"This is where the fun begins." (Anakin Skywalker)

Expected recipient of the doctorate in Religious Studies in May 2025, Erica Ridderman hails from Indiana, where her Bachelor of Arts degree with highest distinction was completed (Indiana University). She completed the Master of Divinity at Duke Divinity School, earning the honor of Summa Cum Laude. Her major area in the Graduate Program in Religion is Christian Theological Studies, and minor areas are World Christianity and Decolonial Thinking. Her dissertation committee for When We Say ‘God is Love’: A Study on the Centrality of Love in the Doctrine of God & Its Ramifications was chaired by Dean Edgardo Colon-Emeric, with Professors Peter Cararella, Janet Soskice, Amy Laura Hall, and David Aers also serving.

Ridderman’s scholarship was recognized in 2022 when she earned a Duke summer fellowship and in 2024, when she was awarded a Duke University Medieval and Renaissance Studies Travel Grant. 

Ridderman has several publications already – three peer-reviewed articles, two book reviews, and a couple of works in progress yet to be published. It is her popular article “New Hope, Old Saga: Star Wars and Christian Eschatology,” that showcases her fun side and brings a bit of levity into the very serious topic of eschatology (the “last things” or the final destiny of the soul).

In addition to Ridderman’s writing and extensive teaching experiences (including guest lectures, precepting, and tutoring), she found time to serve on the planning committee for the Duke Graduate Conference in Theology, act as Co-Convener for Theology & Ethics Colloquia, and to serve on the University Judicial Board at Duke University. 

She has not only served the program and the university in these ways but has continued to serve the Church throughout her time at Duke. She is currently Diocesan Intern at Church of the Holy Family in Chapel Hill, NC and Postulant for the Priesthood in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. She is also an occasional preacher at various churches.

Quoting Star Wars, we at the Graduate Program in Religion would wish (soon-to-be Dr.) Erica Ridderman “May the force be with you!”