Laurie Johnston
Professor of Theology and Religious Studies
Dr. Johnston's specialty is Christian social ethics, particularly questions of war and peacemaking. She also has interests in the areas of health care ethics and environmental ethics. Her work examines how Christian theologies of church and world shape engagement in politics and the public sphere. In her teaching, Dr. Johnston particularly enjoys debating controversial ethical issues with students, and giving them a chance to explore issues of social justice through service learning courses. As Director of Fellowships, she has helped many Emmanuel students win Fulbright grants and other prestigious awards. Dr. Johnston and her husband have three children, and she enjoys sculling and playing ice hockey.
What I Love About Emmanuel:
The chapel, where the stained glass windows are all images of women saints.
Ph.D., Boston College; M.Div., Harvard Divinity School; B.A. with distinction, University of Virginia
- THRS2111 Love and Justice: An Introduction to Christian Ethics
- THRS2130 Catholic Social Teaching
- THRS2222 Social Justice and Health Care
- THRS3133 Social Justice and Religious Traditions
Selected Publications
Books:
- The Surprise of Reconciliation in the Catholic Tradition. Co-edited with Jay Carney. Author of the chapter entitled “Encountering Islam: Medieval Christian Perspectives from the Cordoban Martrys to Juan de Segovia.” Paulist Press, 2018.
- Public Theology and the Global Common Good: The Contribution of David Hollenbach. Co-edited with Kristin Heyer, Meghan Clark, Kevin Ahern, and David Decosse, Orbis Press, 2016. Co-author with Tisha Rajendra of the chapter entitled “Ambivalent Solidarity.” Awarded the 2017 First Place prize from the Catholic Press Association in the "Faithful Citizenship/Religious Freedom" category.
- Can War be Just in the 21st Century?, co-edited with Tobias Winright. Orbis Press, 2015. Author of the chapter entitled “Just War Theory and Environmental Destruction.”
Journal Issue:
- Catholicism, Challenges to Democracy, and the Legacy of Jacques Maritain. Guest editor, with Gregoire Catta SJ, of special issue of the Journal of Moral Theology Vol. 13, Issue SI1, 2024. Author of the Introduction, “Jacques Maritain and Contemporary Challenges to Democracy.”
Recent articles and book chapters
- “War and Peace in the theology of Pope Francis” in Kristin Heyer and Conor Kelley, eds. The Moral Vision of Pope Francis, Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2024.
- “All is fair in A.I. warfare. But what do Christian ethics have to say?” America Magazine, January 31, 2024
- "Augustine, just war and the plight of civilians in Israel and Gaza" in the America Magazine 18 October (2023)
- “Conclusion” in Caesar Montevecchio and Gerard Powers, eds., Extractives: A Catholic Peacebuilding Approach. Georgetown University Press, 2021.
- “Catholic Universities and Religious Liberty” in the Journal of Moral Theology Vol. 9, Special Issue 2 (2020): 91-116.
- “Experience as a source for Christian Ethics.” in Tobias Winright, ed., T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Ethics, London: Bloomsbury, 2020.
- “Signs of Hope in Muslim-Catholic Relations: The Dialogue School in Belgium” in Concilium 2020.4 (84 -91).
- “Peace and Justice - Anglophone Perspectives on Peace in Social Ethics” in Jahrbuch für Christliche Sozialwissenschaften vol. 59 (2018): 85-104.
- “Pneumatology, Diversity, and the Role of Moral Theology Today.” in Antonio Autiero & Laurenti Magesa, eds., The Local Church and the Place of the Catholic Ethicist. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2018.
- “’Talking About War’: Contribution to the theological roundtable ‘Must Just Peace and Just War Be Mutually Exclusive?’” Horizons, May 23, 2018: 119-123.
Recent presentations
- “From Where? For Whom? Tradition and Moral Theology in Light of Francis’s Ethics of War and Peace,” panel presentation at the Catholic Theological Society of America annual meeting, Baltimore, Maryland, June 15, 2024.
- “Rethinking the Ethics of War in the Face of the Invasion of Ukraine,” panel discussion sponsored by the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture at the College of the Holy Cross, October 19, 2023
- “War & Peace in Ukraine: Human Suffering, Moral Quandaries, and Geopolitical Implications,” panel presentation at the College Theology Society annual meeting, Sacred Heart University, Fairfield Connecticut, June 2, 2023. National Catholic Reporter covered the event.
- “Religion and Diplomacy in sub-Saharan Africa: the experience of Sant’Egidio.” Online presentation, European Institute for Public Affairs seminar for EU diplomats on Religion and Geopolitics, May 4, 2023.
- “The War in Ukraine: Catholic ethical and theological reflections one year on,” online panel presentation hosted by the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University, February 23, 2023.
- “Just War, Just Peace, and Nonviolence,” panel presentation at the conference “Carrying Forward Drew Christiansen’s Legacy: Catholic Social Teaching, Environmental Justice, Just War, and Peacebuilding,” Georgetown University’s Berkely Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Nov. 15, 2022.
- “Women’s Peace Leadership.” Panel presentation at the conference “Catholic Peacebuilding in Times of Crisis: Hope for a Wounded World” sponsored by the Catholic Peacebuilding Network, June 20-23, 2022.
- “War in Ukraine: Human Agony, Global Crisis, Moral Principles,” Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, Georgetown University, 3/31/2022.
- “Climate Justice and Christian Teachings on War and Peace in the Anthropocene,” Panel presentation at the Society of Christian Ethics Annual Meeting, January 9, 2021.
- “Catholic Mission in a Climate of Islamophobia.” Paper presentation at the “Catholicity and Mission” Topic Session of the Annual Meeting of the Catholic Theological Society of America, Pittsburgh, June 6-9, 2019.
- “Conflicting Religious Freedoms? Catholics and Muslims in Secular Belgium”, Hosted by the Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Boston College, February 14, 2019.
- “Catholic Social Teaching in dialogue with Chenoweth & Stephan’s ‘Why Civil Resistance Works’”, Keynote lecture, International Peace Day Colloquium, Center for Peace Ethics of the Catholic University of Leuven, February 28, 2018.
- “Speaking about Peace, War, and Justice: An Anglophone perspective.” Presentation at a workshop hosted by the Institut für Theologie und Frieden in Hamburg, Germany, November 30, 2017.
- “John Courtney Murray – Resource for Just War and Just Peace in a Nuclear Age?” Presentation at the conference “John Courtney Murray Today,” Georgetown University, November 16, 2017.
- Fulbright U.S. Scholar Grant to Belgium, to teach and conduct research at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, 2017-2018
- International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, Curriculum Grant 2018
- Emmanuel College Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award, 2014
- Flatley Fellowship (2001-2006) - Endowed Ph.D. fellowship at Boston College
- Donald J. White Teaching Excellence Award from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Boston College (2006)