Michael Reid Trice, Ph.D.     Assistant Dean of Ecumenical & Interreligious  Dialogue     Assistant Professor of Practical Theology      (206) 296-5332     tricem@seattleu.edu

Curriculum Vitae  

Education: 

• 2000-2007    Loyola University at Chicago, &
  2002-2004     Maximillian Universitaet, Munich Germany [International Student Status]
  Ph.D., Constructive Theology
  Dissertation: Encountering Cruelty: A Fracture at the Heart of Western Christianity
  Graduated summa cum laude
  Oral Defense – Distinction
  Winner of 2008 Award for Best Original Dissertation of the Year in the Humanities

• 1999-2000 Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, Illinois
  Th.M., Systematic Theology
  Thesis: Heidegger and Rahner – The Suffering of the Anthropos and the Other
  Graduated summa cum laude

• 1993-1995 Duke University Divinity School, Durham, North Carolina
  M.T.S.,  Systematic Theology
  Thesis: Luther and Machiavelli – From Anthropology to Political Ethic
  Graduated magna cum laude, top 10 in class

• 1993-1994   North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina
  B.A., English Literature
  Graduated summa cum laude

• 1987-1991 Bethany Lutheran Liberal Arts College, Lindsborg, Kansas
  B.A., Philosophy and Theology, English Literature Minor
  Paper: From Hegel to Bloom: Transformation of Geist as Classical Structure 

Publications: 

• Forming Religious Identity in the Context of Religious Pluralism, Journal of Lutheran Ethics, (May, 2011). 
• Encountering Cruelty: A Fracture in the Human Heart  Book publication, Brill Publisher, (April, 2011).
• 1789-2011: Revisiting The Free Expression of Religion  Odyssey Netowrks series ‘Faith Under Fire,’ (Apri, 2011).
• King Hearings: Canard or a Canary in a Coal Mine?  Odyssey Networks series ‘Faith Under Fire,’ (March, 2011).
• Cruelty and Christian Witness:  Confronting Violence at its Ugliest  Book publication, Co-editor and organizer  to a World Council of Churches Faith and Order Series (February, 2011)
•  A Christian Understanding of War in an Age of Terror, National Council of Churches, USA, (November, 2010).
• Cruelty in the Mind of God.  Journal of Lutheran Ethics (Fall, 2008)
• Our Interreligious World, The Lutheran magazine (March, 2007)
• Diving Down: Vigilance and Discernment of Caritas Deus Est, Journal of Lutheran Ethics (September, 2006)
• Cruelty, Jesus’ Execution, and Two Signposts, Lutheran World Federation Series Thinking It Over, Issue #4 (February, 2004)
• Plato and the Grecian Urn: The Moral Ideal, Ex Umbra (November, 1994)
• A World of Religions, ‘Lemonade with God,’ Youth Talk Series, Augsburg Fortress Press (September, 1993)
• Ecumenism and the Church: How our Youth View It.  Presented at a weekend workshop for pastors and lay leaders (Colorado Springs, Colorado: November 15-18, 1992)

Honors/Awards: 

• Thrivent Fellow.  This fellowship is awarded to the top promising young senior executive leaders and scholars of the Lutheran-Christian experience in North America.
• Bethany College 2008 Alumni Gold Award Recipient.  This award is presented annually to a graduate of the last two decades recognizing their outstanding achievement and service to society and/or the academy.
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America $15,000.00 Grant Funded by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for a WCC Consultation on my dissertation topic: Cruelty and Reconciliation in the World.
• Best Original Dissertation of the Year Award, Loyola University.
• Lutheran World Federation Scholarship, Stuttgart Germany.
• Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität doctoral Grant, Munich Germany.
• German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Full Scholarship, Bremen, Germany.
• Loyola University Graduate Assistantship Stipend Award.
• Loyola University Graduate School Full Tuition Scholarship.
• Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Educational Grant.
• Collegium Oecumenicum: Internationales Theologisches Studienkolleg Stipend.
• Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago Full Tuition Award.
• Red Cross Outstanding Service Award.
• Aid Association for Lutherans Outstanding Service Award.
• Bethany Lutheran College Scholarship for Excellence in Theatre.

Personal Information

Dr. Michael Reid Trice is the Assistant Dean for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue at the Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry.  From 2004 to 2011, Michael formerly served as Associate Executive Officer for the office of Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Relations in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Michael earned a M.T.S. magna cum laude from Duke Divinity School and a Th.M. summa cum laude from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.  In 2006, Michael completed his dissertation with High Honors at Loyola University in Chicago, in an ecumenical studies program with the Evangelische Fakultät at Ludwig-Maximillian-University in Munich, Germany.  Michael has also studied at the Institute for Theology and Peace in Hamburg, Germany. His dissertation, titled Encountering Cruelty: A Fracture of the Human Heart, won the 2007 distinguished best original dissertation award for Loyola Jesuit University, and was published in April, 2011.

Michael served for two years as ELCA staff for the White House Task Force on Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, is a leader on the Interfaith Commission of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and stands on the executive board for Church World Service.  He has likewise facilitated and taught courses of study in Geneva, Switzerland on global trends in Christian and Interreligious relations.  Michael’s areas of academic interest include multireligious relations and trends, and the intersections in applied theology to conflict transformation, through and after the trespasses of human violence and cruelty.