Andrew Gertner Belfield

assistant professor of theology & Franciscan studies

education

2021 Doctor of Philosophy, Theology

2017 Master of Theological Studies

2015 Bachelor of Arts, Theology & Philosophy, summa cum laude

teaching

experience

2021– Assistant Professor, Department of Theology and Franciscan Studies, St. Bonaventure University

2018–20 Teaching Assistant, Theology Department, Boston College

training

2022 Apprenticeship in College Teaching, Center for Teaching Excellence, Boston College

publications

peer-reviewed

2014 “Raining on the Absurd: Entering into Solitude with Thomas Merton.” The Reed 16 (2014): 35–45.

translations

Of Alexander of Hales’s Glossa in quatuor libros Sententiarum Petri Lombardi, Book III (in Dallas Medieval Texts & Translations), in progress with Eric Mabry (St. Mary’s Seminary & University).

book reviews

2022 Of Thomas Merton, Patrick F. O’Connell (ed.), Cistercian Fathers and Forefathers: Essays and Conferences (New City Press, 2018), in Reading Religion (2022).

2021 Of Ayelet Even-Ezra, Ecstasy in the Classroom: Trance, Self, and the Academic Profession in Medieval Paris (Fordham University Press, 2018), in Reading Religion (2021).

other essays

2019 “Trinity and Creation: Vestigia Trinitatis in Alexander of Hales’s Glossa Sententiarum.” The Cord 69, no. 1 (2019): 4–8.

2017 “The Latest in St. Bonaventure Scholarship: When Emerging and Senior Scholars Meet.” The Cord 67, no. 3 (2017): 20–22.

presentations

academic

Proposal accepted for “Christology in Bonaventure and Thomas Aquinas.” Paper on the “Franciscan–Dominican Conversations in the Thirteenth Century” Panel. Conference on Medieval Philosophy and Theology. University of Notre Dame. May 20–22, 2022.

2021 “Christ’s Penitential Human Nature: The coassumpta according to the Summa halensis.” Historical Theology Colloquium. Boston College. April 20.

“Basic Human Communities: An Alternative to Zoom Worship in the Era of covid.” Graduate Student Conference on Pandemic & Religion. The Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. Boston College (online due to covid-19). February 27. Coauthored with Laurel Marshall Potter (Boston College), Kelly Kossar (Congregation Kehillath Israel), and Elli Pripas (Hebrew College).

2020 “Who Is iste homo Jesus? A Halensian Contribution.” Christ among the Disciplines. Online interdisciplinary conference. December 11–13.

“History in Crisis? How Augustine Reads John’s Apocalypse.” Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference. Villanova University (online due to COVID-19). October 16–18.

“Christum esse confitemur, ergo Christus est unum: the Early Franciscans and Thomas Aquinas on the Logical and Ontological Unity of Christ.” Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology. Ave Maria University. February 6–8.

2019 Response to John R. Kern, “Re-membering the Mystical Body: The Expansion of the Gratia Gratis Data in 13th Century Mendicant Theology.” Historical Theology Colloquium. Boston College. September 25.

“cibus proportionalis debet esse cibabili: Alexander of Hales on the Food-Proportionality of the Eucharist.” Quidam enim dicunt: Mendicant Theologies before Aquinas and Bonaventure. St. Bonaventure University. July 15–18.

“Homo assumptus in the Halensian School?” Historical Theology Colloquium. Boston College. May 15.

2018 “On the Fittingness of Filial Incarnation in Two Summae.” The Theology of Thomas Aquinas: Sources, Insights, and Influences. Mundelein Seminary. October 3.

“Exemplarity and Trinitarian Vestiges in Alexander of Hales’ Glossa Sententiarum.” Alexander of Hales and Early Franciscan Masters. Colegio S. Isidoro, Roma. June 9–10.

“elegit suspendium anima mea et mortem ossa: Job 7:15 in Victorine–Franciscan Mystical Ascents of the Soul.” BC STM Conference on Job in the Middle Ages. Boston College School of Theology and Ministry. April 27.

“A Significant Sacrament: St. Bonaventure and Henri de Lubac on the Eucharist.” Historical Theology Colloquium. Boston College. January 16.

2017 Response to John R. Kern, “Dionysian Hierarchy in Thomas Aquinas’s Late Pauline Ecclesiology: A Look at the Commentary on Romans.” Historical Theology Colloquium. Boston College. December 6.

