Cynthia  Moe-Lobeda

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda, PhD

Professor of Theological and Social Ethics

cmoelobeda@plts.edu
206-384-8760
2000 Center Street Suite 200

About

Cynthia Moe-Lobeda has lectured or consulted in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, Oceania, and many parts of North America in theological ethics addressing matters of climate justice as related to race and class, economic globalization, moral agency and hope, public church, faith-based resistance to systemic injustice, and ethical implications of resurrection and incarnation. Her ethical  approach weds Earth ethics to liberation theologies including eco-feminist theology. 

Dr. Moe-Lobeda, a well-known Lutheran ethicist, holds a joint appointment at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Church Divinity School of the Pacific. She is a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty of the Graduate Theological Union, and is Founding Director of the PLTS Center for Climate Justice and Faith. 

Professor Moe-Lobeda is author or co-author of six volumes, co-editor of one, and author of over 50 journal articles and chapters in edited volumes. Her Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation, earned the Nautilus Book Award for social justice. She is under contract with Fortress Press to create a seven-volume series with accompanying web-based toolkits, called Building a Moral Economy (Ecological, Equitable, Democratic): Roadmaps for People of Courage. She is writing the first volume and engaging other authors to write the subsequent six.

In 2022, Moe-Lobeda accepted an invitation to serve as the 2022 Global Fellow at the Center for the Advanced Study of Religion at the MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion, and Society in Oslo. She is one of 3 North Americans appointed to a global team to advise the World Council of Churches and Lutheran World Federation on their work toward a more equitable and ecological international financial and economic architecture.  She is a co-founder of Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability. Moe-Lobeda was appointed theological consultant to the former Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and has served as a health worker/church worker in Honduras and as Director of the Washington, D.C. office of Augsburg College's Center for Global Education. 

Awards she has received include the Provost’s Outstanding Scholarship Award from California Lutheran University in 2019, the Outstanding Scholarship Award from Seattle University (College of Arts and Sciences) in 2013, appointment as Seattle University’s Wismer Professor of Gender and Diversity Studies from 2011-2013, the Spirit of St. Francis Award from Earth Ministry, the Evergreen State Justice Award from the Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington, and the Daniel Day Williams Award for Outstanding Work in Theology from Union Theological Seminary. Moe-Lobeda has served on the editorial boards of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, Tikkun Magazine, and Dialog: A Journal of Theology.

Having lived for many years in Seattle, she loves hiking in the woods and mountains, and relishes their life-giving beauty. Professor Moe-Lobeda loves teaching! She is grateful for her extraordinary colleagues and students, and for the opportunity to re-imagine, explore, and craft theological education for today's world.

Brief Professional History

Professor, Theological and Social Ethics, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary of California Lutheran University, and Church Divinity School of the Pacific. Core Doctoral Faculty, Graduate Theological Union. 2005 - current.

Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies; School of Theology and Ministry; Environmental Studies Program. Seattle University. 2015.     

Wismer Professor of Gender and Diversity Studies, Seattle University. 2011 - 2013.  

Associate Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies; School of Theology and Ministry; Environmental Studies Program. Seattle University. 2009-2015.                                                            

Assistant Professor, Department of Theology and Religious Studies; School of Theology and Ministry; Environmental Studies Program. Seattle University. 2004-2008.

Visiting Professor, “Christian Ethics and Global Economics,” for Mexico Seminary Semester Program, The Lutheran Center, Mexico City. December, 2008.

 International Presentations and Consultations 

Guest Professor, School of Intersectional Ecotheology and Ecojustice Witness of the Council for World
Missions, Zambia, Sept. – Oct., 2023. 

“NIFEA in Response to the Climate Crisis,” invited presentation at Global Ecumenical Panel on a New

International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA), convened by World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and Council for World Mission), Bali, October, 2022.

Keynote for “Ecumenical Conversation on Building an Economy of Life,” World Council of Churches 11th
Assembly, Karlsruhe, Germany, 31 August–8 September, 2022. 

Global Fellow, Center for the Advanced Study of Religion, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion,
and Society, Oslo, Norway.  Oct.1-31, 2022.

“Climate Racism: Response to Maina Talia, e-DARE (Discernment and Radical Engagement) Global Forum,
 Council for World Mission, Oct. 2022. (on-line).

Keynote address, “Protecting Our Common Home,” SIGNIS World Congress, Seoul, Korea, Aug. 2022.

