Vincent Miller

• Ph.D., Systematic and Philosophical Theology (Minors in History of Christianity and Christian Ethic), University of Notre Dame, 1997
  Dissertation: "Tradition and Experience in Edward Schillebeeckx's Theology of Revelation," directed by Thomas F. O'Meara, O.P.
• M.A., Theological Studies, University of Notre Dame, 1990
• B.S., St. Francis College, 1988. Social Justice, Minors: Physics, Mathematics, Computer Science

Vincent J. Miller, Ph.D., came to the University of Dayton from Georgetown University where he was an associate professor of theology (2004-09), and previously served as an assistant professor from (1997-2004). He came to the University of Dayton as a distinguished visiting professor in spring 2008 and was appointed as the first Gudorf Chair in Catholic Theology and Culture in 2009.

• Hope and the Anthropocene
• Theology, Climate Change, Ecology, and Laudato Si’
• Church engagement with Mining and Extractivism
• Catholic Social Doctrine and Thought
• Theology and Technology: Digital Media and AI
• Neoliberalism, Religion and Culture

• REL 103 Introduction to Religious and Theological Studies
• ASI 375 Professional Ethics in a Global Society
• REL 602 Contemporary Theological Methods
• REL 604 Cultural Methods in Theology
• REL 605 20th Century Theological Contributors to the Ecclesiology of Vatican II
• REL 620 Catholic Social Teaching: Theological Development 1800-1963
• REL 640 Theological Engagements with Culture
• REL 640 Theology, Environment, and US Culture
• REL 645 Technology and Christian Anthropology
• REL 645 Where is the Church? Ecclesiology, Globalization, and New Spaces of Community
• REL 645 The Mystical Body of Christ and Society
• REL 670 Global Concern, Solidarity, and Cosmopolitanism

Books:

The Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything is Connected. (Editor) (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2017).

Consuming Religion: Christian Faith and Practice in a Consumer Culture. New York: Continuum, 2003/Bloomsbury Academic 2005.

The Church and Neoliberal Globalization: Solidarity in a World Made Indifferent (In progress).

Select Articles/Chapters:

Miller, Vincent, Swanson, Frederick. J., Bayles, David Paul. "After the Fire: Wonder, Ecological Grief and Place-Based Interdisciplinary Research in the Anthropocene." In Amber Abrams, Victoria Bates and Rocio Gomex (Eds.), Handbook of Health and Environmental Humanities. London: Routledge, Taylor and Francis, (Forthcoming).

"Seeking Social Salvation in a World Made Frictionless: Communion, Extractivism and Integral Ecology." Proceedings of the Catholic Theological Society of America 78 (November 27, 2024): 31–51. https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ctsa/article/view/18651

"Catholic Higher Education and the Environmental Crisis: Integral Ecology vs. the Technocratic Paradigm," in Catholic Higher Education in Light of Catholic Social Thought, ed. Bernard Prusak and Jennifer Reed-Bouley (Mahwah, NY: Paulist Press, 2023), 126-146.

"Synodality and the Sacramental Mission of the Church: The Struggle for Communion in a World Divided by Colonialism and Neoliberal Globalization," Theological Studies 83, no. 1 (March 2022): 8–24. http://https//doi.org/10.1177/00405639221076556

"Mining and the Call for Solidarity: The Networks We Have and the Network the Church is Called to Be," in Catholic Peacebuilding and Mining: Integral Peace, Development, and Ecology, ed. Caesar Montevecchio and Gerard Powers (London: Routledge, 2022), 202–20. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-edit/10.4324/9781003094272/catholic-peacebuilding-mining-gerard-powers-caesar-montevecchio?_ga=2102510602.1706653265

"Neoliberalism and Theological Anthropology: The Hidden Formation of Student Loans and Dating Apps," in T&T Clark Companion to Theological Anthropology, ed. Steven Okey and Mary Ann Hinsdale (London: Bloomsbury, 2021), 385-397.

"Integral Ecology: Pope Francis’s Spiritual and Moral Vision of Interconnectedness," in Vincent J. Miller, ed. The Theological and Ecological Vision of Laudato Si’: Everything is Connected. (London and New York: Bloomsbury, 2017), 11-28.

"Public Theology: An Ever-Changing Task," Horizons 43, no. 2 (2017): 11-17.

"Changing Media, Changing Problems: Catholic Intellectual Life, Identity and Fragmentation," in Una Cadegan and James Heft, eds. In The Logos of Love: Promise and Predicament in Catholic Intellectual Life (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), 146-170.

