Larry Rasmussen

Larry Rasmussen is Reinhold Niebuhr Emeritus Professor of Social Ethics at Union Seminary, New York. One of the world’s foremost Christian environmental ethicists, Dr. Rasmussen has mentored a generation of Christians in eco-theology and “green religion.” He spearheaded the “greening” at the Union Theological Seminary as an institution and rooted his courses and scholarship in the practice of environmental justice with communities and community leaders. He has published more than a dozen books, including the landmark, award-winning Earth Community, Earth Ethics. He is currently directing a 10-year project on Earth-honoring Christianity at Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, New Mexico.

A Minnesota native, Rasmussen studied history and philosophy at St. Olaf College (B.A., 1964). He received a bachelor of divinity degree from Luther Theological Seminary (1965), and his Th.D. from Union Theological Seminary (1970). Following service as an assistant professor of religion at St. Olaf and a professor of Christian ethics at Wesley Theological Seminary, Washington, D.C., he was appointed the Reinhold Niebuhr Professor of Social Ethics at Union Theological Seminary in New York in 1986, retiring in 2004. He served as co-moderator of the Justice, Peace, Creation unit of the World Council of Churches 1990–2000.

Rasmussen contributed to the publication Bonhoeffer and King: Their Legacies and Import for Christian Social Thought.