Nichole M. Flores

UVA OpenScholar Page

Office Hours

By appointment only. Schedule an appointment here

Education

• AB in Government, Smith College
• MDiv, Yale Divinity School
• PhD in Theological Ethics, Boston College

Research Interests

Dr. Flores researches the relationship between religion, aesthetics, and democracy with emphasis on the Catholic and Latine theological and ethical traditions.  

Teaching

• Undergraduate

  • Latino Religions in the United States
  • Religion, Media, and Democracy
  • Religion, Ethics, and Health Care
  • Discipleship and Martyrdom
  • Slavery and Liberation: A Theological Inquiry

• Graduate Seminars

  • Aesthetics, Theology, and Ethics
  • Religion and the Common Good
  • Theories of Love
  • Theology, Ethics, and Culture 
  • Contemporary Catholic Theology in Global Perspective
  • Theories and Methods in the Study of Religion 

• First-Year Courses

  • Religion, Tradition, and Social Justice in Charlottesville
  • ​Do We Still Have Faith in Democracy? (Engagements Course) 
  • Religion and the 2020 Elections

Selected Publications

Book

The Aesthetics of Solidarity: Our Lady of Guadalupe and American Democracy. (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2021).

Journal Articles and Book Chapters:

• “A Beautiful and Dangerous Memory: Iconoclasm and Hope in the Aesthetics of Social Movements.” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. 43.2 (2023): 309-29.
• “Latine Perspectives on Care for Creation.” The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Latinoax Theology (second edition). Orlando O. Espin, ed.: 347-64.
• “Do We Change Our Minds in Public Life? On Christianity and the Possibility of Political Conversion.” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. 42.1 (2022): 21-25.
• “Rootedness on the Slippery Earth: Migration in a Time of Social Upheaval,” Religion Justice and Social Upheaval. Matthew T. Eggemeier, Peter Joseph Fritz, and Karen V. Guth, eds, (New York, NY: Fordham University Press, 2022): 112-123.
• “Mercy as a Public Virtue,” Journal of Religious Ethics. 48.3 (September 2020): 458-472.
• “Ethics from Marginalized Perspectives,” Reimagining the Moral Life: On Lisa Sowle Cahill’s Contributions to Christian Ethics. KC Choi, Sarah Moses, and Andrea Vicini, eds. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2020): 149-160.
• “Capitalism and the Face of the Oppressed: A Response to Kathryn Tanner and Devin Singh.” Modern Theology. 36.2 (2020): 358-368.
• “A Response to Emily Reimer-Berry's ‘Another Pro-Life Movement is Possible’: Power, Politics, and the Pro-Life Movement.” Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America. 74 (2019): 39-42.
• “Greed.” Naming Our Sins: How Recognizing the Seven Deadly Vices Can Renew the Sacrament of Reconciliation. David Cloutier and Jana Bennett, eds. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press (2019): 3-88.
• “We Who Believe in Freedom: Ella Baker’s Creed.” Can I Get a Witness: Thirteen Peacemakers, Community-Builders, and Agitators for Faith and Justice. Charles Marsh, Shea Tuttle, and Dan Rhodes, eds. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans (2019): 119-134.
• "Our Sister, Mother Earth": Solidarity and Familial Ecology in Laudato Si'.” Journal of Religious Ethics. 46.3 (2018): 463-478.
• “Trinity and Justice: A Theological Response to the Sexual Assault of Migrant Women.” Journal of Religion and Society. 2018;16 (1): 39-51.
• “Beyond Consumptive Solidarity: An Aesthetic Response to Human Trafficking.” Journal of Religious Ethics. 46.2 (2018): 360-377. **Recipient of the 2015 Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for best essay in academic theology by a junior scholar from Catholic Theological Society of America.
• “When Discourse Breaks Down: Race and Aesthetic Solidarity in the U.S. Catholic Church.” Polarization in the Catholic Church: Naming the Wounds, Beginning to Heal. Mary Ellen Konieczny, Charles C. Camosy, and Tricia C. Bruce, eds. (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016): 101-110.  
• “The Personal is Political: Toward a Vision of Justice in Latina Theology.” Feminist Catholic Theological Ethics: Conversations in the World Church. Linda Hogan and Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, eds. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014): 232-243. 
• “Latina/o Families: Solidarity and the Common Good.” Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics. 33.2 (2013): 57-72. 

Digital Publications

• Review: Faith and activism in the City of Angels (America)
• Rihanna's Super Bowl performance put the power of pregnancy center stage (America)
• My parish is my home. I won't let one homily I didn't like drive me away.  (America)
• “Mr. Peña Returns from Washington: Federico Peña made history as mayor of Denver. Now he is imagining a better church.”  (America)
• It’s hard to define what ‘home’ means in today’s world. The Psalms can help. (America)
• What is the role of a public theologian today? (America)
• Why Dioceses need to support struggling Latino parishes (America)
• Martin Luther King, Jr. and the dignity of the Black Lives Matter network (America)
• Guadalupe's Legacy: How a 486-year-old vision of Mary in Mexico continues to influence the church (America)
• Netflix's "Chasing Coral" documents an unseen environmental disaster (America)
• When the K.K.K. came to town, Catholics prayed. Now what? (America)
• In Jefferson's Shadow: Can Catholic theology thrive at a public university? (America)
• The Invisible Woman: Seeing migrant women through the eyes of Christ (America)

Select Awards and Grants

• 2017 Yale Center for Faith and Culture Junior Faculty Summer Research Grant
• 2016 Mellon Global South Humanities Fellow at the Institute for Humanities and Global Cultures
• 2015 Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for best academic essay in theology from the Catholic Theological Society of America for essay, “Beyond Consumptive Solidarity: An Aesthetic Response to Modern Day Slavery”