Staff

Director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality 

Daniel P.  Horan, PhD
138 Madeleva Hall
dhoran@saintmarys.edu
(574) 284-4702

Daniel P. Horan, PhD is the Director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality and Professor of Philosophy, Religious Studies, and Theology at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, IN. He is also Affiliated Professor of Spirituality at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas. He is a systematic theologian who researches and teaches in the areas of constructive theology, spirituality, and the medieval Franciscan philosophical and theological tradition. A columnist for the National Catholic Reporter, Prof. Horan is the author of fourteen books, including Catholicity and Emerging Personhood: A Contemporary Theological Anthropology, which received the 2020 First Place Award for Theology Book from the Association of Catholic Publishers, as well as A White Catholic’s Guide to Racism and Privilege, The Way of the Franciscans: A Prayer Journey Through Lent, and others. His latest books are titled Engaging Thomas Merton: Spirituality, Justice, and Racism and Fear and Faith: Hope and Wholeness in a Fractured World, which will be released in 2024. He is currently working on a book on Christology tentatively titled, Not Because of Sin: Reconsidering Why God Became Human. Prof. Horan regularly lectures around the United States and across the world; and serves on a number of university, academic, and publication editorial boards, including the St. Bonaventure University Board of Trustees and the Franciscan School of Theology Board of Regents. He earned his BA from St. Bonventure University, MA and MDiv from the Washington Theological Union, and PhD from Boston College. He is also co-host of The Francis Effect Podcast. You can find Prof. Horan's full CV here and faculty profile here.

Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality

Julia Feder, PhD
135 Madeleva Hall
jfeder@saintmarys.edu
(574) 284-4636

Julia Feder is the Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of Spirituality and Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Theology. She previous served as Associate Professor of Theology at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. In recent years, she led an interdisciplinary research team which investigated the ways that the Midwest Jesuits handled the case of Daniel Kenney, a former priest and high school teacher at Creighton Preparatory School who had been credibly accused of sexual abusing minors in his care. Before joining the faculty at Creighton, she worked as a research fellow at Notre Dame’s Center for Theology, Science, and Human Flourishing where she partnered with biological anthropologists to make sense of the centrality of symbol-making in human evolutionary history. She is the author of the book Saving Grace: Sexual Trauma and Christian Salvation, in which she attempts to save our broken ways of talking about God’s grace by discarding that which fosters violence and unearthing some of the liberating resources buried in the Christian tradition—especially, the mystical theology of Teresa of Avila and the political theology of Edward Schillebeeckx. Dr. Feder received her Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.