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Charles R. Pinches

Professor of Theology/Religious Studies

charles.pinches@scranton.edu

Professor Charles Pinches has taught at the University of Scranton since 1990. He has served in various capacities there, including as Chair of Theology, as Director of Graduate Studies in Theology and, currently, as Director of the University's First Year Seminar. His scholarship focuses mainly in the area of theological ethics, accenting virtue, memory, and human action. He is the author or editor of five books and numerous articles in scholarly journals. Besides at Scranton, he has taught at the University of Toronto, Princeton University and the University of Central Arkansas.

Dr. Pinches and his wife Robin live in Clarks Summit where they have raised four children; more recently they have joyfully added five grandchildren to the family! They share a special interest in Uganda, East Africa. Almost every year Dr. Pinches travels to Uganda with students who take his “Christianity in Africa” travel course.

Course Taught

Undergraduate: 
  • TRS 121 Introduction to the Bible
  • TRS 122 Intro to Christian Theology
  • TRS 226 Faith and Healing
  • TRS 227Z Biomedical Ethics
  • TRS 230 Moral Theology
  • TRS 235 Theology of Birth and Death
  • TRS 323 Protestant Traditions
  • TRS 331 God and the Earth
  • TRS 333 Friendship and Christian Life
  • TRS 334 Church and Contemporary Social Issues
  • TRS 335 Virtue, Vice and Christian Ethics

Study Abroad: 

  • TRS 295 Christianity in Africa (Intersession study abroad in Africa)

Research

Select Publications:

Books:

  • A Gathering of Memories: Family, Nation, and Church in a Forgetful World. Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 2006. 
  • Theology and Action: After Theory in Christian Ethics. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002. 
  • and Stanley Hauerwas. Christians Among the Virtues: Conversations with Ancient and Modern Ethics. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1997.

Articles:

  • “What Does It Mean to Hope?” The Christian Century, vol. 134, no.15, July 19, 2017, pp. 22-27.
  • “Natural Law: New Directions in Thomistic Theological Ethics” Journal of Moral Theology 5, no. 1 (2016): 144-168.
  • “Time for Patience” in Attentive Patience: Christian Reflection Series in Faith and Ethics, ed. Robert R. Kruschwitz. Waco, TX: Institute for Faith and Learning, Baylor University, 2016, pp. 19-27.
  • “Hearing the Call: The Dynamics of Engagement” in At This Time and In this Place, ed. David Cunningham. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016, pp. 122-142.

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