Lori Brandt Hale

Dr. Lori Brandt Hale is the Director of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor of Religion in the Department of Religion and Philosophy at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, MN. She started teaching at Augsburg in 1998.

Brandt Hale is the president of the International Bonhoeffer Society – English Language Section Board of Director.

Together, with W. David Hall, she edited Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance; they also serve as the editors of the Lexington Books series on faith and politics, “Faith and Politics: Political Theology in a New Key.” She is co-author of Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians, and has written numerous book chapters, articles, presentations, and more on Bonhoeffer’s theology, political resistance, and relevance in contemporary times. In 2024, Brandt Hale published an interactive, multi-week congregational and community curriculum on the lessons of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, underscoring his theological and ethical commitments to neighbor and community.

Professor Brandt Hale has degrees from the University of Virginia (PhD), University of Chicago Divinity School (MA), and University of Iowa (BA). She has held a number of leadership roles at Augsburg and, in 2022, she received the “Faculty of the Year” Award given by the Augsburg Day Student Government.

Education

Ph.D. University of Virginia (Philosophical Theology)
M.A. University of Chicago Divinity School
B.A. University of Iowa (History and Religion)

Select Publications

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)” for T&T Clark Handbook of Modern Theologians (Expected 2025). 

”Lessons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, With Love for the Coming Generations: A Eulogy,” Touchstone Journal Canada (February 2025).

”Dietrich Bonhoeffer: In the News” Blog Post for the Westar Institute (January 2025).

Scholars’ Statement, co-author: “Stop Using Bonhoeffer to Support Christian Nationalism and Political Violence,” (Fall 2024).

”Lessons from Dietrich Bonhoeffer in House Divided and a World on Fire.” A multi-week, interactive curriculum for congregations and communities (Fall 2024).        

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Theology, and Political Resistance, with W. David Hall. Lexington Books, 2020.

Bonhoeffer for Armchair Theologians, with Stephen Haynes. Westminster John Knox
Press, 2009. Available in Japanese and Portuguese translations.

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945)” in T&T Clark Handbook of Modern Theology. T&T Clark, expected 2024.

“Why is Dietrich Bonhoeffer Relevant Today?”  Faith and Leadership, an online publication of Duke Divinity School. (November 2019).

“Is This a Bonhoeffer Moment?” with Reggie Williams, Sojourners magazine (February 2018).

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Political Resistance in Tyrannical Times,” Radical Lutherans / Lutheran
Radicals, Cascade Books/Wipf & Stock, 2017.

“Lived Theology 101: Exploring the Claim ‘What We Believe Matters’ with Undergraduates,”
After 10 Years: The Project on Lived Theology. Oxford University Press, 2017.