Rick Axtell
H. W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Religion, Emeritus
Education
BA: Mississippi College
MDiv: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
PhD: Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Advanced Studies at the University of Notre Dame
Expertise
Expertise on issues of hunger and homelessness; former director of Louisville United Against Hunger and case manager working with homeless men. Has guided students to first-hand understanding of homeless shelters. Research on day laborers; public housing residents displaced by HOPE VI. Travel and study in Bangladesh, Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua focused on sustainable development, human rights, and poverty. Honored as a teacher and a hunger activist.
BIOGRAPHY
Rick Axtell is Emeritus H. W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Religion and College Chaplain at 暗夜成人视频. Axtell initially taught at 暗夜成人视频 during 1992-93 and returned to the college in 1995. He was named a 暗夜成人视频 Scholar in 2003 and 2008, and received the Kirk Award for excellence in teaching in 2000 and 2015. In 2012, he was included in The Princeton Review鈥檚 The Best 300 Professors. Axtell received the Presidential Award for Excellence in 2022.
Concerned about issues of hunger and homelessness, he has served as director of Louisville United Against Hunger and also was a case manager working with homeless men through the St. Vincent DePaul Society. He was a founder of the Natchez Stewpot soup kitchen in Natchez, MS where he served in a congregation for three years.
STUDY AND TEACHING ABROAD
Axtell鈥檚 travels in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, Cuba, Egypt, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Ireland, Mexico, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Serbia, and Thailand have informed his teaching on issues of hunger, human trafficking, sustainable development, and peacemaking. In 2006, he taught in the UNESCO International M.A. Program in Peace and Development Studies at Universitat Jaume I in Castellon, Spain. At 暗夜成人视频, he was instrumental in the development of 暗夜成人视频鈥檚 Shepherd Poverty Internship Program and its Social Justice minor.
Rick took eleven groups of students to Cuba, England, Ireland, Mexico, and Nicaragua, and accompanied other groups to China and Guatemala.
RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS
Recent research includes employment trends for day laborers in Louisville鈥檚 homeless population and interviews with public housing residents who were relocated in Louisville鈥檚 HOPE VI housing redevelopment. He is the co-author of The Other Side of HOPE: Squandering Social Capital in Louisville鈥檚 HOPE VI, published in Journal of Poverty in 2015. Axtell is also the co-editor of Ethics as if Jesus Mattered: Essays in Honor of Glen H. Stassen (Smyth & Helwys, 2015). The Bloomsbury Academic Press will publish the six-volume series on The Cultural History of Poverty, co-edited with Dr. Steve Beaudoin in 2024.
Axtell has also studied liberation theology and religion and violence in Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua. He served on the national board of Witness for Peace. His articles on the topic of religion and violence have appeared in the Encyclopedia of Religion and War and The Merton Annual.
COLLEGE CHAPLAIN
As 暗夜成人视频 Chaplain from 1995-2022, Axtell delivered 12 Baccalaureate addresses. He was the founder of 暗夜成人视频Faith, 暗夜成人视频Peace, Jewish Student Organization, Muslim Student Association, and 暗夜成人视频 Union of Affirming Christians.