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Invited Talks

6. 2024 “Why doesn’t the Devil just kill us all? Demonic Psychology and the Limits of Demonic Agency,” at The Religions of Late Antiquity Seminar: the Devil and Demons, Lent 2024, Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, UK. 11 March, 2024.

5. 2023 Invited Contributor: Speculative Angelology a workshop at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce), Rome, Italy. 20 December, 2023.

 

4. 2017 “Augustine on curiositas: what Superstition and Natural Science Share in Common,” at the ‘Wisdom Belongs to God’ Conference, 19-21 June, 2017, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia. 19 June, 2017.

3. 2017 “Why the Imago Dei is in the Intellect Alone: a Criticism of a Phenomenology of Sensible Experience for Attaining an Image of God,” at the annual Metaphysics Colloquium, 7-8 June, St. Anselm College, New Hampshire. 7 June, 2017.

2. 2017 “How Demonic Possession Works: Augustine and Aquinas on Demonic Nature and Agency,” at St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick. Jointly hosted by STU’s Philosophy, Catholic Studies, and Great Ideas Departments. 20 January, 2017.

1. 2015 “Heaven Past and Yet to Come: Anselm and Augustine on Demonic and Human Redemption,” at the Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 8-11 October, 2015 in a satellite session sponsored by the Institute for Saint Anselm Studies, Boston, Massachusetts. 9 October, 2015.

Papers Presented (Peer-Reviewed)

 

25. 2024 “The Neoplatonic Foundation for an Empirical Demonology,” at the annual meeting of the Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association, 4-5 October, 2024, The ����APP, St. John’s, Canada. 4 October, 2024.

24. 2024 “Discerning Spirits: Identity and Individuation Among Non-Material Entities (An Aspect of Aquinas’ Neoplatonic Heritage),” at the annual meeting of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 19-22 June, 2024, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. 21 June, 2024.

 

23. 2020 “St. Augustine on the Efficacy of Christian Prayer and Exorcism Against Demonic Affliction and Assault,” at the Patristics, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference (PMR), 16-18 October, 2020, Villanova University, Pennsylvania. (Virtual Conference). 17 October, 2020.

22. 2019. “Angelic Exiles: Why Satan Cannot be Saved,” at the annual meeting of the Atlantic Medieval Association, 18-20 October, 2019, ����APP, St. John’s, NL. 19 October, 2019.

21. 2019 “Henads and Angels: Difference from the First Principle in Proclus, Dionysius, and Aquinas,” at the annual meeting of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 12-16 June, 2019, Dominican University College, Ottawa, Ontario. Seattle University, Seattle, Washington. 14 June, 2019.

20. 2018 “‘omnes dii gentium daemonia’: Demonological Syncretism, Exorcism, and Early Christian Polemic,” at The American Catholic Philosophical Association (ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session), 8-11 November, 2018, San Diego, California. 9 November, 2018.

19. 2017 “Aquinas’ Philosophical Arguments for the Existence of Angels and Demons and their Continuing Relevance in Our Modern World,” at The American Catholic Philosophical Association (ACPA Sponsored Satellite Session), 16-19 November, 2017, Dallas, Texas. 17 November, 2017.

18. 2017 “Apuleius of Madaura and the Hellenic Foundations of Christian Demonology,” at the annual conference of the Classical Association of Canada, 9-11 May, 2017, ����APP, Newfoundland. 9 May, 2017.

17. 2016 “Augustine and Aquinas on Demonic Possession: Theoria and Praxis,” at the annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (Main Program). 3-6 November, 2016, San Francisco, California, 4 November, 2016.

16. 2016 “A Double-Edged Sword: Porphyry on the Dangers of Demonology,” at the annual meeting of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 15-18 June, 2016, Seattle University, Seattle, Washington. 16 June, 2016.

15. 2016 “The Neoplatonic Influences on the Demonology of St. Thomas Aquinas,” at the Annual Meeting of the American Philosophical Association (Eastern Division), 6-9 January, 2016 in a satellite session sponsored by the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, Washington D.C. 8 January, 2016.

