Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug

Professor of Religion; Program Director, Peace and Justice Studies Minor; Co-director, Moravian University Humanities Fellowship

Contact

Office: Comenius 109
Email: denton-borhaugk@moravian.edu 
Phone: 610-625-7104

Education 

Ph.D., Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA
M.Div. with Honors, Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary
B.A., California State University, Northridge

Interests 

Cultural criticism of religion, militarism and war in the U.S. context, moral injury, liberationist ethics, Christian soteriology and ethics. 

Talks and Presentations

• "Evidentiary Video: Military Moral Injury with Kelly Denton-Borhaug," Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal. Jan. 30, 2024. https://rumble.com/v49ttar-military-moral-injury-dr.-kelly-denton-borhaug.html 
• "11.17.22 Veterans for Peace with Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug on Moral Injury and U.S. War-culture." Veterans for Peace: The Hector Black Chapter, Nashville, TN, Nov. 17, 2022. https://soundcloud.com/user-55976759/111722-veterans-for-peace-with-dr-kelly-denton-borhaug-on-moral-injury-and-us-war-culture 
• "Reclaim Armistice Day: Veterans for Peace Chapter 102." Virtual presentation at the Milwaukee City Hall Rotunda. Nov. 11, 2022.
• "U.S. War-culture and Moral Injury." Centering on Peace with John Hoskyns Abrahall; Berks Community Television. June 14, 2022. https://youtu.be/zY4nEojUg8k.
• "Special Topics in Spiritual Care: Exploring Moral Injury in Sacred Texts," Panel Presentation for The Academy of Jewish Religion, CA, with Editor, Joseph McDonald, and book contributors, Nancy Brown, Amir Hussein, and Brad Kelle. March 24, 2022, online. 
• "Military Moral Injury and Cultural Violence: Exploring the Intersections of Toxic Masculinities, Religion and Ideologies of Nationalism in the U.S. Context," WATERtalk for Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER), Nov. 17, 2021. Youtube video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXYEmq8nASM.
• Faculty Luncheon Series Talk: Sept. 9, 2021 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:10 p.m., join Kelly as she presents on And Then Your Soul is Gone: Moral Injury and U.S. War-culture. Location: Moravian University HUB, Snyder Room.
• "Moral Injury and the Triangle of Violence," Pennsylvania Society of Chaplains, Inc. Fall Conference, "Moral Injury, How it Manifests and How to Work with It," The Bongiorno Conference Center Carlisle, Pennsylvania and online, Oct. 18, 2020.
• "Notes for Online," Lecture/Presentation and Consultant for the Community of Independent Colleges Online Humanities Instruction Consultations. November 20, 2019 at Naropa University, Boulder CO; Jan. 20, 2020 at Maryville College, Knoxville, TN; Feb. 4, 2020 at Grove City College, Grove City, PA. 
• "Moral Injury and the U.S. War-culture Bible," Panel Presentation, American Academy of Religion, San Diego, CA, Nov. 24, 2019. Sponsored by the Comparative Approaches to Religion and Violence Unit, and Biblical Literature and the Hermeneutics of Trauma Unit.  
• Lecture for Clergy Retreat on Moral Injury: "War-culture, Moral Injury and What Happened with Andy,' Kirkridge Retreat Center, PA, June 12, 2019. 
• Lecture for Clergy Training, Moravian Theological Seminary: "Creating Welcoming Faith Communities for Veterans, and the Sacred Canopy over U.S. Ways of War," Moravian University, March 21, 2019.
• “Sacrifice and U.S. War-culture: Implications for Understanding Moral Injury,” Spiritual Grand Rounds, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Association Medical Center, Sept. 27, 2018.  

