About Me:

The Vatican Museums, Rome

San Vitale, Ravenna

Hello! My name is Daniel Cochran. I was born in California, raised in Rhode Island, and have lived in New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

After receiving a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of Rochester in beautiful upstate New York, I pursued both my academic interests and a calling to ministry at Harvard University. I graduated from the Divinity School with a M.Div. and promptly moved to Madison, Wisconsin, in order to pursue doctoral work in the history of art and architecture. I received my Ph.D. in 2018, publishing a dissertation on the emergence of monumental Christian art and architecture in Italy during the fourth and fifth centuries. I have since revised and expanded this project into a book titled Building the Body of Christ: Christian Art, Identity, and Community in Late Antique Italy (Fortress Academic, 2020). 

My academic work stems from my passion for an embodied discipleship and incarnational ministry. I grew up in the United Methodist Church, attended a diverse multi-denominational worshiping community during college, and trained for the ministry in the equally-diverse context of Harvard's Divinity School.

While pursuing my graduate studies in a secular academic context, I continued to answer a call to ministry by serving as a worship assistant, preacher, and Bible study leader in various local churches and campus ministries. I spent a summer as an ER chaplain, working also in the Intensive Care Unit. I am now an ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church, serving congregations in the western suburbs of Chicago.

I bring together my academic interests and my vocation in ministry through classes that use the arts to teach about the history and beliefs of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. I also offer classes that use the arts to encourage  spiritual exploration and intellectual growth through interactive classes on the Bible, Church History, and Theology. For those who want a first-hand experience of Christian art, I offer guided trips to Italy where participants explore the historical sites of ancient Christianity, consider the impact of Roman Catholicism on the global church, and enjoy fantastic (and romantic) Italian culture.

Amidst my ministry I continue to read and write about early Christian art and architecture, but in my spare time I enjoy fly fishing, camping, playing the piano, and romping with my young children. My wife is also a pastor (we met in seminary!), and she serves a Presbyterian congregation in the suburbs of Chicago.

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Education

2018
Ph.D. from the Department of Art History, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Advisor: Thomas E. A. Dale
Thesis: Building the Body of Christ: Art, Architecture, and the Formation of Christian Identity in Late Antique Italy

2011
Master of Divinity (M.Div.), Harvard University Divinity School
Primary Field: Early Christianity
Thesis: A Sacred Contest in a Contested Space: the Appropriation and Reuse of the Temple of Apollo at Didyma

2008
BA (with distinction), University of Rochester, NY, magna cum laude
Major: Religion and Classics
Thesis: "Rethinking the Relationship Between Jew and Gentile in the Pauline Corpus" (awarded with honors)

Ministry

2023-present
Associate Pastor: Gary Memorial UMC in Wheaton, IL

2021-2023
Pastor: Aldersgate UMC in Wheaton, IL

2018-2021
Associate Pastor: Grace UMC in Naperville, IL

2017-2018
Associate Pastor: Hinsdale UMC in Hinsdale, IL
(Provisional Elder in the Northern Illinois Conference of the United Methodist Church)

2016-2017
Worship Assistant: Hinsdale UMC in Hinsdale, IL

2014-2016
House Fellow: The Saint Francis House Episcopal Student Center in Madison, WI

2011-2013
Theologian in Residence: The Crossing Campus Ministries, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Volunteer at First United Methodist Church in Madison, WI

2010-2011
Seminarian: Harvard-Epworth United Methodist Church in Cambridge, MA

2009-2010
Seminarian: King's Chapel in Boston, MA