C.S. Lewis Fellowship Grant Awarded to Professor for Faith & Finance Course
By Mazie Goscinak ’24
Kevin McMahon, assistant professor of practice in finance, was awarded a C.S. Lewis Fellowship by the Providence College Humanities Program to develop the range of religious perspectives shared in the Faith and Finance capstone course. These grants are designed to further develop courses with the teachings of the author and theologian C.S. Lewis in mind.
A second grant was also awarded to Jillian Waugh, MSN ’04, assistant professor of nursing. McMahon said he was honored to be chosen and excited that professors in business and nursing were both selected to receive grants. “This shows that Providence College’s culture is not one of staying inside silos, that new ideas and perspectives are formed at the intersections of disciplines,” McMahon said.
He added that he was excited to apply learnings and resources from the fellowship to the spring finance capstone, a third of which is dedicated to faith and finance. He said that this course explores interaction of finance with the three great Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The Judaic view is represented through the writings of Rev. Albino Barrera, O.P., professor of economics and of theology. The Catholic view is presented through several resources, including publications such as those of Rev. Thomas More Garrett, O.P., assistant professor of practice in management, on British economist John Maynard Keynes and modern finance. The Islamic viewpoint is currently represented in the course by various Wall Street Shariah law proponents. Thus far, however, the Protestant view is only represented by Andrew Carnegie’s teachings in The Gospel of Wealth. The fellowship will provide McMahon the tools and resources to expand perspective by applying the teachings of Lewis to Faith & Finance. “C.S. Lewis had much to say about finance and economics, but it is dispersed throughout his many works,” he said. Additionally, the grant will allow McMahon to purchase books for the students that they can keep.
Rev. Isaac Morales, O.P., assistant chair of department of theology and director of the C.S. Lewis fellowship, was delighted to present McMahon with the mini grant. “Professor McMahon has a long history of incorporating faith into the business school curriculum,” Morales said. “I hope that with the grant he will enhance what is already a tremendous service to his students by exposing them to a great Christian thinker like C. S. Lewis and challenging them to think more critically about what faith might contribute to the way they conduct themselves in their future careers in business.”
