FACULTY PROFILE

Rev. Dr. Trevor Bechtel

The Rev. Dr. Trevor Bechtel is Teaching Pastor at Shalom Community Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He received a Ph.D. in Constructive Theology from Loyola University Chicago in 2008 and was ordained in 2012 in the Mennonite Church USA. In addition to pastoring churches in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Ann Arbor, Michigan, he was Associate Professor of Religion at Bluffton University (Bluffton, OH) and Dean of Conrad Grebel University College (Waterloo, ON). Trevor also currently works at Poverty Solutions at the University of Michigan managing Washtenaw County programs and student engagement and serves as Senior Design Specialist at the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office, is an Affiliate of the Center of Socially Engaged Design, and a Lecturer at the School of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Trevor volunteers as a Board member on the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice and is active with the Friends of Restorative Justice of Washtenaw County. He is the convenor of the Animal Ethics Interest Group of the Society of Christian Ethics,  is a past director of Anabaptist-Mennonite Scholars Network, and has been a member of the American Academy of Religion and the Animals and Society Institute. His research interests are focused on the edges of human experience, especially the human-animal relationship, virtual and technological ethics, and poverty, as well as contemporary Anabaptist/Mennonite Theology. He has authored The Gift of Ethics (2014) with Cascade Press and edited two books Encountering Earth (Cascade, 2018), Anabaptist Political Theology After Marpeck (Cascadia, 2022), a special issue of the Conrad Grebel Review on Teaching Ethics (2017), and multiple book chapters and essays. He has presented and preached widely in the Great Lakes Region. He is the Creative Director of the Anabaptist Bestiary Project which has released two albums, Anabaptist Bestiary Project (2008) and Of Every Creature (2013). He lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Susan Hunsberger, and their cat, Neko. 

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Publications

Bechtel, T. (2022). A good story: Meat eating for Christians. In I. Markham (Ed.), Thinking Creatively. Wiley.

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Bechtel, T. (2022). Creation in Pilgram Marpeck, Nancey Murphy, and Kathryn Tanner. In J. D. Weaver, G. Mast, & T. Bechtel (Eds.), Anabaptist Convictions After Marpeck. Cascadia.

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Bechtel, T. (2022). Focal practices, virtuality, authenticity, and public space. In T. Wainwright (Ed.), T&T Clark Companion to Christian Ethics. London: T&T Clark.

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Bechtel, T., Harvie, T., & Eaton, M. (2018). Introduction. In T. Bechtel, M. Eaton, & T. Harvie (Eds.), Encountering Earth. Eugene: Cascade.

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Bechtel, T. (2018). The cruciform lap: The common life of cats, chickens and couples. In T. Bechtel, M. Eaton, & T. Harvie (Eds.), Encountering Earth. Eugene: Cascade.

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Bechtel, T. (2017). Afterword. The Conrad Grebel Review, 35(1).

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Bechtel, T. (2016). [Review of the book The End of Captivity by Tripp York]. Direction, 45(2).

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Bechtel, T. (2015). Sound is the blood between me and you: Toward a theology of animal musics. The Conrad Grebel Review, 33(2).

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Bechtel, T. (2015). [Review of the book A Faith Embracing All Creatures: Addressing Commonly Asked Questions about Christian Care for Animals by Tripp York and Andy Alexis-Baker]. Mennonite Quarterly Review, 89(1).

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Bechtel, T. (2014). The Gift of Ethics: Receiving the Promise of Jesus in the Beatitudes. Eugene: Cascade Books.

Bechtel, T. (2014). Colony collapse disorder: A song about honeybees. Center for Mennonite Writing Journal, Song Writing, 6(3).

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Bechtel, T. (2014). Re-imagining personhood. The EcoTheo Review.