Natalie Carnes, Ph.D.
Professor of Theology
Education
- Duke University, Ph.D. (Christian Theological Studies)
- University of Chicago, M.A. (Religion)
- Harvard University, A.B. (Comparative Religious Studies)
Biography
Natalie Carnes is a constructive theologian who reflects on questions of theological aesthetics, feminist theology, and systematic theology in the conviction that these three areas of inquiry, though distinct, also illumine one another.
Currently, Natalie is working on two projects. With Matthew Whelan, she is writing a book titled Why This Waste: Art in a World of Need. Together the co-authors ask how Christians justify making and supporting art in a world where people die of unmet need—and also how the realities of poverty and violence should transform our practices of making, circulating, and engaging art. The second project centers on creativity, drawing on a range of interdisciplinary work across the humanities and social sciences to think about what creativity is, how we cultivate it, and what theological significance it bears.
These new projects come out of Natalie’s past work. Her work can be found in various journals and book chapters, but the best introduction to her central concerns can be found in her books, which include Beauty: A Theological Engagement with Gregory of Nyssa (Cascade 2014); Image and Presence: A Christological Reflection on Iconoclasm and Iconophilia (Stanford 2017); Motherhood: A Confession (Stanford 2020); and most recently, Attunement: The Art and Politics of Feminist Theology (Oxford 2024).
In addition to her appointment in the Religion Department, Natalie is Affiliate Faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies and the Director of the Baylor Initiative in Christianity and the Arts. You can find more information on her website: https://nataliecarnes.com
Academic Interests and Research
systematic theology, theological aesthetics, theology and the arts, feminist theology, Christology, theological anthropology, spirituality
Books
Attunement: The Art and Politics of Feminist Theology. Oxford University Press, 2024.
Motherhood: A Confession. Stanford University Press, 2020.
Image and Presence: A Christological Reflection on Iconoclasm and Iconophilia. Stanford University Press, 2017.
Beauty: A Theological Engagement with Gregory of Nyssa. Cascade Books, 2014.
Selected Articles and Chapters
Vulnerability and Precarity: Movement in the Ritual of the Eucharist.” Art-Making as Spiritual Practice: Rituals of Embodied Understanding. Edited by Lexi Eikelboom and David Newheiser. Expanding Philosophy of Religion Series. Bloomsbury Press, forthcoming.
Nature, Culture, Church: Reconsidering the Church-World Divide.” In 81-98 Confessing the Church. Oliver Crisp and Fred Sanders, eds. Zondervan Academic, 2024.
“Three Modest Observations Concerning the Interdisciplinary Work of Science-Engaged Theology.” Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences 10.1 (2023): 122-26.
“Lord, When Did We See You?: Towards a Topography of the Visual.” International Journal of Systematic Theology. With Matthew Whelan. 23.2 (March 2021): 1-23.
“Gender and Ecclesiology.” In 375-90, T & T Clark Companion to Ecclesiology. Kimlyn Bender and Stephen Long, eds. Bloomsbury: London, 2020.
Courses Taught at Baylor
- REL 1350 Introduction to Christian Heritage
- REL 3351 Introduction to Theology
- REL 3397 Gender, Feminism, and Theology
- REL 4300 Theological Language, Theological Silence
- REL 4300 Images and Idols
- REL 4355 Salvation
- REL 5363 Christology