Peter Casarella

Professor of Theology

Office

Langford 056

Degrees

B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Yale University)

Dr. Casarella’s primary field of study is systematic theology followed by world religions and world church. He was appointed to the faculty of Duke Divinity School as of July 1, 2020. Formerly, he was an associate professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame from 2013-2020 and served as director of the Latin American North American Church Concerns (LANACC) project in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. He served as professor of Catholic Studies from 2007-2013 at DePaul University, where he was also the founding director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology. He has published ninety-one essays in scholarly journals or books on a variety of topics including medieval Christian Neoplatonism, contemporary theological aesthetics, intercultural thought, and the Hispanic/Latino presence in the U.S. Catholic Church. He served as president of The American Cusanus Society, The Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the U.S. (ACHTUS), and the Academy of Catholic Theologians (ACT). He is currently serving a second five-year term on the International Roman Catholic-Baptist World Alliance Ecumenical Dialogue and served also on the Roman Catholic-World Communion of Reformed Churches Dialogue. He has published a monograph, Word as Bread: Language and Theology in Nicholas of Cusa (2017) and a collection of his own essays, Reverberations of the Word: Wounded Beauty in Global Catholicism (2020). He has also edited or co-edited: Cuerpo de Cristo: The Hispanic Presence in the U.S. Catholic Church (1998), Christian Spirituality and the Culture of Modernity: The Thought of Louis Dupré (1998), Cusanus: The Legacy of Learned Ignorance (2006), A World for All? Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology (2011), and, most recently, The Whole is Greater than its Parts: Ecumenism and Inter-religious Encounters in the Age of Pope Francis (2020). He is currently working on a book titled: The God of the People: A Latinx Theology.

News and Stories

Duke Divinity Announces Certificate in Catholic Studies

The new certificate is designed to engage students in the study of the global Catholic experience, practices, and teachings over the centuries and in the present.

Seminar Integrates Faith and Science to Respond to Environmental Challenges

A group of graduate students delved into the Catholic intellectual tradition to better understand the relationship between theology, ecology, and technology.

Casarella Meets with Pope for Ecumenical Dialogue

Professor of Theology Peter Casarella met with Pope Francis as part of the Baptist-Catholic International Dialogue.

Upcoming Events

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Duke Catholic Center of Duke University and Fons Vitae of Duke Divinity School present a free screening of The Shroud: Face to Face and welcome Director Robert Orlando for a Q&A to follow.

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Following a Duke screening of The Shroud: Face to Face, we invite Robert Orlando, Ross Wagner, and Peter Casarella to take us even deeper into the mystery of the Shroud of Turin and what it means for us today.

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Richard DeClue, systematic theologian and professor of theology at the Word on Fire Institute, will offer a lecture on the heart of Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI’s theological legacy.

Recent Publications on Scholars@Duke