Education

Ph.D. in Religious Ethics, Yale University

Biographical Summary

Before coming to Boston College, Hollenbach taught at Georgetown University and at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. He has been Visiting Professor of Social Ethics at Hekima College of the Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya; and at the Jesuit Philosophy Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. In 1990 he conducted the annual Winter School of Theology in six cities in Southern Africa, sponsored by the Catholic Bishops Conference of Southern Africa.

Research Interests

His research interests are in the foundations of Christian social ethics, especially human rights in the context of humanitarian crises and the displacement of refugees, theories of justice and the common good, and religion in political life.

Teaching

Ethics of War and Peacemaking
Human Rights
Ethics, Religion and International Politics
Human Rights, Humanitarian Crises and Refugees: Ethical, Religious and Political Perspectives
Niebuhr and Murray
Contemporary Theories of Justice
The Common Good

Professional Activities and Awards

Hollenbach served as President of the Society of Christian Ethics (1995-1996) and on the Board of Directors of the Catholic Theological Society of America (1982-1984). He is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Religious Ethics. He assisted the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in drafting their 1986 pastoral letter Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy. In 1979 he received a Walsh-Price Fellowship for travel in Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Egypt to do research on religion and human rights in the Middle East. In 1996 he received a Fulbright Fellowship for research and teaching in Kenya. In June 1998, Hollenbach received the John Courtney Murray Award for outstanding contributions to theology from the Catholic Theological Society of America. In January 2009 he received the Marianist Award, given by the University of Dayton to a Roman Catholic whose work has made a major contribution to the intellectual life.

Recent Publications

Books

Driven from Home: Protecting the Rights of Forced Migrants. David Hollenbach, S.J., ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2010.

Refugee Rights: Ethics Advocacy, and Africa, David Hollenbach, S.J., ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2008.

Articles

“Caritas in Veritate: The Meaning of Love and Urgent Challenges of Justice," Journal of Catholic Social Thought, January 2011.

"Humanitarian Intervention: Why, When, and How?", Commonweal 137, no. 19 (November 5, 2010): 9-11.

“Ethical Globalization and the Rights of Refugees,” Grace and Truth: A Journal of Catholic Reflection for Southern Africa 27, no. 2 (August, 2010): 29-42.

“Comparative Ethics, Islam, and Human Rights: Internal Pluralism and the Possible Development of Tradition,” Journal of Religious Ethics 38:3 (2010): 580-587.

“Reconciliation and Justice: Ethical Guidance for a Broken World,” Promotio Justitiae 103 (Rome: 2009, no. 3): 71-74.

“The Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Social Justice, and the University,” Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education 36 (Fall, 2009): 20-22.

“The Rights of Refugees in a Globalizing World.” Marianist Award Lecture/2008. Dayton, OH: University of Dayton, 2009.

“Catholic Ethics in a World Church: A U.S. View,” in Catholic Theological Ethics in a World Church: The Plenary Papers from the First Cross-cultural Conference on Catholic Theological Ethics, James F. Keenan, ed. New York: Continuum, 2007, 140-146.

“Human Rights and Women’s Rights: Initiatives and Interventions in the Name of Universality,” in A Just and True Love. Feminism at the Frontiers of Theological Ethics: Essays in Honor of Margaret A. Farley, Maura Ryan and Brian Linnane, eds. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007, 47-74.