Dr. Hilda P. Koster

Dr. Hilda P. Koster

Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Associate Professor in Ecological Theology

Director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology
  • PhD Theology (University of Chicago Divinity School, Chicago IL)
  • ThM Theology (Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ)
  • MDiv Pastoral Theology (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)
  • BA Psychology of Religion and Gender Studies (University of Groningen, The Netherlands)

Teaching and Research Interests

  • Ecological Theology
  • Environmental Ethics
  • Intersectional (Eco)Feminist Theologies
  • Theology, Cosmology and Science
  • Theology and the Environmental Humanities (Petro-Culture Studies, New Materialism, Affect Theory)
  • Catholic Social Thought

Hilda P. Koster is the Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto Associate Professor of Ecological Theology and the Director of the Elliott Allen Institute for Theology and Ecology. A native of the Netherlands, she received a BA and M.Div. from the University of Groningen, a Th.M. from Princeton Theological Seminary and earned her doctorate from the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the Faculty of Theology at the University of St. Michael’s College, Dr. Koster was an Associate Professor at Concordia College, in Moorhead. MN (USA), a Liberal Arts College of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where she held a joint tenured appointment in the Religion Department and the Environmental Studies Program.  

Dr. Koster’s research and publications are in ecological theology, intersectional eco-feminist theology; theology and climate change; Indigenous theology and spirituality; resource extraction and environmental ethics; and theology and the environmental humanities (new materialism, affect theory, and energy humanities). Her publications have appeared in Theology Today, Modern Theology, The Journal of Religion, The Anglican Theological Review, and Scriptura. She co-edited/authored The Gift of Theology: The Contribution of Kathryn Tanner (Fortress Press, 2015) with Rosemary Carbine; Planetary Solidarity: Global Women’s Voices on Christian Doctrine and Climate Justice (Fortress Press, 2017) with Grace Ji-Sun Kim; The T&T Clark Handbook of Christian Theology and Climate Change (Bloomsbury, 2019) with Ernst M. Conradie; and Solidarity with Earth: A Multi-Disciplinary Theological Engagement with Gender and Resource Extraction (forthcoming with Bloomsbury 2022). Dr. Koster is also the co-editor of the T&T Clark book series Explorations in Theology, Gender and Ecology (Bloomsbury).

Dr. Koster is married to Jan H. Pranger, a scholar of World Christianity. When not teaching or doing research, she enjoys spending time with her family, sharing meals with friends, camping and hiking, cross country skiing and visiting her beloved native country, The Netherlands.