A Trinitarian Theology of Grace: Sherelle Ducksworth at LATC 2025

Dr. Sherelle Ducksworth is a theologian at Clamp Divinity School of Anderson University. She will be presenting one of the twelve parallel papers at LATC 2025, March 12-14 at Biola University. Here’s a quick interview with Dr. Ducksworth about her paper.

Q: LATC 2025’s theme is Receiving Redemption, and it focuses on how salvation is received by human persons and communities. Why did this aspect of soteriology catch your attention and make you propose a paper on it?

A: I have always been interested in contemplating theology constructively. I was teaching a class on a trinitarian soteriology, and the notion of grace began to intrigue me. I wondered how beginning with God’s triune being and life might shape how to understand the doctrine of grace.

Q: The title of your paper is “A Trinitarian Approach to Grace.” How will you be approaching the conference theme in this paper?

A: I am approaching the theme receiving redemption by focusing on a theology of grace and offering an argument to explain why humans need grace in redemption. 

Q: Can you describe how this paper fits in with your previous theological work, or with your recent scholarship?

A: I wrote my dissertation on hamartiology and wrote a manuscript on salvation last fall and both of them contributed to my reconsideration of how to define and understand grace. Additionally, I think my paper engages the current scholarship on salvation and the doctrine of grace, which defines grace primarily and sometimes only in relation to human sin, by pointing towards a theology on the doctrine of grace that arises from trinitarian theology and considers the creator/creature distinction, as well as human sin.

Q: What are you looking forward to at the conference? Are there any papers or theological issues that have especially caught your eye?

A: I am looking forward to engaging in constructive theology with my peers and I have particular interests in Aaron Davis and Koert Verhagen’s papers.