Edward Vacek, S.J.

The Reverend Stephen J. Duffy Chair in Catholic Studies

Edward Vacek, S.J.
Edward Vacek, S.J.

Edward Vacek, S.J., holds a License in Sacred Theology from Loyola University of Chicago, and a Doctorate in Philosophy from Northwestern University. He came to Weston Jesuit School of Theology in 1981, which in 2008 became the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.  He currently holds the Stephen Duffy Chair in Systematic Theology at Loyola University New Orleans.

He has contributed over sixty articles to various popular and scholarly journals and books, and he is the author of the book entitled Love, Human and Divine. He has given numerous talks to popular and professional audiences.

He teaches moral theology, with special interests in emotions and ethical theory, as well as sexual, business, and biomedical ethics.

Recent Publications

  • Vacek, Edward. "Pope Francis's Heresy?" The Concept of Intrinsic Evil and Catholic Theological Ethics, Nenad Polgar and Joseph A. Selling, eds. (New York: Lexington, 2019), 133-48
  • Vacek, Edward. "Case Method Strategies for Teaching Sexual Ethics to Relativists and Skeptics," Teaching Theology and Religion, vol. 20 (2017): 126-36.
  • "The Problematic Love for God: "Love the Lord, All You Saints"(Psalm 31:23)," Love and Christian Ethics: Tradition, Theory, and Society. Frederick V. Simmons, ed. (Washington DC: Georgetown University Press: 2016), 111-30.
  • Vacek, Edward. “Grace is the Emotion of Love of God,” Journal of Moral Theology vol.4 (2015), 63-88.
  • Vacek, Edward. An Evolving Christian Morality: Eppur si muove, in From Teilhard to Omega: Co-Creating an Unfinished Universe, ed. Ilia Delio, O.S.F. (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2014) 152-65.

Classes Taught

  • Christian Ethics
  • Christian Love
  • Christian Theologies