Dr. Steven Bouma-Prediger

Dr. Steve Bouma-Prediger

Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College

Steve Bouma-Prediger is the Leonard and Marjorie Mass Professor of Reformed Theology at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. A graduate of Hope College, he has graduate degrees in philosophy from the Institute for Christian Studies in Toronto, Ontario, in theology from Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, and earned a Ph.D. in religious studies from The University of Chicago.

His most recent book is Earthkeeping and Character: Exploring a Christian Ecological Virtue Ethic. Among his other writings are the books For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care, revised second edition; Beyond Homelessness: Christian Faith in a Culture of Displacement, co-authored with Brian Walsh; Evocations of Grace: The Writings of Joseph Sittler on Ecology, Theology, and Ethics, co-edited with Peter Bakken; Assessing the Ark: A Christian Perspective on Endangered Species and the Endangered Species Act, co-authored with Virginia Vroblesky; and The Greening of Theology.

Prof. Bouma-Prediger has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards. He was selected by the Hope class of 1998 to give the Commencement Address, was voted in 1999 the recipient of the Hope Outstanding Professor-Educator Award, and was asked by Hope’s chapter of Mortar Board in 2009 to give a “Last Lecture.” He also gave the Baccalaureate address for the Hope class of 2019.

Prof. Bouma-Prediger’s wife, Celaine, is a marriage and family therapist, a spiritual director, and an ordained minister in the Reformed Church in America. They have three daughters. Anna is a Hope College graduate living and working in Brooklyn, New York. Chara is a graduate of Northland College, in Ashland Wisconsin, who served for 3 years and a half years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay and currently works in her hometown of Holland, Michigan. Sophia is a graduate of Hope College, currently living and working in west Michigan. Professor Bouma-Prediger spends as much time as possible outside, including taking students whitewater rafting, flatwater canoeing, and backpacking in the Adirondacks of upstate New York every May as part of a three-week long Hope course entitled “Ecological Theology and Ethics.”