Last week, Jamie Manson highlighted some “emerging women theologians” who are not trapped in ivory towers, but applying their expertise to concrete questions of justice in the world.  Among those featured were Meghan Clark and Christiana Peppard, two young professors with exceedingly bright futures.

Clark has written a number of excellent articles for Millennial on some of the key issues that we cover, including sexual violence, women’s equality, and economic justice.  Manson notes:

Clark presented a study of a partnership between two maternity wards, one in Cork, Ireland, and the other in Omdurman, Sudan.

Funded by Irish Aid, the Helping Babies Breathe initiative attempts to train Sudan’s village midwives in neo-natal resuscitation techniques. Since 80 percent of births in Sudan do not take place in hospitals, the role of the midwife is essential in combating the infant mortality rate.

But rather than doing the teaching themselves, the Irish and American medical professionals invited a local midwife who was a doctoral candidate in infection control to be the instructor. Clark sees in this model an example of solidarity in action.

Peppard, who wrote a great guest article on “the idolatry of liberty” for Millennial, has been a guest on MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry and provided a TED lesson on where we get our fresh water.  Manson writes:

The sustainability of water has been a fundamental question for Christiana Peppard since her doctoral studies in theology, ethics and science at Yale University. Now an assistant professor at Fordham University, Peppard was this year’s recipient of the Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award, given annually at the CTSA conference to a new scholar for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition.

Her essay, like her presentation at the convention, focused on fresh water and Catholic social teaching. And her forthcoming book, Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis, will present her fullest treatment of the topic yet.

It’s great to see some publicity for two bright, talented young theologians who are committed to the common good and building a more just world.