Chapter 10.5: Faculty

JST Faculty

Jerome P. Baggett, Ph.D.

Professor of Religion and Society and Ignacio Ellacuria Professor for Jesuit Studies Endowed Chair

Professor Baggett is a sociologist who teaches a variety of courses at the Jesuit School, all of which – regardless of specific content – introduce students to both sociological theory and method as well as to the complicated dynamics of religion and culture within contemporary society. In addition to various scholarly articles, he has written Habitat for Humanity: Building Private Homes, Building Public Religion (Temple, 2001, Sense of the Faithful: How American Catholics Live Their Faith (Oxford, 2009), and The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience: Atheism in American Culture (NYU, 2019).

Kathryn Barush, D.Phil.

Thomas E. Bertelsen Jr. Associate Professor of Art History and Religion

Dr. Kathryn Barush brings her training in art history and material culture to bear on studies of theology and religion. She holds a D.Phil. in modern history and an M.St. in the history of art and visual culture, both from the University of Oxford, and a BA from Sarah Lawrence College. She has experience planning and leading art-infused student pilgrimages, including the Camino Ignaciano. In addition, she has published extensively on the theory of pilgrimage including two books, Imaging Pilgrimage: Art as Embodied Experience (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Art and the Sacred Journey in Britain (Routledge, 2016). Dr. Barush is the founding director of the GTU's Berkeley Art & Interreligious Pilgrimage Project.

Jeremiah Coogan, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of New Testament

Dr. Coogan received his PhD in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity from the University of Notre Dame (2020). From 2020 to 2022, he was a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow in the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. As a scholar of the New Testament and early Christianity, Coogan focuses on Gospel reading, manuscripts, and early Christian philology. He has published the award-winning first book Eusebius the Evangelist (Oxford University Press, 2023) His current book project is tentatively titled The Invention of Gospel Literature.

Eduardo C. Fernández, S.J., S.T.D.

Professor of Pastoral Theology and Ministry

Fr. Fernandez teaches such courses as Sacraments in Latino Context; Latino/a Theology; Latinx Religious Expressions; and Intercultural Ministry. He specializes in Latino theology, Mexican and Southwestern history, enculturation and the celebration of the sacraments in multicultural contexts. Fr. Fernandez has served as president of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States (ACHTUS) and has authored several books, including La Vida Sacra: Contemporary Hispanic Sacramental Theology (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006) with James Empereur, S.J.; Mexican-American Catholics (Paulist Press, 2007); and Católicos Mexicoamericanos (Paulist, 2023).

Christopher M. Hadley, S.J., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Systemic Theology

Fr. Hadley came to JST in the Fall Semester of 2016 from a post-doctoral research fellowship at the Lonergan Research Institute at Regis College of the University of Toronto. He recently published, A Symphony of Distances: Patristic, Modern, and Gendered Dimensions of Balthasar’s Trinitarian Theology (Catholic University of America Press, 2022).. His theological interests are ancient and modern trinitarian theology, Christology, pneumatology, and philosophical theology in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions. He has priestly faculties in both the Latin and Byzantine rites and serves in the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Oakland and San Francisco and the Melkite Greek Catholic Eparchy of the US.

Gina Hens-Piazza, Ph.D.

Professor of Old Testament Studies and Joseph S. Alemany Endowed Chair for Santa Clara University

Dr. Hens-Piazza is a scholar of the Hebrew Bible. At the Jesuit School, she teaches courses like Pentateuch: Histories and Methods; The Book of Ruth, Claiming the Psalms for Today , and Hebrew Language. She is a co-editor of The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the 21st Century and author of The Supporting Cast of the Bible: Reading on Behalf of the Multitude (Fortress, 2020). She is past president of the Catholic Biblical Association.

Paul Janowiak, S.J., Th.D.

Associate Professor of Liturgical and Sacramental Theology

Fr. Janowiak came to JST in 2011 from the School of Theology and Ministry at Seattle University in Seattle, Washington, where he was Associate Professor of Sacramental and Liturgical Theology. His research interests are in Roman Catholic and Ecumenical liturgical and sacramental theology, the sacramentality of liturgical preaching, Trinitarian dimension of worship, devotion as a communal practice, Vatican II, and the Roman Catholic theologians who shaped the Council. His most recent book is Singular Vessel of Devotion: The Sacramental Body at Prayer (Paulist, 2021).

Léocadie Lushombo, i.t, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics

Léocadie Lushombo, is a consecrated woman, member of the Teresian Association (Institución Teresiana), and, in addition to being on the faculty at JST is a visiting professor at the Catholic University of the Congo. Lushombo’s research focuses on Catholic social teaching, just peace virtue-based approach, gender-based violence, and women’s political participation, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. In addition to numerous articles, she recently published, A Christian and African Ethic of Women’s Political Participation: Living As Risen Beings (Rawman & Littlefield, 2023).

