“Students who come to Siena develop a love for the school, and they become devoted alumni. I think that's a great testimony to the quality of education that is offered here at Siena.”

Dr. Joseph Raab
Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

Director of the Liberal Arts Program

Education

• Ph.D., University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto
• S. T. L., Regis College, University of Toronto
• M.A., University of Dayton
• B. A., University of Dayton

Recent Awards and Achievements

• 2009-10 Winner of the Eileen Rice Award for Outstanding Teaching

Publications:

• 2007 “Comrades for Peace: Thomas Merton, the Dalai Lama and the Preferential Option for Non-Violence” in The Merton Annual, Volume 19, pp. 256-267.
• 2007 “Flannery O'Connor's Art of Conversion,” in Theology Today Volume 63, pp. 442-449.
• 2005 “A Naked Emperor at the Rim of Chaos: The War on Terror and the Crisis of Language” in Across the Rim of Chaos: Thomas Merton's Prophetic Vision edited by Angus Stuart (The Thomas Merton Society of Great Britain and Ireland) pp. 48-60.
• 2004 “Madhyamika and Dharmakaya: Some Notes on Thomas Merton's Epiphany at Polonnaruwa,” in The Merton Annual, Volume 17, pp 195-206
• 1999 “Encountering Others: Interpreting the Faith Development of Thomas Merton in Light of James Fowler's Stages of Faith” in The Journal of Religious Education, Volume 94, No. 2, pp. 140-154.
• 2004 “Uniting Divided Worlds in Christ: a Review of The World in My Bloodstream: Thomas Merton's Universal Embrace” edited by Angus Stuart in The Merton Seasonal, Volume 29, No. 4, pp. 32-35.
• 1997 review of Jacques Dupuis's “Who Do You Say I Am?: an Introduction to Christology ”in Toronto Journal of Theology (13:1 Spring, 1997).
• 1997 review of Catherine Cornille and Valeer Neckebrouck, eds. “A Universal Faith: Peoples, Cultures, Religions, and the Christ” in Toronto Journal of Theology (13:1 Spring 1997).
• 1995 review of Howard Solverson's “The Jesuit and the Dragon: A Canadian Life in the Eastern Himalayas” in The Catholic Register (July 15-22, 1995).
• Multiple Year Honoree in Who's Who Among America's Teachers Theta Alpha Kappa (National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology).

Teaching Philosophy

"The search for truth in ever changing contexts never becomes passe and continues to drive human history. Sometimes the process leads us to re-affirm anceint truths and values and sometimes to challenge them. I hope simply to be a catalyst for students in their ongoing discovery of truth and value."