Faith and Reason
Philosophy of Religion
Thomas Aquinas
University of San Francisco, B.A.
University of Dallas, M.A. (Theology)
University of Dallas Institute of Philosophical Studies, Ph.D.
Phi 8350 Lonergan’s Insight
Phi 4331 Epistemology
Phi 4336 Ethics
Phi 4337 Philosophy of God
Phi 4338 Philosophy of Religion
Phi 6322 Aristotle: logos, phusis, zoe
Phi 6331 Aquinas: Ethical Writings
Phi 7333 Aquinas on the Human Soul (ST Ia, Qq 75-89)
Phi 7333 Text Seminar: Aquinas' Metaphysical Texts
Phi 8338 Philosophy of Religion
IPS 8326 Augustine and Aquinas
Phi 3343 From Medieval to Modern Philosophy
My principal interest and area of research lie in the field of the Philosophy of Religion. More precisely, my investigations center on the question of "faith and reason," especially as developed by Thomas Aquinas. I am currently exploring Thomas' thought on this topic in the light of questions posed by Frederick Nietzsche and Leo Strauss. In tandem with this, I am comparing the very different understanding of this topic expressed in two of the greatest works of Biblical interpretation ever written: Augustine's De doctrina christiana and Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus .
“St. Thomas Aquinas”, People and Places of the Roman Past, Peter Hatlie, ed. (Leeds: Arc Humanities Press, 2019), 125-32.
“’The Blessed in the kingdom of Heaven will see the Punishments of the Damned so that their Bliss may be more Delightful to them’: Nietzsche and Aquinas”, The Thomist 80, 3 (July, 2016), 425-62.
“Introduction to the Transaction Edition”, Frederick D. Wilhelmsen, The Paradoxical Structure of Existence, Piscataway, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 2015 (1st ed. 1970).
“Belief”, “Entelechy”, “Teleological Arguments for the Existence of God”, New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy. 4 vols. Eds. Robert Fastiggi and Joseph Koterski, S.J. Detroit: Gale, 2013, I, 175-78; II, 466-68; IV, 1508-09.
"Aquinas' Philosophical Critique of Philosophy," Verbum: Analecta Neolatina 6 (2004): 39–49.
"The Anthropology of Aquinas' De Ente et Essentia," The Review of Metaphysics 51 (1998): 829–47.
"Dialectic and Demonstration in Aristotle's Argument for an Eternal Cosmos," il cannocchiale: rivista di studi filosofici, 1–2 (1996): 67–81.
(co-edited) Saints, Sovereigns, and Scholars: Studies in Honor of Frederick D. Wilhelmsen (New York: Peter Lang, 1993).
"Deontology, Teleology, and Aquinas' Virtue Ethic," in: Saints, Sovereigns and Scholars, ed. James Lehrberger et al. (New York: Peter Lang, 1993) 107–22.
"Crime without Punishment: Thomistic Natural Law and the Problem of Sanctions" in: Law and Philosophy: The Practice of Theory, ed. John A. Murley et al. (Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1992) 237–57.
"Intelligo ut Credam: St. Augustine's Confessions," The Thomist 52 (1988): 23–39.