Professor Emeritus of Historical and Systematic Theology
A.B., Loyola College (MD); S.T.B., S.T.L., Woodstock College
M.A., Ph.D., University of Chicago
Email: tsanks@jstb.edu
Phone: (510) 549-5023
Office hours: by appointment
Download a syllabus for the following courses:
About the Professor
"What are we doing when we practice theology and why do we do it? We are, I believe, trying to come to grips with the most fundamental questions of being human: Who are we on this planet and under these stars? Is our existence an accident or is there some purpose and meaning to it? Why is it that we even ask such questions? As Christian theologians we deal with such questions in the light of what we have come to see as the central interpretive key to all--the event and person of Jesus as the Christ."
Fr. Sanks, Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Jesuit School, teaches courses in The Community Called Church, Readings in Liberation Theology, Theological Method, Theology of Paul Tillich and Vatican II Revisited. His course material often parallels his own professional interests, which include ecclesiology, theological method, liberation theology, Vatican II, ecumenism, and globalization and inculturation.
Fr. Sanks has authored several books and articles; among them, Salt, Heaven and Light: The Community Called Church; Reading the Signs of the Times: Resources for Social and Cultural Analysis; "The Church's Social Mission: Its Changing Contexts;" and "Globalization and the Church's Social Mission." Other publications include in 2003 Louvain Studies "Globalization, Postmodernit and Governance in the Church," in 2005 in the New Theology Review "Inculturation: What is to be Done? " More recently in 2007 with the help of Pierre Bourdieu, he published "Homo Theologicus: Toward a Reflexive Theology."
