George Hunsinger

Hazel Thompson McCord Professor of Systematic Theology

Degrees

PhD, Yale University
MPhil, Yale University
MA, Yale University
BD, Harvard Divinity School
AB, Stanford University

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Email 102 Hodge Hall 609.252.2114

Biography

George Hunsinger is the McCord Professor of Systematic Theology at Princeton Theological Seminary. He earned his degrees at Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. A leading expert on Karl Barth, he was the 2010 recipient of the international Karl Barth Prize. He serves as an ordained Presbyterian minister, the founder of the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (2006), and a delegate to the official Reformed/Roman Catholic International Dialogue (2011–2017). He is interested in “generous orthodoxy” as a way of overcoming the historic liberal/conservative impasse in modern Protestant theology.

Research Interests

History and theology of the Reformed tradition and in “generous orthodoxy” as a way beyond the modern liberal/conservative impasse in theology and church

Select Publications

The Legacy of Hans W. Frei, ed. (Fortress, forthcoming 2018)

The Beatitudes (Paulist Press, 2015)

Reading Barth with Charity: A Hermeneutical Proposal (Baker Academic, 2015)

Evangelical, Catholic and Reformed: Essays on Barth and Other Themes (Eerdmans, 2015)

Conversational Theology: Essays on Ecumenical, Postliberal, and Political Themes with Special Reference to Karl Barth (T&T Clark, 2105)

The Eucharist and Ecumenism: Let Us Keep the Feast (Cambridge University Press, 2008)

For the Sake of the World: Karl Barth and the Future of Ecclesial History (Eerdmans, 2004)

Disruptive Grace: Studies in the Theology of Karl Barth (Eerdmans, 2000)

How to Read Karl Barth: The Shape of His Theology (Oxford University Press, 1991); German Translation: Barth lesen: Eine Einführung in sein theologisches Denken (Neukirchener Verlag, 2009); Japanese Translation: in process

Theological Commentary on Philippians (Brazos, forthcoming 2018)

Charting Christian Doctrine: An Introduction to the Basics (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2018)

My book The Beatitudes (Paulist Press, 2015)
Selected as the First Place Winner in Spirituality by the Catholic Press Association of the U.S. and Canada.
2015-2016. Fellow, Center for Christian Thought, Biola University.
2011-2016. Delegate to the Official Reformed/Roman Catholic International Dialogue.

Recipient of the international Karl Barth Prize, Union of Reformed Churches, Germany.
2009-2010. Participant, Templeton Foundation symposium, “Light from Light: An Exploration
of Theological and Scientific Relationships Referencing Reality.” Meetings in Istanbul & Oxford.

Founder, National Religious Campaign Against Torture. nrcat.org
2003-present. President, Karl Barth Society of North America.
1997-2001. Founding Director of the Karl Barth Center, Princeton Theological Seminary.
1996-present. I lead a weekly verse-by-verse adult Bible study at Nassau Presbyterian Church,
Princeton, NJ.
1995-1998. Member. PCUSA Commission to write new catechisms. Approved for use by 1998
General Assembly.
1993-1994. Sabbatical year in Switzerland. International Baptist Seminary in Rüschlikon near
Zurich.

Delegate to a meeting of “Liberation Theologians from the North & the South.”
Sponsored by NCCC. San Jose, Costa Rica.
1983, 1984. Good Friday Nonviolent Direct Actions against nuclear weapons. Arrested in
Manhattan with Daniel Berrigan.

Ordination. Minister of Word and Sacrament. Presbyterian Church (USA).
1978-1979. Theologian-in-Residence, Riverside Church Disarmament Program. Assistant to
Wm. Sloane Coffin, Jr.
1971-1972. DAAD Fellowship. Studied with Jürgen Moltmann at the University of Tübingen.
1967-1968. Taught in the NY Urban League Street Academy Program for high school dropouts.
Watched the riots from my apt. window in Bedford-Stuyvesant after MLK was assassinated.

My senior thesis: “Kierkegaard, Heidegger and the Concept of Death.”
Selected by the Stanford Humanities Program for publication.

Summer Intern, California Farm Worker Ministry.
Supported the NFWA Delano grape strike. Walked the picket lines with Cesar Chavez.