# Stephanie Paulsell Susan Shallcross Swartz Professor of the Practice of Christian Studies Emerita ![Stephanie Paulsell](/sites/g/files/omnuum5526/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/hds2/files/paulsell-portrait-9-9-2019.jpg?itok=DXZ2ORA3) smartphone [617.496.3579](tel:617.496.3579) email ## Education - BA, Greensboro College - MA, PhD, University of Chicago ## Profile Stephanie Paulsell has been a member of the HDS faculty since 2001. She is the author of *Religion Around Virginia Woolf* (2019), co-editor (with Davíd Carrasco and Mara Willard) of *Goodness and the Literary Imagination* (2019), and has served as a regular columnist for *The Christian Century* since 2007. Her work focuses on religion and literature, Christian spirituality, and the spiritually formative dimensions of the practices of reading and writing. Recent courses include “Virginia Woolf and Religion,” “Contemplative Prayer in Christianity,” “Emily Dickinson: ‘the extasy define—,’” “Seeking God: A History of Christian Spirituality in Twelve Lives," and a seminar on the twentieth-century monastic writer, Thomas Merton. Paulsell’s other publications include *Lamentations and the Song of Songs* (co-authored with Harvey Cox, 2012), *Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice* (2002) and *The Scope of Our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher* (2001), co-edited with L. Gregory Jones. She is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and lives in Cambridge with her husband, Kevin Madigan, where they served as Faculty Deans of Eliot House in Harvard College from 2020 to 2024. [Full CV](/file_url/823) ## Courses View [HDS courses taught by Stephanie Paulsell](https://courses.my.harvard.edu/psp/courses/EMPLOYEE/EMPL/h/?tab=HU_CLASS_SEARCH&SearchReqJSON=%7B%22ExcludeBracketed%22%3Atrue%2C%22Exclude300%22%3Afalse%2C%22PageSize%22%3A%22%22%2C%22TopN%22%3A%22%22%2C%22PageNumber%22%3A1%2C%22SortOrder%22%3A%5B%22SCORE%22%5D%2C%22Facets%22%3A%5B%5D%2C%22SaveRecent%22%3Atrue%2C%22CombineClassSections%22%3Atrue%2C%22SearchText%22%3A%22(%20Stephanie%20Paulsell%20)%20(ACAD_CAREER%3A%5C%22HDS%5C%22)%22%7D) in the my.harvard Course Search [All Harvard courses](https://courses.my.harvard.edu) ## Selected publications - [*Religion Around Virginia Woolf*](http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/978-0-271-08487-9.html) (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2019) - [*Goodness and the Literary Imagination*](https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/5340) (University of Virginia Press, 2019) - [*Lamentations and the Song of Songs: A Theological Commentary on the Bible*](https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/Default.aspx?bookid=0664233023) (Westminster John Knox Press, 2012) - [*Honoring the Body: Meditations on a Christian Practice*](https://www.augsburgfortress.org/store/product/9781506454894/Honoring-the-Body-Meditations-on-a-Christian-Practice) (Jossey-Bass, 2003) - [*The Scope of Our Art: The Vocation of the Theological Teacher*](https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802849588/the-scope-of-our-art/) (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2001) ## See also - [HDS Master of Divinity Program](/academics/degree-programs/mdiv-program) - [What's Said in the Dark Will Be Heard in the Light](/news/2016/10/14/whats-said-dark-will-be-heard-light) (Morning Prayers, The Memorial Church, October 2016) - [Stephanie Paulsell in *The Christian Century*](https://www.christiancentury.org/contributor/stephanie-paulsell) - [Review of Patti Smith's 'Just Kids,' *Harvard Divinity Bulletin*](https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/into-the-infinite-together/) - ["Reading St. Therese," *Harvard Divinity Bulletin*](https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/reading-st-therese/) - ["Devotion in the Study of Religion," *Harvard Divinity Bulletin*](https://bulletin.hds.harvard.edu/devotion-in-the-study-of-religion/) ## Support To reach Harvard Divinity School's faculty coordinators, email [div-faculty\_coordinators@calists.harvard.edu](mailto:div-faculty_coordinators@calists.harvard.edu). For media inquiries or requests, please [contact Tyler Sprouse](mailto:tsprouse@hds.harvard.edu) in the Office of Communications. - ## Affiliation [Faculty](/affiliation/faculty) - ## Alpha Grouping [P-T](/alpha-grouping/p-t) - ## Faculty Type [Research Professors and Emeriti](/faculty-type/research-professors-and-emeriti) - ## Media Expertise [Christianity](/media-expertise/christianity) [Feminism and Feminist Theology](/media-expertise/feminism-and-feminist-theology) [Gender and Sexuality](/media-expertise/gender-and-sexuality) [Medieval Studies](/media-expertise/medieval-studies) [Ministry](/media-expertise/ministry) [Spirituality and Spiritual Development](/media-expertise/spirituality-and-spiritual-development)