Reimagining Spirituality | Book Launch Event

2-Part Series on 'Reimagining Spirituality'

The Oblate School of Theology Department of Continuing Education, in collaboration with the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Spirituality (ISCS), invites you to a special two-part Book Launch Series this November celebrating the scholarship of our faculty. Each evening offers the opportunity to engage with new scholarship in Christian spirituality, hear directly from the authors, and join in conversation about faith, imagination, and the human search for God.

PART ONE

📖 Revisioning Spirituality: The American Communal Imagination and the Destiny of a Discipline

Monday, November 10, 2025

Authors: Fr. John J. Markey, OP, PhD, and Michael Ceragioli, MA (Th)

This presentation explores the power of a communal imagination to renew the understanding and practice of Christian spirituality. Drawing on American philosophers such as William James, Josiah Royce, and Charles Sanders Peirce, and echoing voices like Thomas Merton, Martin Luther King Jr., and Barbara Holmes, the authors trace a lineage that challenges radical individualism and offers a vision of spirituality for our fragmented age.

PART TWO

📖 Insane for the Light: A Spirituality for Our Wisdom Years

Monday, November 17, 2025

Author: Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, OMI, PhD

In this reflective work, Fr. Rolheiser illuminates the stages of our spiritual journey — from the search for meaning in youth, to the self-giving of adulthood, to the art of letting go at life’s end. Drawing on Christian mystics and his own pastoral and academic experience, he shows how spirituality is a discipline rooted in lived human experience, calling us to see our lives as a gift given and ultimately surrendered.

Event Highlights

• Author presentations on their newest works
• Audience Q&A
• Opportunity for book signing & fellowship (in-person attendees)

This event is free of charge, but RSVP is required to reserve your spot.

Ron Rolheiser, OMI is a Roman Catholic priest, member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, and served as president of Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas for the fifteen years before retiring from that position in September 2020. He remains a fulltime faculty member at OST. Rolheiser is a theologian, professor, and award-winning author. Apart from his academic knowledge in systematic theology and philosophy, he has become a popular speaker in contemporary spirituality and religion and the secular world. He writes a weekly column that is carried in many newspapers around the world. He is a popular speaker in the areas of contemporary spirituality and religion and the secular world.

Learn more about Fr. Ron: https://ronrolheiser.com/about-ron/

John J. Markey, OP, PhD is Professor of Theology and Spirituality and Director of the PhD in Spirituality program at Oblate School of Theology. He received his doctorate in Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Fr. Markey teaches in the areas of theology, philosophy, and Christian spirituality, with particular expertise in foundational and systematic theology, ecclesiology, contextual theology, and contemporary spirituality. His academic interests also include the history of philosophy, medieval thought, twentieth-century European philosophy, and American pragmatism—especially the work of Josiah Royce.

Fr. Markey has written extensively on philosophy and theology in the American context. His book Moses in Pharaoh’s House: A Liberation Spirituality for North America received national recognition for its contribution to contextual and liberation theology. Most recently, he co-authored Revisioning Spirituality: The American Communal Imagination and the Destiny of a Discipline (Paulist Press, 2025) with Michael Ceragioli, a work that explores the philosophical and cultural foundations of Christian spirituality within the United States.

In addition to his scholarship, Fr. Markey is committed to the formation of future scholars and spiritual leaders, guiding students to integrate rigorous academic study with lived faith in today’s cultural context.

Michael Ceragioli, MA (Th.) is the Interim Director of the MA in Spirituality program at Oblate School of Theology and a doctoral student in Christian Spirituality. His research explores the idea of the soul in Christian spirituality, depth psychology, American pragmatism, and contemporary spirituality. He is the co-author of Sent Forth: A Handbook for a Missionary Church (Cascade Books, 2022) with Ignacio Llorente. Most recently, he co-authored Revisioning Spirituality: The American Communal Imagination and the Destiny of a Discipline (Paulist Press, 2025) with John J. Markey, OP, PhD. In addition to his writing and teaching, Michael is deeply committed to forming students for lives of faith and service, helping them engage spirituality as both an academic discipline and a lived experience.

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