Please welcome our new Associate Professor for the Theology Department, Tiago Arrais!

As in the past, both in the classroom and in the church, I have several goals I work toward: first, to simply make sure people around me, students, faculty, and staff, are seen and heard. I find that to listen to others is the first and probably most important Christian sensibility. Second, to motivate students to incorporate theology and philosophy into their life and thought. The educational process is quite important to me, the maturity we work toward by means of the methods and dynamics we choose to use inside and outside of the classroom. While it is imperative to make sure students learn, my final intention is to make sure they have the tools to see the world outside and within by means of what they are learning. To be thinkers, as EGW once wrote, and not simply reflectors of the thinking of others. Third, to position myself as a helpful guide. Every student is in a different stage of their academic and faith journeys. To walk beside them and witness their flourishing as human beings and as disciples of Jesus is something profoundly special to me. My sense of accomplishment, then, is tied to these three goals. If students feel seen and heard, if they develop their own thinking, and if they find in me a reliable guide in their journey, I will feel I have accomplished something.

I'm a native of São Paulo, Brazil. Earned a PhD in Hebrew Bible and Christian Philosophy from Andrews University in 2015. Since then I have worked as a University teacher in Brazil, and most recently, served as a pastor in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I'm a singer-songwriter. I have multiple albums released through Sony Music in my home country (Brazil) with my brother Andre as "Os Arrais," and two solo albums under my own name. I'm married to Paula and have two children, Benjamin (11) and Joana (7).

My family and I love the outdoors. Hiking, camping, gardening (and eating our own produce), and playing tennis. We also love reading, and art in all its forms and expressions. We have a rescue dog called David Bowie (we all simply call him "Bo").