Rev. William S. Kurz, S.J., Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
William S. Kurz, S.J. (Ph.D., Yale, 1976), Professor Kurz specializes in the exegesis and interpretation of the New Testament, particularly Luke-Acts, Johannine writings, narrative, reader and rhetorical criticism, biblical intertextuality, and the renewed exegetical movement toward increasingly theological interpretation. His 2004-2005 academic sabbatical focused on literal and spiritual senses of Scripture, learning especially from patristic interpreters how to do theological interpretation of the canonical text as God's Word.
Based on this research, his seventh book, Reading the Bible as God鈥檚 Own Story: A Catholic Approach for Bringing Scripture to Life, is now in press for spring 2007 publication. He is the author of over forty articles in professional journals and books, and six previous books: The Acts of the Apostles (1983, rev. ed. 1989, Italian, Hungarian, and Spanish translations 1993, 1994); Following Jesus: A Disciple's Guide to Luke and Acts (1984); Farewell Addresses in the New Testament (1990); Reading Luke-Acts: Dynamics of Biblical Narrative (1993); co-author with Luke Timothy Johnson, The Future of Catholic Biblical Scholarship: A Constructive Conversation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002); a revised 2003 edition of Following Jesus; and What Does the Bible Say about the End Times? A Catholic View (2004, first place award in Scripture by Catholic Press Association 2005, under 2006 contract with Bauer Weltbild Media to be translated into Polish). Graduate students in his 1992 methods course published Directions in New Testament Methods (eds. Martin Albl, Paul R. Eddy, and Sr. Ren茅e Mirkes, 1993).
Recent publications apply methods of biblical actualization to contemporary credal and moral issues or investigate theological and spiritual senses of Scripture. They include: "The Johannine Word as Revealing the Father: A Christian Credal Actualization," Perspectives in Religious Studies 28:1 (Spring 2001) 67-84; 鈥溾�楾o Be As God鈥�: Biblical Reflections on the Sexual Revolution,鈥� Fides Quaerens Intellectum 3.1 (Autumn, 2003) 111-37. The refereed journal Nova et Vetera 4:1 (Winter 2006): 95-200, published 鈥淏OOK SYMPOSIUM: The Future of Catholic Biblical Scholarship: A Constructive Conversation by Luke Timothy Johnson and William Kurz.鈥� To five response articles by Richard B. Hays (Duke), Frank J. Matera (CUA), Stephen D. Ryan, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies, DC), Olivier-Thomas Venard, O.P. (脡cole Biblique, Jerusalem), David S. Yeago (Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary), the authors each wrote independent replies (Kurz, 鈥淩esponse to the Respondents,鈥� 185-200).
