Biography

James is the author of Woven Together: Faith and Justice for the Earth and the Poor. He is a research scholar of religion and ecology and holds a PhD in Theology with a specialization in Christian Ethics and a dissertation on Social Justice and Ecological Responsibility from Loyola University Chicago. He holds an MA in Social Justice from Loyola's Institute of Pastoral Studies, and a BS in Environmental Studies from North Park University. 

He has served as an observer delegate to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for three Conferences of the Parties with the aim of grounding his teaching and scholarship in those issues that emerge from and serve the public square.

Previously, he served as the Illinois Chapter of the Sierra Club's Global Warming Solutions Advocate and has experience with development work in Bangladesh.  He performed graduate studies in Kenya and spent his undergraduate studies performing aquatic research in the Bahamas, ecological studies in South India, field research in Northern Michigan and experimental/sustainable tropical agricultural research in Florida through the AuSable Institute of Environmental Studies where he holds certifications as a Field Naturalist and as an Environmental Analyst.  He also holds a certificate in sustainability management from the University of Chicago.

James resides in the Great Lakes bioregion where he writes, gardens, and runs along the shores of Lake Michigan-Huron, the largest freshwater lake by surface area in the world.