Education:
Academic Employment:
Academic Publications:
Conference Presentations:
Awards and Fellowships:
Fiction and Poems:
- The University of Notre Dame, Medieval Institute, M.M.S., 1991; Ph.D., 1994
- Yale Divinity School, M.A.R. summa cum laude with concentration in systematics, 1989
- Berkeley Divinity School at Yale, Diploma in Anglican Studies, 1989
- Indiana University, A.M. in English, 1977
- Harvard College, A.B. cum laude in English and American Language and Literature, 1975
Academic Employment:
- 2007- 2018: Dean of the Alumni Chapel, Firestone Endowment Chaplain and Chair, Department of Religious Studies and Philosophy; from 2018, Dean of the Alumni Chapel emeritus
The Hill School, Pottstown, PA - 2005-2007: Chair, Department of English
The Canterbury School, Fort Wayne, IN - 1999-2004: Chaplain; Chair, Department of Religious Studies; Director, Honors Diploma Program; Instructor in English and Religion
The Episcopal High School of Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge, LA - 1994-1999: Instructor in English and History
Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School, Ladue, MO - 1993-1994: Teaching Fellow, Freshman Writing Seminar
University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN - 1978-1987: Instructor in English and Theology; Neville-Parry Chair in English and Department Chairman; Chair, Faculty Executive Committee; Chair, Faculty Advisory Committee on Search for a Headmaster
John Burroughs School, Ladue, MO - 1977-1978: Instructor in English
Riverside Military Academy, Gainesville, GA - 1975-1976: Assistant Instructor in English; Assistant Counselor
Culver Military Academy, Culver, IN
Academic Publications:
- Tolkien in the New Century: Essays in Honor of Tom Shippey (Editor in Chief), (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2014).
- “Spiritual Directions” (quarterly columnist), CSEE Connections, Center for Spiritual and Ethical Education (2013-2015)
- “The Mirror Crack’d: Fear and Horror in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Major Works” (review), Tolkien Studies 6 (2009), 272-277.
- The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, ed. Michael D. C. Drout (4 entries) (New York: Routledge, 2007).
- “Tolkien, King Alfred and Boethius: Platonist Views of Evil in The Lord of the Rings,” with Neal K. Keesee, Ph.D., Tolkien Studies, 2 (2005), 131-159.
- Abstracts for The Year’s Work in Old English Studies, 2003 (for 2000).
- “Twice-Told Tales: Teaching Medievalisms to High School Seniors,” Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching, 9:2 (Fall, 2002), 15-34.
- “Augustine in the Cottage of Lost Play: The Ainulindalë as Asterisk Cosmogony,” in Tolkien the Medievalist, ed. Jane Chance (Medieval Religion and Culture) (London: Routledge, 2002), 171-182.
- “St. Bede among the Controversialists: A Survey,” American Benedictine Review 50 (1999), 397-422.
- “No Bishop, No Queen: Queens Regnant and the Ordination of Women,” Anglican and Episcopal History 47 (1998), 2-25.
- “Bede and His World” (review), Libraries and Culture 32 (1997), 132-133.
- “Bede," ORB: The Online Reference Book for Medieval Studies, 1996
- Encyclopedia of Catholicism (72 entries), (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1995).
- “Augustine and the Ainulindale,” Mythlore 79 (1995), 4-8.
- “The Old English Benedictine Office and its Audience,” American Benedictine Review 45 (1994), 431-445.
- “(Re)Sounding Brass: Alcuin's New Castings in the Questions and Answers on Genesis,” Proceedings of the PMR Conference 16/17 (1992-1993), 149-161.
- “Mirabile dictu: The Medieval Text behind a Modern Window at Canterbury,” Scintilla 8 (1991), 70-86.
- “Commedia as Fairy-Story: Eucatastrophe in the Loss of Virgil," Mythlore 64 (1990), 29-34.
- “Rochester the Renewer: The Byronic Hero and the Messiah as Elements in the King Elessar,” Mythlore 39 (1984), 13-16.
