Coming up: a conference at BC honoring the inestimable Dr. Pheme Perkins as she nears retirement.
'The New Testament and the Future of Theology' - an all-day affair on Saturday, March 28th from 9AM to 5PM.
Clock with hand pointing to ten, with message: Christian Ethics and Artificial Intelligence, ten days left, all proposals due 3/20/26
Only TEN days left to submit proposals to #sofcethics27! All proposals for papers, panels, the new SCE book prize, etc., are due March 20. See www.scethics.org/2027-call-fo... for details. (photo by Ocean NG on Unsplash)
This image is a promotional banner for an event titled "The Rule of Law and the Common Good." It features four individuals: David Quigley, Kathleen Kaveny, Gregory Kalscheur, and Odette Lienau. The event is scheduled for March 12 and 13, 2026, at Gasson Hall. The sponsors listed are Boston College Law School, Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences, and the Office of the Provost.
A conference hosted by BC will focus on the rule of law as a key contributor to human flourishing and examine accountability, just law, open government, and accessible and impartial justice through the lens of legal theory and Catholic social thought. https://on.bc.edu/RuleofLawConf
Upcoming conference!
More details here:
www.bc.edu/bc-web/acade...
New PhD announcement!
On Friday, Dr. John Steichen successfully defended his dissertation: 'Looking for Salvation in a Secular Age: Fundamental Theology and the Absence of God'. Congratulations, Johnny!
America Magazine’s Catholic Book Club Article: “Catholics speak out on the violence against migrants. Will politicians listen?” discusses BC’s conference ‘Law, Conscience, and Migration Today', organized by scholars Dr. @kristinheyer.bsky.social and PhD candidates Matthew Cuff and Madeline Jarrett.
Congratulations to Dr. Luiz Gustavo Assis, who successfully defended his dissertation today: “THEY SHALL KNOW THAT I AM YAHWEH”: THE PRODUCTION OF MANTIC KNOWLEDGE IN THE HEBREW BIBLE, AND IN THE BOOK OF PROPHET EZEKIEL.
Kudos!
cover of The Catholic Historical Review, volume 111, number 4, autumn 2025, with a portrait of Pope Leo the 14th
The latest edition of The Catholic Historical Review includes a review panel with three SCE stalwarts—@elizabethblock.bsky.social, Jennifer A. Herdt, and James F. Keenan, SJ—assessing Diarmaid MacCulloch's latest book (with the author responding): muse.jhu.edu/article/982630 @achahistory.bsky.social
@achahistory.bsky.social @catholicrs.bsky.social @ncronline.bsky.social @mbfconnolly.bsky.social @mstfromsu.bsky.social @durhamtheology.bsky.social @theologyslu.bsky.social @bctheology.bsky.social @kuleuvenuniversity.bsky.social
The latest episode of the Lonergan Institute Podcast is here! Boyd Taylor Coolman and Jeremy Wilkins joined me to discuss their friendship and its impact on their teaching and thinking: www.podbean.com/eas/pb-va62h...
The 2026 #AAR Book Awards cycle is now open and you will notice several changes we’ve made to the program to clarify and expand our book award categories, including a new award category, Best Work in Applied, Public, or Pedagogical Approaches. Apply by March 9: aarweb.org/news/2026-bo...
'A New Exodus? Method & Theology Today’, edited by Professors Jeremy Wilkins and Ligita Ryliškytė, examines a series of contemporary methodological issues in theology, in conversation with Lonergan's proposal in Method in Theology on the occasion of its 50th anniversary.
marqunivpress.bsky.social
oooops!
On 2/17, Professor Emeritus M. Shawn Copeland will receive The Univ. of Scranton’s annual Pedro Arrupe, S.J. award for Distinguished Contributions to Ignatian Mission and Ministry.
Dr. Copeland’s lecture is titled "Healing and Creating in History: The Redemptive Praxis of Christian Community.”
Feb 19th – 20th.
BC's interdisciplinary conference 'Law, Conscience, & Migration Today' will undertake theological and ethical analyses, and explore responses to the current crisis in America’s immigration policy. It aims both to inform and to provide participants with opportunities to take action.
In this snip from our a recent episode of our #podcast @deaconspod.bsky.social, Prof. Jessica Coblentz reflects on the Paulist Press book “Women Responding to the Spirit: Selections from the Madeleva Lectures”:
It’s been a positive 1st year for BC’s yearlong AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam) program which promotes the gifts of Jesuit spirituality. Operated under the aegis of our Inst. for Advanced Jesuit Studies, it aims to help young people encounter the rich varieties of ways to engage in the Catholic faith.
On February 6th from 3:30-4:30PM, Theological Ethicist Dr. Lisa Sowle Cahill discusses the intersection of contemporary understandings of gender with Catholic ethical thought in a lecture at Le Moyne College titled 'Transgender Identity, Science, and Catholic Ethics'.
@lemoynecollege.bsky.social
The Medieval Academy of America has awarded Dr. Paul Ulishney the 2026 Van Courtlandt Elliott Prize (awarded annually for the best early-career article) for his article “New Evidence for Conversion to Islam in Anastasius of Sinai's Hodegos,” Dumbarton Oaks Papers 78 (2024), 29-48.
Kudos!
Congratulations to our colleague Dr. Catherine Cornille, the convener of our comparative theology department, who has been appointed by Pope Leo XIV as consultor of the Vatican Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue.
Alumnus news: The Rev. Dr. Domenik Ackermann is to be installed as the settled pastor of Maidencreek Church in Blandon, PA.
Dr. Ackermann earned his PhD in the area of Comparative Theology. His research focused on Jewish and Christian understandings of prayer.
Congratulations, Domenik!
Jan 27, 5PM: Dr. Dror Bondi, Corcoran Visiting Chair in Christian-Jewish Relations at BC, gives a lecture on “Heschel on Israel: Between Christianity and Zionism”, presenting Heschel as a diasporic philosopher and an emerging critic of Zionism.
Hybrid - register here: bccte.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Stephen Pope of @bostoncollege.bsky.social
asks if forgiving can ever be a moral mistake in the latest article to be released on Irish Theological Quarterly’s OnlineFirst platform:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1...
Prof Stephen Pope's piece 'Revisiting the Ordo Amoris: A Contemporary Interpretation of a Classic Christian Theme' in @jmoraltheology.bsky.social is a timely critique of J.D. Vance's attempt to use the ancient notion of the ordo amoris to defend the Administration’s foreign and Immigration policy.
Three days to #sofcethics26 (and our debut pre-conference event) in Washington, DC. Day passes are available for the general public. See www.scethics.org/2026-annual-... for details. (Photo credit: max fuchs on Unsplash)
This Christmas, as we honor the birth of Jesus, we pray that His love and grace fill your hearts with peace and with joy.
Wishing you all the blessings of the season!
Also at #sofcethics26 our vote goes to alum @annafloerkescheid.bsky.social - Full member candidate for the Board of Directors!
On January 11th at the SCE annual meeting, alum
Emma McDonald Kennedy of Villanova University convenes 'Shadowboxing with Justice: Mutual Learning in Christian Ethics and Legal Practice'
@emma-kennedy.bsky.social
@sofcethics.bsky.social
At #sofcethics26 alumnus Dr. Jonathan Cahill convenes 'Theological Paranoia: Disrupting the Entanglement of Religion and Conspiracism' in the SCE Evangelical Ethics Interest Group.
Also at the @sofcethics.bsky.social annual meeting - in Conversation with an Author, alumnus K. C. Choi, of Princeton Theological Seminary, discusses 'Art and Moral Change: A Reexamination' (Georgetown University Press)
