Assistant Professor of Church History
Simboli Hall 215
Telephone: 617-552-6505
Email: timothy.obrien@bc.edu
ORCID
Church History, especially the History of Christian Spirituality; Catholicism, 16th鈥20th Centuries; Jesuit Studies, especially Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality; Global Catholicism; Modern Catholic Mysticism and Asceticism
Timothy W. O鈥橞rien, S.J. is a church historian specializing in early modern and modern Catholicism, with research interests in Christian spirituality and Jesuit studies. O鈥橞rien earned a doctoral degree (S.T.D., 2024) in the history of spirituality and religious life from Facult茅s Loyola Paris (formerly Centre S猫vres), the Jesuit faculties of Paris. He holds several additional graduate degrees, including in early modern religious and cultural history from The Johns Hopkins University (M.A., 2021), theology from Facult茅s Loyola Paris (S.T.L., 2018), and the history of Christianity from the University of Chicago Divinity School (M.A., 2014). A Jesuit priest of the USA East Province, O鈥橞rien entered the Society of Jesus in 2008 after graduating from the College of the Holy Cross (B.A., 2006). Before joining Boston College, he served as Associate Vice President for Mission at his undergraduate alma mater.
Book
Disquieting Silence: Baltasar 脕lvarez, Teresa of 脕vila, and the Construction of Early Jesuit Spiritual Culture (in preparation)
Published Dissertation Extract
鈥淢odeling the Mystic: The Life and Afterlife of Luis de la Puente鈥檚 Vida del P. Baltasar 脕lvarez.鈥 Paris: 脡ditions Facult茅s J茅suites de Paris (2024).
Articles
鈥淭he Modern Making of 鈥業gnatian Spirituality.鈥欌 Religions, 17.3 (2026) https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/17/3/359听
鈥淭radition in Time: The Contribution of Philip Endean, Jesuit Historian.鈥 The Way听63/2 (April 2024), pp. 73鈥82.
鈥淭he Utility of George Kubler in Andahuaylillas, Peru.鈥 Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture, vol. 2, no. 4, pp. 79鈥83 (January 2021). Co-authored with Aaron M. Hyman.
鈥淭he Twentieth Century Construction of Ignatian Spirituality.鈥 Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, vol. 52, no. 3 (Autumn 2020). Co-authored with John W. O鈥橫alley. Simultaneously translated into Spanish in Ignaziana.
鈥淐on Ojos Interiores: Ignatius Loyola and the Spiritual Senses.鈥 Studies in Spirituality 26, pp. 263鈥281 (2016).
鈥淚f You Wish To Be Perfect: Change, Continuity, and Vatican II鈥檚 Call to Holiness.鈥 The Heythrop Journal, vol. LV, pp. 286鈥296 (2014).
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Referee for Peer Reviewed Journals (Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics, Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, Religions, Zygon, Horizons) and Book Manuscripts (Columbia University Press, Fordham University Press)
Catholic Theological Society of America: Board of Directors: 2025-2027
Co-Convener, Creation and Eschatology: 2023-2025 (Lead Convener 2024-2025)
Co-Convener, Comparative Theology: 2016-2018 (Lead Convener 2017-2018)
Delegate to the U.S. Catholic Bishops, 鈥淐ommittee on Doctrine,鈥 Annual Meeting of Catholic scholarly societies and bishops (2020).