Theology News and Accomplishments

Department News

Highlights Fall 2025

Professor Emeritus Richard Viladesau has published a book of homilies for the coming liturgical year: New Homilies for Sundays, Year A.

Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology and McGinley Chair of Religion and Society, delivered an October 7 lecture titled, “Visioning a Future Filled with Hope and Justice in the Global South: Expectations in the Age of Pope Leo.”

Professor Aristotle Papanikolaou participated in the "International Consultation on LGBTI+ Inclusion and Allyship in Church" conference sponsored by the European Forum of LGBTI+ Christian Groups, Amsterdam, October 10–12 2025.

Associate Professor Sarah Eltantawi did an interview on al-Jazeera regarding the ceasefire in Gaza and the "Peace Summit" in Egypt.

Assistant Professor Ki-Eun Jang published an article, "Biblical Aramaic Gentilics Reconsidered: Nonethnic Labels, Relational Adjectives, and the Mechanisms of Classification," Aramaic Studies 23.1 (2025): 1–21.

PhD Candidate Srdjan Maksimovic presented a paper titled “Exile Remembered: The Patristic and Liturgical Reception of Christ the Refugee as a Theology of Sanctuary” at the Migration and Christianity Graduate Conference 2025 held at Gordon College.

Professor Aristotle Papanikolaou, Professor of Theology and Archbishop Demetrios Chair in Orthodox Theology and Culture, served as a panelist on the book session Conversation with the Author: Raimundo C. Barreto’s Engaging “Base Ecumenism."
PhD Alumnus and Adjunct Instructor Dave de la Fuente presented a paper titled “Pentacostalization and the ‘Nicene Option’” in the session Charismatic Christianity and Questions of Identity in the Power unit. He also chaired the Leaders and Members: Practical Issues in Ecclesiology session in the Interreligious and Intercultural Reflections unit.
Adjunct Instructor and Former Graduate Research Fellow Aaron Hollander served as Chair of the conference's organizing committee and moderated several panels including the opening plenary session (featuring a lecture by former Fordham Theology faculty member, Prof. Leo D. Lefebure).
PhD Alumnus and Adjunct Instructor Jack Pappas presented a paper titled “On the Phenomenology and Hermeneutics of Dogma: Rethinking Theological Norms Beyond Ecclesial-Political Power” in the session Struggles for Dogma in the Dissent unit.
PhD Candidate Matthew Brown presented a paper titled “Between Self and Other: Nicaea’s Theological Boundaries and the Flourishing of Identity” in the session New Avenues for Ecclesiological Problems in the Identity unit.
PhD Candidate Rachel Contos presented a paper titled “Orthodoxy and Culture: Toward a Typology of Orthodoxy Systems Ethics” in the session New Avenues for Ecclesiological Problems in the Identity unit.
PhD Candidate Timothy Couper presented a paper titled “Perichoretic Aναρχία: The Queerness of Trinitarian Inclusivity Beyond Monarchy” in the session Struggles for Dogma in the Dissent unit.

The long-running Fordham-led initiative Taking Responsibility: Jesuit Institutions Confront the Causes and Legacy of Clergy Sexual Abuse, led by Dr. John Seitz (Associate Professor, Department of Theology), Dr. Sónia da Silva Monteiro (Postdoctoral Fellow at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Lisbon and GSAS Theology Ph.D. 2024), and Dr. Carolina Montero Orphanopoulos, Académica Investigadora, Universidad Católica Silva Henríquez, Santiago, Chile), received and external grant in the amount of $160,000. The grant will support a new international project that will bring together experts from a variety of fields to explore the relationship between Restorative Justice and Jesuit spiritual and intellectual traditions in cases of clergy sexual abuse.

Several Fordham representatives presented their work at the Gender and Catholicism Conference at Fairfield University on October 8th. Participation included the following:

PhD Alumni Mary Kate Holman and Brianne Jacobs moderated concurrent sessions and served as panelists on “Thinking Forward, Possibilities and Challenges for Catholic Theology.”
PhD Candidate Timothy Perron presented a paper titled “Comparing John Paul’s Understanding of the ‘Maternal Instinct’ to Contemporary Biological Studies” in the session Critical Analysis/Magisterium.
PhD Student Kara Gordon presented a paper titled “Under the Table: The Canaanite Woman’s Subversion” in the session Subversion in Historical Perspective.
Undergraduate Student Allison Schneider presented a paper titled “Body and Blood: Sacrament, Sex, and Suffering in Toni Morrison's Black Catholic Novels” in the session Bodies & Care.