"Ecclesiology, Cultural Change, and the Changing Nature of Culture," in Ed Hahnenberg and Richard Gaillardetz eds. A Church with Open Doors: Catholic Ecclesiology for the Third Millennium (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2015), 64-86.

"Media Constructions of Space, the Disciplining of Religious Traditions and the Hidden Threat of the Post-Secular," in William Barbieri ed. At the Limits of the Secular: Reflections on Faith and Public Life (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014), 162-198.

"The Global and the Local: Green Sisters, Bioregionalism, and Catholicity." Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, CCLXII (2013), 429-442.

"The Disappearing Common Good as a Challenge to Catholic Participation in Public Life: The Need for Catholicity and Prudence," in Nicholas Cafardi, ed. Voting and Holiness (Paulist Press, 2012), 178-195.

"Where is the University Now? Education and Place in Global Space," The Cresset, LXXIV(April 2011):4, 28-40.

"The Body Globalized: Problems for a Sacramental Imagination in an Age of Global Commodity Chains," Religion, Economics, and Culture in Conflict and Conversation: CTS Annual Volume 2010, (New York: Maryknoll, 2011), 108-120

"Where Is the Church? Globalization and Catholicity," Theological Studies, 69 (2008): 412-432.

Laudato Si' Ecology and Climate Change:

"Francis Offers Fierce Hope for Hard Times: ‘Laudate Deum’ is not a document of despair," Commonweal Magazine (v.151 n.2, February 2024 23-25). https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/francis-climate-change-miller-laudate-deum-hope

"The Catholic Church thinks in centuries. But when it comes to climate change, Pope Francis doesn’t," October 5, 2023. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2023/10/05/laudate-deum-papal-document-pope-francis-246217

"Tears & Ashes: Three ways of looking at recent wildfires in the West," Commonweal Magazine (vol. 149, no. 3, March, 2022, pp. 28-35). https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/tears-ashes

"We’re all tied to the Amazon through globalization. Can the synod help us listen to its cry?," America Magazine, February 19, 2020. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/02/19/were-all-tied-amazon-through-globalization-can-synod-help-us-listen-its-cry

"A Cathedral Not Made by Hands: Laudato si’ in an Old-Growth Forest," Commonweal Magazine 147, no. 1, January 2020, 20-25. https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/cathedral-not-made-hands

"Ethical Landscapes: The Literary Terrain of Barry Lopez," America Magazine 220, no. 9, April 22, 2019. https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2019/04/18/literary-landscape-barry-lopez

Catholic Social Doctrine and Thought

"A Call to Discern the Depths of Our Politics: Francis' Fratelli Tutti," America Magazine, October 8, 2020. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/10/07/catholic-theologians-takeaways-fratelli-tutti-pope-francis

"The Common Good and the Market," America Magazine 220, no. 7, April 1, 2019, 32-37. https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2019/03/22/what-does-catholic-social-teaching-say-about-economy-its-more-complicated-you/

"The Geography of Mercy: On the Internet We Encounter Suffering from Afar. How do We Respond?" America Magazine 215, no. 11, October 17, 2016, 14-17. http://www.americamagazine.org/issue/geography-mercy

"Slavery and Commodity Chains: Fighting the Globalization of Indifference," America Magazine, January 3, 2014. https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/slavery-and-commodity-chains-fighting-globalization-indifference

"Saving Subsidiarity: Why It’s Not About Small Government." America 207(July 30-August 6, 2012):3, 13-16. http://www.americamagazine.org/issue/5147/article/saving-subsidiarity

Recent Presentations:

"Hope in the Ruins: Vocation at the End of the World," Robert S. Mason Memorial Lecture Georgetown, April 7, 2025.

"Beyond Climate Doom: Hope as Honest, Vulnerable and Fierce," 18th Commonweal Lecture Fairfield, April 9 2025.

"Hope as a Passion: Medieval Insights for the Anthropocene Crisis," symposium Hope: Ecology, Philosophy and Theology in Conversation, Oregon State University, May 5, 2025.

"Climate Change is an Existential Threat," The Great Debate: Climate Change or Existential Crisis?, Saint Augustine's Catholic Center, University of Iowa, Moscow, IA, October 27, 2022.

"Laudato Si’ as Challenge and Guide", Earth Day Lecture, St. Mary's University, San Antonio, TX, April 22, 2022.

