J. Patrick Hornbeck II
Assistant Professor
Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies – Rose Hill
Duane Library 145
(718) 817-3360
hornbeck@fordham.edu
education
D.Phil. - Oxford University
M.St. - Oxford University
B.A. - Georgetown University
Research Interests
Late medieval and early modern Christianity; the English and continental reformations of the sixteenth century; Lollardy/Wycliffism; heresy and orthodoxy; contemporary American Roman Catholicism; religious affiliation and disaffiliation
Hornbeck’s scholarly work focuses on the interplay between the shifting categories of “heresy” and “orthodoxy” in medieval and early modern Christianity; and on affiliation, identity, and on issues of marginalization in contemporary Roman Catholicism. His historical scholarship has focused on the “Lollard” or “Wycliffite” movement, which represented the most serious challenge to the authority of the church in late medieval England. In his first book, What Is a Lollard? (Oxford University Press, 2010), he argued that traditional historiography, which has viewed lollardy as an organized movement of opposition, neglects important variations among communities of local dissenters. Hornbeck’s long-standing interests in the categories of heresy and dissent recently led him to begin developing a new specialization in the area of marginalized practices and identities in contemporary American Roman Catholicism. In this area, he has received grants to study (a) the theological, psychological, and sociological processes through which Roman Catholics move from affiliation and engagement with the Catholic Church to disaffiliation and disengagement; and (b) the legal, ethical, and theological dimensions of the place of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the American Catholic Church.
Background
Hornbeck, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, received his D.Phil. in Theology/Ecclesiastical History from the University of Oxford in 2007; he also earned his master’s at Oxford, where he was Senior Scholar of Christ Church and a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Graduate Scholar. Previously, he was valedictorian of Georgetown College, Georgetown University, graduating with degrees in theology and medieval studies in 2003. He currently serves as the Theology Department’s associate chair for undergraduate studies at the Rose Hill campus and is co-director of Fordham College at Rose Hill’s Matteo Ricci Seminar, in which he works with students who are interested in applying for nationally and internationally prestigious scholarships and fellowships.
Current scholarly projects include an introduction to the study of lollardy (A Companion to Lollardy, Brill, 2013); an online effort to digitize and make publicly available the writings of John Wyclif; and articles on aspects of medieval, early modern, and contemporary religion.
Publications
What Is a Lollard? Dissent and Belief in Late Medieval England (Oxford University Press, 2010)
Wycliffite Controversies, ed., with Mishtooni Bose (Medieval Church Studies, Brepols, forthcoming 2011)
Wycliffite Spirituality, ed. and trans., with Stephen E. Lahey and Fiona Somerset (Classics of Western Spirituality Series, Paulist Press, forthcoming 2012)
Courses
SPRING 2013
THEO 6463-R01: From Lollards to Luther, R 9:00-11:30
THEO 3360-R01: Reformation Texts, MR 2:30-3:45
FALL 2013
THEO 3860-R01: Contemporary Conversations in Theology, W 11:30-2:00PM
