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About Catherine

Dr. Catherine Wright (B.Sc, B.Ed, M.Div, Ph.D.) is an interdisciplinary ecotheologian and ethicist at Wingate University in North Carolina. A faculty member in the Religious Studies Department, she bridges science, theology, and social practice to address contemporary issues through scholarship, civic dialogue, and sustainable development.

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In 2020, she founded The Collaborative for the Common Good, a campus institute rooted in the principles of sustainable development, and served as its inaugural Executive Director until 2024. She then shifted her focus to strengthening local nonprofit infrastructure and expanding her writing.

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Named one of North Carolina’s Top 50 Women Leaders in 2022, Dr. Wright also co-authored a research paper that became a finalist for the AASHE Campus Sustainability Award (Community Engagement Category).

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Her scholarship explores the theological and ethical implications of cosmogenesis and human suffering. Her first book, Creation, God, and Humanity (Paulist Press, 2017), received the 2018 ACP Excellence in Publishing Award for Theology. She continued with Caring for Our Common Home: A Practical Guide to Laudato Si’ (2020), and Food and Faith: From Dirt to Dessert (2023), an interactive eBook born from her experiential core course on food, health, and spirituality. She also has published many articles and public scholarship (See: Writing Section)

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As a science-trained theologian and practitioner, Dr. Wright is committed to integrative approaches to healing—physical, social, and spiritual. Her work blends research, stakeholder collaboration, and measurable impact through program design, implementation, and assessment.

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Teaching at Wingate University has been both a profound privilege and the heart of my academic vocation. Rooted in a student-centered, engaged pedagogy, her teaching integrates high-impact practices, data-informed innovation, community engagement, and hope to cultivate a sense of belonging in the classroom. This foundation fosters not only rigorous intellectual inquiry but also holistic personal and spiritual growth. Dr. Wright has also taught a diverse array of well received courses. Here are a few examples:

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  • Food and Faith,

  • Global Perspectives on Ethics,

  • Systematic Theology,

  • Religion and Science,

  • Theological Responses to Our Ecological Crisis,

  • Suffering and Joy,

  • Christian Missions in the 21st Century, 

  • EcoJustice

 

Her teaching also included many immersive travel based trips to Ashville (NC), Carolina Beach (NC), Jackson (MS), and Ireland. See Teaching and Experiential Learning pages for more details

 

As with her texts, Dr. Wright invites students and readers to discover new ways of thinking and new behaviors with interactive and community engaged exercises aimed to change hearts and heads while hands are doing the work of community transformation. Her courses, presentations, and books give new life to the tenet: being the "hands and feet of Christ" in a beautiful and broken world. 

 

Catherine also loves supporting Creation Care and Social Justice teams across many dioceses and denominations, as well as spending time with her family and friends in the great outdoors -- taking time to do some ‘holy noticing.’ A great joy for her is to work alongside passionate people of faith in her local community who are laboring to empower others to wholeness and happiness

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