Dr. Lahey—professor and chair, Department of Classics and Religious Studies
What is your area of specialization?
Medieval Philosophy and Theology
Why did you choose Religious Studies?
I have always been fascinated by the big, underlying problems that confuse people about Christianity, particularly the ones that people get really worried about when they look too hard at them. So I became a philosopher, and then became an Episcopal Priest, so now I can look at these problems from both perspectives, from an intellectual approach, and from one involving personal involvement within the religion.
What is your favorite course to teach?
I love teaching both Pagans and Christians, which is the course devoted to Augustine's City of God, and Religion in Popular Culture, in which we read Dante's Divine Comedy. Both writers embody something about being a human being engaged in a questioning, learning life that has remained unchanged across the centuries.
What are you currently researching?
The Hussite movement in Bohemia is not well understood, but it represents a major change in European history, the first widespread movement against feudalism, papal dominion, and the use of religion as a means of popular control. Its theology has its base in the thinking of John Wyclif, about whom I've written several books, but it also includes original and curious ideas from Czech theologians who remain largely unknown. Some of them were responsible for the first use of true terrorism to spread what today is called "fundamentalist Christianity", and studying them affords a useful window into understanding religious extremism today.
What professional organization are you affiliated with?
Medieval Academy, Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, Bohemian Reformation and Religious Practice
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I love to draw and paint with watercolors, and make calendars or other bits of art for my friends and family.
