s Self-Giving,” Syndicate Theology Online, July 2015. https://syndicatetheology.com/symposium/power-for/

“Margaret A. Farley: The Embrace of Love and Justice,” in National Catholic Reporter, October 2013.

Using a Multi-Cultural Relationship Perspective to Build an Anti-Racist Community of Belonging. Funded by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, July 2021 – June 2022.

Becoming Anti-Racist and Catalysts for Change: Symposium Grant. Funded by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, November 2020 – June 2021.

Expanding the Latinx Vision of Borderlands at ATS Member Schools. Funded by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, July 2020 – June 2022.

Pedagogies of Community Engagement: Puerto Rico. Funded by the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion, July 2017 – June 2019.

Academic Innovation Grant: Religion and the Environmental Crisis in Puerto Rico. Funded by Iona College, 2017 – 2019.

Service/Learning Grant: Peace and Social Justice against Human Trafficking. Funded by Iona College, 2014 – 2015.

First Book Grant for Minority Scholars: Loving Sex Latina/mente. Funded by the Louisville Institute, 2011 – 2013.