Professor Lori Brandt Hale

Professor of Religion
Chair of the Department of Religion and Philosophy
Augsburg University
Minneapolis, MN

Sermon: TBA

Dr. Lori Brandt Hale, Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University (Minneapolis, MN), specializes in German theologian and Nazi resister Dietrich Bonhoeffer. She currently serves as the Vice-President of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section Board of Directors and is the co-editor, with W. David Hall, of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance (Lexington Books, 2020), published in Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key, a series by Lexington Books. Together with Hall, she now serves as the editor for that series. Inspired by her increasingly diverse students at Augsburg, where she has taught since 1998, and her resolute commitment to interfaith engagement, Brandt Hale’s chapter is a constructive essay titled, “The Interfaith Imperative: How Bonhoeffer Compels Interfaith Action.” 

Brandt Hale is the co-author of Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians (WJK, 2009), also available in Japanese and Portuguese. And, she has written numerous book chapters and articles as well as offered webinars and podcasts on Bonhoeffer’s political resistance, understanding of vocation, and relevance in contemporary times, including work addressing the question, “Is this a Bonhoeffer moment?” 

She has degrees from the University of Virginia (PhD), University of Chicago Divinity School (MA), and University of Iowa (BA). She has held a number of leadership roles at Augsburg, including director of general education and department chair. Currently, she is the chair for the division of humanities and fine arts. In 2022, Professor Brandt Hale received the “Faculty of the Year” Award given by the Augsburg Day Student Government.