Theology
Thinking Theologically
Theological thinking seeks not only an understanding of the nature of religion. It also seeks an understanding of the relationship of the Christian tradition to a contemporary world where social, political, and economic structures are often unjust; where secular faiths arise and challenge the self-evidentness of the Christian faith; and where scientific and technological advances pose new problems for human self-understanding.
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News & Stories
Remembering Dr. David Tracy
Dr. David Tracy--a teacher, mentor, and friend to a number of theology department faculty members—passed away on April 29th. Tracy received an honorary degree in Humane Letters from Loyola University Chicago in 2011, and is known as one of the most prominent Catholic Theologians of the past 50 years. He will be dearly missed.
Dr. Mark Lester Winner of the 2025 Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise
The “Manfred Lautenschlaeger Award for Theological Promise” annually honors 10 young scholars from all over the world for outstanding dissertations or the first post-doctoral work in the thematic complex “God and Spirituality (broadly understood)”. Dr. Mark Lester was selected as one of those this year, for his work, "Deuteronomy and the Material Transmission of Tradition". Update: Dr. Lester recently went to Germany to be honored in a festive ceremony in the Old Auditorium of Heidelberg University on May 10th, 2025. The award ceremony was followed by a colloquium with the award winners at the International Science Forum Heidelberg (IWH), where they present their next research projects and discuss them with some evaluators and members of the FIIT.
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PhD Graduates!
We're so proud of our PhD students. They did it! Congratulations to Dr. Deogratias Mbonyumugenzi, Dr. Eric Zito, Dr. Megan Wines, Dr. Zac Haney, and Dr. John Loving!
"In the ultimate depths of his being man knows nothing more surely than that his knowledge, that is, what is called knowledge in everyday parlance, is only a small island in a vast sea that has not been travelled. It is a floating island, and it might be more familiar to us than the sea, but ultimately it is borne by the sea and only because it is can we be borne by it. Hence the existentiell question for the knower is this: Which does he love more, the small island of his so-called knowledge or the sea of infinite mystery?" Karl Rahner
Intellectual Life Events
Conferences and Lectures sponsored by the Theology Department and its Faculty. Learn More
