Justin is a Master of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music in New Haven, Connecticut and a recent honors graduate of the University of Tennessee: Knoxville, where he majored in English Literature and Religious Studies. His academic interests include the study of American fundamentalism, how Web 2.0 affects Anglican ecclesiology, postliberal and liberation theologies, critical theory, the work of Michel Foucault and Judith Butler, and comparative religion. In 2010, one of Justin’s papers was published in The Progressive Christian magazine, and he recently finished a senior thesis at UTK which traces the development of and seeks to contribute to the formulation of an Anglican queer politics. Justin is in discernment for the priesthood in the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee, and he hopes to serve the Episcopal Church as a priest and to become a professor of theology. He is the former Peer Minister for Education at Tyson House, UT’s Episcopal and Lutheran campus ministry, and is completing an internship in ministry and teaching at St. John’s Cathedral (Episcopal) in Knoxville during the summer of 2011.

Justin’s non-academic interests include late-night Krispy Kreme runs, geeking out at church paraphernalia, and relishing his childhood obsession with Thomas the Tank Engine with his best friend Zack.