Brian Clark

Ph.D. candidate, Department of Religious Studies

Research Interests:
Brian works on virtue theory, metaethics and Christian saints with a current focus on the problem of moral exemplarism as it relates to Christian saints. His dissertation draws on philosophical and theological resources to evaluate the claim that Christian saints are moral exemplars. The project explains whether, and in what sense, Christian saints are fit models for imitation by everyday persons who wish to act well, cultivate virtue and mature in character.

Road to the Moody School:
Brian studied religion, philosophy and theology as an undergraduate in the John Wesley Honors College at Indiana Wesleyan University and then completed an M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary. After seminary, he returned to Indiana to serve a congregation as pastor of congregational care and to teach undergraduates for Indiana Wesleyan University’s John Wesley Honors College. In 2017, Brian and his wife, Allison, moved to Dallas for Brian to begin Ph.D. work in religious ethics at SMU. He is also an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene.