Michael Hogue

Michael Hogue, who joined the Meadville Lombard faculty in September 2005, teaches and writes at the intersections of theology, religious ethics, and philosophy of religion. He is particularly influenced by the pragmatist, process, and naturalist lineages in American philosophy of religion, which he refers to as the “left wing of American radical theology.” As a scholar and teacher, he uses these traditions to explore issues related to religion and the environment, political theology, religion and science and social ethics.

His courses at Meadville Lombard, among others, include Constructive Theology, Process and Liberation Theologies, Global Religions, Multifaith Theologies, Religious Ethics and Global Dynamics, and Religious Naturalism.   

Dr. Hogue has served in leadership capacities in diverse religious, academic, and activist contexts. He has served on program committees at the American Academy of Religion, as co-founder and past convener of Oikos: The Religion and Environment Initiative, as Vice President of the Institute for American Religious and Philosophical Thought, as past president of the American Theological Society of the Midwest, as Co-director of the Religion, Vulnerability, and Resilience Project, and as a fellow with the Enhancing Life Project. He is on the Advisory Board for the Religious Naturalist Association. He is the past editor of the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy and serves on the editorial boards of Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, and Science, Religion, and Culture.

His published articles have appeared in Literature and Theology, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science, Crosscurrents, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and the American Journal of Theology and Philosophy, among others. He is the author of four books, The Tangled Bank: Toward an Ecotheological Ethics of Responsible Participation (Pickwick, 2008), The Promise of Religious Naturalism (Rowman and Littlefield, 2010), American Immanence: Democracy for an Uncertain World (Columbia, 2018), and, most recently, he co-authored Interreligious Resilience: Interreligious Leadership for a Pluralistic World (Bloomsbury, 2022), with Dr. Dean Bell.

Dr. Hogue grew up in Traverse City, Michigan, and spent his childhood exploring the lakes and landscapes of the north-woods. He is married to Sara and is the proud father of Kincade, Mikaela, and Kamryn. He has always been a “dog person,” but his family recently adopted two kittens, Liv and Maddie—and they are making a convert of him!

What is meaningful in your work for MLTS?

“I was raised as a ‘preacher's kid’ in the United Church of Christ, so I have a deep appreciation for the many tasks, blessings, and challenges of religious leadership. I’m keenly invested in the important contributions progressive faith communities can make to building a pluralistic world of love and justice. I appreciate Meadville’s commitment to preparing students and religious leaders to lead in a time of great possibility as well as tremendous peril. I believe that although climate injustice, rising inequality and white supremacy menace the world, the emergence of new social movements and the reinvigoration of activist expressions of progressive faith give us reason for hope. We are certainly not all impacted in the same way by the brokenness of the world, but we are all called to be a part of the world’s repair, tikkun olam.  I am honored to work at an institution that offers students the experience, knowledge, and skills they will need to lead in this sacred work.”