Richard Viladesau

A native of New York, Fr. Richard Viladesau completed his philosophical studies at the Immaculate Conception Seminary (Huntington), and pursued his theological degrees at the Gregorian University in Rome (S.T.L., 1970; S.T.D., 1975). He was ordained a priest at St. Peter’s Basilica in 1969. He taught for twelve years at the Immaculate Conception Seminary before joining the theology faculty at Fordham in 1988. He engages in ministry in both the Latin and Byzantine Ruthenian rites. His work has centered on philosophical theology, in particular the question of the knowledge of God and the concept of revelation, both in Christian and non-Christian traditions. In recent years he has become known primarily for his contributions to the field of theological aesthetics: theoretical (epistemology of aesthetics) and historical (theology and the arts).

STD - Pontifical Gregorian University
STB, STL - Pontifical Gregorian University
BA - Cathedral College

• Philosophical (“Fundamental”) Theology
• Comparative Theologies of God (Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam)
• Theological Aesthetics
• Soteriology (Christian and non-Christian)

Theological Aesthetics. God in Imagination, Beauty, and Art (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999).

The Beauty of the Cross. The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts. From the Catacombs to the Eve of the Renaissance. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2005).

The Triumph of the Cross. The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts. From the Renaissance to the Counter-Reformation. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008).

The Pathos of the Cross. The Passion of Christ in Theology and the Arts. The Baroque Era. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).

"Cross. IV. In art." -- Encyclopedia of the Bible and its Reception (de Gruyter). Aug. 2012.

“Religion and aesthetics” Chapter 2 of The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts. Edited by Frank Burch Brown. (Oxford University Press, 2013).

“Engagement with the Arts” in The Routledge Companion to the Practice of Christian Theology, edited by Mike Higton and Jim Fodor (Routledge, 2015).

“Revelation and Inspiration among Theologians and Poets: Word Becoming Flesh Becoming Word” in Poetry: Word Made Flesh: Flesh Made Word (Ashgate, 2015).

“Art and God.” Artenol, volume 1, no. 1 (July, 2015).