Mary Nickel is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Virginia's Engagements program. She received her doctoral degree in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University in 2023. Mary's research integrates Christian theology, religious ethics, and contemporary democratic theory. She tends to focus on questions concerning systemic injustice, ethical obligation, and human agency.
Mary's current project, “Matrices,” focuses on what pregnancy and motherhood can teach us about social agency and collective responsibility. Drawing on thinkers as divergent as Patricia Hill Collins, Philip Pettit, and Saint Paul, Mary shows how…
Mary Nickel is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the University of Virginia's Engagements program. She received her doctoral degree in Religion, Ethics, and Politics from Princeton University in 2023. Mary's research integrates Christian theology, religious ethics, and contemporary democratic theory. She tends to focus on questions concerning systemic injustice, ethical obligation, and human agency.
Mary's current project, “Matrices,” focuses on what pregnancy and motherhood can teach us about social agency and collective responsibility. Drawing on thinkers as divergent as Patricia Hill Collins, Philip Pettit, and Saint Paul, Mary shows how our coming to be within and through another person underscores our sociality.
Mary has developed courses including: Introduction to Christian Ethics; Politics and the Bible; Systemic Injustice; Feminist & Womanist Ethics; and Public Theology. She holds a certificate in teaching from Princeton's McGraw Teaching & Learning Center and received a teaching award from Princeton's Religion Department in 2020.
Her research has been funded by the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University, the Wabash Center, the Fellowship at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics, and the Lilly Endowment.
Mary also holds an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary, an M.A. in Politics & Government from Illinois State University, and a B.A. in Philosophy & Human Rights Studies from Juniata College.