Matthew Philipp Whelan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Moral Theology & Social Ethics, Baylor University
Matthew Philipp Whelan is an Assistant Professor of Moral Theology & Social Ethics in the Honors Program at Baylor University, where his research centers on Catholic social teaching, Latin American and liberation theologies, and ecological theology and ethics. Besides offering courses on these subjects, he also teaches on scripture, church history, Christian theology and ethics, and both ancient and medieval great texts.
Dr. Whelan is the author of the award-winning book, Blood in the Fields: Óscar Romero, Catholic Social Teaching, and Land Reform (Catholic University of America Press, 2020), which argues that Romero’s advocacy for justice in the distribution of land—a commitment with deep roots in the Christian tradition and preserved in Catholic social teaching—illumines the meaning of his witness, along with that of other land and environmental defenders today.
Dr. Whelan’s scholarship is informed by his years working with farming communities in Central America, as well as his involvement in COMPARTE (Spanish for “Share”), a Jesuit-affiliated network of learning and action that works with producer organizations and other social actors to envision and embody alternatives to dominant models of development.
Research Interests:
Food Sovereignty, Agroecology, Agricultural Ethics, Environmental Justice, Integral Ecology