Jesse D. Couenhoven
Associate Professor of Moral Theology
Department of Humanities
Saint Augustine Center Room 304
(215) 796-5719
jesse.couenhoven@villanova.edu
Associate Professor
(with tenure), Humanities Department, Villanova University, 2010-
Assistant Professor,
Humanities Department, Villanova University, 2005-10
Gallen Post-Doctoral Fellow, Villanova University, 2004-5
Ph.D., Religious Studies
Department,
Graduate Exchange
Student,
M.A.R., Historical
Theology,
B.A., Psychology,
Stricken by Sin, Cured by Christ: Agency, Necessity, and Culpability in Augustinian Theology, Oxford University Press, 2013.
I offer a novel reading of Augustine’s conceptions of inherited evil and the bound will, then formulate non-volitionalist
accounts of responsibility and freedom that make it possible to retrieve central aspects of Augustine’s views, and to
recognize the humanity of his doctrine of original sin.
Predestination: A Guide for the Perplexed, Bloomsbury / T&T Clark, forthcoming. This book will offer a historical overview
and a constructive appropriation of the doctrine. My central argument is that sharing authorial responsibility for crucial
features of our personal narratives is often a blessing, and undermines neither our freedom nor our praiseworthiness.
My work on this topic is funded by a “Big Questions on Free Will” grant from
Florida State University.
Focus Issue
“The Possibilities of Forgiveness.” Journal of Religious Ethics, 41.3, 2013, 377-512. I wrote an introductory essay on
interdisciplinary and inter-religious approaches to forgiveness and edited this focus issue, based on papers written
for a conference I organized at Villanova in Spring 2012. My work was funded by a “A New Science of the Virtues”
grant from the University of Chicago.
“Fodge-ogs and HedgeOxes”, Journal of the
American Academy of Religion, 81(3), 2013, 586-91.
“Augustine, Saint”,
International Encyclopedia of Ethics, ed. Hugh LaFollette. Malden,
MA: Blackwell Press,
2013, 399-407.
“The Necessities of Perfect Freedom,”
International Journal of Systematic Theology, 14(4), 2012, 396-419.
“Against Metaethical
Imperialism: Several Arguments for Equal Partnerships between the Deontic and
Aretaic.” Journal of Religious Ethics,
38.3, 2010, 521-44.
“Forgiveness and
Restoration: A Theological Exploration,”
Journal of Religion, 90(2), 2010,
148-70.
(The most-read article in the
Journal in 2010.)
“What Sin Is: A
Differential Analysis.” Modern Theology,
25(4), 2009, 563-87.
“Retributive Justice: A Penitential Pedagogy.” Journal of Lutheran Ethics, September 2009.
“‘Not Every Wrong is Done with Pride’: Augustine’s Proto-feminist Anti-Pelagianism.” Scottish Journal of
Theology, 61, 2008, 32-50. (Among the ten most-read articles in 2008.)
“Augustine’s Rejection of the Free Will Defense: An Overview of the late Augustine’s Theodicy.” Religious
Studies,
43, 2007, 279-298. (On the ten most-read articles list from 2007 – 2013.)
“Augustine’s Doctrine of Original Sin,”
Augustinian Studies, 36:2, 2005,
359-96.
“Law and Gospel, or the
Law of the Gospel? Karl Barth’s Political Theology Compared with Luther and
Calvin.”
Journal of Religious Ethics,
30:2, 2002, 181-206.
“Grace as Pardon and
Power: Pictures of the Christian Life in Luther, Calvin, and Barth.”
Journal of Religious
Ethics, 28:1, 2000, 63-88. (On the most-read articles list from 2000 - 2013.)
“Collision or Collaboration: School-based Health Services Meet Managed Care.” Paula Armbruster, Ellen Andrews,
Jesse Couenhoven & Gary
Blau. Clinical Psychological Review,
19:2, 1999.
Reprinted in School Health Services and Programs, ed. Julia Graham Lear, Stephen L. Isaacs, and James R. Knickman.
Jossey-Bass:
Book Chapters
“The Protestant
Reformation,” in the Cambridge History of Moral Philosophy,
ed. Michael Pakaluk and Jens
Timmermann, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming in 2014.
“Predestination.” in Vocabulary for the
Study of Religion, ed. Robert Segal & Kocku von Stuckrad, Brill
Publishers, forthcoming
in 2014.
Jesse Covington, Micah Watson, and
Bryan McGraw.
Lanham, MD:
Lexington Books, 2012, 35-55.
Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2010, 239-55.
“Dreams of
Responsibility.” in Augustine and
Philosophy, ed. Phillip Cary, John Doody, and Kim Paffenroth.
Lanham, MD: Lexington Books,
2010, 103-23.
Selected Book Reviews
Reviews of Sarah Byers’
Perception, Sensibility and Moral
Motivation in Augustine, and Timo Nisula’s
Augustine and the Functions of
Concupiscence,
forthcoming.