Invited paper and section editor, DARE (Discernment and Radical Engagement) Global Forum, Council for
World Mission, Ghana, Oct.-Nov. 2020 (postponed due to COVID).

Opening plenary address, “Economy of life in a time of inequality, pandemic and  climate change,” Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management (GEM School). Convened by World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Alliance of Reformed Churches. August, 2020 (on-line).

Invited paper, DARE (Discernment and Radical Engagement) Global Forum, Council for World Mission. Taiwan, June, 2019. 

Design Team, Theological Education for an Economy of Life (TEEL), sponsored by Council for World Missions, first consultation. Thailand, May, 2019.

Presenter, Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management (GEM School). Convened by World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Alliance of Reformed Churches. Mexico City, 27 August – 31 August 2018.

Global Ecumenical Panel (13 members) on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (convened by World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Alliance of Reformed Churches, and Council for World Mission), New York, Spring 2018.

Plenary paper, Discernment and Radical Engagement Global Forum, Council for World Mission, Bangkok, May – June, 2017.

Keynote speaker (four lectures), International Women's Theology Conference, Grace College of University of Queensland, Australia, June 26-29, 2017.

“Climate Justice,” presentation for “Global Perspectives on the Reformation: Interactions between Theology, Politics and Economics,” a Lutheran World Federation conference in Namibia, Oct-Nov, 2015.

"Resurrection as Faithful Resistance: Hope for the Earth Community," plenary address at Korsvei Festival, Seljord, Norway, summer 2015.

“Re-Radicalizing Justification,” paper and chapter for “Radicalizing Reformation,” an international project honoring the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, involving conference in Halle Germany (2014) and book series to be published in German and English (2015).

Global Ecumenical panel (13 member) on a New Financial and Economic Architecture, convened by the World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches, and Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, August, 2013 and January, 2014.

“The Ecological-Economic Debt of the Global North and Why ‘We’ Fail to See It,” a plenary paper at Redeeming the Marketplace: Theological Contributions to an Alternative Economics, an international conference sponsored by the John Knox Center, Geneva, May-June, 2013.

“Moral-Spiritual Agency toward Moral Economy,” a plenary paper at the same.

“Resisting Structural Evil: Love as Ecological-Economic Vocation,” public lecture at Norwegian School of Theology MF, Oslo Norway, May 2013.

“Environmental Racism and the Environmental Justice Movement,” lecture delivered at consultation on Theological Education and Eco-Justice Ministries, Sponsored by the National Council of Churches of India (Creation, Justice, Peace Commission) and the Senate of Serampore College, Nagpur, India, November 2010.

“Eco- Justice as a Theological and Moral Issue,” lecture delivered at the same.

“Christian Ethics in the Face of Systemic Evil,” public lecture at Tamilnadu Theological Seminary, Madurai, India, November 2010.

“Christian Response to Systemic Evil,” public lecture at United Theological College, Bangalore, India, November, 2010.

“Neighbor-Love as a Political-Ecological Vocation: Clues from Luther,” keynote address, Reformation Day Retreat, Gurukul Lutheran Theological College and Research Institute, Chennai, India, November 2010.

“Globalization: An Eco-theological Perspective,” invited paper at symposium of “The Globalization Project,” a project of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, vested with the Beyers Naude Centre for Public Theology, Faculty of Theology, at the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, February 2009.

Guest Professor, Economic Globalization and Ethics, Seminary Semester Program, Centro Luterano, Mexico City, December 2008.

“Sin, Salvation, and the Moral Life for the ‘Un-Creators,’” Climate Change and Global Ecological RiskSection of Ecological Theology and the Environmental Crisis, an international conference called by the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Greece, June 2008. (Paper accepted but not delivered)

“Liturgy and the Public Square.” Invited plenary address at bi-annual Congress of the international Council of Societas Liturgica (Palermo, Sicily), August 2007.

 “Trinitarian Theology in the Context of Empire,” an international theological consultation and writing project, Lutheran World Federation, June, 2007.

“A Theological Ethical Framework,” Lutheran World Federation consultation on “The Vocation of Neighbor-Love in the Context of Globalization,” Germany, June, 2004.

Theological advisor to Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Assembly, Winnipeg, 2003.

International Writing Team, book for the Lutheran World Federation Assembly 2003 and strategic resource for LWF, Geneva.

