Terra Schwerin Rowe

 

UNT Faculty Profile

• PhD in Theological and Philosophical Studies from Drew University
• Masters degrees in the Protestant tradition and theology
• Current research in energy and extraction humanities.

Terra Schwerin Rowe holds a PhD in Theological and Philosophical Studies from Drew University as well as two Masters degrees in the Protestant tradition and theology. Her first book, Toward a 'Better Worldliness': Ecology, Economy, and the Protestant Tradition (2017, Fortress Press), analyzed modern and current intersections of Protestantism (particularly the Protestant articulation of grace) and capitalism from the perspective of feminist and climate concerns.

Her current research focuses on religion in energy and petrocultures. Her second book, Of Modern Extraction: Experiments in Critical Petro-theologies (Bloomsbury, Oct. 2022), charts a path for an Energy Humanities approach within Religion and Ecology discourses, while making a case for the importance of religious studies in the Energy Humanities. A key take-away from this text is that US citizens have not only made economic, technological, and infrastructural investments in oil, they've also made theological investments in oil that still inform 21st century high energy culture. Consequently, in the pursuit of alternative energy imaginaries and more just energy cultures, these spiritual-theological investments will also need critical analysis and creative re-interpretation.

Rowe has also published numerous journal articles, chapters, and encyclopedia entries on the following topics: religious responses to climate change and ecological degradation, the Protestant tradition, Protestantism and capitalism, ecological economics, critical animal theory, ecofeminism, posthumanism, critical race theory, extraction and colonialism, new materialism. From 2022-27 she will be co-chair of a new AAR seminar on Religion, Energy, and Extraction.

Examples of her work can be found on her academia.edu page.

Rowe's regular undergrad courses include Religion and Science, Western Religions and Environment, Early Christian Thought, Religion in American Society, and Christianity and Philosophy. Grad classes include Ecofeminism, Religion and Science, and Energy & Extraction.