Marcia Bunge

Marcia J. Bunge, PhD, is Professor of Religion and holds the Drell and Adeline Bernhardson Distinguished Endowed Chair of Lutheran Studies. Bunge earned her BA in Music and English from St. Olaf College (Phi Beta Kappa) and her MA and PhD.in Theology from the University of Chicago. She also studied at the University of Tübingen and conducted research in Germany as a Charlotte W. Newcombe Doctoral Dissertation Fellow. Before coming to Gustavus in 2013, she was Professor of Humanities and Theology at the Honors College of Valparaiso University. Since 2014, she has served as an Extraordinary Research Professor at North-West University in South Africa.  

Bunge’s teaching and scholarship have addressed issues in theology, social and environmental ethics, women’s studies, childhood studies, and inter-religious studies. A central focus of her scholarship is conceptions of and commitments to children in diverse religious traditions. She has published numerous articles and six books on the subject, including The Child in Christian Thought (Eerdmans, 2001) and Children, Adults, and Shared Responsibilities: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives (Cambridge University Press, 2012). From 2013–2017, she served as a core collaborator in the interdisciplinary “European Childhoods” project at the University of Oslo and co-edited one of its volumes, Nordic Childhoods 1750–1960: From Folk Beliefs to Pippi Longstocking (Routledge, 2018).

Related to her scholarship on children, Bunge has also written extensively on moral and spiritual formation and Lutheran perspectives on education and vocation. She is co-editor of So that All May Flourish: The Aims of Lutheran Higher Education (Fortress, 2023), translator of selected writings by the German theologian and educator Johann Gottfried Herder, and co-founder of the Gustavus Academy for Faith, Science, and Ethics. From 2023–2025, she contributed to the “Character Development, Ethical Education, and Value Transmission” project co-hosted by Emory University and Heidelberg University.

Drawing on her areas of expertise, Bunge has contributed to academic and advocacy initiatives around the world and secured more than $4.5 million in research, institutional, and civic engagement grants. She lectures widely, has served on international editorial boards and academic committees, and co-founded the Childhood Studies and Religion Program Unit of the American Academy of Religion. Her advocacy work includes child-focused projects, such as Georgetown University’s “Collaborative on Global Children's Issues,” and justice-related initiatives of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), the World Council of Churches, and faith-based organizations. As a Lutheran theologian and holder of the Bernhardson Chair, she also cultivates relationships between Gustavus and other ELCA-affiliated institutions in the United States and abroad.

Bunge’s collaborations have connected her with colleagues and initiatives across six continents and reflect her enduring commitments to interdisciplinary inquiry, inter-religious engagement, and the flourishing of people and the planet.