- “The Augustinian Tradition: A Different Voice,” Religious Education 79 (1984), 184-191.
Conference Presentations:
- “Herder, Hiawatha, Húrin, and Hobbits: Teaching Tolkien as a Romantic Nationalist,” Romantic Nationalism in Tolkien’s Legendarium, 46th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May, 2011.
- “Neues Testament und Märchen: Tolkien, Fairy Stories, and the Gospels,” Tolkien and the Bible, 45th International Congress on Medieval Studies, May, 2010.
- “Saint Bede in the Gloss” The Venerable Bede: Influence and Reputation in Later Periods, 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May, 2006
- “Maldon, Gettysburg and the Somme: Tolkien’s ‘Homecoming’ and the Idea of Chivalry,” Beowulf Comes to Edoras: Tolkien as a Gateway to Medieval Studies, 39th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May, 2004 (Session organizer on behalf of TEAMS and Tolkien at Kalamazoo)
- “Tolkien, King Alfred and Boethius: Platonist Views of Evil in The Lord of the Rings,” with Neal K. Keesee, Ph.D., 38th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May, 2003
- “Web Site Review Boards for Secondary School Teachers,” Keeping Medieval Studies Alive and Well in K-12: A Roundtable Discussion for Educators, 37th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May, 2002
- ORB Roundtable on “The I-Search Paper,” 36th International Congress on Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, May, 2001
- “Twice-Told Tales: Teaching Medievalisms to High School Seniors,” Teaching the Middle Ages Conference, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS, September, 1998
- “Augustine and the Ainulindalë,” 25th Conference of the Mythopoeic Society, Washington, DC, August, 1994
- “(Re)Sounding Brass: Alcuin’s New Castings in the Questions and Answers on Genesis,” 17th Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Conference, Augustinian Historical Institute, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 1992
- “Science, Creation, and their -isms” and “Using Moral Reasoning in the Classroom,” Mt. Vernon Teaching Conference, Mt. Vernon, IL, October, 1985
- “Using Moral Reasoning in the Classroom,” Teaching Critical Issues Conference, Fontbonne College / St. Louis Public Schools, Clayton, MO, February, 1985
- “Rochester the Renewer: The Byronic Hero and the Messiah as Elements in the King Elessar,” 15th Conference of the Mythopoeic Society, 1984
- “Tolkien’s Use of the Calendar,” 11th Conference of the Mythopoeic Society, 1980
Awards and Fellowships:
- Nelson Burr Prize, The Historical Society of the Episcopal Church, 1998 (for “No Bishop, No Queen”)
- Burlington Teaching Fellowship, University of Notre Dame, 1993- 1994
- Dorothy A. Given Fellowship, The Episcopal Church Foundation, 1990- 1993
- Dissertation Year Fellowship, University of Notre Dame, 1992- 1993
- Riley Prize in Art History and Criticism, University of Notre Dame: First Prize, 1991; Honorable Mention, 1992
- Graduate Assistantships, University of Notre Dame, 1989-1992
- Hooker Graduate Fellowship, Yale Divinity School, 1989-1990
- Lansing Hicks Service Prize, Berkeley Divinity School, 1989
- Walker Scholarship Prize, Yale Divinity School, 1988
Fiction and Poems:
- Like a Noise in Dreams (Bloomington: Unlimited Publishing, 2015)
- Rough Magicke (Bloomington: Unlimited Publishing, 2005)
- Falconry and Other Poems (Bloomington: Unlimited Publishing, 2003)
- "Ave Verum Corpus," The Living Church 199:12 (13 September 1989), 9.
- "Focal Point," The Living Church 199: 7 (13 August 1989), 12.
- "To My Father," The Classical Outlook 64 (1987), 110.
- "The Hart and the Hunter," The Living Church 180:9 (2 March 1980), 2.
- "Solomon's Song," The Living Church 180:3 (20 January 1980), 2.
- "In My Father's House," The Living Church 179:1 (1 July 1979), 11.