Samuel Torvend

Samuel Torvend, PhD, is a priest, emeritus professor of religion, Benedictine oblate, and instructor in diaconal formation in western Washington. He is a member of the ecology and liturgy seminar of the North American Academy of Liturgy, and the author of Still Hungry at the Feast: Eucharistic Justice in the Midst of Affliction published by Liturgical Press. His books, articles, and lectures focus on liturgy and social ethics.

Born on an island in the middle of the Columbia River, Samuel Torvend was raised in Washington and then Northern California. He spent much of high school in speech and debate competition and continued this work through his first year of university when he was then drawn to the study of history. His graduate work focused on the economic, political, and religious history of the classical, medieval, and reformation eras. His first publication was an article about Laurence Housman, an English pacifist and socialist, who created hymn texts critical of British and Allied war practices. He holds the Ph.D. from Saint Louis University, having written his dissertation on the political preaching and activity of Ambrose of Milan. He has studied at the Institute Islamique (Cairo), Bar Ilan University (Tel Aviv), and the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart (Milan). He is the author of Daily Bread, Holy Meal (Augsburg 2004); Luther and the Hungry Poor (Fortress 2008; Wipf & Stock 2019); Flowing Water, Uncommon Birth (Augsburg 2011); Still Hungry at the Feast: Eucharistic Justice in the Midst of Affliction (Liturgical Press, 2019); and numerous book chapters and articles on the economic and political dimensions of Christian faith and life. A historian in the Religion Department at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, Torvend has led numerous study tours of Rome and Central Italy on early and medieval Christian life. He is a student of Anglo-Catholic commitments to justice and peace and an aspiring Oblate of St. Benedict. A priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, he serves as priest associate for adult formation at Christ Church Parish in Tacoma’s Stadium District. He is married to Sean Horner and lives in Lakewood, Washington.