Chad Thralls, Ph.D.
Teaching Fellow
Core Curriculum
Chad Thralls is a Teaching Fellow in the Core Curriculum. His research interests include Christian contemplative spirituality and mysticism, spirituality and place, and comparative theology (especially Christianity and Zen Buddhism).
Dr. Thralls brings his research interest in contemplative spirituality into the classroom. In all of his courses, he offers instruction on how to meditate and begins each class session with meditation, which offers students a moment to pause in the middle of their demanding daily schedules.
Undergraduate and graduate courses he has taught include History of Christian Spirituality 1 and 2, Christian Mysticism, Contemporary Christian Spirituality, Meditation: East/West, and Zen Buddhism.
Education
- Ph.D., The Catholic University of America
Scholarship
“Vast Space, Vast Self: Reflections on Spirituality and Commuting in New York.” Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality 23, no. 1 (Spring 2023): 135-145.
Deep Calls to Deep: Mysticism, Scripture, and Contemplation. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2020.
"From 'Get Out of My Way' to 'Shining like the Sun': Thomas Merton on
Cities, Community, and Solitude." The Merton Annual 31 (2019): 146-157.
"Urban Parks as Sacred Places: Pilgrimage, Solitude, and Access to Nature." Studies in Spirituality 28 (2018): 211-231.