David Clairmont

Biography

Clairmont studies comparative religious ethics, particularly the moral thought of Roman Catholicism and Theravada Buddhism, issues of method in religious ethics, and the connection between ethics and spirituality. He is interested in questions of moral formation, inter-cultural dialogue in the Church, and the history of Christian spirituality (especially the Benedictine and Franciscan traditions). He is the author of Moral Struggle and Religious Ethics: On the Person as Classic in Comparative Theological Contexts (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011) and Religious Ethics: Meaning and Method (with William Schweiker, Wiley-Blackwell, 2020). He is the co-editor (with Don S. Browning) of American Religions and the Family: How Faith Traditions Cope with Modernization (Columbia University Press, 2007), the three volume Encyclopedia of Religious Ethics (with William Schweiker, Maria Antonaccio, and Elizabeth Bucar, Wiley-Blackwell, 2022) and the recently completed essay collection (with Kimberly Hope Belcher) Accountability, Healing, and Trust: Interdisciplinary Reflections for Ministry in the Midst of the Catholic Sex Abuse Crisis (Liturgical Press, 2025 [forthcoming]). His articles have appeared in the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the Journal of Religious Ethics, and the Journal of Moral Theology. His current projects include a book on the religious ethics of Thomas Merton, a co-authored book on theology and business ethics, and a book on the religious ethics of Native American/First Nation communities.