Monica Marcelli-Chu, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics

Monica Marcelli-Chu joined the Jesuit School of Theology in 2023. She received her Ph.D. in Theological Studies at Regis College, the Jesuit school at the University of Toronto, in 2022. She also holds an S.T.L. and M.Div. from Regis College. Her research areas are in the foundations of moral theology and Catholic social teaching. She focuses on the thought of Thomas Aquinas, with particular interest in the role of the gifts of the Holy Spirit for moral action, both individual and social, and how this broadens conceptions of human agency. She has recently published on the gifts of the Spirit in The Thomist, and is currently pursuing further questions on the relationship between human and non-human agency.

James Nati, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible & Old Testament Studies

Dr. Nati joined the JST community as Assistant Professor of Hebrew Bible & Old Testament Studies in 2019. He holds a PhD from Yale University (2019) and an MAR from Yale Divinity School (2013). His research focuses on the textual traditions of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament, and more specifically on the development of these traditions in the Second Temple period (500 BCE –100 CE). He has published in Revue de Qumran, Dead Sea Discoveries, the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, and in a number of edited volumes. In addition to preparing his dissertation for publication, he is currently at work on two book projects: a commentary on the Community Rule (with John J. Collins; Oxford University Press) and a handbook on the Ethiopic texts of 1 Enoch and Jubilees (SBL Press).

Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator, S.J., Ph.D

Professor of Systematic Theology

Dean Agbonkhianmeghe E. Orobator grew up in Benin City, Nigeria, practicing traditional African religion. He joined the Jesuits in 1986 and was ordained in 1998. Fluent in four languages, Dean Orobator received his Ph.D in theology and religious studies from the University of Leeds in England, his MBA from Georgetown University, and his licentiate in sacred theology from JST-SCU, from which he also received an honorary doctorate in 2012. He was previously provincial superior of the Jesuits of the Eastern Africa Province. He has taught theology and religious studies at Hekima University College, St. Augustine College of South Africa in Johannesburg, and Marquette University in Milwaukee. He is author of the books “Theology Brewed in an African Pot;” “Religion and Faith in Africa: Confessions of an Animist,” based on Duffy Lectures he delivered at Boston College; and “The Pope and the Pandemic: Lessons in Leadership in a Time of Crisis,” a Catholic Media Association award winner.

Deborah Ross, Ph.D.

Lecturer and Director of Ministerial Formation

Dr. Deborah Ross has served on the JST faculty since 2013. She teaches field education courses and directs the M.Div. field education program. Deborah received her M.Th. in Pastoral Theology and Ph.D. in Theology are from Heythrop College, University of London. Deborah’s Ph.D. focused on the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) faith-formation process. Her S.T.L. degree in Pastoral and Liturgical Theology is from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. Deborah’s academic interests include catechesis, Christian initiation, contextual theology, ecclesiology, practical theology, sacramental and liturgical theology, and theological anthropology. She is pursuing research and writing on practical theology and the RCIA process, with books planned on both topics. Deborah currently serves as president of the Association of Graduate Programs in Ministry (AGPIM).

Julie Hanlon Rubio, Ph.D.

Shea-Heusaman Professor of Christian Social Ethics

Before coming to JST, Julie taught in the department of theological studies at St. Louis University for nearly two decades. Her research focuses on family, feminism, sex, and politics. She is the author of four books, including the award winning Hope for Common Ground: Mediating the Personal and the Political in a Divided Church (Georgetown, 2016) and Family Ethics: Practices for Christians (Georgetown, 2010), and she has co-edited two volumes of essays. She serves on the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops' National Review Board and on the board of the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. Along with Paul Schutz, she was a principal investigator for the grant funded study, Beyond Bad Apples: Understanding Clergy Perpetrated Sexual Abuse as a Structural Problem and Cultivating Strategies for Change.” Her new book, Can You Be a Catholic and a Feminist? will be published by Oxford University Press in 2024.

Fr. Christopher Staab, S.J.,

Professor of the Practice in Ignatian Spirituality

A member of the Midwest Province, joined JST-SCU as Professor of the Practice in Ignatian Spirituality in 2024. He previously taught at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Anh Q. Tran, S.J., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology

At JST, Professor Tran teaches core courses in systematic theology and interreligious studies. His teaching interests include Christology, theological anthropology, ecclesiology, missiology, theology of religions, interreligious dialogue with Confucianism and Buddhism, comparative theology, Asian theologies and World Christianities, and history of Christianity in Asia. Professor Tran's research interests involve ecumenism, intercultural dialogue, comparative religion/theology, Asian theology and Christian missions in Asia and he has published numerous articles and essays on these topics, as well as a monograph, Gods, Heroes, and Ancestors: An Interreligious Encounter in Eighteenth-Century (Oxford, 2018). His current book projects are: Debates or Dialogues: Interreligious Conversation in Vietnam and A History of Jesuit Presence in Vietnam.

Adjunct Faculty

Stephanie Dixon

Jane Ferdon, O.P., D.Min.

Julia D.E. Prinz, V.D.M.F., Ph.D.

