Charles A Gillespie, Ph.D
Office Location
Degrees & Certifications
- Ph.D., Religious Studies (Theology, Ethics, and Culture), University of Virginia, 2019
- Dissertation: Drama Alone is Credible: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Interpretive Work of Theatre and Performance in Twentieth-Century Christian Thought
- MAR, Religion and the Arts (Religion and Literature), Yale University Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, 2013
- BAH, (Humanities, summa cum laude), Villanova University, 2010
Teaching Responsibilities
- CIT 201 & CIT 202 The Human Journey Seminars: Great Books in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition
- CIT 208 God on Broadway
- CIT 213/THR 299 Wild Irish Spirits: Theatre and Ritual in Ireland (SHU in Dingle)
- FYWS 125 First-Year Writing Seminar
Awards & Fellowships
- Sacred Heart University Advising Award (2022)
- Dolores L. Christie Scholarship for the Catholic Theological Society of America (2018)
- Senior Junior Fellow of the University of Virginia Society of Fellows (2017)
- Junior Fellow of the University of Virginia Society of Fellows (2016)
- Graduate Teaching Award, University of Virginia (2015)
- The Faculty Prize, Yale Institute of Sacred Music (2013)
- ISM Community Award, Yale Institute of Sacred Music (2013)
- Villanova Student Musical Theatre Alumni Award (2012)
- Karol Wojtyła Medallion of Excellence in Humanities, Villanova University (2010)
- Phi Beta Kappa, Villanova University (2010)
Research & Grants
My interdisciplinary research, publications, and teaching investigate theologies, the arts, and culture via resources from the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, critical theories of creation and beauty, phenomenology, theory and method in the study of religion, aesthetics and hermeneutics, and theatre and performance studies.
Some of my current projects are focused on how commercial plays and musicals (Broadway) provide resources to interpret the symbol of God; how myths and spirituality and rituals inform our relationship to what is serious about the world (primarily in dialogue with the Irish writer John Moriarty); developing work in the Dramatic Humanities with my SHU colleagues Dr. Emily Bryan (Languages and Literatures) and Dr. Rachel Bauer (Theatre Arts), including multiple grant applications and collaboration with the Untitled Othello Project.
View Publications