Introducing the World of
Ancient Christianity to
Faith Communities of Today
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
I am a retired professor of Greek and Latin languages and literatures and of Greco-Roman, Early Christian and Byzantine art, architecture and archaeology. While I am neither a theologian nor a biblical scholar, I have studied these disciplines and am familiar with them. I deal with the early Church chiefly in terms of its literature, history, visual art, archaeology and architecture, and how these reflect biblical traditions and theological interpretations.
FAITH PERSPECTIVES
I am a Roman Catholic Christian, but I am familiar with the traditions of our Jewish “elder brothers and sisters in the Faith”, with the discipline and culture of the Eastern Orthodox churches and with the theology and history of Reformation Protestantism (extensive study with the late Jaroslav Pelikan). I have profound respect for all of these traditions and I have worked closely with representatives from all of them.
PERSONAL BACKGROUND
Raised in small-town New England, I entered a Catholic religious order after high school and spent nine fruitful years there, but left before ordination. I received my doctorate in classics from Yale, with a concentrations in early Christian literature, after a year’s Fulbright Fellowship to the American School in Athens. I taught Latin and Greek at the University of Montana for twenty-four years, travelling frequently in Greece and Italy to photograph archaeological sites and ancient art. I was also the founding dean of the University’s Davidson Honors College. In 1998 I moved to California and began a second career teaching philosophy at Cerritos College in Norwalk and directing the Honors Program there until I retired in 2006. I live in Rancho Mission Viejo (near San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano) with my wife Peggy, a retired English professor). We have four adult children and four soon to be adult grandchildren.
PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
Instructor, Diocese of Orange (CA), Institute for Pastoral Ministry, 2008-2019
Professor of Philosophy, Cerritos College, Norwalk, CA, 1998-2006
Dean, The Davidson Honors College, The University of Montana, 1991 – 1998
Professor of Classics, The University of Montana, 1975 – 1998
Acting Instructor, Department of Classics, Yale University, 1974-75
EDUCATION
Kilroe Seminary, Honesdale, PA, 1962-66: B. A. in Philosophy and Literature, 1966.
Sacred Heart School of Theology, Hales Corners, WI, 1967-68.
Yale University, Dept. of Classics, 1969-74: M.A. 1972, M.Phil. 1972, Ph.D. 1975.
American School of Classical Studies, Athens, Greece, Fulbright Fellow and honorary
Charles R. Wheeler Fellow, archaeology and art history, 1972-73.
Post-Graduate Work:
Princeton University, Summer, 1976: NEH Seminar, “The Moral Philosophy of
Socrates and Plato,” (director: Gregory Vlastos)
Columbia University, Summer, 1982: NEH Seminar, “Pagans and Christians in the Fourth Century”, (director: Alan Cameron)
American Academy in Rome, Summer, 1986: NEH Seminar, “Art and Society in the Age of
Constantine”, (director: David Wright, UC Berkeley).
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Classical Association of the Pacific Northwest, President, 1979-80
Co-Chair, Steering committee for NCUR 2000 (the National Conference on Undergraduate Research) held at the University of Montana, April, 2000
President, Honors Transfer Council of California (HTCC), 2001-02
The National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), Executive Board 1998-2001
Secretary of the Corporation, 2004-2006
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
“Jesus as Epicurus: Arnobius of Sicca’s Borrowings from Lucretius,” in Civilta Classica e Cristiana, anno II, no. 3 (December, 1981), pp. 215-222
”The Authenticity of Early Definitions of Will,” in Paradosis: Actes du Symposium sur Maxime le Confesseur, ed. Felix Heinzer and Christoph Schonborn, Fribourg, Switzerland, 1982
”The Palms Do Not Weep: A Reply to Professor Hurwit and a Note on the Death of Priam in Greek Art”, The Classical Journal, vol. 78, no. 3 (1983); pp. 193-99.
”Tertullian (Quintus Septimus Florens Tertullianus)” encyclopedia article in Great Lives From History: Ancient and Medieval. Salem Press, Pasadena, CA, 1988, pp. 2081-2085.
RELEVANT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Graduate study with Jaroslav Pelikan (History of Christian Doctrine, Yale), Gregory Vlastos (Platonism, Princeton), John Findlay (Neo-Platonism, Yale), Frederik Wisse (Gnosticism, Yale), Alan Cameron (Early Christian History, Columbia), David Wright (Early Christian Art and Archaeology, UC Berkley)
Extensive travel in Italy, Spain, Greece, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey and Russia, including one year’s residence at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and one summer’s residence at the American Academy in Rome.
Large photographic collection documenting most major classical archaeological sites in the above-mentioned countries and all the major museum collections of classical and early Christian antiquities in the world.
Many formal and informal presentations on topics relating to Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian and Byzantine culture for many years to varied audiences, including schools, churches and civic groups.
