Education

• PhD, Philosophy of Religion, McGill University

Research Areas

• Philosophy of Religion
• International Development Studies
• Critical Digital Pedagogy

Bio

Nathan Loewen, who began in REL as of January 1, 2015, earned his PhD in Modern Philosophy of Religion at McGill University’s School of Religious Studies. Prior to coming to UA he taught at McGill University (2005-2009) and in the Department of Humanities at Vanier College (2009-14), both of which are in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Loewen’s primary research is conducted with international collaborators on grant-funded projects affiliated with Global-Critical Philosophy of Religion. That research extends to a similarly-named program unit of for the American Academy of Religion with Marie-Helene Gorisse. He also co-edits the Routledge Research in Religion and Development series on the confluence of Religious Studies and International Development Studies with Emma Tomalin and Matthew Clarke. Another interest is in critical digital pedagogy, which analyzes the structure and function of digital platforms in higher education.

It is this last research focus that has led to his role as Academic Special Projects Liaison for the College of Arts and Sciences. Loewen’s service to his college includes assisting A&S faculty and administrators with quality assurance reviews for online courses, reports on IT and ed-tech developments on campus and nationally, and support for faculty development initiatives for the college and the campus (such as the campus-wide SACS-COC Quality Enhancement Program and Online Learning Innovation Summit).

In 2018, Dr. Loewen published Beyond the Problem of Evil: Derrida and Anglophone Philosophy of Religion, where he read Derrida’s oeuvre to rethink the topic of evil within the philosophy of religion. In 2024, Loewen published Diversifying Philosophy of Religion with Agnieszka Rostalska. Engaging Philosophies of Religion was published in 2025 with Gereon Kopf and Purushottama Bilimoria. Forthcoming projects include: Artificial Intelligence in 5 Minutes (Equinox, 2025),  Philosophies of Self: a Cross-Cultural Introduction (Bloomsbury Academic, 2025)) and Theodicies of Empire: Legitimations of Political Economies and Regimes (Springer, 2029). 

Learn More

• See his other ar·ti·facts episode.
• Watch his A Good Book video.
• Check out his first interview with the REL film crew.

Courses Taught

• REL 100 Introduction to Religious Studies
• REL 220 Survey of Asian Religions
• REL 237 Self, Society and Religion: Religious Existentialism
• REL 490 Problems of Evil

Selected Publications

• Beyond the Problem of Evil: Derrida and Anglophone Philosophy of Religion
• Series Editor, Routlege Research in Religion and Development
• Effective Social Learning: A Collaborative, Globally-Networked Pedagogy
• Predatory Goodness in the Discourse on Evil among Anglo-American Philosophers of Religion