Sarah Azaransky

Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Theology and Religious Studies

Sarah Azaransky, PhD, has taught at the University of San Diego since 2007. She teaches Christian Social Ethics, Christianity and its Practice, and Introduction to World Religions. Her research focuses on religion in American public life, particularly around issues of citizenship, social justice, and civil rights.

Education

Ph.D., University of Virginia, Theology and Ethics
M.T.S., Harvard Divinity School
B.A. with High Honors, Swarthmore College, Religion

Watson Fellow, conducting research about women’s peace organizing in Northern Ireland, Israel and the West Bank, and Sri Lanka

Scholarly and Creative Work

Azaransky’s book, The Dream is Freedom: Pauli Murray and American Democratic Faith (2011) focuses on Pauli Murray, a critical figure at the intersection of the civil rights and women’s movements, who grounded her calls for democratic transformation in Christian concepts of reconciliation and the coming kingdom.

Azaransky’s current research investigates moral analyses of US border policy and Christian theological approaches to migration. She is also at work on a project about the religious and political thought of Benjamin Mays and Howard Thurman. She has presented her work at the American Academy of Religion, Society of Christian Ethics, and the Western Political Science Association.

Teaching Interests

Azaransky has taught courses at USD, SDSU, UCSD, and at the University of Virginia on modern Christian thought, social ethics, comparative religions, and critical gender studies.