St. Bonaventure University

ST. BONAVENTURE FACULTY


Apczynski, John V.

john_apczynski_web

ACADEMIC DEPARTMENT
Theology
ACADEMIC SCHOOL
School of Arts and Sciences

TITLES/RESPONSIBILITIES
Professor Emeritus, Theology
CONTACT
OFFICE
COURSES TAUGHT
ACADEMIC DEGREES
  • Ph.D., McGill University, Montreal, 1972
  • M.A., University of Dayton, Ohio, 1967
  • B.A., St. John’s College, Little Rock, Ark., 1964
OTHER EDUCATION
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND
ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Books 

  • Doers of the Word:  Toward a Foundational Theology Based on the Thought of Michael Polanyi. Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1977.
  • Editor. Foundations of Religious Literacy. The Annual Publication of the College Theology Society. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983.
  • Editor. Theology and the University. The Annual Publication of the College Theology Society. Lanham: University Press of America, 1990.
  • Editor. The Intellectual Journey. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1998. [Text based on themes of Bonaventure’s The Mind’s Journey into God developed for the introductory foundational seminar course of Clare College, the core program at S.B.U.] 

Articles in Scholarly Journals and Collections 

  • “Integrative Theology:  A Polanyian Proposal for Theological Foundations,” Theological Studies, 40 (1979), 23-43. 
  • “Truth in Religion: A Polanyian Appraisal of Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Theological Program,” Zygon, 17 (1982), 49-73.
  • With Michael Chiariello. “Agassi on Polanyi:  Comments on Joseph Agassi’s Science and Society,”Tradition and Discovery, 13, no. 1 (Fall, 1985-86), 4-19.
  • “Mysticism and Epistemology,” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 14 (1985), 193-205.
  • “Are Religion and Science Distinct or Dichotomous Realms?” Tradition and Discovery, 15, no. 1 (Winter, 1987-88), 4-14.
  • “Authority: A House or a Home?” Raising the Torch of Good News. Ed. Bernard P. Prusak. Annual Publication of the College Theology Society, 1986. Lanham:  University Press of America, 1988. Pp. 127-144.
  • “Richard Rorty and Michael Polanyi: Is There Truth after Foundationalism?” Reflections for a panel, “The Tacit Victory and the Unfinished Agenda,” Tradition and Discovery, 18, no. 1 (1991-92), 11-13. 
  • “John Hick’s Theocentrism: Revolutionary or Implicitly Exclusivist?” Modern Theology, 8:1 (1992), 39-52. 
  • “Belief in God, Proper Basicality, and Rationality,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 60:2 (1992), 501-512. J. Wesley Robbins, “Response,” JAAR, 61 (1993), 339-41; “Rejoinder,” 341-42.
  • “Polanyi’s Augustinianism: A Mark of the Future?” Tradition and Discovery, 20, no. 1 (1993-94), 27-41.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS/PROJECTS

My professional and research interests focus around issues of contemporary religious thought. My current concerns are shaped by the effort to bring scientific and post-modern assumptions into dialogue with a renewed interpretation of certain Augustinian themes about human subjectivity, particularly as they were expressed by the medieval Franciscan theologian, Bonaventure.

Recent Activity 

  • The Discovery of Meaning through Scientific and Religious Forms of Indwelling,” a paper presented at the Polanyi Society meeting at the national convention of the American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, November 21, 2003.
  • “The Meaning of Meaning,” a paper presented at a conference on Polanyi’s Post-Critical Thought and the Rebirth of Meaning, Loyola University, Chicago, IL, June 8-10, 2001.
  • “Creation, Evolution, and Divine Agency: A Bonaventurian Perspective,” paper presented at a conference on evolution and design at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, May 24-6, 2001.
  • “Reflections on Gunter’s Resurrection Knowledge,” a paper presented at the Polanyi Society meeting held at the national convention of the American Academy of Religion, Nashville, November 17, 2000.
  • “Book review of Theology as the Road to Holiness in St. Bonaventure by Charles Carpenter,” Horizons, 27 (2000), 411-13.
PERSONAL INTERESTS/COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
LINKS