Church Staff

Lilly Residency
in Pastoral Ministry

Joel Harter, Ph.D.
Lilly Pastoral Resident
773.363.6063
joel@hpuc.org

Joel Harter began serving as the project manager for Urban Dolorosa in August 2010, and he began his pastoral residency in June 2011. Joel received his B.A. in English Literature from Vanderbilt University. During college, he spent one summer in Taiwan and another summer studying literature in London. Joel began his graduate studies in English at Northwestern University but then shifted to theology and campus ministry, earning a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School in 2000 and a Doctor of Philosophy in Religion and Literature from the University of Chicago in 2008. After teaching English Literature for two years at Spring Arbor University (Michigan), Joel and his family returned to Chicago in 2010.

In his pastoral residency, Joel seeks to explore the public and practical significance of theology, believing that theology serves the church in its ongoing dialogue with the broader society. Specifically, his interests include the prophetic role of the arts in promoting justice and seeking reconciliation, the spiritual and theological power of literary expression, and the progressive potential of biblical tradition to affirm the dignity of all persons and the value of diversity. Joel is currently developing these interests through Urban Dolorosa and as a chaplain at Jackson Park Hospital with the Gilead Ministry.

In addition to his work at Hyde Park Union, Joel is an adjunct instructor of philosophy at Catholic Theological Union and the author of Coleridge’s Philosophy of Faith: Symbol, Allegory, and Hermeneutics (Mohr Siebeck, 2011). Joel and his wife Melody celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in May 2011, and they have two children.