Danny Sebastian

Danny is a Ph.D. candidate in Religious Ethics. He grew up in Montana’s beautiful Big Sky Country before going on to receive a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Accounting as well as a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Biblical Studies from Evangel University. After graduating Danny earned his license as a Certified Public Accountant. His accounting experience, which has been intermixed with his academic pursuits, has included a variety of contexts including different sized public accounting firms, a private small business, a regional bank, and a not-for-profit. Danny earned a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Religious Studies from Missouri State University where his research focused on points of confluence and divergence between economics and religion. The research culminated in a thesis entitled “The Myth of a Secular Economy: Capitalism’s Unarticulated Theology.”

The hybrid of experiences in the accounting and academic worlds have shaped Danny’s interests. His research continues to fall at the intersection of economics, theology, and religion where he is concerned with questions of ethics, community, physical practices, gift, and commodity logic. Danny enjoys his research, but he also enjoys riding his bike, athletics, traveling, and spending time with his wife.

Dissertation Advisor: Dr. D. Stephen Long

Publications:

“The Economy is a Spirit World: Spirit of Scarcity, Spirit of God.” Journal of European Pentecostal Theological Association 39 (Spring 2019), 62-78. Originally for European Pentecostal Theological Association Annual Conference. Brussels, Belgium (July 2018). 

“Thanksgiving Rites and Wrongs: Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and the American Imagination.” Sacred Matters Magazine (November 2018).

Presentations:

“The Widow Mite Not Give Online: Ethical and Ecclesiological Concerns of Neglecting Physical Practices.” Christian Ethics group, Society of Pentecostal Studies Annual Meeting. Southlake, Texas (March 2021).

“The Theology of Origins: Anthropology and Cosmology in Capitalism’s Etiologies.” Theology group, Midwest AAR Regional Meeting. Ada, Ohio (March 2015).

“The Immateriality of Consumer Capitalism’s Materialism: An Ecofeminist Critique of Consumer Capitalism.” Ecology and Science in the Study of Religion group, Midwest AAR Regional Meeting. Ada, Ohio (March 2014).

Fellowships, Awards, and Service to the Profession:

University PhD Fellow, Southern Methodist University

2016-2018 Continental Theological Seminary, Brussels, Belgium Lecturer

2016 Addis Ababa Bible College, Ethiopia Visiting Lecturer

2013-2015 Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri Graduate Assistant