Academic History

B.A. in Philosophy and Letters , St. Louis University, 1981
M.A., Franciscan Studies, St. Bonaventure University, (Olean, N.Y.), 1983    
S.T.B., Theology, College of Saint Bonaventure (Seraphicum), Rome, Italy , 1986      
S.T.L, Fundamental Theology, Gregorian University, Rome, Italy, 1988
S.T.D., Gregorian University, Rome, Italy, 1992          
Diploma, Schola Litterarum Latinarum, Gregorian University, 1988                                                      
 

Expertise

Medieval Theology and Franciscan Studies
Christian-Jewish Relations in the Middle Ages and the Contemporary World
Muslim-Christian Relations

Courses Taught at UST

THEO 101  Christian Theological Tradition
THEO 331  Christianity and World Religions
THEO 332  Judaism
THEO 334  Islam
THEO 337  Evil and the Suffering of God (Holocaust)
THEO 388  Pilgrimage in Italy (J-Term Course)
 

Selected Publications

General Editor, "The Medieval Franciscans" Series (E. J. Brill)  (four volumes to date on the themes the Friars and Jews, Dante and the Franciscan Tradition, Franciscan Art, and Franciscan Prayer)

Was Jesus of Nazareth the Messiah? Alphonso de Espina's Argument Against the Jews in the "Fortalitium Fidei"  (c.1464)   (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1994)

"The Sources for Alfonso de Espina's Messianic Argument Against the Jews in the Fortalitium Fidei"  In Iberia and the Mediterranean World of the Middle Ages: Studies in Honor of Robert I. Burns, S.J.   Ed. Larry J. Simon, 72-95.  (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995).

"Did Isaiah Foretell Jewish Blindness and Suffering for not Accepting Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah?  A Medieval Perspective"  Biblical Theology Bulletin, 26, No. 4 (1996).

"The End of a Pilgrimage, An Acknowledgment of Guilt."  America, Vol. 180, No. 1 (January 2-9, 1999).

"The Role of the Friars, Jesuits and Popes in the Evolution of Roman Catholic-Jewish Relations in Sixteenth-Century Italy" Mosaico (A Bilingual Publication of the Bishop M. Pilla Program in Italian American Studies, John Carroll University, Cleveland), Issue 2, Fall 2001.

 "The End of the World, Antichrist, and the Final Conversion of the Jews in the Fortalitium Fidei of Friar Alonso de Espina (d. 1464)" in Medieval Encounters: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Culture in Confluence and Dialogue, Vol. 12, No. 2 (2006), 224-273.

"Friar Alonso de Espina, Prayer, and Medieval Jewish, Muslim and Christian Polemical Literature" in Medieval Franciscan Prayer, Ed. Timothy Johnson (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2006), 271-303.

 
Selected Presentations

"Islam and Muslim-Christian Relations" at various parishes and schools in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Area (2001-2007)

"The Franciscan Tradition and Judaism," at Siena College, New York, 3 October 1996.

"Where Are We Now?  Jewish-Christian Relations during the Pontificate of John Paul II," at Temple Beth Torah (Wellington, Florida), June 16, 2000.

"The Role of the Friars, Jesuits and Popes in the Evolution of Roman Catholic-Jewish Relations in Sixteenth-Century Italy" at John Carroll University (Cleveland, Ohio), February 22, 2001.

"Muslim-Christian Relations: Overview, Dialogue, and Issues" at "Interfaith Dialogue for Ordinary People" at Saint John School of Theology Seminary, Collegeville, MN, 20 September 2002.

"Knowledge of the Other: Christian Understanding of Jews and Muslims in the Fifteenth Century," Convivium Conference ("Children of Abraham: Christians, Jews and Muslims in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Era"), Siena College (Loudonville, NY) October 8, 2005

 
Current Research Interests

The Resurrection of Jesus in medieval Christian-Jewish-Muslim polemical literature and in medieval theology and art in general

Easter Sermons in the fifteenth century, especially those of Roberto de Lecce, OFM