Ayres, Jennifer R.

Jennifer Ryan Ayres joined the faculty at McCormick as Assistant Professor of Christian Ethics in the fall of 2007. She is an ordained minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Jennifer was born in North Carolina, and earned a B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She completed degrees from Union-PSCE in Richmond, Virginia (now Union Presbyterian Seminary) and served Myers Park Presbyterian Church as an interim associate pastor. Jennifer earned the Ph.D. from the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, with a concentration in Religious Practices and Practical Theology. In an interdisciplinary structure, her studies included emphases in practical theology, ethics, sociology, and human rights.

While at Emory University, Jennifer also earned the graduate certificate in human rights. She was a Program Assistant for the Lilly Initiative in Religious Practices and Practical Theology, and served as an Instructional Consultant for the Emory Center for Interactive Teaching. She also was on the editorial staff for the International Journal for Practical Theology.

Jennifer’s current writing projects include Waiting for a Glacier to Move: Practicing Social Witness (working title), to be published by Wipf and Stock Publishers; and a co-edited volume on the popular culture context of young adults in the United States.

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Education:

B.A., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

M.Div., Union-PSCE, Richmond, VA

M.A.C.E., Union-PSCE, Richmond, VA

Th.M., Union-PSCE, Richmond, VA

Ph.D., Emory University, Atlanta, GA

Research Interests:

Jennifer’s current research interests include: religious political activism, religion and popular culture, and issues of moral formation in environmental ethics.

Courses:

E-300: Introduction to Contemporary Christian Ethics

E/MUM-322: Globalization and Food

E-477: Ethics and the Body

E-419: Christian Church and American Public Sphere

E/MED 326: The Thoughtful Christian: Theology, Education, and Public Life