Professor Brenna Moore and PhD student Gabrielle Bibeau, along with Pep Mària, SJ, Professor in the Department of Society, Politics and Sustainability at Esade University in Spain co-authored a new publication, "The Art of Encounter: Experiments and Best Practices for Engaging Religious Diversity and Secularization in Jesuit Education," for the IAJU [International Association of Jesuit Universities] network. Fordham undergraduate Theology majors Elliott Lehman (FCLC ’25) and Kaitlyn Squyres (FCRH ’26) contributed as researchers, alongside a team of students from Jesuit universities across Spain, Uruguay, India, Zimbabwe, and the United States.

PhD Alum and adjunct instructor Dave de la Fuente presented the following papers: “Pentecostalizing Catholicity and Mission: Willie James Jennings and Amos Yong on the ‘Baptism of the Multitude,’” Catholic Theological Society of America in Portland, Oregon (June 12–15, 2025); “Ignatian Spirituality and a Hermeneutic Phenomenology of Grace: Reading the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola With Ricoeur and Marion,” Phenomenology, Religious Experience, and Spiritual Practices International Conference at Fordham University (June 15–18, 2025); “The Freedom of Charism, History, and Authenticity: Lonergan, Pope Francis, and Catholic Ecclesiology in Light of the Catholic Charismatic Covenant Community,” Ecclesiological Investigations Unit, American Academy of Religion Online June Meeting (June 24–26, 2025).

Dave de la Fuente also launched a podcast called Inquiry, which explores the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults in theology and in practice, especially as it is experienced in the Church of St. Paul the Apostle, NYC where he directs this ministry.

Linh Hoang (PhD 2006) has been elected president of the global organization INSECT, International Network of Societies of Catholic Theology. Dr. Hoang, OFM, is professor of Religious Studies at Siena University, Loudonville, NY.

Professor George Demacopoulos has two new books: Sacralizing Violence in Byzantium : Hymns, Empire, and the Narrowing of Christian Identity (Harvard University Press, 2025) and a co-edited volume with our colleague Prof Telly Papanikolaou entitled Nicaea and the Future of Christianity (Fordham, 2025).

Fr. Thomas Massaro, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology, published the article "The Trouble with American Exceptionalism" in the September issue of America magazine (pp. 36-41).

Professor Bryan Massingale and Professor Cristina Traina, in collaboration with Commonweal magazine and senior colleagues from Loyola Chicago, participated in the podcast series, “The Counterweight: Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching in a Time of Crisis.” You’ll find the first two episodes here and here.

Professor Bryan Massingale also received the “Blessed Are the Peacemakers” award from CTU for his work in racial and LGBTQ justice. He has also been appointed Senior Democracy Fellow at the Public Religion Research Institute for 2025–2026.

Professor Cristina Traina recently co-edited The Meaning of Being Human: Synodal Considerations with Elsie Miranda (Paulist Press, 2025).

Professor Larry Welborn, Emeritus Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, presented a paper entitled “Our Outer Person is Wasting Away: Paul, Cicero and Seneca on Old Age and Death” at the 74th meeting of the Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense in Leuven, Belgium on July 31, 2025.

Associate Professor Sarah Eltantawi published a new essay, Zohran Mamdani and Strategic Islamophobia, in University of Notre Dames’s Contending Modernities.

Associate Professor Leo Guardado published an edited volume of Gustavo Gutiérrez’s final writings, Vivir y Pensar El Dios de Los Pobres with a preface by the late Pope Francis.

Associate Professor Karina Martin Hogan presented a paper, "Interpretaciones feministas del libro de Rut en América Latina frente al fundamentalismo" at the III Congreso Internacional de Estudios Bíblicos in San José, Costa Rica, in June. She also presented "Contextual Readings of the Book of Ruth in Southern Africa" as one of the major papers at the Catholic Biblical Association Annual General Meeting in Chicago in August.

