Peter C. Phan

Professor Peter Phan, a priest of the Diocese of Dallas, came as a refugee to the United States in 1975. He began his teaching career at the University of Dallas where he was the chair of the Department of Theology. In 1988 he joined the Catholic University of America where he became the chair of the Department of Theology and eventually held the Warren-Blanding Chair of Religion and Culture in the Department of Religion and Religious Education.

By academic training and research interest Professor Phan is a systematic theologian with three earned doctorates, to use the nomenclature of the guild. The first doctorate (S.T.D.) trained him in Eastern Orthodox theology, in particular the theology of the icon as presented by the Russian theologian Paul Evdokimov. The second (Ph.D.) investigated the transcendental philosophy and theology of Karl Rahner. The third is a doctor of divinity degree (D.D.), called the "Higher Doctorate," and is conferred by the University of London only to scholars whose published works are judged by a board of examiners to have established an international reputation and to have contributed significantly to the field.

Professor Phan has published extensively on theological method, missiology, inculturation, liberation, and interreligious dialogue. In addition, he has published on patristic theology and a broad range of theological themes, in particular eschatology, ecclesiology, and liturgy. He has authored 10 books, edited 20 others, and published over 250 essays in both scholarly and popular journals. Several of these publications have received professional awards Currently he is working on a manual on Roman Catholic theology for Westminster/John Knox Press and functioning as general editor for a fifteen-volume series on American ethnic Catholics for Paulist Press (which presents more recent Catholic immigrant churches in the U.S.) and for a twenty-five volume series on "Theology in Global Perspective" for Orbis Books (which seeks to do theology in the intercultural and interreligious contexts).

Professionally, he is the first non-Anglo person to be elected president of the Catholic Theological Society of America, an organization of 1,400 North American theologians. He is also a member of the American Theology Society.