The Basics

I am a priest of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Florida, and Canon Theologian at the Cathedral Church of St Peter in St Petersburg. From December 2008 through August 2014 I served as an assisting priest at St Mark's Episcopal Church in Tampa,

My academic specialty is medieval Christian thought. My published work has focused especially on St Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) and John Duns Scotus (1265/66-1308).

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I was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1967. I was brought up in Southern Baptist churches but was drawn into the Episcopal Church in high school. (Interesting fact: inviting people to go to church with you actually works!)

I started taking piano lessons when I was four years old and played pretty seriously all through high school. (I still play a bit -- here I am with a double-bass player accompanying the Saint Mark's choir at a concert in October 2009, and here is a rendition of "Softly and Tenderly" from the day I returned from Edinburgh in April 2016.) I started playing the organ when I got to college, mainly because the campus Episcopal chapel needed an organist and, as a pianist, I was the closest thing available. These days I mostly just sing, including choral evensong as a member of the Chamber Choir at the Cathedral in St Petersburg.

I received my BA in Philosophy from Vanderbilt University in 1988 and my Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1994. I taught for two years at Creighton University in Omaha before moving to the University of Iowa. I was ordained at Trinity, Iowa City, in 2008. I joined the faculty at USF in 2005, spending my first year as Alvin Plantinga Fellow at the Center for Philosophy of Religion at Notre Dame and then moving to Tampa in 2006.

In addition to serving at St Mark's, Tampa, and the Cathedral, I have done extended supply work at Holy Trinity, Clearwater, St Clement's, Tampa, and St Andrew's, Spring Hill. Over the years I have spent many wonderful months in residence at St Paul's, K Street, as a clergy fellow.