Joshua Pederson is an Associate Professor of Humanities at Boston University. His research interests include religion and literature, literary trauma theory, and the creative afterlife of the Bible.

He is the author of two books, Sin Sick: Moral Injury in War and Literature (Cornell UP, 2021) and The Forsaken Son: Child Murder and Atonement in Modern American Fiction (Northwestern UP, 2016), along with a variety of other essays and book chapters. His opinion pieces have appeared in the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the LA Times, Harper’s Magazine, and Salon.

For over a decade, he has taught a survey course in ethical philosophy at BU; as time has passed, theories of charity and altruism have taken up more and more space in that course’s curriculum.

Unique Course Components

• The class has a heavy focus on effective altruism and philosophies of philanthropy
• Noteworthy guest speakers
  • Peter Singer, Princeton University Professor of Bioethics
  • Charlie Bressler, cofounder of The Life You Can Save
  • Rob Hale, Boston Philanthropist
• 3 Tent-Pole Assignments
  • Personal Giving Philosophy
    • Brief personal essay explaining their philosophy of charity and establishing giving priorities
  • Charity Evaluation Paper
    • Put principles into practice – determining the effectiveness of a cause or organization of their choice. Students will analyze charities’ publicly available financial records and conduct interviews with representatives
  • Present/advocate for one charity
    • Students select an evaluated charity for further analysis, present and advocate said charity to the course
  • Students take both a midterm and a final exam
  • Fulfills Humanities requirements for Focus on Humanities elements of Philosophical Inquiry and Life’s Meanings, Ethical Reasoning, and The Individual in Community.