Ann Astell
John Cardinal O'Hara Professor of Theology
Primary Area: History of Christianity
Biography
Ann W. Astell was Professor of English at Purdue University (1988–2007) before joining the faculty of the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of the Secular Institute of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary and past president of both the Colloquium on Violence and Religion and of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality.
Research Interests
Hagiography, Twelfth-century Cistercians, Biblical commentary, Mysticism, René Girard, Edith Stein, Simone Weil
Selected Publications
The Saint’s Life and the Senses of Scripture: Hagiography as Exegesis (2024)
Introduction in Exposition of Selected Psalms by Honorius Augustodunensis, ed. David Welch, 1–28 (MIP, 2023).
“Mysticism of Social Life” in The Oxford Handbook of Mystical Theology, ed. Edward Howells and Mark A. McIntosh, 607–25 (Oxford UP, 2020).
“‘Tota Pulchra Es’: Mary, the Song of Songs, and the Sacraments.” Marian Studies 68 (2017): 1–36.
Eating Beauty: The Eucharist and the Spiritual Arts of the Middle Ages (Cornell UP, 2006)
Education
- Ph. D., University of Wisconsin-Madison (1987)
- M.A., Marquette University (1981)
- B. S., University of Wisconsin-Madison (1974)