I’m
a European intellectual historian by training. I received my BA from Brown
University, and my PhD from Harvard University. At DePaul, I have a
dual-appointment in the History Department and in Catholic Studies.
Research
I
have devoted my research and writing to modern European intellectual history.
My recently completed book deals with early twentieth-century European
intellectual culture, above all as a multi-dimensional exchange of arguments
and aspirations drawn from Christianity, Judaism, and modern Continental
philosophy. My first book was entitled The Conversion of Imagination. It
explored how an important tradition in modern philosophy, cultural reflection,
and literature identifies imagination as a preeminent faculty to account for
and work through theological, philosophical, psychological, political, and
moral questions. My ongoing projects explore the cultural and intellectual
history of modern Europe, with special attention to the relationships between
and among religion, philosophy, literature, and politics.
Teaching
One
of the things that I enjoy most about teaching at DePaul is that I am able to
teach the history of Europe, modern intellectual history, as well as the
history of Christianity and of Catholicism concurrently, and help students to
think and write through and with them. In the history department, I teach
courses in European history. In Catholic Studies, I teach surveys in the
history of Christianity and Catholicism, as well as seminars on different
topics connected to the philosophy of religion.