Devin Singh
Associate Professor
Appointments
Associate Professor of Religion
Area of Expertise
History of Christian Thought,
Philosophy of Religion,
Social Ethics,
Critical Theory,
Religion and Economics,
Religion and Politics,
Post- and Decolonial Thought
Biography
Devin Singh studies religious thought in the modern West and in sites of colonial encounter, with attention to the Christian tradition and its interaction with economy and politics. In addition to the history of Christian thought, his research engages the philosophy of religion and social ethics. Singh explores questions of religion and politics, religion and economics, secularization, sociology of markets and money, and race & coloniality in relation to religion. His first book, Divine Currency: The Theological Power of Money in the West (Stanford 2018) examines the ways early Christian thinkers made use of monetary and economic concepts as they created Christian doctrine, and how this close relationship between theology and money has lent a sacred aura to economics as it developed in the West. He is also the author of Economy and Modern Christian Thought (Brill 2022) which provides an introduction to scholarship on the relation between Christian thought and economy, exploring various conceptual and ethical challenges raised by the encounter. Singh also co-edited Reimagining Leadership on the Commons: Shifting the Paradigm for a More Ethical, Equitable, and Just World (Emerald 2021), which examines models of commons-based leadership and shared governance structures in the public and private sector. Singh is completing a book titled Sacred Debt, which explores the power of debt in society and its longstanding uses in religion. Singh was guest editor for an issue of Political Theology on "Love in a Time of Capital," and guest co-editor for an issue of Journal of Religious Ethics on debt. Singh's work has been supported by the Lilly Endowment and the Mellon and Luce Foundations, and has received national recognition by Mellon, Whiting, and Davis Fellowships, the Louisville Institute, and the Forum for Theological Exploration, as well as international recognition by the Lautenschlaeger Award from the University of Heidelberg. His work has appeared in Time, Washington Post, Huffington Post, Journal of Religious Ethics, Harvard Theological Review, Political Theology, Religions, and Implicit Religion. Prior to joining the faculty at Dartmouth, Singh was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in the Integrated Humanities and Lecturer in Religious Studies at Yale University. He has served more recently as a visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School's Center for the Study of World Religions (2017-18), and as a visiting scholar at Princeton University's Center for the Study of Religion (2019-20).
Education
Ph.D., Yale University
M.A., University of Chicago
M.Div., Trinity International University
B.A., Pomona College
Taught Courses
Publications
Books:
Articles and book chapters:
"Theology and Capitalism," Ford's The Modern Theologians, 4th ed., Rachel Muers and Ashley Cocksworth, eds., 631-644. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2024.
"A Perilous Concept: Philosophies of Money in Early Christian Thought," The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money. Vol 1. Joseph Tinguely, ed., Palgrave MacMillan, 2024.
"Sacred Obligations: On the Theopolitics of Debt and Sovereignty." In Assembling Futures: Economy, Ecology, and Democracy. Catherine Keller and Jennifer Quigley, eds. Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium. New York: Fordham University Press, 2024.
"Leadership Obligation: Labor, Reciprocity, and Care." In Humanities as a Resource and Inspiration for Humanizing Business. Laszlo Zsolnai and Michael J. Thate, eds. 79-92. Cham: Springer, 2023.
"Crypto-Ethic? Presence, Relationality, and Care Among Digital Currencies." In Religious and Cultural Implications of Technology-Mediated Relationship in a Post Pandemic World, Ilia Delio, Noreen Herzfeld, & Robert Nicastro, eds. 165-92. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2023.
"Atheism and Politics: Abandonment, Absence, and the Empty Throne." In The Varieties of Atheism. David Newheiser, ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022.
"Protest at the Void: Theological Challenges to Capitalist Totality." In Religion, Protest, and Social Upheaval. Matthew Eggemeier, Peter Joseph Fritz, and Karen Guth, eds. NY: Fordham University Press, 2022.
"Class." In The Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics. William Schweiker, Maria Antonaccio, Elizabeth Bucar, and David Clairmont, eds. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2022.