Recent Activities

• "Winter Light: A Retreat Day for Women Veterans." Maria DiBello, RSM and Kelly Denton-Borhaug, PhD, Feb. 17, 2024. Cranaleith Spiritual Center, Philadelphia, PA. 
• "Grace in the Falling Leaves: A Retreat Day for Women Veterans." Maria DiBello, RSM and Kelly Denton-Borhaug, PhD. Nov. 18, 2023. Cranaleith Spiritual Center, Philadelphia PA.
• "War's End? A Parable of (All-American) Violence," Sept. 23, 2021. TomDispatch.com
• Read the TomDispatch piece by Kelly Denton-Borhaug, "Moral Injury and the Forever Wars: What Americans Don't Want to Hear."
• In Spring 2023, Dr. Denton-Borhaug taught "Advanced Topics in Ethics: Abortion" for the first time. 
• Dr. Denton-Borhaug developed the course, "Moral Injury: A Public Health Crisis" with VA chaplain Chris Antal for the first time in fall 2021. In 2022, the course was taught again, along with a "Clergy Training" for religious leaders about supporting veterans in congregations, and including the participation of veterans from the Moral Injury Leadership Group at the Philadelphia Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center. 
• Beginning spring, 2017, Dr. Denton-Borhaug was appointed as the Executive Director of InFocus Centers of Investigation at Moravian University.
• Dr. Denton-Borhaug was co-director of Moravian University's InFocus: War and Peace during the 2018-19 and 2014-15 academic years. She was appointed as co-director for the new "Humanities Fellowship" in 2020.
• Dr. Denton-Borhaug also directs the Peace and Justice Studies Minor program at Moravian University.
• Dr. Denton-Borhaug's course: "Theology and Culture: Pilgrimage: Searching for God in a (Post)Modern World" (an online course) was developed in part when she embarked upon the 1,000 year-old pilgrimage route in northern Spain, the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, walking over 300 miles in 21 days.

Publications

Books

• And Then Your Soul Is Gone: Moral Injury and U.S. War-culture. London, Great Britain: Equinox, 2021.
• U.S. War-culture, Sacrifice and Salvation. London, Great Britain: Equinox, 2011. Religion and Violence Series, Co-editors Rosemary Radford Ruether and Lisa Isherwood.

Selected Articles and Book Chapters 

• "This Veterans Day, We Must Resist the Rampant Dehumanization that Justifies War." Truthout. Nov. 10, 2023. https://truthout.org/articles/this-veterans-day-we-must-resist-the-rampant-dehumanization-that-justifies-war/
• "America's Deadly Addiction to War - And the Intolerable Price Veterans Pay for It." Salon.com, Nov. 11, 2022 (First published at TomDispatch.com)
• "With Violence, America Reaps What It Sows," The Nation, Feb. 24, 2022.
• "The Deadly Consequences of Making War 'Sacred,'" Sojourners Magazine, February 2022.
• "Jerryson's 'Exposure of Buddhism' and the Legacy of Violence in U.S. War-culture." In Buddhist Violence and Religious Authority: A Tribute to the Work of Michael Jerryson. Edited by Mark Juergensmeyer and Margo Kitts, 103-112. London: Equinox, 2021.
• "Remembering the Summer of 2020." Dialog, vol. 59, no. 4, 2020, pp. 319-324.,  https//:doi.org/10.1111/dial.12606.
• "Martyrdom Discourse in Contemporary U.S. War-culture," Wiley Blackwell Companion to Christian Martyrdom.  Ed. Paul Middleton, 469-484. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2020.
• "Moral Injury and the 'U.S. War-culture Bible." In Moral Injury: A Guidebook for Understanding and Engagement. Edited by Brad Kelle, 173-188. New York: Lexington Books, 2020.
• "Is this America? Unfinished Business with the U.S. national imaginary, religion and violence." Dialog, vol. 58, no. 1, 2019, pp. 30-38. https://doi.org/10.1111/dial.12451.
• "Political Theology in the Trump Era: Sacrificial Frameworks in the U.S. `Neoliberal Disimagination Machine,'" Public Theologies of Activism and Resistance: Taking it to the Streets. Ed. Jennifer Baldwin. New York: Lexington Books, 2019, pp. 179-196.
• "U.S. War-culture, the Post-9/11 `unlawful alien combatant,' and `Peace in God's World," Lutheran Theology and Secular Law: The Work of the Modern State, edited by Marie A. Failinger and Ronald W. Duty. Routledge, 19 Apr. 2018, pp. 101-114.
• "`Like Acid Seeping into Your Soul': Religion-cultural Violence in Moral Injury."  Exploring Moral Injury in Sacred Texts. Ed. Joseph McDonald.  London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2017, pp. 111-134.
• "Resisting the Sacred Canopy over U.S. Ways of War." Political Theology, vol.18, no. 3, May 30, 2017, pp. 206-218. DOI: 10.1179/17431719Y.0000000007.
• "Sacrificial U.S. War-culture, Cognitive Dissonance, and the Absence of Self Awareness."Journal of Religion and Violence, vol. 5, no. 1, April 28, 2017, pp. 5-26. DOI: 10.584/jrv201742538.

