Resources for Graduate Students
Graduate Student Profiles
Christopher Pramuk
![Christopher Pramuk [photo]](photo.jpg)
Doctoral Student
Systematic Theology
Prior to coming to Notre Dame, I taught theology for many years at Jesuit high schools and colleges in Denver, CO. I was looking for a program rooted in tradition but also attentive to the global historical, interreligious, and political situation. Notre Dame struck me as a balanced program with outstanding faculty and a strong collegial spirit, a program that would both challenge my reflexive patterns of thinking and encourage me to cultivate my own voice and potential contribution to the discipline. That has very much been my experience in these four years.
Last summer I presented a paper on racism and racial reconciliation at the College Theology Society meeting, which I had adapted from a doctoral seminar and which was eventually published in Theological Studies. As a direct result of this, I was invited last September to present the paper as a keynote speaker for a large conference at Texas Lutheran University. In the fall of 2005, I presented the early fruits of my dissertation project, which focuses on Thomas Merton's christology, at an international conference celebrating the 40th anniversary of Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University. This was an extraordinary gathering in every way and certainly a peak moment in my life as a Catholic and in my scholarly career to date. The department provided substantial monetary support to help make this trip possible.
When I entered doctoral studies at Notre Dame, I envisioned the program as an apprenticeship toward a goal of creative teaching and writing in service to the Church and to the theological community. Four years later, I can say that these have been the most intellectually challenging and creatively fruitful years of my life. There have been highs and lows, to be sure, but the supportive relationships I have found among fellow graduate students and professors have made this a great community and time of growth both for me and my family.
