Andrew Flescher, Ph.D. Brown University.
Trinity 247
(530) 898-5534
aflescher@csuchico.edu

Since receiving his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from Brown University in 2000, Andrew Flescher has been an assistant professor in Religious Studies at California State University, Chico, the last four of which he has also directed the university’s Center for Applied and Professional Ethics (please see www.csuchico.edu/cape). His scholarly pursuits and teaching competencies lie in the field of contemporary religious thought, with interests rooted in (but not limited to) three areas: ethics (moral epistemology, comparative religious ethics, applied ethics); 18th to 20th century Christian and Judaic thought; and the theory and methodology of the study of religion. These areas of foci identify him primarily as a scholar of Western (Christian and Jewish) religious thought; however, they also have given him substantial breadth in Eastern traditions. In Fall of 2003, Professor Flescher published Heroes, Saints, and Ordinary Morality with Georgetown University Press. The book examines modern and contemporary Christian sources and moral exemplars in comparative context with secular and Jewish sources and exemplars from the same time periods. Professor Flescher is currently working on two books, one charting out four conceptions of moral evil and another under contract with Templeton Foundation Press, entitled The Benevolent Species: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Human Altruism, co-authored with Professor Daniel Worthen in the Department of Psychology at California State University, Chico. Professor Flescher has published several book reviews and articles, including an article in the Journal of Religion (2000) comparing the respective eschatologies and notions of other-regard of the modern Christian theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr, and the modern Judaic philosopher, Emmanuel Levinas, suggesting both might be construed as much-needed correctives to the just war tradition, as well as a piece in The Journal of Religion and Society (2000) characterizing the moral status of the actions of rescuers of genocide. Professor Flescher has taught at least ten separate courses in the last five years, including: “Religious Freedom and Moral Evil” (Honors); “Ethical Issues and Religion” “Religion and Literature: Four Conceptions of Evil”; “What Motivates Altruism? (Honors); “ Introduction to Religion”; “Wealth, Power and Justice in the World’s Religions;” “Religion and Film”; “Judaism”; a facult seminar on the problem of evil; and the Center for Applied and Professional Ethics Forum. At California State University, Chico Professor Flescher served as one of the original authors for the Academic Integrity Policy that the school adopted into policy in the Spring of 2004.

Publications