David Penn, Ph.D.

Background

David Penn, Ph.D., is a practical theologian with a wide array of research interests. His dissertation, “Congregations, Spirituality, and Adolescents: A Theology of Becoming and Flourishing” is an interdisciplinary, mixed-method examination of adolescent development in religious communities.

Penn continues to present and publish on adolescent thriving, but his research has expanded to include theopoetics, pedagogy, theology and science, and pop culture. Most recently, he contributed a chapter to the volume Theology, Religion, and Dystopia. Proficient in both qualitative and quantitative research, Dr. Penn is committed to scholarly work that pairs these methods with imagination and creativity to promote a world in which flourishing is possible for all people.

Degrees

• Ph.D., Boston University
• M.Div., Sioux Falls Seminary
• B.A., University of Nebraska-Lincoln