Current Dissertationists:
The following students have successfully passed their candidacy exams and are working on their dissertations. Their work represents the diversity of research interests in the theology department.
Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity
John Conroy
"The wages of sin is death..." (Rom. 6:23): Paul and Philo on the Death of the Soul
Advisor: Gregory Sterling
David George
Jesus' Lack of Emotion in Luke: The Lucan Redactions in Light of the Hellenistic Philosophers
Advisor: Gregory Sterling
Bradley Gregory
The Theological Relationship Between Poverty and Charity in the Wisdom of Ben Sira: Its Biblical Roots and Second Temple Context
Advisor: Gary Anderson
for further information: c.v.
Todd Hanneken
The Book of Jubilees Among Apocalypses: an Examination of the Boundaries of Ancience Jewish Thought and Literature
Advisor: James VanderKam
for further information: personal webpage
Paul Kim
Paul and Hellenistic Judaism on Desire
Advisor: David Aune
Brad Milunski, O.F.M. Conv.
Covenant Making at Sinai: Its Textual Reception in Early Judaism
Advisor: James VanderKam
Daniel O'Hare
"Have You Seen, Son of Man": Theological Themes in LLX Ezekiel 40-48
Advisor: Gary Anderson
Teresa Reeve
Luke 3:21-4:25 and the Rite of Passage in Ancient Literature, Liminality and Transformation
Advisor: M.R. D'Angelo
Ardea Russo
Behind the Heavenly Door: Earthly Liturgy and Heavenly Worship in the Apocalypse of John
Advisor: David Aune
David Andrew Teeter
Exegesis in the Transmission of Biblical Law in the Second Temple Period
Advisor: Gary Anderson
Molly Zahn
The Forms and Methods of Early Jewish Reworkings of the Pentateuch in Light of 4Q158
Advisor: James VanderKam
History of Christianity
Kimberly Baker
Augustine on Action, Contemplation, and Their Meeting Point in Christ
Advisor: John Cavadini
for further information: c.v.
Lee Blackburn
“I Will Behold the Wonder of Your Law”: Cyril of Alexandria on Mosaic cult and Aaronic Priesthood
Advisor: Brian Daley
Shawn Colberg
"Be Glad and Rejoice for Your Reward is Very Great in Heaven:" Catholic Views of "Reward" in Medieval and Reformation Theology
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow
Amy Donaldson
Explicit references to New Testament Variant Readings Among Greek and Latin Church Fathers
Advisor: Brian Daley
Wes Foreman
Christian Hexameral Commentary
Advisor: Brian Daley
Michael Heintz
The Pedagogy of the Soul: Origen's Homilies on the Psalms
Advisors: John Cavadini & Brian Daley
for further information: c.v.
David Kneip
The Spirit, the Bible, and the Church: Neglected Aspects of Cyril of Alexandria's Pneumatology
Advisor: Brian Daley
Daria Lucas
The Grace of the Holy Spirit, the Virtue of Charity, and the Gift of Wisdom: Pneumatology and Divinization in Aquinas' Summa Theologiae
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow
Damon McGraw
John Henry Newman: Apocalyptic Theologian
Advisor: Cyril O'Regan
Scott Moringiello
Irenaeus Rhetor
Advisor: Robin Darling Young
Christopher Wells
Reading and Writing the Form of the Word: Sacrament and Imitation in Summa Theolgiae III and Related Texts
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow
Liturgical Studies
Kimberly Belcher
Sacramental Perichoresis: The Trinitarian Structure of the Reformed Roman Rite of Infant Baptism
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Nancy Johnson
Living Death: Baptism and the Christian LIfe int he Cappadocians
Advisor: Maxwell Johnson
Sue Rozeboom
Concipiat Fides, Spiritum Vere Unire Quae Locis Disiuncta Sunt: The Derivation of John Calvin's Understanding of the Role of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Nicholas Russo
The Origins of Lent
Advisor: Maxwell Johnson
Frankie White
Gift and Givenness in Contemporary Sacramental Theology: An Evaluation and Comparative Analysis of Gift Imagery in Louis-Marie Chauvet, Jean-Luc Marion and David N. Power
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Walter Whitehouse
Tradition in Service of Reform: Pius X and Participation
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Michael Whitehouse
Manus Impositio: The Ritual Use of Handlaying in Postbaptismal and Related Rites in the Early Western Churches
Advisor: Maxwell Johnson
Moral Theology
William Jarrod Brown
Among the Nations: Translation and the Paradigmatic Witness of the Church in the Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder
Advisor: Gerald McKenny
Charles Camosy
"Treatment of Imperiled Newborns: the Social Quality of Life Model in Light of Catholic Social Teaching."
Advisor: Maura Ryan
for further information: c.v.
