Theology \ Faculty \
J. Patrick Hornbeck, II
Assistant Professor
Duane Library, Rm. 134
(718) 817-3360
hornbeck@fordham.edu
A.B., Theology and Medieval Studies, summa cum laude, Georgetown University (2003)
M.St., Theology (Ecclesiastical History), “with distinction,” Oxford University (2004)
D.Phil, Theology (Ecclesiastical History), Oxford University (2007)
My scholarly work focuses on the interplay between “heresy” and “orthodoxy,” two constantly shifting categories, in medieval and early modern Christianity. My doctoral dissertation focused on the “Lollard” or “Wycliffite” movement, which represented the most serious challenge to the authority of the church in late medieval England. Inspired, often to a great extent, by the philosophical and theological views of the Oxford scholar John Wyclif (ca. 1320–1384), first intellectuals and later laypeople rejected many features of traditional religion: the doctrine of transubstantiation in the eucharist, for instance; or the authority of the pope; or time-honored views on other sacraments, like marriage and ordination. I seek to demonstrate that traditional historiography, which has viewed Lollardy/Wycliffism as an organized movement of opposition, neglects important variations among communities of local dissenters. In the course of this work, I also study the relationship between late medieval religion and the changes wrought by the various reformations of the sixteenth century.
Current Projects: My first monograph, Disputing the Sacraments in Late Medieval England, will study the ways in which dissenting beliefs both evolved over time and reflected geographical and other local idiosyncrasies.
As a means of making Wyclif’s views more widely accessible to scholars and others, I am also co-director of a project to digitize the Oxford scholar’s Latin writings; this project involves collaborations with scholars at half a dozen other institutions in the US and the UK. Along similar lines, I am about to submit to the editors of the Classics of Western Spirituality series a proposal to co-edit a volume of Wycliffite spiritual writings.
Finally, I am closely involved in the work of the international Lollard Society and other related organizations. I will be the co-organizer of a conference on Lollard studies to be held in July 2008 in Oxford; negotiations are ongoing to publish a volume of the proceedings, of which I would be co-editor.
Articles under Review:
“Theologies of Sexuality in English ‘Lollardy,’”
“Wycklyffes Wycket and Eucharistic Theology: Two Series of Cases from Sixteenth-Century Winchester”
Recent Publications:
“A Spotlight on Graduate Student Teaching,” edited with Jen Gonyer-Donohue, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching 13 (2006), 7–50
“Lollard Sermons? Soteriology and Late-Medieval Dissent,” Notes and Queries 53 (2006), 26–30
“Towards a Christian Pluralism: Revising Rahner’s Transcendental Theology,” Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa 29 (2005), 1–10 (Albert Clark Award Essay)
Review of Shannon McSheffrey and Norman Tanner, eds. and trans., Lollards of Coventry, 1486–1522, Journal of Ecclesiastical History 56 (2005), 156
“Orthodoxy and Heresy,” www.marginalia.co.uk/orthodoxy_heresy.php, December 2004
Courses Taught, Spring 2009:
THEO 1000-R11: Faith and Critical Reason, TF 1:00-2:15.
THEO 6464-R01: The Reformation, R 9:00-11:30.
