Academics
Faculty
James Byrne
Department Chair
Professor of Religious Studies
S.T.B., S.T.L. Gregorian University, Rome; Ph.D. Trinity College, University of Dublin
Courses Taught: World Christianity; Christianity and Modernity; Religion: Theory and Method
Areas of Expertise: Dr. Byrne's research interests include the encounter of religious traditions (especially Christianity) with key ideas of the modern world such as science, secularism, religious freedom, personal autonomy, etc. He is interested in how this encounter is expressed in religion, philosophy, literature and art.
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Byrne published the book chapter entitled "Science, Faith and Politics in the USA: The Evolution Controversy" in Humanity, the World and God: Understandings and Actions (April 2008). He is presently working on a book on the science and religion debates.
On Teaching and Research: Dr. Byrne says that one of the best things about Saint Michael's is that faculty are true teachers/scholars. He recently co-developed and co-taught a new interdisciplinary course, Science and Religion, with Saint Michael's biology professor, Dr. Doug Green. The class came out of Dr. Byrne's research. Doing scholarship and research keeps him up to date with developments in his field and he feeds this back into his teaching.
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. Byrne enjoys racquetball, tennis and biking. He and his wife Cecilia live in Burlington with their young son Ronan. When they can, they love to travel; at home they cook foods from around the world (Italian, Indian, Mexican, Thai, Lebanese).
Learn more about Dr. Byrne in his faculty spotlight.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 223
Phone: 802.654.2759
Box 111
E-mail: jbyrne@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/jbyrne/index.htm
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John Peter Kenney
Professor of Religious Studies
A.B. Bowdoin College; Ph.D. Brown University
View Dr. Kenney's Curriculum Vitae
Courses Taught: Ancient and Medieval Civilization; Medieval Christianity; Understandings of God
Areas of Expertise: Philosophy of Religion, Early Christian Studies
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Kenney’s most recent book is The Mysticism of Saint Augustine: Rereading the Confessions (Routledge, 2005). He is currently completing two books: Contemplation and Classical Christianity for Oxford University Press and One God: How Classical Theism Emerged for Crossroads/Herder & Herder. Prof. Kenney is co-director of the Platonism and Neoplatonism Group of the American Academy of Religion.
On Teaching and Research: Dr. Kenney believes that scholarship is the foundation of teaching. What he studies is the basis both for his writing and for his work with students.
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. Kenney’s non-academic interests include: northern rose gardening, classical music, piano jazz, and the invincible New England Patriots.
Learn more about Dr. Kenney in his faculty spotlight.
Campus Office
Library 302
Phone: 802.654.2525
Box 375
E-mail: jkenney@smcvt.edu
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Joseph Kroger
Professor of Religious Studies
B.A. University of Dayton; M.A. St. Louis University; Ph.D. McMaster University
Dr. Kroger's research interests are liberation theology and Eastern religions.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 235
Phone: 802.654.2570
Box 135
E-mail: jkroger@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/jkroger/
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Edward J. Mahoney
Professor of Religious Studies
Director of the Graduate Theology Program
B.A. University of Ottawa; B.Ph. St. Paul’s University; S.T.B., M.A., M.M.R.Sc., Ph.D. The Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium
Courses Taught: Christianity Past and Present; Varieties of Christianity; Christian health Care Ethics; Work, Capital and God
Areas of Expertise: Human Genome Project; ethics and genetics; fundamental moral theology; ethics of long-term care
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Mahoney organized Waters of Life: Sacred and Profaned, an interfaith conference sponsored by the Edmundite Center for Faith and Culture at Saint Michael's in April 2007.
Learn more about Dr. Mahoney in his faculty spotlight.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 243
Phone: 802.654.2578
Box 183
E-mail: emahoney@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/emahoney/
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Rev. Joseph McLaughlin, SSE
Professor of Religious Studies
B.A. Saint Michael’s College; S.T.B, A.M. University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto; Ph.D. National University of Ireland, Galway
Dr. McLaughlin's expertise are Ecclesiastical, Irish and Early Modern European History.
Phone: 802.654.2371
Box 272
E-mail: jmclaughlin@smcvt.edu
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Raymond A. Patterson
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
B.A. Dartmouth College; M.A. Yale Divinity School; Ph.D. The Catholic
University of America
Research interests that Dr. Patterson pursues are within American Catholicism.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 225
Phone: 802.654.2427
Box 201
E-mail: rpatterson@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/rpatterson/index.htm
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Jeanne-Nicole Saint-Laurent
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
B.A. Gonzaga University; M.A. University of Notre Dame; Ph.D. Brown University
Dr. Jeanne-Nicole Saint-Laurent joined Saint Michael's as an assistant professor of religious studies beginning with the Fall 2009 semester. Dr. Saint-Laurent was a junior fellow at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library in Washington, D.C., for the 2008-2009 academic year where she researched and completed her dissertation, titled "Apostolic Memories: Religious Differentiation and the Construction of Orthodoxy in Syriac Missionary Literature."