Patrick Clark
Sharing the Sufferings of Christ: Martyrdom as an Art of Moral and Theological Virtue
Advisor: Jean Porter
for further information: c.v.
Anselma Dolcich-Ashley
Ethics and the Crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church
Advisor: Jean Porter
James Helmer
The Rights of Peoples?: A Christian Theological Analysis of Cultural Rights
Advisor: Jean Porter
Matthew Loverin
Obedient unto Death: The Person and Work of Jesus Christ in Karl Barth's Theological Ethics
Advisor: Gerald McKenny
Systematic Theology
Rhodora Beaton
The Sacramentality of words in Roman Catholic Theology since Vatican II: Insights from Karl Rahner and Louis-Marie Chauvet
Advisor: Mary Catherine Hilkert
Kristin Brantman Colberg
Toward a Theology of Local Church: Examining the Relationship between Catholicity and Locality at Vatican II and its Significance for Contemporary Theology
Advisor: Robert Krieg
Krista Duttenhaver
Christian Platonism as a Radical Politics: Simone Weil and the Mystical-Political
Advisor: Cyril O'Regan
for further information: c.v.
Harold Ernst
The Providence of God and the Passion of Christ: Divine Providence in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow & Cyril O'Regan
Kenneth Garcia
The Desire of the Mind for God and the Telos of the Catholic University
Advisor: Lawrence Cunningham
Anthony Lee
From Sacrament of Salvation to Sign that Interrupts: The Evolution in Edward Shillebeeckx's Theology of the Relationship between the Church and the World
Advisor: M. Catherine Hilkert
Sarah Morice-Brubaker
Place of the Spirit: A Trinitarian Theology of Location
Advisors: Gerald McKenny & Cyril O'Regan
LaReine-Marie Mosely
Salvation Despite the Death of Jesus? the Cross in the Soteriology of Edward Schillebeeckx: an African American Christian Female Perspective
Advisor: M. Catherine Hilkert
Danielle Nussberger
Saint as Theological Wellspring: A Critical Appraisal of Hans Urs Von Balthasar
Advisor: Cyril O'Regan
Steven Rodenborn
Hope in Action: Subversive Eschatology in the Political Theologies of Johann Baptist Metz and Edward Schillebeeckx
Advisor: M. Catherine Hilkert
Ernesto Valiente
Truth, Justic, and Forgiveness: Reconcilation in the Christology of Jon Sobrino
Advisor: Matthew Ashley
___________________________________________________________________________
Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity
John Conroy
"The wages of sin is death..." (Rom. 6:23): Paul and Philo on the Death of the Soul
Advisor: Gregory Sterling
David George
Jesus' Lack of Emotion in Luke: The Lucan Redactions in Light of the Hellenistic Philosophers
Advisor: Gregory Sterling
Bradley Gregory
The Theological Relationship Between Poverty and Charity in the Wisdom of Ben Sira: Its Biblical Roots and Second Temple Context
Advisor: Gary Anderson
for further information: c.v.
Todd Hanneken
The Book of Jubilees Among Apocalypses: an Examination of the Boundaries of Ancience Jewish Thought and Literature
Advisor: James VanderKam
for further information: personal webpage
Paul Kim
Paul and Hellenistic Judaism on Desire
Advisor: David Aune
Brad Milunski, O.F.M. Conv.
Covenant Making at Sinai: Its Textual Reception in Early Judaism
Advisor: James VanderKam
Teresa Reeve
Luke 3:21-4:25 and the Rite of Passage in Ancient Literature, Liminality and Transformation
Advisor: M.R. D'Angelo
Ardea Russo
Behind the Heavenly Door: Earthly Liturgy and Heavenly Worship in the Apocalypse of John
Advisor: David Aune
David Andrew Teeter
Exegesis in the Transmission of Biblical Law in the Second Temple Period
Advisor: Gary Anderson
Molly Zahn
The Forms and Methods of Early Jewish Reworkings of the Pentateuch in Light of 4Q158
Advisor: James VanderKam
History of Christianity
Kimberly Baker
Augustine on Action, Contemplation, and Their Meeting Point in Christ
Advisor: John Cavadini
for further information: c.v.
Lee Blackburn
“I Will Behold the Wonder of Your Law”: Cyril of Alexandria on Mosaic cult and Aaronic Priesthood
Advisor: Brian Daley
Shawn Colberg
"Be Glad and Rejoice for Your Reward is Very Great in Heaven:" Catholic Views of "Reward" in Medieval and Reformation Theology
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow
Amy Donaldson
Explicit references to New Testament Variant Readings Among Greek and Latin Church Fathers
Advisor: Brian Daley
Wes Foreman
Christian Hexameral Commentary
Advisor: Brian Daley
Michael Heintz
The Pedagogy of the Soul: Origen's Homilies on the Psalms
Advisors: John Cavadini & Brian Daley
for further information: c.v.