Keynote Address. Ecumenical Advocacy Network Session, World Social Forum, Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan., 2003. (Delivered in absentia due to visa complications.)

“Luther and the Indwelling God.”  Paper for conference on “The Future of Lutheran Theology,” Arrhus, Denmark, Jan. 2003 (paper accepted but not delivered).

World Council of Churches consultation, “Ethical and Ecclesiological Bases for Response to Economic Globalization,” Geneva, December, 2002.

“God Flowing and Pouring into All Things: a Basis for Spiritual Resistance to Neo-Liberal Globalization,” presentation at a consultation convened by World Alliance of Reformed Churches, World Council of Churches, and Lutheran World Federation, Geneva, December, 2002.

World Council of Churches Delegation, United Nations World Summit on Social Development Plus Five, Geneva, June, 2000, and at UN preparatory meetings, New York, 1999-2000.

Advisor and writer for Lutheran World Federation project: “Holding Globalization Accountable through the Communion,” Geneva, 2000-2001.

“Market Ideology.” A presentation at the 37th Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development, on behalf of the World Council of Churches, New York, 1999.

 

Keynotes, Academic Papers, Public Lectures, other Presentations (in the United States) (2017--2023)

(For a complete list of keynote addresses, academic papers, public lectures, and other presentations in the  U.S. , please see the CV attached to this website. A selection is below.)

Annual McFadin Lecture, "Ministry in an Age of Empire," for Ministry Week, Brite Divinity School, February.
2024.

Keynote address for Advocacy Days, “Advocacy as Spirit Work,” Lutheran Public Policy Office of
California, May 2023.

"Growing Beloved Community by Building Moral Economies," featured speaker for Sacred Earth:
 Growing Beloved Communities Webcast series, Episcopal Diocese of California, May 2023.

“God's Beloved in a Broken World: How then Shall We Live.”  Keynote address, Lutheran Executives  
 Alumni Network annual meeting, Feb. 28 2023. 

“Beyond Capitalism: Four Constructive Proposals toward Ecological, Equitable, Democratic Economic
 Life,” Religion and Economy Unit, American Academy of Religion, Nov. 2022.

Respondent, “Institutionalizing the Anthropocene: How the Epoch of Climate Change Reinscribes Theological Attachment to 'the' Normative Human. Climate Justice & Environmental Ethics and Theology groups, Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting, January 2022.

Keynote address, Central States Synod Assembly, ELCA, Kansas City, June 2022.

Keynote address, Northwest Minnesota Synod, ELCA, annual assembly, Detroit Lakes, March, 2022.

Workshop presenter and leader, “Resisting Structural Evil: Climate, Economy, and Hope.” For the
Anglican Diocese British Columbia, Dec. 2021.

“Hope Matters: A Mt. Olive Lutheran Discussion Series.”  Recorded Sept, 2021 and on Youtube.

Interviewee for Dean’s Forum, St. John’s Cathedral, Denver, March 2021.

Panelist, Engaging Christianities and Socialisms, sponsored by Institute for Christian Socialism and
Wendland-Cook Program in Religion and Justice at Vanderbilt University, March 2021.

Keynote speaker, conference on climate justice sponsored by BC Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Church
in Canada, March 2021.

Panelist, “The Ambiguity of Sin and Shame: Contextual, Critical, and Constructive Perspectives,”  
Theology and Religious Reflection Unit, American Academy of Religion, Nov. 2021.

“Resisting Structural Evil: Climate, Economy, and Hope.” Annual John Albert Hall lecture for 2021,
Centre for the Study of Religions and Societies, University of Victoria, Victoria, B.C. Dec. 2021.

Commencement Address, Trinity Lutheran Theological School, Columbus, Sept. 2021.

"Luther’s Ethic of Neighbor-love: A Theological Repudiation of Maximizing Profit – a Kessler
 Conversation with Prof. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda." Webinar sponsored by the  Kessler Reformation
 Collection Pitts Theological Library at Emory University, May 2021.

Commencement address, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, May 2021.

Plenary presenter, Recasting Vocation in a New Planetary Era, a conference at St. Olaf College,
Northfield, Mn, April 2021.

Invited paper, Sustainable Societies International Conference II: Environmental and Economic
Justice, Graduate Theological Union, Sept. 2020

Panelist, “God Migration, and the Climate Crisis,” webinar sponsored by Lutheran Immigration and
Refugee Services, Oct. 2020. 

