Laurie Johnston

Assistant Professor of Theology & Religious Studies
Ph.D., Boston College; M.Div., Harvard Divinity School; B.A. with distinction, University of Virginia
Office hours: Mon/Wed 1-2, Tues. 1:30-3:30, and by appointment
Office: Administration Building, Room 461
Phone: (617) 264-7723
E-mail: johnsla@emmanuel.edu
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, Islamic ethics, and questions about justice, forgiveness, and reconciliation. She is particularly interested in the way different Christian theologies shape different ideas about how Christians should be engaged 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. In her spare time, she enjoys playing ice hockey and spending time with her three children.
Courses Taught
RELIG 1101 Introduction to Religious Studies
RELIG 1103 Introduction to Catholic Theology
RELIG 2111 Love and Justice: An Introduction to Christian Ethics
RELIG 2201 War, Peace & Religion
RELIG 2211 Islam
RELIG 2301 Health Care: Social Justice and Economics
RELIG 3133 Social Justice and Religious Traditions
FYS Ethics, Religion and HIV/AIDS
Awards/Honors Received
- 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)
Significant Publications/Presentations/Panels
Publications
- "Catholics and just war theory since 9-11: The moral challenge." Matthew Morgan, ed., The Impact of 9-11 on Religion and Philosophy: The Day that Changed Everything? Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.
- "'To Be Holy in the World': The Influence of Yves Congar, O.P. on the spirituality and practice of the Community of Sant'Egidio." in Tim Muldoon, ed., Catholic Identity and the Laity, Annual of the College Theology Society vol. 54, Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Press, 2009.
- "Religious liberty in comparative perspective: The Catholic Church's theological odyssey and the 'Bases of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church." Religion in Eastern Europe, November 2006.
- "Love your enemies': Even in an age of terroism?" in Political Theology, Vol. 6 Issue 1, (Jan 2005). Also reprinted on the web resource www.progressivechristianwitness.org, a program of the Pacific School of Religion.
- "Religion in Kosovo and the Balkans - Blessing or curse?" in Florian Bieber and Zidas Daskalovski, eds., Understanding the War in Kosovo. London: Frank Cass, 2003, pp. 184-195. Also presented at the conference Kosovo: Understanding the Past - Looking Ahead, at the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary, April 2000.
- "Religion and violence, Religion and peace: An experiment with theological education in the Balkans." Harvard Divinity School Bulletin, Summer 2000.
Presentations
- "The Common Good and Health Care Reform." Presented at the conference "Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church," Trento, Italy, July 24-27, 2010.
- "Realism and 'Peacemaking' - in the same breath?" Presented (in absentia) at the conference "Christian Realism and Public Life: Catholic and Protestant Perspectives," University of St. Thomas School of Law, November 20, 2009.
- "The Community of Sant'Egidio as a lived theology: a way forward in the impasse over church-world theology?" Presented at the Catholic Theological Society of America Annual Meeting, Halifax, Nova Scotia, June 2009.
- "The Influence of Yves Congar on the Spirituality and Practice of the Community of Sant'Egidio." Presented at the College Theology Society Annual Meeting, Providence, R.I., June 2008, in the "Mysticism and Politics" session, on a panel with the theme "Contemporary Theologies and the Spirituality of Lay Movements."
- Panelist on "Ecclesiology and Peacebuilding" at the Conference on the Future of Catholic Peacebuilding, University of Notre Dame, April 2008.
- "Congar: Church, World and Christian peacemaking." Presentation to the Congar program group of the Catholic Theological Society of America, June 9, 2006.
- "Church-World theology and Christian peacemaking: The debate over peace at Vatican II and its continuing implications." Presentation to the College Theology Society, June 3, 2005.
- "‘Love your enemies': Interpreting a challenging commandment." Presented at the conference "Religion, Rights, and Societal Reconstruction," sponsored by Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights, at Bellagio, Italy, July 2002.
- "Religious liberty in comparative perspective: The Catholic Church's theological odyssey and the ‘Bases of the social concept of the Russian Orthodox Church.'" Presented at a conference on The Transfiguration of Russia at Saint Andrew's Biblical Theological College in Moscow, Russia, May 2002.