Dr.Prinz completed a Ph.D in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley in 2006, and has been a lecturer at JST-SCU ever since. As a member of the Verbum Dei, she has been involved in base-community work with Hispanic and Asian immigrant populations in San Francisco since 1995. Her book, Endangering Hunger for God: Johann Baptist Metz and Dorothee Sölle at the Interface of Biblical Hermeneutic and Christian Spirituality, was published in 2007.Her current research includes: biblical hermeneutics, the dialogue between theology/spirituality and photography, the dialogue between theology/spirituality and medicine regarding the process of healing, marginal and hybrid-identities in their significance for theological thought and a specific interest in spiritual and theological formation in Asia.

Robert McCann, J.C.L.

Mary E. McGann, R.S.C.J., Ph.D.

Mary McGann, R.S.C.J., joined the JST faculty as Adjunct Associate Professor of Liturgical Studies in the Spring of 2015, after teaching at the Franciscan School of Theology (formerly of the GTU) from 1996-2014. She has taught courses in liturgy and spirituality; women, spirituality, and worship; enculturation and liturgy; liturgical leadership; ecology and liturgy; the art of liturgical prayer; ritual studies; and ethnographic research methods.Dr. McGann holds degrees in liturgical studies and music/ethnomusicology, and has done ethnographic research into music performance in African American Catholic worship. She is the author of four books, several book chapters and articles. Her most recent book, The Meal That Reconnects: Eucharistic Eating and the Global Food Crisis, was awarded first place in the category of Catholic Social Teaching from the Catholic Media Association in June, 2021.

Faculty Emeriti

Alison Benders, J.D., Ph.D.

Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology

Dr. Benders joined the Jesuit School of Theology in the summer of 2014 as Associate Dean. Prior to joining JST, Dr. Benders served as a senior level academic administrator at several Catholic institutions in Ohio and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses for over ten years. Her research interests include race as a social justice issue, moral transformation, and the contributions of Jesuit theologian Bernard Lonergan. She has published America's Original Sin: a Pilgrimage of Race and Grace (Liturgical Press, 2021) and Just Prayer: A Book of Hours for Peacemakers and Justice Seekers (Liturgical Press 2015).

George E. Griener, S.J., Th.D.

As Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology, Fr. Griener teaches courses in History of Theology (18th and 19th centuries), Karl Rahner's Philosophy of Religion, Theology of Suffering, God of Jesus Christ and Theological Anthropology.

Fr. Griener is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Catholic Historical Society, and the Catholic Theological Society of America. He has recently published an article titled "The Theology of Suffering in a Narcissistic Culture." His social-political concerns find expression through Amnesty International, the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission, and the Catholic peace organization, Pax Christi.

Bruce H. Lescher, Ph.D.

A native of northern Ohio, Dr. Lescher began his career as a high school English teacher before pursuing graduate study and doctoral work in American Catholic spirituality. He taught in Cleveland, Seattle, Austin (Texas), and Chicago.

Dr. Lescher came to JST in 1998 as a teacher and administrator, arriving from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. At JST, Dr. Lescher teaches courses in Christian Spirituality, such as Transition and Transformation, a seminar on Thomas Merton, and an introduction to spirituality as an academic discipline for doctoral students.

He is married to Clare Ronzani, M.A. Bruce and Clare sometimes present workshops together and both are also involved in the ministry of spiritual direction.

He is a member of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality and the Catholic Theological Society of America. Dr. Lescher has published several articles both in his field of specialization, American Catholic spirituality, and more broadly on issues of spiritual formation.

William O'Neill, S.J., Ph.D.

William O'Neill, S.J., Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics at the Jesuit School of Theology. His writings address questions of human rights, ethics and hermeneutical theory, social reconciliation and conflict resolution, and refugee policy. He has worked with refugees in Tanzania and Malawi and has done research on human rights in South Africa and Rwanda.

He received a Newcombe Fellowship, a Lilly Theological Research Grant, and held the Jesuit Chair at Georgetown University from 2003-2004. Dr. O'Neill has served on the Editorial Board of The Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics and currently serves on the Board of the Society of Christian Ethics. He currently serves on the Board of the journal Theological Studies. He is a member of the Anglican/Roman Catholic (ARC) Ecumenical Dialogue in USA and the Jesuit Seminar.

Sandra M. Schneiders, I.H.M., S.T.D.

As Professor Emerita of New Testament Studies and Christian Spirituality, Sr. Sandra Schneiders specializes in New Testament literature, particularly Johannine literature and biblical hermeneutics, and Christian spirituality, specifically biblical spirituality, feminism, religious life and the theory of the field of spirituality.

In 2014, Sr. Sandra was the recipient of the Barry University Yves Congar Award for Theological Excellence. In 2013, she received the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Monika K. Hellwig Award for Outstanding Contribution to Catholic Intellectual Life, and in 2012 she was honored by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious as recipient of their Annual Outstanding Leadership Award.