Dr. Deborah Ross has served on the JST-SCU faculty since 2013. She teaches ministry and theological field education courses and directs the M.Div./S.T.B. field education program. Students engage in supervised ministry in San Francisco Bay Area parishes, universities, schools, prisons, hospitals, and non-profit organizations through the program.
Deborah received her B.A. in Theology and Religious Studies with English from St. Mary's University, London. Her M.Th. in Pastoral Theology and Ph.D. in Theology are from Heythrop College, University of London. Deborah’s Ph.D. focused on the Catholic Church’s adult faith-formation process. Her S.T.L. degree in Pastoral and Liturgical Theology is from JST-SCU. Deborah’s academic interests include catechesis, contextual theology, ecclesiology, practical theology, sacramental and liturgical theology, and theological anthropology. She is writing a book on practical theology.
Deborah previously co-founded “Action Research Church and Society” (ARCS), a Heythrop College project that facilitated theological reflection on pastoral practice through its partnerships with church groups and non-profit agencies in London and the UK. She also worked in parish, university, and sixth-form college ministry in the UK.
- Theology of Ministry and Practice
- Field Education Practicum
- “Ignatian Spirituality and Action Research: Exploring Lay Ecclesial Ministerial Formation,” The Way, 61/2, April 2022, 98-110
- Doing Theology as If People Mattered: Encounters in Contextual Theology, with Eduardo Fernández, SJ, and Stephen Bevans, SVD, editors (New York: Herder and Herder, 2019)
- “Introduction,” (with Eduardo Fernández), and book chapter, “Field Education at a Shared Parish: Navigating Contextual and Pastoral Opportunities,” in Doing Theology as If People Mattered: Encounters in Contextual Theology (New York: Herder and Herder, 2019)
- Introduction, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture, by Victor and Edith Turner (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011)
- Talking About God in Practice: Theological Action Research and Practical Theology, co-author (London: SCM, 2010)