Assistant Professor Ki-Eun Jang has published the following articles: “The Buried Abimelech Tradition in Judges 10:1: A Case of Literary Doubling,” Vetus Testamentum (published online ahead of print 2025) and “The Problems of Sons of Gods, Daughters of Humans, and the Nephilim in Genesis 6:1–4: A Reassessment,” Religions 16(8), 972.

Professor Jang also presented the following papers: “Between Labels and Legacies: Rethinking Canaanite Historiography in Museum Narratives" at the Society of Biblical Literature International Meeting (Museums and the Bible Unit), Jun. 23–27, 2025, and "Representing Canaanites: Historiography, Heritage, and Hermeneutics” at the Catholic Biblical Association America Internationla Meeting, Aug. 2-5. At the CBA Meeting, she also participated in the Divinity in Ancient Israel continuing seminar as a respondent to Xenia Chan's paper, “The Incarnation of Many Living Gestures: A Counterpoetic Reading of Jer 17:12-18 with Madeleine Thien’s ‘On Structure.’”

Dr. Dorothy Chang received the Louisville Postdoctoral Fellowship and will be teaching at Yale Divinity School/Berkley Divinity School for the next two years.

Two graduate students defended their dissertations! In August, Dr. Matthew Charles, mentored by Prof. Rufus Burnett, defended his dissertation, Theological Imagination from the Gutter: Toward a Decolonial Comic Book Christology. Dr. Megan Gooley, mentored by Prof. Christine Firer Hinze, defended her dissertation, Integral Human Development: Vocation and Vision of Human Flourishing in the Catholic Social Tradition and International Development Praxis.

Gregory Fox (History/Theology major) completed an undergraduate summer research project “Incarnation and History: Tomás Malagón’s Theology of Resistance,” while Seamus Dougherty explored James Baldwin and Love, developing a Harlem-based tour of Baldwin’s life and work.

Highlights Spring 2025

PhD alumnus Paul Schutz's, new book, A Theology of Flourishing: The Fullness of Life for All Creation has been published by Orbis Books.

Professor Aristotle Papanikolaou participated in and episode of the Inside the Vatican podcast, "Deep Dive: The Council of Nicaea and the Struggle for a Common Date of Easter."

Lecturer Marie-Ange Rakotoniaina and Professor Michael Peppard each received a "Beacon Exemplar" award from Fordham United Student Government during a ceremony on April 3. This is an honor, nominated by students, for faculty and staff who go "above and beyond for the Fordham community."

Associate Professor Kathryn Reklis delivered the invited paper “They will know you by your love for robots: technology, relationality, and the limits of humanity” at the conference AI and the Ends of Humanity at Yale Divinity School.

PhD Alumna Ashley M. Purpura has published her new book Women in the Orthodox Tradition: Feminism, Theology, and Equality. The Orthodox Christian Studies Center’s Faculty Fellowships in 2020-2021 helped support the writing of this book.

Professor Michael Peppard was interviewed for the Commonweal podcast in an episode titled, “When the Good Book Isn’t a Book.” Available here or wherever you get your podcasts.

PhD Alumna Lynne Moss Bahr was recently appointed dean of the Bishop Kemper School for Ministry, a seminary for six Episcopal dioceses in Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, and Iowa.

Assistant Professor Leo Guardado was awarded the Faculty Teaching Award from Fordham School of Arts and Sciences in the Humanities.

Adjunct Professor Aaron Hollander has been promoted as the first lay director of the Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute (GEII), a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.

Professor Larry Welborn, Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, has published the following article: L. L. Welborn, "To Repoliticize Paul: 1 Corinthians 11:19 and a Subterranean Stream of Greek Political Thought," Novum Testamentum 67 (2025) 163-181.

PhD Alumna Sónia da Silva Monteiro published an essay titled "Forgiving Out of Nothing" on the Orthodox Christian Studies Center’s Public Orthodoxy website.

PhD Alumnus Daniel Rober published an essay titled "The ‘Transitus’ of Francis" on the Commonweal website.

