Elise Edwards is a scholar and educator who advocates for the importance of art and architecture in social justice, human flourishing, and religious community. She is Associate Professor in Religion, affiliate faculty in Women’s and Gender Studies, and Director of the Baylor Initiative in Christianity and the Arts at Baylor University.
At the start of her career, Edwards trained as an architect at Florida A&M University but later studied Christian theology and ethics to explore questions about art, architecture, and creativity from a faith perspective with intellectual rigor. She attended John Leland Seminary and then Claremont Graduate University, where she earned a Ph.D. in Religion (Theology, Ethics, and Culture). For over a decade as a Christian ethicist, she has helped students navigate complex social issues while developing her own interdisciplinary research. She has authored several essays and Architecture, Theology, and Ethics: Making Architectural Design More Just (Lexington, 2024) and co-edited The Routledge Handbook of Religion and Cities (Routledge, 2021) with Katie Day. Edwards stays active in her local church and community and has served in numerous leadership roles in the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Christian Ethics, the Center for Religion and Cities, and Partners for Sacred Places.