"Economics." In T&T Clark Handbook of Public Theology. Christoph Hübenthal and Christiane Alpers, eds. Bloomsbury Academic, 2022.
"A Tale of Two Sovereignties: Karl Barth and Carl Schmitt in Dialogue." In Theo-Politics? Conversing with Barth in Western and Asian Contexts, Markus Höfner, ed., pp. 147-67. Lanham, MD: Fortress Academic, 2021.
"Debt, Obligation, and Care on the Commons." Introduction Part II of Reimagining Leadership on the Commons. Devin Singh, Randal Joy Thompson and Kathleen A Curran, eds. Bingley, UK: Emerald Group, 2021.
"Decolonial Options for a Fragile Secular." In Beyond Man: Race, Coloniality, and Philosophy of Religion. An Yountae and Eleanor Craig, eds. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2021.
"The Economic Theology of Late Antiquity." In The Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology, edited by Stefan Schwarzkopf, 279-286. London: Routledge, 2020.
"Religion, Economics, and the Stories We Tell." Harvard Divinity Bulletin, Autumn/Winter 2021
"Defaced Coins in a Utopian Market" Political Theology Network, July 9, 2020.
"Exceptional Economy: Sovereign Exchanges in Carl Schmitt and Giorgio Agamben" Telos 191 (Summer 2020): 115-136
"Sovereign Debt." Journal of Religious Ethics 46:2 (2018): 239-266.
"Speculating the Subject of Money: Georg Simmel on Human Value." Religions 7.80 (2016): 1-15.
"Irrational Exuberance: Hope, Expectation, and Cool Market Logic." Political Theology 17.2 (2016): 120-136.
"Anarchy, Void, Signature: Agamben's Trinity Among Orthodoxy's Remains." Political Theology
17:1 (2016): 27-46.
"Debt Cancellation as Sovereign Crisis Management," Cosmologics Magazine, Jan 18, 2016.
"Eusebius as Political Theologian: The Legend Continues." Harvard Theological Review 108:1 (2015): 129-154.
"Iconicity of the Photographic Image: Theodore of Stoudios and André Bazin." In Byzantium/Modernism, edited by Roland Betancourt and Maria Taroutina, 237-53. Visualizing the Middle Ages. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Speaking Engagements
"Blockchain and Belief: Professor's Rountable" (link) Ethfinance EVMavericks Dailydoots livestream #134, Jan 14, 2026.
"The Theological Weight of Debt." Invited public lecture, St. Olaf College, Apr 21, 2025.
"Debt Matters." Invited public lecture, Bentley University, Sept 24, 2024.
"Siting the Body (Politic): Barth and the Ascension." Invited keynote for "Barth and the Political," annual Karl Barth conference, Princeton Theological Seminary and Center for Barth Studies, Jun 2023
"Teaching Religion and Tech: Ethical and Historical Considerations" (link) Religion, Technology, and Human Presence podcast, 6/1/21
"Crypto-Religons" (link) Re-Enchantments Podcast, 12/2/2021
Cultural Life of Money and Finance Podcast (link), discussion on Divine Currency, Jan 2021
Crazy Money Podcast (link), discussion on Divine Currency, March 2020
Theology Matters Podcast (link), discussion of money, debt, and gifts, Jan 2020
"God and Greed" (link), Invited public lecture for Radboud Reflects, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, Dec 2018
"Debt, Guilt, and the Law: Disentangling Eternal Conflations." Invited paper presented at University of Kent, UK, Dec 2018.
"Economy, Exception and Excess – a Discussion with Devin Singh." Invited presentation at Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, DK, Nov 2018.
"History, Genealogy, and Theological Critique." Invited paper for Patristics and Modern Theology seminar, Oxford University, UK, Nov 2018.
"Debt and the Christian Theological Imagination." The Gunning Lecture (endowed), University of Edinburgh, Oct 2018.
"Fragile Belief and the Empty Throne: Theology and Politics after Ascension." Invited paper for Australian Catholic University Rome Seminar, Rome, Aug 2018.
Works in Progress
Sacred Debt (Harvard University Press, under contract)
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