Saint Louis University

Faculty Member, Theological Studies

About

Originally from Bantry, Co. Cork, Ireland, Tomás O’Sullivan was educated at University College Cork (BA; MA: Medieval History) and Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick (MA: Theology) before completing a PhD in Historical Theology at Saint Louis University and joining the Theology Faculty in Fall 2011.

O’Sullivan’s primary research interest is Early Medieval Theology, with particular emphasis on early Insular Christianity, that is, the early medieval churches of Britain and Ireland, and their interactions with the Continent. While focusing especially on Early Christian Ireland, his research explores the interconnected nature of Irish and Anglo-Saxon Christianity and their innovative dialogue with the other churches of Western Europe. He is particularly interested in the areas of: Conversion and Christianization; Homilies and Preaching; Hiberno-Latin and Early Medieval Exegesis (the interpretation of scripture); Hagiography (the cult of the saints and their Lives); and Insular Illumination and Iconography. He also works on Palaeography and Codicology (manuscript studies) and the Interaction of Faith and Culture in the medieval and the contemporary church.

O’Sullivan has taught a variety of classes at Saint Louis University, including Theological Foundations (Theo 100), Christian Spiritual Traditions (Theo 383), and Christian Spiritual Traditions: Celtic Christianity (Theo 383). He is currently teaching the Survey of Christian Beliefs (Theo 252: Fall 2011) and, next semester, he will be offering an Undergraduate class on Medieval Christianity (Theo 233) together with the Graduate Survey of Medieval Christianity (Theo 602).

O’Sullivan is an active member of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies, and sits on the editorial board of its journal, Eolas. He is a contributing member of University College Cork’s De Finibus Project (http://definibus.ucc.ie/), which focuses on Christian representations of the afterlife in medieval Ireland. He has, over the past number of years, collaborated with his colleague, Dr. James R. Ginther, in SLU's Center for Digital Theology, working on the Electronic Norman Anonymous Project (http://normananonymous.org/ENAP/) and the current T-PEN Project (see http://digital-editor.blogspot.com/), which is producing a digital tool to aid scholars in the transcription of unpublished manuscripts.

O'Sullivan has presented papers at the International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo), the International Medieval Congress (Leeds), the International Congress of Celtic Studies, and the Irish Conference of Medievalists, and his publications on Irish hagiography, exegesis and textual criticism have appeared in Louvain Studies, Eolas and Studia Celtica Fennica.

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