Review of Brian Stock’s
Augustine’s Inner Dialogue, in the
Journal of the American Academy of
Religion, 79(4),
December 2011, 1071-4.
Review of Emilie
Townes’s Womanist Ethics and the Cultural
Production of Evil, in the Journal of
the Society of
Christian Ethics, 31(1), Spring/Summer
2011, 203-4.
Review of Gary
Anderson’s Sin: A History, in
Modern Theology, 27(1), January 2011, 194-197.
Review of
Review of William Werpehowski’s American Protestant Ethics and the Legacy of
H. Richard Niebuhr, in
Theology Today, 60:2, 2003.
Review of Alistair McFayden’s Bound to Sin, in
Interpretation, 56:4, October 2002.
“The Indicative in the Imperative: On Augustinian Oughts and Cans”, to be published in a collection based on the
Big Questions in the Theology of Free Will
conference.
“Immutable Freedom”, an article on God’s freedom that will be published in Free Will and Theism, ed. Kevin
Timpe and Daniel Speak (Oxford University Press, expected 2015).
“Augustine”, an article on the idea that sin is privation, to be published in the T & T Clark Companion to the
Doctrine of
Sin, ed. Keith L. Johnson and David Lauber (expected 2015).
“The Problem with Original Sin: A Challenge to
Several Conventions in the Free Will debates.”
A Severe Grace: Forgiveness, Sin, and Sacrifice. What is forgiveness? How does it overcome evil? And how does
it relate to justice, punishment, penance, and sacrifice? My work on this book project was funded by a "Science
of the Virtues" Grant from the University of Chicago.
“Benign Christian Relativism”: in this project I seek
to marry Catholic and Protestant metaethics, along with divine command, natural
law, and virtue theories by developing the idea that morality is relative to
theological context (aeons), a person’s specific calling (vocation), and
species-specific proper function.
“Medical Decision-making: Patient Autonomy or Physician Paternalism?” This
project unites my interest in questions about free will with bioethical
conversations about end of life care. My hope is to move beyond unhelpful
paradigms for clinical decision-making by attending to the virtues and practices
necessary for mutual understanding of communally normed judgments.
“Sickness, Sin, and Augustine’s Compatibilism,” Florida State University ethics
colloquium, March 2013.
“A Reasoned Faith: How Trust Makes Understanding Possible,” the Faith and Reason
lecture, Villanova
University, April 2011.
“Virtues and Perils of Forgiveness,” given in the Science of the Virtues
competition at the University of
Chicago, January 2010, and revisited in follow-up
talks given in March 2011 and 2012.
“Karl Barth’s Eschatological (rejection of) Natural
Law,” Westmont College, February 2011.
“Augustinian Sin and Salvation,” a class taught at
Yale Divinity School, February 2011.
“Restorative and Retributive Justice,” Conference
on Catholic Social Thought and Criminal
Justice, Villanova University, March 2009.
“What Forgiveness is Not: A Theological Disputation,” Meade-Swing lecture at
“Love’s Compass: An Introduction to St. Augustine,” the University of
2008.
“The
Augustinian Background of Luther’s Bondage
of the Will” and “Ought and Can in the Augustinian
Tradition,” American Academy of Religion, November 2013.
“Augustinian Oughts and Cans,” Big Questions in the Theology of Free Will
conference, St. Thomas University,
September 2013.
“What does it Mean to Forgive?” Parts 1 & 2, blogs posted at
http://scienceofvirtues.org/forums/p/671/695.aspx, January 2012.
“Christian Individualism,” a talk given as part of the Society of Christian
Ethics panel discussion “Christianity,
the Enlightenment, and Political Life: A Transformed Landscape”, January
2011.
“Virtues and Vices of Analytic Theology,”
American
“What Forgiveness is Not,” a response to a talk on forgiveness by
Stanford’s Frederic Luskin, Villanova
University, October 2009.
“The Origins of Evil,” the Penn Humanities Forum, University of
Pennsylvania, April 2008.
“Wash Me, and I will be Whiter than Snow: A Theological Account of
Forgiveness.” Society of Christian Ethics,
January 2008.
“Forgiveness Among Friends: Some
Suggestions on How to 'Keep No Record of Wrongs'.” Baylor Symposium
on Faith and Culture,
October 2007.
“Genetic Determinism and the ‘Freedom of the Gaps’.” American
“Augustinian Freedom and Responsibility.” Society of Christian Ethics, January
2005.