Daria Lucas
The Grace of the Holy Spirit, the Virtue of Charity, and the Gift of Wisdom: Pneumatology and Divinization in Aquinas' Summa Theologiae
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow
Damon McGraw
John Henry Newman: Apocalyptic Theologian
Advisor: Cyril O'Regan
Scott Moringiello
Irenaeus Rhetor
Advisor: Robin Darling Young
Christopher Wells
Reading and Writing the Form of the Word: Sacrament and Imitation in Summa Theolgiae III and Related Texts
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow
Liturgical Studies
Kimberly Belcher
Sacramental Perichoresis: The Trinitarian Structure of the Reformed Roman Rite of Infant Baptism
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Nancy Johnson
Living Death: Baptism and the Christian LIfe int he Cappadocians
Advisor: Maxwell Johnson
Sue Rozeboom
Concipiat Fides, Spiritum Vere Unire Quae Locis Disiuncta Sunt: The Derivation of John Calvin's Understanding of the Role of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Nicholas Russo
The Origins of Lent
Advisor: Maxwell Johnson
Frankie White
Gift and Givenness in Contemporary Sacramental Theology: An Evaluation and Comparative Analysis of Gift Imagery in Louis-Marie Chauvet, Jean-Luc Marion and David N. Power
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Walter Whitehouse
Tradition in Service of Reform: Pius X and Participation
Advisor: Nathan Mitchell
Michael Whitehouse
Manus Impositio: The Ritual Use of Handlaying in Postbaptismal and Related Rites in the Early Western Churches
Advisor: Maxwell Johnson
Moral Theology
William Jarrod Brown
Among the Nations: Translation and the Paradigmatic Witness of the Church in the Social Ethics of John Howard Yoder
Advisor: Gerald McKenny
Charles Camosy
"Treatment of Imperiled Newborns: the Social Quality of Life Model in Light of Catholic Social Teaching."
Advisor: Maura Ryan
for further information: c.v.
Patrick Clark
Sharing the Sufferings of Christ: Martyrdom as an Art of Moral and Theological Virtue
Advisor: Jean Porter
for further information: c.v.
Anselma Dolcich-Ashley
Ethics and the Crisis in the U.S. Catholic Church
Advisor: Jean Porter
James Helmer
The Rights of Peoples?: A Christian Theological Analysis of Cultural Rights
Advisor: Jean Porter
Matthew Loverin
Obedient unto Death: The Person and Work of Jesus Christ in Karl Barth's Theological Ethics
Advisor: Gerald McKenny
Systematic Theology
Rhodora Beaton
The Sacramentality of words in Roman Catholic Theology since Vatican II: Insights from Karl Rahner and Louis-Marie Chauvet
Advisor: Mary Catherine Hilkert
Kristin Brantman Colberg
Toward a Theology of Local Church: Examining the Relationship between Catholicity and Locality at Vatican II and its Significance for Contemporary Theology
Advisor: Robert Krieg
Krista Duttenhaver
Christian Platonism as a Radical Politics: Simone Weil and the Mystical-Political
Advisor: Cyril O'Regan
for further information: c.v.
Harold Ernst
The Providence of God and the Passion of Christ: Divine Providence in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas
Advisor: Joseph Wawrykow & Cyril O'Regan
Kenneth Garcia
The Desire of the Mind for God and the Telos of the Catholic University
Advisor: Lawrence Cunningham
Anthony Lee
From Sacrament of Salvation to Sign that Interrupts: The Evolution in Edward Shillebeeckx's Theology of the Relationship between the Church and the World
Advisor: M. Catherine Hilkert
Sarah Morice-Brubaker
Place of the Spirit: A Trinitarian Theology of Location
Advisors: Gerald McKenny & Cyril O'Regan
LaReine-Marie Mosely
Salvation Despite the Death of Jesus? the Cross in the Soteriology of Edward Schillebeeckx: an African American Christian Female Perspective
Advisor: M. Catherine Hilkert
Danielle Nussberger
Saint as Theological Wellspring: A Critical Appraisal of Hans Urs Von Balthasar
Advisor: Cyril O'Regan
Christopher Pramuk
Hagia Sophia: Imagination, Poetics, and Presence in the Christology of Thomas Merton
Advisor: Lawrence Cunningham
Steven Rodenborn
Hope in Action: Subversive Eschatology in the Political Theologies of Johann Baptist Metz and Edward Schillebeeckx
Advisor: M. Catherine Hilkert
Ernesto Valiente
Truth, Justic, and Forgiveness: Reconcilation in the Christology of Jon Sobrino
Advisor: Matthew Ashley