Dean of the School

We intend to establish a school for the Lord’s service

(Rule of Benedict, Prologue, v. 46) 

Thus Saint Benedict sets the horizon for monastic life: a communal life dedicated to mutual listening, service, pursuit of wisdom and the work of God in all things preparing its followers to “run on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love” (vv. 49-50). 

With Benedict’s 1500-year old vision as guide, Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary (SOT/Sem) offers a singular and transformative education for its students.  We integrate the pursuit of theological wisdom with service to the church and the world that is only possible when our prayer and work are grounded in love.  We foster a Catholic, Benedictine, and ecumenical learning community that welcomes all people – particularly the cultures, perspectives, experiences, and questions they bring – as we would Christ.   

Our work is supported by a world-class faculty.  They are publishers of countless books and articles; they direct scholarly societies; and they serve in vital positions of church and community leadership.  Few graduate schools of theology can count having sent theological periti to Vatican Council II and continuing to staff international liturgical commissions, synods, and Vatican-sponsored ecumenical dialogues.  Sharing close contact and mutual collaboration, faculty and students together cultivate holistic formation and education that discerns and prepares students for vocations often previously unimagined.  Our alums serve as bishops, pastors, college faculty, high school teachers, lay ecclesial ministers, religious superiors, chaplains, non-profit leaders, artists, writers, and community-builders across the country and globe. 

Learning and formation at the SOT/Sem unfolds in a network of dynamic relationships like no other place.  We find our home with Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict, the Liturgical Press, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, Saint John’s Preparatory School, Collegeville Ecumenical Institute, Saint John’s Bible, Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, Saint Benedict’s Spirituality Center, and one of the most robust theological libraries in North America, Alcuin Library.  Here students can hold ancient manuscripts in their hands while interpreting the modern illuminations of the Saint John’s Bible.  They can intern at a leading theological publisher as a Graduate Assistant or a local parish as a youth minister.  All of this is set among the rhythms of prayer and work animating from Saint John’s Abbey and Saint Benedict’s monasteries – two of the most influential and active monastic communities in the world. 

To do this work – to establish a school for the Lord’s service – we approach our work with humility, admitting that the intersections among faith, reason, praxis, and personal experience often surface as many questions as they do answers.  We ask hard and sometimes dangerous questions that look for dialogue and connection with the world’s deepest needs.  To do that we walk with each other, listening and accompanying as Christ exemplifies and commands, and in doing so, we prepare ourselves for transformative service and ministry in the church and world. 

Welcome to Saint John’s School of Theology and Seminary. We are so glad to share this opportunity with you! 

Our work is a sacred and challenging task but one that is only possible and all the more delightful when it is founded in humble and mutually edifying love.