“The Preacher and the Doctor: Merton’s Engagement with the Theme of Mercy in Albert Camus’s The Plague.” Fifteenth General Meeting of the International Thomas Merton Society. St. Bonaventure University. June 15–18.

“On Reading Maximus as a ‘Scotist’.” Emerging Scholars Conference. Loyola University Maryland. April 21.

2015 “Raining on the Absurd: Existence and Solitude in Albert Camus and Thomas Merton.” Honors Program Symposium. St. Bonaventure University. April 18.

invited

2022 Panelist. “A Colloquium of Companions: Closing Reflections.” Ignatius Brady Lecture Series. April 20. In conversation with Fr. David Couturier, O.F.M. Cap. (Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University) and Aaron Gies (St. Bonaventure University).

2017 “On the Prophetic Imagination.” Ignatian Solidarity Network Arrupe Leaders Summit Maryland, March 10–12.

2016 “The Tower of Babel and Modern Technology.” Loyola University Maryland. September 30.

2015 “A Tree Imitates God by Being a Tree.” Evensong Reflection. Loyola University Marland. November 19.

service

to SBU

2022– Student advising, Minor Program, Department of Theology & Franciscan Studies

2021– Committee member, Self-Evaluation Committee for Middle States Accreditation Standard 1: Mission and Goals

2021–22 Committee member, Search for tenure-track hire in Theology & Franciscan Studies

to the guild

2022– Book review editor, Franciscan Studies (ISSN: 00805459)

2022 Session co-organizer (with John R. Kern, Pepperdine University), “Franciscan–Dominican Conversations in the Thirteenth Century,” Conference on Medieval Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame

past

2020–21 Graduate assistant to the Theology Department, Boston College

2020 Subcommittee member, Tenure and Promotion Process, Boston College School of Theology and Ministry

Panel member, “Living and Learning in Boston,” Boston College Theology Department Accepted Students’ Day, March 13

2019–20 Co-organizer (with Christopher McLaughlin, Boston College), Historical Theology Colloquia, Boston College

2018–20 Student mentor to incoming doctoral students, Boston College

2017–18 Research assistant to Jeremy D. Wilkins, Boston College

2017 Updated online study guide for Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 6th ed. (Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017)

2015–17 Graduate assistant to Campus Ministry, Loyola University Maryland

honors, awards, & fellowships

2017–21 University Fellowship, Theology Department, Boston College

2018 3rd prize essay for “On the Fittingness of Filial Incarnation in Two Summae” in Graduate Student Essay Contest at The Theology of Thomas Aquinas: Sources, Insights, and Influences, Mundelein Seminary

Research Grant for study in Rome, Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University

2017 Research Grant for summer study, Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University

Award for Research in Theology, Loyola University Maryland

2015–17 Theological Studies Fellowship, Loyola University Maryland

2015 Ideal Bonaventure Man, St. Bonaventure University

Senior Theology Award, St. Bonaventure University

Sister Mary Anthony Brown Philosophy Award, St. Bonaventure University

Senior Achievement Award, Department of Residence Life, St. Bonaventure University

Daggy Student Scholarship, International Thomas Merton Society

2014 ‘High Pass’, philosophy senior thesis defense, St. Bonaventure University

Commitment Award, Department of Residence Life, St. Bonaventure University

2011–15 Honors Program, St. Bonaventure University

Dean’s List, St. Bonaventure University

Presidential Scholarship, St. Bonaventure University

professional development

2017–21 various professional development seminars, Theology Department, Boston College

2018 Title IX Training, Office for Institutional Diversity, Boston College

Research and Scholarship Integrity Program, Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences, Boston College

research interests

historical & systematic theology, medieval theology, mendicant theologies (especially Franciscans), patristic theology, christology, trinitarian theology, soteriology, medieval apocalypticism/Joachimism, liberation theologies

research languages

ancient Latin

modern English (native)
German
French
Spanish

academic associations

2021– Catholic Theological Society of America (Associate Member; application for Active Membership under review)
College Theology Society (Full Professional Member)
Medieval Academy of America (Active Member)

2017– American Academy of Religion (Professional Member)

2017 Theta Alpha Kappa
Alpha Sigma Nu

references

Boyd Taylor Coolman

Frederick Christian Bauerschmidt

Brian Robinette

last updated

April 2022