Matthew J. Cressler spent a decade teaching and mentoring undergraduates in religious studies and African American studies as “Professor Cressler,” first at Earlham College, and then at the College of Charleston where he received tenure. He continues to teach today in a variety of different capacities: as a public speaker, as a retreat director, and as “Professor Matt,” teaching college courses to incarcerated folks through Georgetown University’s Prisons & Justice Initiative.
Comics, horror, AI, & more
Cressler is an experienced public speaker who has presented to young adults in middle school, high school, and college, as well as adult community members and fellow scholars. As a rogue scholar with irons in many different fires, he has presented on religion as it connects with Catholic and African American history, racism and racial justice, comicbooks, horror, artificial intelligence, and more.
Journey to Justice
We often imagine antiracism as all about the intellect and action; about learning something and doing something. And so it is. But, as James Baldwin teaches us, there is also a profound “death of the heart” that must be addressed if we hope to dismantle racism, colonialism, and all the other -isms that plague our broken world. Cressler leads retreats that invite us into reverent silence to cultivate racial justice as a spiritual practice, so that we may then go forth to build a more just future.
Religion, history, and post-apocalyptic fiction
Cressler has taught a range of college courses in his career, from introductions to religious studies, to US Catholic and African American religious history, to specialized courses on Black nationalism. But his absolute favorite course to teach is “How to Survive an Apocalypse,” which combines religious studies, Black and Indigenous histories, and a close reading of Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower.
Matthew J. Cressler, Ph.D. 