Editors and Advisory Board - Journal of Lutheran Ethics

Editor

Jennifer Hockenbery serves as Editor of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics. She is is currently serving as the interim executive director of the Women of the ELCA. A philosopher interested especially in Luther Studies, Saint Augustine, and Feminism, she is the author of Wisdom’s Friendly Heart: Augustinian Hope for Skeptics and Conspiracy Theorists (Cascade, 2020) and Thinking Woman: A Philosophical Approach to the Quandary of Gender (Cascade, 2015) as well as the editor of The Devil’s Whore: Reason and Philosophy in the Lutheran Tradition (Fortress, 2011) and Just in Time: Moments in Teaching Philosophy (Pickwick, 2019). She attends Grace Lutheran Church in Green Bay, WI.

Book Review Editor

William Rodriguez serves as the Book Review Editor for JLE. He completed his doctoral work in Religious and Philosophical Ethics at the Florida State University and teaches at Bethune Cookman University. His research interests include biomedical ethics, philosophical ethics, comparative religious ethics, Liberation Theology, economic/political theory, and popular culture. He was a member on the Women & Justice Task force and has been involved as a translator and also in theological review for a number of Social Statements/Social Messages.

Rev. Matthew Best

The Rev. Matthew Best serves as pastor of Christ Lutheran Church in Harrisburg, PA as well as the Executive Director of Christ Lutheran Health Ministries, which operates three free health clinics to serve those on the margins in society. Rev. Best is the author of American Roulette, a fictional account of a mass shooting designed to change the conversation around gun violence. He is the host of Impolite Company podcast as well as the host of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics podcast. He is also the co-founder of the Memorial Blanket Project, a project designed to raise awareness around the issue of homelessness and get blankets to those in need.

Rev. Best serves on the board of Tree 4 Hope and LEAD. He also is engaged in serving the larger church through the Lower Susquehanna Mission Committee and the Housing Equity Taskforce, as well as a part of the leadership team for the ELCA Vital and Vulnerable Congregations and the Homeless and Justice Ministries.

Bishop Eric Gronberg

Bishop Erik K. J. Gronberg was elected by the Northern-Texas Northern Louisiana Synod/Mission Area in April of 2016. Prior to his election, he had served as Lead Pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Fort Worth since 2010. He was senior pastor of Dr. Martin Luther Church in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, from 2005 to 2010.

Bishop Gronberg graduated from Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 2005 with a Master of Divinity and was ordained in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). He earned a PhD in Leadership Studies at Dallas Baptist University in 2017. His area of academic interest is adaptive leadership in crisis.

Deacon Laura Gifford

Deacon Laura Gifford serves as editor-in-chief of Fortress Press, the academic and ministry publishing imprint of Augsburg Fortress Publishers. A published author, she holds a PhD in American history from the University of California, Los Angeles. She and her family live in Portland, Oregon, where they attend Resurrection Lutheran Church.

Rev. Dr. Richard Perry

The Rev. Dr. Richard J. Perry, Jr., PhD, is professor emeritus of Church and Society/Urban Ministry, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago. His research interests include Lutheran and African American social ethics, health disparities among communities, and bioethics.

Rev. Dr. Roger Willer

The Rev. Roger A. Willer, PhD. is an ELCA pastor serving as Director for Theological Ethics on the Theological Discernment team in the Office of the Presiding Bishop. In that capacity he carries responsibilities for the development and interpretation of ELCA social teaching and for nurturing moral discernment across the church. He serves as the staff lead for publication of the Journal of Lutheran Ethics as well as the coordinator of the Lutheran Ethicists’ Network.