Rev. Dr. Jason Fout
Assistant Professor of Anglican Theology
Degrees
- B.A., University of Illinois – Chicago
- M.Div., Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
- S.T.M., Seabury-Western Theological Seminary
- Ph.D., University of Cambridge
About Professor Fout
I joined the faculty of Bexley Hall in 2009. Before that, my family and I lived in the UK for four years, where I was working on my Ph.D. at the University of Cambridge. I’m originally from the Diocese of Chicago, and was ordained there in 2001, after having gone to seminary at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. Following ordination, I served in a parish in the Diocese of Western Michigan for four years, as curate and then associate rector. While I was in the parish, I loved the usual round of preaching, presiding, and pastoral care, but I was also excited to focus specifically on teaching, small groups, welcoming newcomers, and working with families with younger children. In Western Michigan, I was also pleased to serve on the diocese’s Commission on Ministry as well as to serve as examining chaplain for the diocese and nationally, to work with the General Board of Examining Chaplains in assessing the GOEs.
I’m thrilled to teach theology, and I really love being able to help people to make connections between their faith and their life. My teaching tends to be both subject-focused and student-focused. I like to be something of a “tour guide” to the field, sharing with people some of the fascinating, troubling, wonderful or inspiring things that I’ve found, as well as showing how and why theology matters. At the same time, I am eager to help people to engage their own learning goals, to follow their own curiosities, or to pursue in some depth those questions that haunt them or keep them awake at night. Theology at its best, I think, brings us to God, and so it is appropriate that the topic be interesting in its own right, but also grip us personally. Theology is not meant to be dispassionate, but to inform, move and delight: at its best, it should fill us with wonder, move us to repent, fill us with gratitude, and help us to grow in holiness and wisdom.
I wrote my dissertation on the glory of God and its relation to human agency at Cambridge, under the supervision of Professor David F. Ford and the late Professor Daniel W. Hardy. Other theologians and philosophers who have influenced me and continue to do so include Donald MacKinnon, Rowan Williams, Sarah Coakley, Paul Ricoeur, Karl Barth and Hans Urs von Balthasar. My research interests include contemporary Anglican theology, as well as the history of Anglican theology and constructive theology in the areas of Christology, political theology and theological anthropology. I have a growing interest in the practice of Scriptural Reasoning, and find myself wondering how this can enrich theological education for ministry. Alongside all of this, I’m also developing a research interest in urban studies, particularly related to the New Urbanism, and theological readings of the built environment. I’m interested in conversations that theology can have with other disciplines as well, particularly aesthetics and economics.
I am an active member of several scholarly societies, including the American Academy of Religion, Society of Anglican and Lutheran Theologians (for which I am the Secretary-Treasurer) and the Society for the Study of Theology (UK). I’m also one of the founding members of Theologians of Ohio, an annual colloquium for theological studies. I have presented scholarly papers on topics such as the glory of God, theological aesthetics, political theology, and honor and the gift in St. Paul, in venues such as the American Academy of Religion, Society for the Study of Theology, the Institute for Theology, Imagination and the Arts, and the University of Cambridge Senior Systematic Theology Seminar. I’ve recently published essays on the topics of the New Urbanism and political theology, and have authored several chapters in multi-author works. I regularly review books in my field, and have written well over 50 reviews in scholarly journals. I also serve on the editorial advisory board of the journal Imaginatio et Ratio: A Journal of Theology and the Arts, as well as being a peer reviewer for International Journal of Systematic Theology and Anglican Theological Review.
Part of my teaching load at Bexley Hall includes a number of classes also intended for Trinity Lutheran Seminary students. As part of this, I also supervise master’s theses for the M.T.S. and S.T.M. degrees. Currently, I am supervising theses in the areas of the theology of Karl Barth, contemporary constructive theology, and political theology. I would welcome inquiries about the possibility of working in these areas, systematic and constructive theology generally, or anything related to my areas of interest set out above.
In addition to teaching, I am an unreconstructed foodie and I love to cook for family and friends. I enjoy traveling, particularly in Europe. I like to read widely (when I can!), and I particularly enjoy the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins and the prose of John Updike and P.G. Wodehouse. After having lived on two continents, I am now a long-suffering fan of both Chicago Cubs baseball and English test cricket.
 Contact
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Courses Taught:
Anglican Divines
Anglican Moral Theology
Contemporary Anglican Theology/Topics in Anglican Theology
Liturgics I
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