Awards and Grants

• Phi Kappa Phi Excellence in Innovations Award: Honorable Mention, "Confronting Global Challenges: InFocus at Moravian University" April 2020.
• Japan/U.S. Friendship Commission, 2017-2019. Building Friendship between Moravian University and Osaka Ohtani University Through InFocus Global Seminars. With Dr. Daniel Jaspers. 
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Consortium of Independent Colleges, 2016-2018. CIC Faculty Mentor. Online Humanities Instruction Pilot Grant. 
• National Endowment of the Humanities, 2014-2016.  Enduring Questions  Program: What is Peace?  With Dr. Bernardo Canteñs. 
• Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, Sept. 23, 2015. Distinguished Ministry of Special Service Award. Awarded to one alumna/us each year.
• Lehigh Valley Association of Independent Colleges, 2014-2015. LVAIC Conference Grant: From War to Peace. Primary grant writer/conference architect with faculty colleagues from four LVAIC colleges/universities. 
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, 2014-2016. Digital Pedagogy Course Development Grant. Moravian University. 
• Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Consortium of Independent Colleges, 2014-2016.  Online Humanities Instruction Pilot Grant. Moravian University.
• Fifty-Third Annual Bethlehem Peace Pilgrimage. Peace Pilgrim Award and keynote address: “De-escalating U.S. War-culture: A Primer for Peace Advocates.” Dec. 15, 2011. Bethlehem, PA.
• The Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation. Award for Distinguished Teaching. June, 2011. Awarded to one faculty member at Moravian University each year.

Courses

• Advanced Topics in Ethics: Abortion, first taught in spring 2023.
• Moral Injury: A Public Health Crisis, developed and co-taught with VA Chaplain/Veteran Chris Antal for the first time in 2021.
• Banning the Bomb: Cross-world Collaboration to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, developed in 2020 with students and faculty from Nagasaki University.
• InFocus Global Travel Seminar: Japan: Exploring Culture, Peacebuilding and the Legacies of War, co-taught with Professor of Sociology, Daniel Jasper., May 2017.
• Christian Theology, spring 2017.
• Religion and Feminist/Gender Studies, developed in 2015.
• War and Peace in Film, an InFocus course co-taught with Associate Professor of Sociology, Daniel Jasper, developed in 2014.
•  What is Peace? National Endowment of the Humanities Enduring Questions Course, with Professor of Philosophy Bernie Canteñs, developed in 2014.
•  Pilgrimage: Searching for God in the Postmodern World, Moravian University online course, developed in 2013.
•  The Civil Rights Movement and the Moral Life, co-taught with Professor of Education Robert Mayer, developed in 2012.
•  The First Year Seminar: What Is Education for? developed in 2011.
•  Senior Seminar in Religion: Christian Ethics: Disturbing the Status Quo, developed in 2010.
•  Lifewalk of Justice: Introduction to Peace and Justice Studies, co-taught with Associate Professor of Sociology Daniel Jasper, developed in 2010.
•  Seminar in Post-Colonial Theology with Travel Seminar to U.S./Mexico Border, developed in 2009.
•  Theology and Culture, developed in 2008.
•  Introduction to Latin American Liberation Theology, developed in 2008.
•  Jesus Saves? Salvation Metaphors in Christian Thought, developed in 2007.
•  Explorations in Christian Theology, developed in 2007.
•  Religion and Politics, developed in 2007.
•  Christian Ethics and War, developed in 2006.
•  What Is Religion? developed in 2006.