Lauren Frances Guerra

Dr. Lauren Frances Guerra serves as a Lecturer in the Department of Chicanx and Central American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles and as a Visiting Professor in Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University. Her work bridges faith, cultural expression, and social justice within U.S. Latina/o communities through interdisciplinary theological frameworks.

Her academic foundation includes:

• PhD in Systematic and Philosophical Theology (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, 2016) with Allied Field in Art and Religion
• MA in Peninsular and Latin American Literature (Saint Louis University, Madrid, 2008)
• MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology (Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, 2007)
• BA in Theological Studies and Spanish, Cum Laude (Loyola Marymount University, 2004)

Guerra's research centers on U.S. Latina/o theology and Theological Aesthetics, examining how Popular Religion and community-based art function as resistance against systemic oppression. Her scholarship analyzes the intersections of race, class, and gender within Latinx Catholicism, with particular focus on Chicanx spiritual expressions and artistic practices as theological sources. She investigates how marginalized communities reconfigure religious traditions through cultural production.

Her publications reveal a trajectory exploring Latinx religious identity through literary and artistic lenses, with recurring themes of embodied spirituality, cultural memory, and decolonial approaches to theology. Recent works examine Sandra Cisneros' narratives, liberation through writing practices, and the theological significance of Latinx artistic expressions within Christian traditions.

Dr. Guerra teaches undergraduate courses on U.S. Latino/a Culture and Religious Expression and graduate seminars on Latinx Spirituality, emphasizing critical engagement with how religious traditions evolve within cultural contexts of migration and resistance.