“Big Questions in Free Will” research grant, for a project on “Praiseworthy Lack
of Control”, from the
Department of Philosophy at Florida State University, $74,000, 2012-13
“Analytic Theology” Fellowship, a research grant from the Notre Dame Center for
Philosophy of Religion,
$75,000, 2012-13 (declined)
Veritas research Grant, Villanova University, $4,900, Summer 2012
“A New Science of the Virtues” research grant, for a project on “Virtues and
Vices of Forgiveness,” from the
University of Chicago’s Arête Initiative, $80,000, March 2010-2012
Mellon Fellow, University of Pennsylvania Humanities Forum, $3,000, 2007-8
Veritas research grant, Villanova University, $10,000, 2007-8
John Perry Miller Dissertation Research Award, Yale University, Summer 2003
Civitas Fellow, Center for Public Justice, funded by the Pew Foundation, Summer
2001
Yale Divinity School
Dean’s Merit Scholarship, August 1996
The Dahl Philosophy
Award at Oberlin, May 1995
Courses taught at
Villanova University:
“Faith, Reason, and Culture,” an introduction to Christian thought aimed at
first and second year
students in the honors program.
“Predestination, Freedom, and Moral Effort,” a graduate seminar on the ways in
which Augustine’s
doctrine of predestination has and should be appropriated.
“Theories of Atonement” and “Augustine and Politics,” graduate reading courses.
“Punishment, Grace, and Freedom,” a theological engagement with philosophical
and legal
approaches to what punishment is for, the propriety of blame, and nature of free
will.
“Forgiveness: Personal and Political,” a philosophical, theological and
psychological discussion
of revenge, hate, forgiveness, and their place in politics.
“God,” Departmental Gateway Seminar, an introduction to Christian
theology that engages
the relation of faith and reason, revelation, prayer, and the nature of divine
perfection.
“Introduction to Ethics,” a survey lecture course on metaethics,
bio-ethics, just war theory,
global warming, the role of punishment, and questions of human rights.
“Sexuality, Sin, and the Self,” upper-level theology survey of modern
theological and
philosophical anthropology from David Hume to Pope John Paul II.
“Fate, Guilt, and Luck,” and “Love and Friendship,” writing intensive first-year
seminars focusing on
classical and medieval texts.
Teaching Fellow,
Introduction to Modern Philosophy (Philosophy Dept., Prof. Robert M. Adams),
Spring 2002
Epistemology and
Metaphysics in Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, Berkeley, Hume, and Kant
History of Christian Ethics (
Augustine, Aquinas,
Luther, and Calvin on, e.g., grace, sexuality, just war, and politics
Modern Moral Issues (Religious Studies Dept., Prof. Gene Outka), Spring 2001
Abortion, euthanasia, stem cell research, pacifism, and multiculturalism
Bioethics (Political Science Dept., visiting Prof. William May), Fall 2000
An introduction:
abortion, euthanasia, human research, health care, and environmental issues
Outpatient Clinical
Coordinator,
Reviewer for:
Augustinian Studies
Journal for Justice and Peace Studies
International Journal of Systematic Theology
Journal
of the American Academy of Religion
Journal
of Religious Ethics
Modern
Theology
Blackwell Press
Fortress Press
Oxford University Press
Rowman & Littlefield Press
Convener, “Christian Ethics in Historical
Context”, Society of Christian Ethics Interest Group, 2013 -
Our January 2014 panel will feature Diana Cates, Thomas A. Lewis, and
Elias Sacks.
Convener, “Freedom and Necessity in the
Augustinian Tradition,” American Academy of Religion philosophy of
religion panel with Darlene Weaver, David Hunt, Adam Eitel, and myself, November
2013.
Co-organizer, “Big Questions in the Theology of
Free Will” conference at St. Thomas University, September
2013. Funded by a grant from Florida State University. Speakers included Michael
Almeida, Derk
Pereboom, Oliver Crisp, Kevin Timpe, Brian Leftow, Matthewes Grant, Hugh McCann,
David Hunt,
Peter van Inwagen, Katherin Rogers, and myself.
Moderator, “Conscience and the Moral
Epistemology of Divine Command Theory”,
at the Challenges to
Religious and Moral Belief conference, Purdue University, September 2012.
Moderator, “The
Human Person as Communicative Event: Jonathan Edwards on the Mind/Body
Relationship”
at the Logos 2012 conference at the Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of
Religion, May 2012.
Organizer, “Possibilities of Forgiveness”, an interdisciplinary,
inter-religious conference, hosted at Villanova
University, February 2012. Funded by a grant
from the University of Chicago. Speakers included
Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Anthony Bash, Anas Malik,
Louis Newman, Daniel Philpott, Margaret Urban
Walker, Michael Wohl, and Nicholas
Wolterstorff.
Augustinian Institute Advisory Board, Villanova University, Fall 2009 -
Moderator, Reconsiderations conferences on
Augustine, Villanova University, Fall 2009, 2012.
Ethics Program Advisory Board, Villanova University, Fall 2005 -
Organizer, bi-weekly
luncheon meetings, with financial help from the Yale Gerber Fund, discussing
interdisciplinary issues in Religious Studies, 2002-2003.
Attended, presented and
read work in progress, Yale Philosophy of Religion reading group, 1996-2003.
Organizer, bi-weekly
Religious Studies Inter-disciplinary Colloquium, with financial help from the
Yale Dean’s colloquium fund, discussing methods in the study of religion,
1999-2001.