1. Home ›
  2. People ›
  3. David Lantigua

David Lantigua

Associate Professor
William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Center Director

Primary Area: Moral Theology/Christian Ethics

Secondary Area: World Religions and World Church

Headshot of a man with short, dark curly hair, smiling at the camera. He wears a light brown tweed jacket over a purple and white plaid button-down shirt. The backdrop is a plain light gray.
Office
433 Malloy Hall
Notre Dame, IN 46556
Phone
+1 574-631-8905
Email
lantigua.1@nd.edu
Website
Website

Download CV

Biography

Born of Latino immigrants, Prof. Lantigua graduated with a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame. He taught previously at The Catholic University of America, and has been a graduate fellow of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study and past recipient of the Louisville Institute Sabbatical Research Grant. He previously served as Co-Director of the Catholic Social Tradition minor in the Institute for Social Concerns. He is currently the William W. and Anna Jean Cushwa Director of the Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism.

Prof. Lantigua teaches undergraduate courses on God and Slavery in the Americas and Catholic Social Teaching. He has served on exam and dissertation committees for graduate students in the areas of Moral Theology, History of Christianity, World Religions and World Church, and the Departments of Political Science and History. Prof. Lantigua is currently writing a book on Latin American liberation theology told through the life and legacy of Pope Francis.

He enjoys playing with his children and cheering for them in extracurricular activities.

Research Interests

Modern Catholic social tradition; Spanish scholastic moral, legal, and political thought; human rights and social movements; Latin American theology and Indigenous cultures; (neo)colonialism and history of international law; comparative religious ethics

Selected Publications

Infidels and Empires in a New World Order: Early Modern Spanish Contributions to International Legal Thought. Cambridge University Press, 2020.

"The Racial Pride of Pagan Virtue: Augustine, Aquinas, and Amerindians in the Spanish Atlantic Empire," The Thomist 89, no. 2 (April 2025): 263-302.

"Between God and Kings: Francisco Suárez and the Enduring Legal Power of the People," Journal of Law and Religion 41, no. 3 (forthcoming)

“Translating Buen Vivir: Latin American Indigenous Cultures, Stadial Development, and Comparative Religious Ethics,” Journal of Religious Ethics, 51.2 (2023).

“Neoliberalism, Human Rights, and the Theology of Liberation in Latin America,” in Christianity and Human Rights Reconsidered, eds. Sarah Shortall and Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins. Cambridge University Press, 2020: 238-260.

 

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Notre Dame