Peter Nguyen, SJ, SJ, PhD
Peter Nguyen, SJ, SJ, PhD
Associate Professor
College of Arts and Sciences
Academic Appointments
Department
- Theology
Position
- Associate Professor
Biography
Father Peter Nguyen, S.J., is an Associate Professor of Theology at Creighton University. He holds a Ph.D. in Theology from St. Michael’s College and an S.T.D. (Doctorate in Sacred Theology) from Regis College, both at the University of Toronto. He also holds an M.Div. and S.T.L. from Boston College and an M.A. in Social Philosophy from Loyola University Chicago. He earned his B.A. in Religion and the Humanities at the University of Chicago.
Fr. Peter’s research interest is in the areas of the theology of Christian martyrdom, the interaction of trinitarian and Christological teachings, and the history and philosophy of totalitarianism. His other research interest involves developing a theology of the saints relying on the works of the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Canadian theologian Bernard Lonergan.
He is the author of Against the Titans: Theology and the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp, published by Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, and several articles. Alfred Delp, a German Jesuit, was martyred by the Nazis at the end of World War II. Fr. Peter is currently on academic research leave and is working on a monograph on the anti-totalitarian witnesses of Edith Stein and Alfred Delp. Stein was one of the most controversial and intriguing women to be canonized as a saint. She was a Jewish convert, brilliant philosopher, educator, and feminist. Unfortunately, she was arrested by the Nazis and died in Auschwitz in 1942.
Fr. Peter enjoys being a teacher in the classroom because it offers him a chance to exercise a dimension of his Jesuit priesthood—the ministry of the Word. In addition to his scholarly interests and passion for teaching, Fr. Peter gives preached retreats.
Fr. Peter is a brown belt in the martial arts of jiu-jitsu and competes in grappling tournaments.
Curriculum Vitae
Fr. Peter’s research interest is in the areas of the theology of Christian martyrdom, the interaction of trinitarian and Christological teachings, and the history and philosophy of totalitarianism. His other research interest involves developing a theology of the saints relying on the works of the Swiss theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Canadian theologian Bernard Lonergan.
He is the author of Against the Titans: Theology and the Martyrdom of Alfred Delp, published by Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, and several articles. Alfred Delp, a German Jesuit, was martyred by the Nazis at the end of World War II. Fr. Peter is currently on academic research leave and is working on a monograph on the anti-totalitarian witnesses of Edith Stein and Alfred Delp. Stein was one of the most controversial and intriguing women to be canonized as a saint. She was a Jewish convert, brilliant philosopher, educator, and feminist. Unfortunately, she was arrested by the Nazis and died in Auschwitz in 1942.
Fr. Peter enjoys being a teacher in the classroom because it offers him a chance to exercise a dimension of his Jesuit priesthood—the ministry of the Word. In addition to his scholarly interests and passion for teaching, Fr. Peter gives preached retreats.
Fr. Peter is a brown belt in the martial arts of jiu-jitsu and competes in grappling tournaments.
Curriculum Vitae
Research and Scholarship
Research and Scholarship Interests
- Father Peter Nguyen is a theologian who works in the areas of the theology of Christian martyrdom, the interaction of trinitarian and Christological teachings, and the history and philosophy of totalitarianism. His other scholarly interests involve developing a theology of the saints relying on the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Bernard Lonergan.
Current Research Projects
- Father Peter Nguyen is currently working on three articles and a monograph. The first article introduces the witness of Alfred Delp to the Church in Vietnam. It examines how the phenomenon of totalitarianism, Martin Heidegger’s Being and Time, and Catholic Social Thought inform Delp’s discourse and witness. The second article is for the Alfred Delp Gesellschaft in Germany. It explores the phenomenon of anxiety in the suffering of Delp and the fictional Sebastian Rodrigues of Shusako Endo’s Silence. Finally, the third article recovers the importance of lament as a form of prayer for the 21st century. It explores Edith Stein’s grief in dialogue with the poetry of the Book of Lamentations.
The monograph explores how Edith Stein and Alfred Delp shepherd the Church in Nazi Germany. It discusses Carmelite and Jesuit spiritualities of self-sacrificial love and suffering.