Erin Zoutendam, PhD

Teaching Fellow
University Core Curriculum

 As a historian of Christian spirituality, I am interested in two of the most fundamental practices of the Christian life: prayer and the reading of scripture. My research focuses on Christian mysticism, prayer, and biblical interpretation in the later Middle Ages and the early modern period. My dissertation was a historical study of how late medieval and early modern Christians prayed and how they read scripture and how the two practices were intertwined. Specifically, it examined the hermeneutical changes that occurred between the later Middle Ages and the earliest decades of the Protestant Reformation and traced how those changes affected beliefs about mystical contemplation, Christian spirituality, and union with God.

Just as there are no shortcuts in getting to know a spouse, child, or friend, there are no shortcuts in learning about the past. Understanding the past and how it continues to shape our world today requires patience, curiosity, charity, and careful attention. My research as a historian informs all of my teaching at Seton Hall, where I enjoy inducting students into millennia-long conversations about the perennial human questions.