(This event is open to clergy and seminary students/staff/faculty/alumni. Please rsvp using this link: )

The Healthy Dialogue Series welcomes Fellipe do Vale, Assistant Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, winner of the 2023 “Emerging Public Intellectual” award, and author of Gender As Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social Worlds.

A graduate of Calvin's Philosophy and Gender Studies departments, Dr. do Vale's research is primarily on the connection between moral theology and theological anthropology. He focuses on gender, but also writes and teaches on political theology, theology of race, and other aspects of human identity, especially from an eschatological point of view. In Gender as Love, do Vale takes a theological approach to understanding gender, employing both biblical exegesis and historical theology and emphasizing the role human love plays in shaping our identities. His approach is unique in that it avoids the present impasse between social constructionist and biological essentialist paradigms and emphasizes love as identity forming.

The Healthy Dialogue Series is a collaboration between the Office of the Provost and The Sexuality Series. It reflects Calvin’s commitments to engage challenging conversations with humility, love, charity, and respect, eager to learn with and from each other. It reflects our commitment to understanding better, before we seek to be understood, as well as the vulnerability necessary to listen well and engage with those who perspectives may differ from our own.