Currently, I serve as J. Roy Davis Family Chair of Theology and History at Union Presbyterian Seminary on the Charlotte campus. With over twenty years of experience in higher education and social justice ministry, I am an educator, author, and institutional leader who values collaboration, integrity, pluralism, reciprocity, and mutual respect. My leadership in higher education, church settings, advocacy groups, community organizations, and ecumenical and interfaith movements focuses on creating a cultural shift by building consensus and communities of belonging. What motivates me as a teacher, public speaker, and minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) are moments when I witness and work with people beginning to see things in a new way, coming alive, and playing a role in creative transformation for the sake of the common good. I come alive as I collaborate with others to connect academy, church, and community for transformative social change

The questions that I pursue in my research on faith and public life are those that keep me up at night because the most widely known or popular answers just don’t seem to go far enough to address the real issues. My research at this time examines competing concepts of freedom in the US and their connection to the culture war, the root causes of poverty and systemic solutions to solve the problem of poverty and wealth inequalities, and the intersection between theology, social inequalities, and disability justice. I published a book this year entitled Authentic Christian Freedom: Deconstructing the American Gospel of Liberty (Orbis 2025).

Among other awards, grants, and honors, I am grateful to have been named the J. Roy Davis Family Chair of Theology and History (2025), received a Louisville Institute Sabbatical Grant for Researchers (2018), served as the North American Research Consultant for the World Council of Churches’ Poverty, Wealth and Ecology Project (2010-2014), taught as a Fulbright Scholar (Hungary 2010), and been awarded the Wilson Wyatt Faculty Fellowship awarded for excellence in teaching and scholarship (2010). Additonally, my book on The Problem of Wealth: A Christian Response to a Culture of Affluence (Orbis 2017) won the Catholic Press Association 2018 first place award for a book related to Catholic Social Teaching. Samples of my published works can be found on on my profile page on Academia.edu.

More personally, I am a partner, a parent, a lover of good long runs or a leisurely walk on the beach. Please reach out if you would like to consult, need a speaker, or just want to be in conversation.

Contact information:

E-mail: ehinsonhasty@upsem.edu.

Snail mail: Elizabeth Hinson-Hasty, Union Presbyterian Seminary, 5241 Sharon Road, Charlotte, NC 28210