Keynote speaker, Bishop’s Convocation, Minneapolis Synod, ELCA, Sept. 2020.

Keynote addresses, Northwest Wisconsin Lay School of Ministry, May 2020. (Cancelled due to COVID)

Keynote speaker, Interfaith Celebration of World Water Day, Los Angeles, March 2020. (Cancelled due to COVID)

Plenary presenter, Recasting Vocation in a New Planetary Era, a conference at St. Olaf College, Northfield, Mn, April 2020. (Cancelled due to COVID)

Visiting Scholar and public lecturer, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Phoenix Arizona, February, 2020.

Invited paper, Sustainable Societies International Conference II: Environmental and Economic Justice, Graduate Theological Union, Sept. 2020

“Luther’s Economic Ethic of Neighbor-love and Its Implications for Economic Life Today – A Gift to the World.”  Invited paper, Lutheran Ethicists Gathering, Louisville, Kentucky, January 2019.

Invited paper, Schleiermacher Group, American Academy of Religion, Nov. 2019.

Invited paper, Book Panel: “Ecological Solidarities: Mobilizing Faith & Justice in an Entangled World,” American Academy of Religion, Nov. 2019.

Plenary Speaker, ELCA Academy of Bishops national meeting,  January, 2019.

Plenary Speaker, Presidential Conference on the Integrity of Creation, Duquesne University, Pittsburg, Sept. 2019.

Keynote addresses, Deaconness Community Annual Assembly, ELCA, Omaha, Sept. 2019.

Plenary address, Institute of Liturgical Studies, Valparaiso University, April-May, 2019.

Public Lecture, sponsored by New York State Council of Churches and Capital Region Interfaith Coalition   for Creation Care, Schenectady, New York, April 2019.

Speaker, Feminist Liberation Theologians Network, American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Denver, Nov. 2018.

Respondent, session on book by Moe-Lobeda and co-authors, The Bible and Ethics, American Academy of Religion annual meeting, Denver, Nov. 2018

Keynote speaker, national gathering of ELCA public policy office and advocacy directors, Colorado Springs, Sept 2018.

Speaker, 30th annual Nobel Peace Prize Forum, Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Sept. 2018.

Keynote speaker, Rocky Mountain Synod Assembly, ELCA, May 2018.

Theologian in Residence, Lawrence Kansas coalition of churches and universities, April 2018.

Keynote speaker, SW WA synod of the ELCA, Bishop’s Convocation, January 2018.

Annual Spring Lecture series lecturer. Green Lake Church of Seventh Day Adventists, Seattle, 2018.

“The Bible and Ethics: Race, Class, Gender, and Ecological Justice,” panel presentation on  forthcoming book, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ, Nov. 2017.

Keynote address, Belk Lecture series, Wesleyan College, Macon, Georgia, Nov. 2017.

 Keynote speaker, conference on Luther and the continuing relevance of the Reformation, Theil College, Greenville, PA, Nov. 2017.

 Keynote speaker, Leadership Conference, Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, Oct. 10-12, 2017.

Keynote speaker for The Luther Lectures, Northern Rockies Institute of Theology, Montana Synod ELCA, Oct 9-10 2017.

Plenary address, symposium in observance of the 500th anniversary: "Reformation: Transforming the World One Door at a Time," Concordia College. Moorhead, Minnesota, September 2017.              

“Making Alliances,” invited presentation at Feminist Studies in Religion: Envisioning Conference, Drew University, Madison, NJ, June 18-21, 2017

 Plenary address, ELCA conference entitled “Embodied Freedom.”  Minneapolis, June 2017.

Tanner Talk public lecture and interview with “Access Utah” on Utah Public Radio, Utah State University, April 2017.

Keynote speaker for ELCA PA state public policy office, Advocacy Day, May 2017.

Keynote address, annual convocation of Justice and Peace Promoters, Leadership Conference of WomenReligious. Chicago, March 2017.

Keynote address, Yolo Interfaith Alliance for Climate Justice, annual conference, Davis CA, March 2017.

Plenary lecture, lecture series entitled, “500th Anniversary of the Reformation: its Relevance for Today and Tomorrow." Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Naples Florida. Feb., 2017.

 “Is Climate Change Structural Violence?” Society of Christian Ethics annual meeting, Jan. 2017.

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