In the late afternoon light filtering through the stained‑glass windows of Westwood Hills Congregational United Church of Christ, Brad Elliott Stone stands at the front of the nave, not behind a lectern but among the pews, addressing the congregation as a lay preacher. His voice, both measured and warm, carries the careful cadences of a philosopher accustomed to navigating dense texts—and yet here it is animated by pastoral care, calling listeners to wrestle with questions of presence, time, and community. This Sunday, as on many others since he first joined Westwood Hills in 2004, Stone marries scriptural insight with intellectual rigor, inviting his hearers into what he calls “contemplative dialogue”—a practice equally at home in the academy and the sanctuary .
Born and raised in Kentucky, Stone pursued an undergraduate education at Georgetown College, earning his B.A. in Philosophy and Modern Language Studies in 1998. He then moved to Memphis, where he completed his Ph.D. in Philosophy at The University of Memphis in 2003, drawing on continental and pragmatic traditions to explore questions of moral agency and social engagement . These formative years laid the groundwork for a career committed to bridging scholarly inquiry and lived faith.
Immediately upon receiving his doctorate, Brad Elliott Stone joined the faculty of Loyola Marymount University as an assistant professor of Philosophy. Over six years he advanced to associate professor with tenure in 2009, and in due course to full professor—today teaching both in the Department of Philosophy and as an affiliated member of African American Studies . In June 2021, he assumed the role of Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Shared Governance, and Graduate Education in Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts, where he now oversees tenure reviews, mentors junior faculty, and helps shape graduate‑level programming . Concurrently, since 2009 he has directed LMU’s University Honors Program, guiding high‑achieving students through interdisciplinary projects and fostering a spirit of collaborative inquiry .
Stone’s scholarship reflects a multifaceted engagement with contemporary pragmatism and theological reflection. His 2017 essay, “A Prophetic Pragmatist Response to Koopman’s Transitional Pragmatism,” appeared in Contemporary Pragmatism, articulating a vision of philosophy as a form of social critique rooted in moral imagination . He has contributed chapters to The Bloomsbury Handbook of Literary and Cultural Theory (2018) and Understanding Foucault, Understanding Modernism (2017), and served as a contributor to The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Philosophers in America (2016), exploring how American intellectual traditions intersect with broader questions of justice and pluralism .
Yet Brad Elliott Stone’s convictions extend beyond publications and classrooms. At Westwood Hills Congregational UCC—where he has served as a member of the Christian Education Board, clerk of the Church Cabinet, Sunday School teacher, moderator of the congregation (2007–2009), deacons board member (2004–2007), and rotating lay preacher—he has helped shape programs that integrate faith formation with community service . In the neighboring Episcopal Church of the Holy Nativity, he directs FEAST (Faith Enrichment and Spiritual Training) and sits on the Peace and Justice Committee, roles he has held since 2008 and 2009 respectively, bringing together parishioners for study, prayer, and social‑justice initiatives .
Stone’s interfaith commitments find public expression in a variety of venues. In February 2024, for World Interfaith Harmony Week, he joined a panel at the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles alongside leaders from Muslim, Episcopal, Zoroastrian, and Scientology communities. There, he spoke on the necessity of mutual understanding and collaborative action as foundations for a “culture of peace,” emphasizing that genuine dialogue must acknowledge differences while seeking common ethical ground .
In 2016, Brad Elliott Stone co‑directed LMU’s Bellarmine Forum theme “Slow Time,” convening scientists, artists, theologians, and philosophers to examine the spiritual and ethical dimensions of time and attentiveness. The event featured public lectures, workshops, and roundtable discussions that challenged participants to consider how modern life’s rush impedes deep reflection and communal solidarity . This project exemplifies Stone’s conviction that interdisciplinary collaboration can animate new forms of spiritual practice, both in and beyond the academy.
In his LMU seminars, Stone invites students into what he terms “empathetic scholarship.” While specific assignments vary, his courses in Philosophy of Religion and Phenomenology emphasize close readings of thinkers from William James to Simone Weil, encouraging students to articulate how these voices speak to questions of moral responsibility in a pluralistic context. As Director of the Honors Program, he further mentors undergraduates in crafting capstone projects that often bridge faith traditions and social concerns.
Empathetic scholarship is a methodological stance that insists scholars move beyond detached analysis to enter, as fully as possible, the lived realities of the traditions they study. Rather than simply reading texts or observing rituals from afar, students are encouraged to conduct interviews, participate in services, and reflect on how doctrinal commitments shape communal life. In practice, this means writing “faith biographies” in which they faithfully recount another person’s narrative, articulating both differences and resonances; it means approaching sacred practices not as exotic subjects but as vehicles for insight into questions of meaning, ethics, and belonging. For Brad Elliott Stone, empathy is not sentimentality but a disciplined openness: a willingness to listen without agenda, to allow the other’s convictions to unsettle one’s own assumptions, and to emerge with a more nuanced understanding that integrates both cognitive rigor and affective attunement. This approach, he argues, transforms scholarship into a form of hospitality, where knowledge is co‑created in relationship rather than extracted from a distance.
Colleagues note that Stone’s administrative leadership and pedagogical innovation are rooted in a philosophy of hospitality. He has worked closely with campus chaplains of Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist traditions to support interfaith student organizations and to facilitate dialogues that cultivate mutual respect. Under his guidance, the Honors Program has sponsored events in which students explore sacred texts across traditions, fostering encounters that, Stone argues, “transform strangers into interlocutors” and “books into living voices.”
As Associate Dean, Stone is now shaping LMU’s strategic vision for the liberal arts, advocating for curricular pathways—such as a proposed certificate in Faith and Civic Life—that embed interfaith engagement within professional and community‑oriented contexts. In the coming year, he plans to launch a speaker series linking pragmatic philosophy with prophetic religious critique, highlighting how Deweyan democratic ideals and biblical calls for justice can inform one another.
In every role—preacher, professor, administrator—Brad Elliott Stone enacts an integrated vocation. His work at Westwood Hills and Holy Nativity underscores a belief that faith matures in the crucible of service and dialogue; his scholarship and teaching model a pragmatism informed by prophetic urgency; his interfaith panels affirm that true understanding arises when one listens as attentively as one speaks. For Stone, philosophy and faith are not parallel tracks but a single journey: one that, like any pilgrimage, unfolds step by deliberate step, toward deeper solidarity with others and a more just world.
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