Auburn Welcomes Erica M. Ramirez
As of July 2018, Auburn is excited to announce that Erica M. Ramirez joins the team as Director of Applied Research. Most recently, Ramirez was the Richard B. Parker Assistant Professor of Wesleyan Thought and Heritage at Portland Seminary in Portland, Oregon. A rising star in the field of U.S. Latinx religion, and a scholar of Pentecostalism, she brings to the Auburn team a vital sociological imagination and a deep commitment to research and writing that troubles the waters and heals the world.
Ramirez is a Ph.D. Candidate (ABD) in Sociology of Religion at Drew University where she studied under the late Otto Maduro, a leading sociologist of his generation. Her dissertation revisits the Azusa Street mission revival through the frame of the maternal divine, working with themes of revolution, disruption, and the carnivalesque. She holds the M.A. in the History of Christianity from Wheaton College and the B.A. in Counseling and Psychology from Southwestern Assemblies of God University. With broad interests in religion, contemporary politics, and culture, Ramirez is particularly interested in “how radical religious traditions present as a challenge to and resource against social oppression.”
With an eye to both popular and scholarly audiences, Ramirez recently co-wrote an article on Pentecostals and Donald Trump for the Washington Post and has contributed scholarly articles to Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion, Canadian Journal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Christianity, and Pneuma: The Journal of the Society for Pentecostal Studies. She has presented academic papers to the Society for Pentecostal Studies, Association for the Sociology of Religion, and the Red de Investigadores de Fenomenos Religiosos Annual Meeting. She is a Hispanic Theological Initiative scholar and has been a fellow of both the Forum for Theological Exploration and the prestigious Louisville Institute.
She is a fifth-generation Texan, with deep roots in San Antonio. Ramirez enjoys music, hiking, and all things pop culture. With her husband Chris, she has three children: Judah, Julia, and Camilla.
