The Pastoral Leader: Spirituality, Ethics, and Justice -2027

Rev. Dr. Miguel A. De La Torre is Professor of Social Ethics and Latinx Studies at the Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado. He served as the elected President of the Society of Christian Ethics in 2012 and as Executive Officer for the Society of Race, Ethnicity, and Religion from 2012 to 2017. A recognized international Fulbright scholar, Dr. De La Torre has taught courses at the Cuernavaca Center for Intercultural Dialogue on Development (Mexico), the Indonesian Consortium for Religious Studies (Yogyakarta, Indonesia), the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), and Johannes Gutenberg University (Mainz, Germany). He has also lectured at Italian Adventist University (Florence, Italy), University of Auckland (New Zealand), United Theological College and Charles Sturt University (Sydney, Australia), Pilgrim Theological College and University of Divinity (Melbourne, Australia), Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana (Costa Rica), the Association for Theological Education in South East Asia (Thailand), and the Council of World Mission (Mexico and Taiwan).

Advocating for an ethics of place, Dr. De La Torre has led students on immersion classes to Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, the Peruvian Amazon, and the Mexico/U.S. border to walk migrant trails. He is a frequent speaker at national and international scholarly and religious events, including the Chautauqua Institute and the Parliament of World Religions, and speaks widely to churches and nonprofit organizations on the intersections of religion with race, class, gender, and sexuality. A recipient of multiple national book awards, he was honored by the American Academy of Religion with the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2020 and the Martin E. Marty Public Understanding of Religion Award in 2021, becoming the first scholar — and the first Latinx — to receive both of these prestigious awards.