A specialist in Early Christianity: Christianity in Late Antiquity and Syriac Studies, at Saint Michael's, Dr. Saint-Laurent teaches Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxies, Early Christianity, and Christianity, Past and Present.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 231
Phone: 802.654.2987
Box 174
E-mail: jsaintlauren@smcvt.edu
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James N. Rhodes
Visiting Assistant Professor of Religious Studies
B.A. Oral Roberts University; M.A., Ph.D. The Catholic University of America
View Dr. Rhodes' Curriculum Vitae
Courses Taught: Christianity Past & Present; Old Testament; New Testament; Early Christianity
Areas of Expertise: Early Jewish and early Christian writings that did not make it into the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament; the complex and often problematic relationship between Judaism and Christianity as they gradually emerged as separate traditions.
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Rhodes is author of The Epistle of Barnabas and the Deuteronomic Tradition: Polemics, Paraenesis, and the Legacy of the Golden-Calf Incident (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004). He has also written several encyclopedia entries, four of which for The New Catholic Encyclopedia, entitled "Aristeas, Letter of;" "Barnabas;" "Barnabas, Epistle of;" and "Didache."
On Teaching and Research: Dr. Rhodes' favorite class to teach is Early Christianity. He says the formative period of Christian Origins is interesting and more diverse than many suppose. The pseudo-history of novels like Dan Brown’s DaVinci Code is not nearly so fascinating as the real thing. He enjoys helping students consider how history as they know it might have turned out rather differently.
Campus Office
Founders Annex 257
Phone: 802.654.2845
Box 192
E-mail: jrhodes@smcvt.edu
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Jeffrey Trumbower
Dean of the College
Professor of Religious Studies
B.A. Vanderbilt University; M.A., Ph.D. University of Chicago
View Dr. Trumbower's Curriculum Vitae
Courses Taught: Old Testament; New Testament; Early Christianity; Judaism in the Greco-Roman World
Areas of Expertise: Jewish sectarian logic and ideology
Recent Scholarly Achievements: Dr. Trumbower is the author of Rescue for the Dead: The Posthumous Salvation of Non-Christians in Early Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001) and Born From Above: The Anthropology of the Gospel of John (Tübingen: J.C.B. Mohr [Paul Siebeck], 1992).
On Teaching and Research: Dr. Trumbower incorporates the topics he has written about into his courses. The very act of producing peer-reviewed scholarship keeps him in touch with new ideas and developments in his field, and these new ideas inevitably find their way into his teaching. He has quite often been influenced by a question or assertion of a student in class that has helped him to think more deeply about some scholarly topic he has been working on.
Outside Saint Michael's: Dr. Trumbower enjoys snowshoeing, coin collecting, and vegetable gardening. He appeared on the television game show “Jeopardy!” in 2004, narrowly missing first place by only $1.
Learn more about Dr. Trumbower in his faculty spotlight.
Campus Office
Founders Hall 105
Phone: 802.654.2492
Box 105
E-mail: jtrumbower@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/jtrumbower/
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Rabbi Joshua Chasan
Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies
Ph.D. University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Chasan teaches Introduction to Judaism.
Ohavi Zedek Synagogue, Burlington, VT
Box 396
E-mail: jchasan@smcvt.edu
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Robert Lair
Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies
M.A. Yale University
Recent courses Mr. Lair has taught include Introduction to Christianity and Theologies of God.
Box 358
E-mail: rlair@smcvt.edu
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Rowshan Nemazee
Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies
Box 152
E-mail: rnemazee@smcvt.edu
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Rev. Richard Berube, SSE
Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies
B.A. Saint Michael’s College; M.A. University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto; Ph.D. The Catholic University of America
Dr. Berube has concentrated much of his research on Jewish-Christian-Muslim dialogue.
Campus Office
Saint Edmund's Hall 231
Phone: 802.654.2666
Box 124
E-mail: rberube@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/rberube/
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Paul Couture, SSE, STD
Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies
Pontifical Gregorian University
Dr. Couture's research interests include New Testament studies.
E-mail: pcouture@smcvt.edu
Personal Web site: http://academics.smcvt.edu/pcouture/