Saturday, September 18, 2010

Paul Lakeland is the Aloysius P. Kelley S.J. Professor of Catholic Studies, and Director of Fairfield University’s Center for Catholic Studies. He has been teaching at Fairfield University since 1981, where he has previously served as Director of the Honors Program and Chair of the Religious Studies Department.

He received his Licentiate in Philosophy from Heythrop Pontifical Athenaeum, an M.A. from Oxford University in English Language and Literature, a Bachelor of Divinity degree from the University of London, and his Ph.D. in religion from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. At Fairfield he teaches courses on ecclesiology, religion and culture, and religion and literature. He is the author of some 35 scholarly articles and eight books, the most recent of which are Theology and Critical Theory: the Discourse of the Church (Abingdon Press, 1990), Postmodernity: Christian Identity in a Fragmented Age (Fortress Press, 1997), The Liberation of the Laity: In Search of an Accountable Church (Continuum, 2003), which received the 2004 Catholic Press Association Award for the best book in theology, Catholicism at the Crossroads: How the Laity Can Save the Church (Continuum, 2007), also a Press Association award winner, and, most recently, Church: Living Communion (Liturgical, 2009). He is also co-editor with Serene Jones of a textbook in systematic theology produced in collaboration with over fifty scholars from both Protestant and Catholic traditions, entitled Constructive Theology: A Contemporary Approach to Classical Themes (Fortress, 2005). His current projects are an edition of the selected writings of Yves Congar to be published by Orbis Books in 2010 and a book on Jesuit education provisionally entitled Wrestling with Ignatius.

Paul Lakeland is a member of the American Academy of Religion and of the Catholic Theological Society of America. He recently completed a term as chair of the editorial board of Religious Studies Review, is a member of the editorial board of Cross Currents, co-editor of the Fortress Press series, “Guides to Theological Inquiry,” and until April of 2008 had been for nine years the co-convener of the independent ecumenical association of systematic and constructive theologians, the Workgroup for Constructive Theology. His academic and research interests include the Catholic Church, the Papacy, religion and literature, and the relations between religious commitment and progressive politics.

He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it