RESEARCH INTERESTS: Gospel of John; Gnosticism; Trinity (Thomas Aquinas, Scheeben, Hans Urs von Balthasar); Foundations of Science (Bacon, Descartes, Kant); Foundations of Exegesis (Bultmann, Schlier, Ratzinger); Theology of the Body (John Paul II)

LANGUAGES: Native German; fluent English and Italian; reading Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, Coptic, French, Spanish

EDUCATION:

1989, Th.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins, Harvard Divinity School. Dissertation: The Mission of Jesus in John: Probes into the Apocryphon of John and the Gospel of John.

1984, S.S.L. summa cum laude, Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome

1981, Ph.D. in Philosophy, University of Dallas. Dissertation: Expression and Form: Principles of a Philosophical Aesthetics according to Hans Urs von Balthasar

1977, B.A., Thomas Aquinas College, California. Senior essay: “Epiphany” according to Hans Urs von Balthasar

MEMBERSHIP: Communion and Liberation (1985-); Society of Biblical Literature (1985–); Academy of Catholic Theology (2008–); Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas, ordinarius (2012–)

SERVICE: Member of the Board of Trustees, Katholische Universität Eichstätt (2007–2011); Synod of Bishops on Scripture, peritus, Rome 2008; Pontifical Council for the Family with wife Susan (2003–09)

ACADEMIC POSITIONS:

2019 – Professor of New Testament, Franciscan University

2018 – 2019 Visiting Professor of New Testament, Franciscan University

2008 – 2017 Max Seckler Professor of Theology, Ave Maria University

1996 – 2008 Founding President, International Theological Institute, Gaming, Austria

1996 Associate Professor with Tenure, University of Notre Dame, Indiana

1993 – 1994 Research Fellow, Katholisch-Theologische Fakultät, Universität Tübingen

1990 – 1996 Assistant Professor of New Testament, Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame

1988 – 1990 Guest professor of Philosophy, Program of Liberal Studies, University of Notre Dame

1984 – 1988 Tutor in Religion, Adams House, Harvard University

1986 – 1987 Lecturer on St. Thomas Aquinas, Harvard Divinity School

BOOKS:

Michael Waldstein, Glory of the Logos in the Flesh: Saint John Paul’s Theology of the Body. Ave Maria, FL: Sapientia Press of Ave Maria University, 2021.

Korean translation of John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them (see below) Catholic University of Korea, 2017.

Sens ciała: Wókoł filosofii seksualności Jana Pawla II (Warsaw: Centrum Myśli Jana Pawla II, 2012) 176 pages. Polish translation of the Introduction to John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them, 1.

John Paul II, Man and Woman He Created Them: A Theology of the Body, new translation with introduction and index (Boston: Pauline Books, 2006).

Michael Waldstein and Frederik Wisse, The Apocryphon of John: Synopsis of Nag Hammadi Codices II,1 III,1 and IV,1 with BG 8502,2 (Nag Hammadi Studies 33; Leiden: Brill, 1995).

BOOK IN PREPARATION:

Theology of the Body in Early Christianity: Gospel of John and Gnostic Secret John

SELECTED ARTICLES:

“A Thomistic Appreciation of John Paul II’s Theology of the Body,” Doctor Communis 2021.

“Person and Nature According to Wojtyła’s Person and Act,” Communio 2020

“The Gift of Self as Preamble of Faith and Trinitarian Mystery in John Paul II and Thomas Aquinas,” Doctor Communis (2013) 331–36.

“The Self-Criticism of the Historical-Critical Method: Cardinal Ratzinger’s Erasmus Lecture,” Modern Theology 28 (2012): 732–47.

“Analogia Verbi: The Truth of Scripture in Rudolf Bultmann and Raymond Brown,” Letter & Spirit 6 (2010): 93–140.

“The Spousal Logic of Justification: St. Thomas and Luther on Paul’s Key Topic Statement Romans 1:17,” Doctor Communis (2009) 185–97.

“Children as the Common Good of Marriage,” Nova et Vetera (English) 7 (2009): 697–709.

“Three Kinds of Personalism: Kant, Scheler and John Paul II,” Forum Teologiczne 10 (2009): 151–171.

“Scheler on Personal Uniqueness and Communal Solidarity,” in Jaroslaw Merkecki and Giancarlo Grandis, Esperizienza sorgiva: Persona-Comunione-Società: Studi in onore del prof. Stanisław Grygiel (Rome: Cattedra Karol Wojtyla, 2007) 61–83.

“Covenant and the Union of Love in M. J. Scheeben’s Theology of Marriage,” Letter and Spirit 3 (2007) 139–52.

“La dignità della persona e il bene comune: La loro reciproca implicazione nella procreazione umana,” in Pontifical Council for the Family, Famiglia e procreazione umana: Commenti sul documento (Rome: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2007) 125–50.

“Johannine Foundations of the Church as the Family of God,” in The Way of Love: Reflections on Pope Benedict XVI’s Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2006) 250–65. Also appeared in the Italian and Spanish versions of this book.

“The Analogy of Mission and Obedience: A Central Point in the Relation between Theologia and Oikonomia in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on John,” in Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas, edited by Michael Dauphinais and Matthew Levering (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2005) 92–112.

“The Evolution of Bultmann’s Interpretation of John and Gnosticism,” Lateranum 70 (2004): 313–52.

“Dietrich von Hildebrand and St. Thomas on Goodness and Happiness,” Nova et Vetera (English) 1 (2003) 403–63.

“John Paul II and St. Thomas on Love and the Trinity” Anthropotes 18 (2002): 113–38; 269–86.

“Das Apocryphon des Johannes (NHC II,1; III,1; IV,1 und BG 2),” (German translation and introduction) in Hans-Martin Schenke, Hans-Gebhard Bethge und Ursula Kaiser, eds., Nag Hammadi Deutsch, 2 vols. (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001) 1:95–150.

“Hans Jonas’ Construct ‘Gnosticism’: Analysis and Critique,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 8 (2000): 341–72.

“The Primal Triad in the Apocryphon of John” in John D. Turner and Anne McGuire, eds., The Nag Hammadi Library after Fifty Years: Proceedings of the 1995 Society of Biblical Literature Commemoration (Leiden, Brill, 1997) 154–87.

“The Providence Monologue in the Apocryphon of John and the Johannine Prologue,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 3 (1995): 369–402.

“On the Relation between the Two Parts of the Apocryphon of John,” in Walter Beltz, ed., Der Gottesspruch in der koptischen Literatur: Hans-Martin Schenke zum 65. Geburtstag (Hallesche Beiträge zur Orient-wissenschaft 15; Halle: Institut für Orientalistik, 1994) 99–112.

“The Mission of Jesus and the Disciples in John,” Communio 17 (1990): 311–33; also appeared in the German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish, and Dutch editions of Communio.

“The Foundations of Bultmann's Work,” Communio 14 (1987): 115–45; also appeared in the German edition of Communio.

“An Introduction to von Balthasar's The Glory of the Lord,” Communio 14 (1987): 12–33.

“Hans Urs von Balthasar's Theological Aesthetics,” Communio 11 (1984): 13–27.

← back