Rachel Baard joined the faculty of Union Presbyterian Seminary in the Fall of 2019, having previously taught at Villanova University. As a South African whose theology was shaped by the theologies of resistance to apartheid, she has a particular interest in the intersection of theology and ethics.

Her research areas include systematic and constructive theology, theological ethics, and political theologies. Her first book, titled Sexism and Sin-Talk: Feminist Conversations on the Human Condition, was published by Westminster John Knox Press in 2019, and she is the editor of a volume, The Political Theology of Paul Tillich, which is tentatively scheduled for publication by Lexington Press in 2021. She is also the author of multiple articles and has given scholarly presentations around the United States and in South Africa on a variety of topics, including feminist theologies, Reformed confessions, Protestant perspectives on Mary, and the thought of Augustine through the lens of the African concept of ubuntu. Her current research focuses on the responses of the German theologians Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Paul Tillich to Nazism, and in particular their perspectives on Judaism. She is a member of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).