Mark D. Jordan

{{Short description|Scholar of Christian theology, European philosophy, and gender studies}}

{{Infobox academic

| name = Mark D. Jordan

| occupation = Professor

| education = St. John's College
University of Texas at Austin

| doctoral_students = Stephen J. Blackwood{{cite web | url=https://etd.library.emory.edu/concern/etds/4m90dw06d?locale=en | title=The Meters of Boethius: Rhythmic Therapy in the Consolation of Philosophy }}

| workplaces = Harvard University
Emory University
University of Notre Dame
Washington University in St. Louis

| awards = Randy Shilts Award (2011)

}}

Mark D. Jordan (born 1953/54) is a scholar of Christian theology, European philosophy, and gender studies. He is currently the Richard Reinhold Niebuhr Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School and Professor of the Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality in the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

At Harvard, he teaches courses on the Western traditions of Christian theology, the relations of religion to art or literature, and the prospects for sexual ethics. Jordan also writes on gender, sexuality, and the relationship between religious doctrine and LGBT issues.{{Cite web|url=http://yaledailynews.com/blog/2009/10/28/harvard-professor-seeks-gay-term-in-bible/|title = Harvard professor seeks 'gay' term in Bible|date = 28 October 2009}}{{cite web| url = https://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/2002/July/erJuly.22/7_22_02profile.html| title = Emory Profile: Mark Jordan}}{{cite web| url = http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2012/3/23/jordan-hds-professor/| title = Divinity School Professor To Leave Harvard {{!}} News {{!}} The Harvard Crimson}}{{Cite web|url=http://religionandpolitics.org/2012/05/11/obama-backs-marriage-equality-a-christian-ethicist-responds/|title=Obama Backs Marriage Equality: A Christian Ethicist Responds | Religion & Politics|date=11 May 2012}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.wm.edu/news/stories/2010/harvard-divinity-schools-jordan-to-deliver-boswell-memorial-lecture.php|title = Harvard Divinity School's Jordan to deliver Boswell Memorial Lecture}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2015/04/07/398123418/christians-debate-sinfulness-of-servicing-same-sex-weddings|title = Christians Debate Sinfulness of Servicing Same-Sex Weddings|newspaper = NPR.org}} In addition to his scholarship and classroom teaching, Jordan has discussed sexual and religious issues to audiences that range from college lectureships to National Public Radio, the New York Times, and CNN.

Jordan's most recent books are Teaching Bodies: Moral Formation in the Summa of Thomas Aquinas (Fordham 2016) and Convulsing Bodies: Religion and Resistance in Foucault (Stanford 2015).

Earlier affiliations and awards

Prior to his return to Harvard in 2014, Jordan held endowed professorships at Emory University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Notre Dame and at Harvard University.{{Cite web |url=https://www3.nd.edu/~newsinfo/pdf/2008_07_25_pdf/Jordan%20appointed%20first%20Niebuhr%20Professor%20at%20HDS.pdf |title=Jordan appointed first Niebuhr Professor at HDS |access-date=2016-05-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609205529/https://www3.nd.edu/~newsinfo/pdf/2008_07_25_pdf/Jordan%20appointed%20first%20Niebuhr%20Professor%20at%20HDS.pdf |archive-date=2016-06-09 |url-status=dead }}

In 2019, it was announced that Jordan would be elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.{{Cite web|url=https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2019/04/12-faculty-honored-as-newest-members-of-american-academy-of-arts-and-sciences/|title = 12 faculty honored as newest members of American Academy of Arts and Sciences|date = 17 April 2019}} In 2011, Jordan won the annual Randy Shilts Award for nonfiction for his book, Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk about Homosexuality.{{Cite web|url=http://www.publishingtriangle.org/awards.asp|title = Publishing Triangle Awards | website=www.publishingtriangle.org}} He has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright-Hays grant (Spain), a Luce Fellowship in Theology, and a grant from the Ford Foundation.{{cite web |url=http://wgs.fas.harvard.edu/people/mark-jordan |title=Mark Jordan {{!}} Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality |website=wgs.fas.harvard.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141126124402/http://wgs.fas.harvard.edu/people/mark-jordan |archive-date=2014-11-26}}

Early life and education

Jordan received his BA from St. John's College{{cite web | url=https://www.emory.edu/EMORY_REPORT/erarchive/2002/July/erJuly.22/7_22_02profile.html | title=The Jordan rules | publisher=Emory University | work=Emory Report | date=July 8, 2002 | access-date=December 29, 2016 | author=Eric Rangus}} and his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. He grew up in Dallas, where he graduated from St. Mark's School of Texas.{{cite web |url=http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2013/12/11/mark-jordan-prominent-scholar-ethics-gender-studies-and-theology-return-hds# |title=Mark Jordan, Prominent Scholar of Ethics, Gender Studies, and Theology, to Return to HDS {{!}} Harvard Divinity School |website=hds.harvard.edu |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140724135643/http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2013/12/11/mark-jordan-prominent-scholar-ethics-gender-studies-and-theology-return-hds |archive-date=2014-07-24}}{{cite web | url=http://www.e-yearbook.com/yearbooks/St_Marks_School_of_Texas_Marksmen_Yearbook/1966/Page_216.html | title=St Marks School of Texas - Marksmen Yearbook (Dallas, TX), Class of 1966, Page 216 of 384 | online yearbooks }}

Books

Ordering Wisdom: The Hierarchy of Philosophical Discourses in Aquinas, Notre Dame, 1986
The Invention of Sodomy in Christian Theology, Chicago, 1997
The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, The University of Chicago Press, 2000
The Ethics of Sex, Blackwell 2001
Telling Truths in Church, Beacon 2002
Rewritten Theology: Aquinas After His Readers, Blackwell 2005d
Blessing Same-Sex Unions, Chicago 2005
Recruiting Young Love: How Christians Talk about Homosexuality, Chicago 2011
Convulsing Bodies: Religion and Resistance in Foucault, Stanford 2015
Teaching Bodies: Traditions of Moral Formation in Thomas Aquinas, Fordham 2016
Transforming Fire: Imagining Christian Teaching, Eerdmans 2021
Queer Callings: Untimely Notes on Names and Desires, Fordham 2024