Christine Firer Hinze

Christine Firer Hinze is Professor and Chair of the Department of Theology, and emeritus (2010-2020) Director of the Francis and Ann Curran Center for American Catholic Studies at Fordham University.  She holds a BA in religion and an MA in theology from the Catholic University of America, and a PhD in Christian social ethics from the University of Chicago. Her teaching and research focus on foundational and applied issues in Christian social ethics with special emphasis on the dynamics of social transformation, Catholic social thought, and economic and work justice for vulnerable women, families and groups. She is the author of Comprehending Power in Christian Social Ethics (Oxford, 1995), Glass Ceilings, Dirt Floors: Women, Work, and the Global Economy (Madeleva Lecture Series, Paulist Press, 2015), co-editor (with J. Patrick Hornbeck) of More Than A Monologue: Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church, vol 1: Voices of Our Times (Fordham University Press, 2014), and has published scores of scholarly essays in books and in journals such as Theological Studies, The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, The Journal of Catholic Social Thought, and Studies in Christian Ethics.

She was born in Chicago and raised in the city of Detroit, where she did inner-city ministry and taught high school prior to her doctoral studies. She taught at St. Norbert College and Marquette University prior to her 2006 appointment at Fordham. Christine and her husband Brad, also a theologian, are the parents of two sons, longtime members of Ignatian Christian Life Communities (CLC), and members of Our Lady of Angels Parish, Bronx, NY.

BA, Religion, Politics, The Catholic University of America

MA, Theology, The Catholic University of America

PhD, Christian Social Ethics, The University of Chicago

Christian social ethics, Catholic social thought, liberationist and feminist ethics, foundational issues in Christian social ethics, power and social transformation, economic ethics in relation to work, family, gender, and race ethnicity.

Radical Sufficiency: Work, Livelihood, and a U.S. Catholic Economic Ethic (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2021).

Glass Ceilings, Dirt Floors:  Women, Work, and the Global Economy. (Madeleva Lecture Series.) Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2015.

More Than A Monologue, Sexual Diversity and the Catholic Church, Vol. 1 “Voices of Our Times.” Co-editor, with J. Patrick Hornbeck. (New York: Fordham University Press, 2014).

“Unleashing the Assets of Catholic Social Thought in the Fight for a Sustainable Future,” Christiana Peppard and Andrea Vincini, SJ, eds. Just Sustainability (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014).

“The Elizabeth Johnson Case: A Feminist Ethical Perspective,” Concilium: International Journal of Theology No. 32:4, 2012. (Published in English, Italian, German, and French.)

“Economic Crisis, Solidarity, & Sustainability: Moral Notes on Economic Ethics,” Theological Studies 72 (March, 2011) 150-169.

“Over, Under, Around, and Through: Ethics, Solidarity, and the Saints,” Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 2011.

The Drama of Social Sin and the [Im]Possibility of Solidarity: Reinhold Niebuhr and Catholic Social Thought,” Studies in Christian Ethics [UK] 22:4 (2009) 442-460.

“Reconsidering Little Rock:  Hannah Arendt, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Families’ Role in the Struggle for Justice,” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics (Spring 2009), 25-50.

“Notes on Social and Economic Ethics,” Theological Studies 70 (March 2009) 159-176.

“Women, Families, and the Legacy of Laborem Exercens: An Unfinished Agenda.” Journal of Catholic Social Thought 6:1 (2009) 63-92.

“The Right to a Standard of Living in Accordance With One’s Station in Life: Tough Questions for 21st Century Disciples,” in God and Mammon, Darlene Weaver, ed. Villanova Theology Institute Series, Vol. 32, Fall 2009.

“A Distinctively Catholic Patriotism?”, God and Country?: Diverse Perspectives on Christianity and Patriotism, Michael G. Long and Tracy Wenger Sadd eds., New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007, 129-146.

“Gaudium et Spes ‘Forty Years After:’ Straining Toward Solidarity in a Suffering World.” William Madges, ed. Vatican II: Forty Years After, (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Press, 2006).

“U.S. Catholic Social Thought, Gender, and Economic Livelihood.”  Theological Studies, Vol. 66, No. 3: (September 2005): 568-91.

“Quadragesimo Anno.” Modern Catholic Social Teaching, ed. Kenneth Himes, OFM, et al (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2005), 151-174.

"What is ‘Enough?’ Catholic Social Teaching, Consumption, and an Ethic of Sufficiency,” Having: Property and Possession in Religious and Social Life, William Schweiker & Charles Mathewes, eds. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2004), 162-188.

“Response to Michael J. Baxter,” Proceedings of the Catholic Theology Society of America 2004.

"Whose Marriage? Whose Health? A Christian Feminist Ethical Response,” co-authored with Mary Stewart van Leeuwen, Marriage, Health, and the Professions, Don Browning & John Wall, eds. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002) 145-166.

“John A. Ryan, Public Policy, and the Quest for a Dignified Ecology of Work,” Religion and Public Life: The Legacy of John A. Ryan, Robert G. Kennedy, et al, eds.  (Washington, DC: University Press of America, 2001) 215-40.

“Dirt and Economic Inequality: A Christian-Ethical Peek Under the Rug,” Annual of the Society of Christian Ethics (2001): 45-62.

"Identity in Christian Feminist Theology," Concilium 2000/II, ed. Maureen Junker Kenney & Dietmar Meith, 306-313.

Comprehending Power in Christian Social Ethics (Oxford University Press, Academy Series, 1995).