Academic History

 B.A., Magna cum laude, Theology, College of St. Benedict, St. Joseph, MN, 1980
 M.A., Theology (Scripture), St. John's University, Collegeville, MN, 1986
 M.A., Theology (Biblical Studies), University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 1992
 Ph.D., Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN, 2003
 
Expertise

  New Testament
  Early Christianity
  Syriac-speaking Christianity

Awards & Honors

 1999                Society of Biblical Literature Midwest Regional Graduate Student Essay Award
 1993-1996       Awarded Visiting Scholar Status at Oxford University (declined)
 1993                National Endowment for the Humanities Dissertation Grant Nomination
 1993                Fulbright Fellowship Application Award, University of Notre Dame
 1991                Ph.D. candidacy exams with Honors
 1989-1993       Catholic Biblical Association Memorial Stipend (renewed annually)
 1990                Novak Award for study in Israel
 1980                Delta Epsilon Sigma Honor Society

Selected Publications

 "Christian Epicleses in the Acts of Thomas and Other Ancient Christian Prayers," Apocrypha 18 (forthcoming, 2007).
 
 "Revisiting Preliminary Issues in the Acts of Thomas," Apocrypha 17 (forthcoming, 2006).
 
 "Early Christian Mystagogy," Rite (September/October, 2005).
 
 Friars and Jews in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, ed. with Steven J. McMichael (Leiden: Brill, 2004).
 
 "Initiation by Anointing in Early Syriac-Speaking Christianity," Studia Liturgica 31 (2001).
 
 Workbook for Lectors and Gospel Readers 2001 (Chicago:  Liturgy Training Publications, 2000).
 
 Workbook for Lectors and Gospel Readers 2000 (Chicago:  Liturgy Training Publications, 1999).
 
 Pronunciation Guide for the Sunday Lectionary (Chicago:  Liturgy Training Publications, 1998).
 
 At Home With the Word 1998 (Chicago:  Liturgy Training Publications, 1997).
 
 "Practices of Charity" in At Home With the Word 1997 (Chicago:  Liturgy Training Publications, 1996).

 "Mary, Gospel of" and "Second coming" in The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism (ed. Richard P. McBrien; San Francisco:  HarperCollins, 1995).


Professional Memberships

 North American Patristic Society
 Catholic Biblical Association
 Society of Biblical Literature