Professor Bryan Massingale and Professor Cristina Traina were guests on the podcast, "The Francis Effect," where they discussed the first month of President Trump's second term.

PhD Candidate Srdjan Maksimovic published an op-ed titled Not a Barricade, But a Bridge: The Serbian Orthodox Church and the Student Protests on the Orthodox Christian Studies Center’s Public Orthodoxy website.

PhD Candidate Menios Papadimitriou gave a lecture titled, “Religion in the Greek-American Diaspora,” at Yale University sponsored by the Hellenic Studies Program on February 17th.

Ph.D. Student Sadie Yates published "Women Walking: Experiences of Sacred Time on Mexican Guadalupan Pilgrimage" in the International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage 12/4 (2025): 19-28. Sadie presented this paper at the 11th annual Sacred Journeys conference in Kyoto, Japan, in July 2024.
Associate Professor Rufus Burnett provided the introduction for Dr. Andrew Prevot's lecture, Faith Seeking Liberation: Xavier University of Louisiana's Contribution to Theology at Xavier University on January 30, 2025.

Adjunct Professor and PhD Alumnus David de la Fuente's paper presentation from the 2024 Ecclesiological Investigations international conference was published in Ecumenical Trends 54:1 (January-February 2025).The title of the essay is "Missed Receptions of Ecclesial Diversity: Rerouting the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Through Azusa Street to Filipino Charismatics." This periodical is published by Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute, a ministry of the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement.
McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Thomas Massaro, S.J.'s latest book, Pope Francis as Moral Leader (Paulist Press, Oct. 2023), was featured as the subject of a breakout session at the annual meeting of the Society of Christian Ethics held on January 9-12 in Chicago.

Professor Michael Peppard published "Torches, Not Lamps, in the Wedding Parable of Matthew 25," in the Journal of Biblical Literature 143 (2024): 663-79. Professor Peppard also published a cover story in the January 4 issue of The Tablet (UK), titled "Before Gutenberg: Catholics and the Bible." It is paywalled, but available through the Fordham library here.

Larry Welborn, Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity, has published a review essay on Honouring Age by Mona Tokarek LaFosse in Novum Testamentum 67/1 (2025) 125-132.

PhD student Menios Papadimitriou presented a paper at the American Historical Association Annual Meeting in a joint section of Modern Greek Studies and Progressive Era history entitled, “Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith: The Sovereign Role of Religion in the Greek Diaspora."

PhD alumna Dr. Stephanie Ann Puen published her first monograph: The Ethics of Disruption in Business: Contributions from Design Thinking and Catholic Social Thought (Pickwick/Wipf and Stock, Nov. 2024).
Several Fordham Theology faculty and students presented at the American Catholic Historical Society Annual Meeting held on January 3–5 in New York City:

Professor Brenna Moore chaired the "Reimagining Catholic History" panel.
Emeritus Professor James Fisher won the 2024 Distinguished Teaching Award. In addition, he presented the paper "Saving St. Peter’s: Parochial Education and Irish South Brooklyn, 1875–90" on the "Catholic Education in the Diocese of Brooklyn" panel and served on the panel, "Haunted by the Ghost: An(other) Irish Turn in Catholic Studies."
Professor Jeannine Hill Fletcher served as a panelist on the "Warp Catholicism: Fantastic Voyages in Space and Time" panel.
Associate Professor Jim McCartin chaired and presented as commenter on the panel, "American Catholicisms: New Directions for Religious History."
Associate Professor John Seitz chaired the "Beyond Archival Silences: Clergy Abuse and Catholic History" panel.
PhD student Gabby Bibeau presented as commenter on the "Religious Charisms in Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities for Lay Involvement and Leadership" panel.
PhD student Alex Gruber presented the paper “This Is How Our Minds Shall Be”: Journeying into the Ongoing Relationship between the Oneida Nation and the Norbertine Order on the Encounters: Colonies, Borderlands, and Indigeneity panel. Alex also presented the paper "The Value of Charism for Catholic Institutions of Higher Education" on the "Religious Charisms in Higher Education: Challenges and Opportunities for Lay Involvement and Leadership" panel.