Aaron Shepherd

Rev. Dr. Aaron Pratt Shepherd is Assistant Teaching Professor of Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell and an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). His first book, Challenging the New Atheism: Pragmatic Confrontations in the Philosophy of Religion (Routledge Studies in American Philosophy, 2021) explores contemporary philosophy of religion and proposes a reinterpretation of classical pragmatist understandings of religious experience. Beyond the philosophy of religion, Dr. Shepherd’s areas of interest include engineering ethics (his primary teaching responsibility at UMass Lowell), the history of philosophy, philosophy in the Americas (with particular emphasis upon the more-than-pragmatist philosophy of Josiah Royce), as well as liberation theologies of the Americas. Dr. Shepherd also currently serves as Pastor of Union Congregational Church in East Walpole, Massachusetts.