Jim Thompson, Ph.D.

Education

Ph.D., Religious Ethics, University of Chicago
M.Div., Union Presbyterian Seminary
A.B., Physics, Princeton University

Research or Areas of Specialty

My expertise is religious and philosophical ethics. I am interested in how we, as people in community and conflict with others, come to understand the world in the ways we do—and how these ways of understanding challenge or support our ways of living. I thus study the historical development of traditions of thought and how religious and philosophical assumptions shape concrete ethical judgments, especially in medicine, law, and politics. My goal in working with students is to help each student find and develop their own ethical voice. I don’t insist that we all agree, but I do encourage critical self-reflection and curious, empathetic, and respectful understanding of other people, beliefs, and ways of life.