Peter Capretto

Dr. Peter Capretto is a pastoral theologian and philosopher of religion, who trained as an interdisciplinary scholar through the Ph.D. in Religion, Psychology, and Culture at Vanderbilt University. His research explores how social experiences such as empathy shape the ethics and politics of care—specifically around trauma, disability, and race.

He is the author and editor of three books. His first monograph, Beyond the Empathy Trap: Cultivating Freedom and Solidarity in an Ethic of Care (Fordham University Press, 2026), explains why empathy limits interpersonal ethics and how justice-motivated caregivers can better prioritize their psychological investments within their work. His first edited volume, Trauma and Transcendence: Suffering and the Limits of Theory (Fordham University Press, 2018), brings together leading trauma theorists in psychology, theology, philosophy, psychiatry, and sociology to analyze the growing divisions emerging within trauma theory across the humanities and social sciences. His second edited volume, Spiritual Direction and the Other: Interdisciplinary Explorations of Accompaniment (Routledge, 2026), offers the first interdisciplinary study into how ancient traditions of spiritual accompaniment interface with the increasingly psychotherapeutic modalities of contemporary helping professions. His publications have also appeared in the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Journal of Religion and Health, Los Angeles Review of Books, Political Theology, The Heythrop Journal, as well as scholarly anthologies.

Trained clinically as a hospice chaplain, pastoral psychotherapist, and crisis counselor, Dr. Capretto uses his teaching and writing to situate theories of care in close proximity to cultured and lived experiences of psychic trauma, loss, and mourning. Prior to joining Phillips, he completed a six-year Fellowship in Theology and Practice, which is designed to train future leaders in practical theology. Dr. Capretto is also a former Graduate Writing Fellow with Vanderbilt University’s Writing Studio, where he worked as a transdisciplinary writing consultant and instructed in writing pedagogy.