"Higher Education, the Ecological Crisis, and the Technocratic Paradigm," Collegium Lecture Series, Holy Cross, Wooster, MA, March 22, 2021.

"The Trinitarian Imagination, the Contemplative Gaze and Caring for Creation Amidst the Unfolding Climate Crisis," Keynote Address, Trinity Health Network Mission Council Annual Meeting, Trinity Health, Livonia, MI, August 19, 2019.

"Which Nationalism? What Extremism? Responding to Political Violence in a New Moment." Ecclesiological Investigations Unit, American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Boston, MA, Nov. 18, 2017.

Select Media Contributions:

"New Pope Leo XIV becomes first American head of the Catholic church - The Wall Street Journal, May 8, 2025. https://www.wsj.com/world/new-pope-elected-white-smoke-vatican-f9a52ef5

"Pope's approach on issues did not fit neatly in US politics," Our Sunday Visitor, Apr 23, 2025. https://www.osvnews.com/pope-francis-approach-to-key-issues-did-not-fit-neatly-in-us-politics-experts-say/

"Pope Francis names like-minded ally Cardinal Robert McElroy as D.C. Archbishop," January 7, 2025. https://apnews.com/article/vatican-washington-trump-mcelroy-8390173f467e13a9ea8387aea5d0316c

"The Grind of Hope in a Crisis" interview with Sister Julia Walsh, FSPA on Messy Jesus Business Podcast, November 9, 2023. https://messyjesusbusiness.com/2023/11/09/vincent-j-miller-the-grind-of-hope-in-a-crisis/

Toth Stub, Sara. "The Commodification of Orthodox Judaism: What’s gained and what’s lost when religion becomes an individualist—or even consumerist—endeavor?." The Atlantic Monthly, Jul 23, 2017.

Green, Emma. "Pope Francis Is Not ‘Progressive’—He’s a Priest." The Atlantic Monthly, Sep 22, 2015.

Yardley, Jim and Laurie Goodstein. "Pope Francis, in Sweeping Encyclical, Calls for Swift Action on Climate Change." The New York Times, Jun 19, 2015.

Goodstein, Laurie and Elisabetta Povoledo. "Pope Sets Down Goals for an Inclusive Church, Reaching Out ‘on the Streets’." The New York Times, Nov 26, 2013.

On Air Appearance: The O’Reilly Factor. May 12, 2011.

Donadio, Rachel and Laurie Goodstein. "Pope Urges Forming New World Economic Order to Work for the ‘Common Good’." The New York Times, Jul 7, 2009.

Fellowships and Grants:

Oregon State University/ U.S. Forest Service, Long-Term Ecological Reflections: Writers-in-Residence Program, H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Spring 2017. (Interdisciplinary program for humanist scholars to collaborate in the Long Term Ecological Research projects at the H.J. Andrews Forest.)

Dissertation Advisees

Colin McGuigan, The Paschal Event of Wonder: Pope Francis, Planetary Crisis, and the Capacity for Surprise, 2025. Partially published as: “Wonder Opens the Heart: Pope Francis and Lisa Sideris on Nature, Encounter, and Wonder” Zygon 54, no. 2 (2019): 396–408. https://www.zygonjournal.org/article/id/14565/

Adam Sheridan, This Place of Exile: The Lockean Problem and Theology of Labor in Rerum Novarum, 2022.

Jens Mueller, Where Two or Three are Gathered": The Use of Religious Symbols in Twentieth-Century Catholic Social Movements, 2021.

Justin Yankech, Subsidiarity in America: The Legacy of Bernard James Sheil, 2020.

Scott C. McDaniel, Of Mountain Flesh: Space, Religion, and the Creatureliness of Appalachia, 2018. Under contract with West Virginia University Press.

Katherine Schmidt, Virtual Communion: Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Imagination, 2016. Published as: Virtual Communion: Theology of the Internet and the Catholic Sacramental Imagination. Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020.

Emily McGowan, As for Me and My House: The Theology of the Family in the American Quiverfull Movement, 2015. Published as: Quivering Families: The Quiverfull Movement and Evangelical Theology of the Family. Fortress Press, 2018.

Maureen Walsh, Georgetown University Theology Department, ‘Because they are no more’: Memorializing Pregnancy Loss in Japanese Buddhism and American Catholicism, 2011. Published as: Grieving Pregnancy: Memorializing Loss in Japanese Buddhism and American Catholicism. Rutgers University Press, 2024.