Matthew Croasmun, director of research and publications at the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School, has been named a winner of the University of Heidelberg’s Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise for 2015.
Croasmun is one of 10 scholars from around the world named by the awards program, which recognizes outstanding doctoral or first post-doctoral works addressing the topic of God and spirituality, broadly defined. Croasmun was recognized for his Yale University dissertation, “The Body of Sin: An Emergent Account of Sin as a Cosmic Power in Romans 5-8.”
A 2001 Yale College graduate, Croasmun received his M.A.R. from Yale Divinity School in 2006 and his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2014. In addition to his academic pursuits, Croasmun has served as a volunteer for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, youth pastor at the New Haven Vineyard Christian Fellowship, and lead pastor of the Elm City Vineyard Church, which he founded with his wife. After receiving his M.A.R., he spent a summer at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute in Ghana, studying with the African theologian Kwame Bediako.
Croasmun’s main research interest is the Epistles of Paul as seen through contemporary philosophy of science, theological reflection, and critical theory. His prize-winning dissertation addresses the relationship between “sins” as human misdeeds and “Sin,” the cosmic problem described in Paul’s Epistle to the Romans.
In addition to a monetary prize, the 10 Lautenschlaeger winners have the chance to propose an international and interdisciplinary colloquium on an important academic topic, with two being chosen to receive funding and other support to organize and lead the colloquium.
The Yale Center for Faith and Culture critically examines and promotes practices of faith that advance authentic human flourishing and the global common good.