Francisco Herrera

Credentials: BM, University of Missouri-Kansas City / MDiv, Chicago Theological Seminary / ThM, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago / Ph.D., Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago (Present)

Denomination: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Specific Field: Missiology

Biography: 

After completing undergraduate studies in viola and orchestra conducting, Francisco Herrera would come to both the Christian faith and Lutheran theology while continuing his music studies in Geneva, Switzerland. While there, he also discovered that he was a polyglot—adding French and Spanish to the German and English he spoke on arrival—which in turn enabled him to immerse himself in intensive intercultural work, whether as a language teacher, an interpreter for religious and secular NGOs, or in day-to-day life in a “UN town.” Returning to the United States to begin divinity studies in 2005, he received his MDiv from Chicago Theological Seminary in 2012 and began his PhD studies at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2013. He quickly became involved in activism for justice and inclusion within his home denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), and the broader United States. His primary academic interests orbit anything and everything around the study, support, and creation of intersectional church culture and community, Lutheran theology, post-colonial/decolonial theory, and Christian socialism. As a Latino scholar and activist, he also has a deep interest in Gloria Anzaldúa’s concept of “neplantlera” as a grounding for the development of intersectional identity and sensitivity in individuals and communities.