14. 2015 “Augustine and Aquinas on Sorcery and Demonic Possession: How Demons Lost Their Bodies in Christian Demonology,” at the Annual Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference (PMR) at Villanova University, 16-18 October, 2015, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 16 October, 2015.

13. 2015 “Aerial Bodes and Intelligible Substances: Demonic Materialism in Christian and Neoplatonic Demonology,” at the annual meeting of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. 13 June, 2015.

12. 2015 “An Ontological Shift in Christian Demonology,” at the annual meeting of the Canadian Philosophical Association, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada. 3 June, 2015.

11. 2014 “Dante’s Satan: an Augustinian Dialectic of Evil,” at the Annual Meeting of the Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association, 24-15 October, 2014, at the ����APP. 24 October, 2014.

10. 2014 “The Demonic Body and the Iamblichean Critique of Porphyrian Demonology,” at the 12th Annual Conference of the International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 16-21 June, 2014, at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. 19 June, 2014.

9. 2014 “The Binding of the Devil: Accomplished Fact or Future Victory?,” at the Annual Meeting of the Societas Daemonetica, at the International Congress on Medieval Studies, 8-11 May, 2014, at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 11 May, 2014.

8. 2013 “Christ, the Devil, and the Two Hells: Augustinian Christology and Soteriology,” at the Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 1-3 November, 2013 in a satellite session entitled “Philosophical Christology” sponsored by the Institut International D’Herméneutique, hosted by Marian University and Indiana University- Purdue University, Indianapolis, Indiana. 2 November, 2013.

7. 2013 “Augustine’s Ontological Naturalism and the Material Divisions of the Cosmos,” at the Annual Meeting of the Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association, 4-5 October, 2013, at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. 5 October, 2013.

6. 2012 “Augustine and Boethius, Time and Providence,” at the Annual Meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 2-4 November, 2012 in a satellite session entitled “St. Augustine’s Civitas Terrena et Civitas Dei” sponsored by the Institute International D’Herméneutique, hosted by Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California. 3 November, 2012.

5. 2012 “Reconstructing Platonic Demonologies: A Case Study in Augustine,” at Religion in Pieces, An Interdisciplinary Conference Sponsored by the Society for Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Brown University’s Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, 27-29 April, 2012 at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 29 April, 2012.

4. 2012 “The Miraculous and the Mundane: Augustine on Miracles and Agency (Divine, Angelic, Demonic, and Human),” at the Second Annual HBU Philosophy Conference: Divine and Human Action: Agency and Action in Philosophy and Theology, 30-31 March, 2012 at Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas. 30 March, 2012.

3. 2011 “ ‘How does the body depart?’: A Platonic Reading of Dante’s Suicides,” at a satellite session of the International Congress on Medieval Studies hosted by the Dante Society of America, 12-15 May, 2011 at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan. 14 May, 2011.

2. 2011 “Demonic Agency in Augustine,” at the Classical Association of Canada Annual Meeting, 10-12 May, 2011 at the Department of Classics, Dalhousie University. 10 May, 2011.

1. 2007 “Plotinian Transcendence and the Via Negativa,” at the Atlantic Classical Association Annual Meeting, 26-27 October, 2007 at the Department of Classics, Dalhousie University.

Papers Presented (Non-Peer Reviewed)

 

33. 2025 “Augustine and the Wolfman,” at the Fall Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, The ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 22 October, 2025.

 

32. 2018 "Beauty as a Transcendental in Thomistic Thought: Why it Matters,” at the Patristics, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference (PMR), 5-7 October, 2018, Villanova University, Pennsylvania. 5 October, 2018.

31. 2018 “Demonological Syncretism in St. Augustine, Tertullian, and Christian Polemic,” at the Classics & Religious Studies Symposium, ‘Christianity and the Roman Empire,’ ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 1 March, 2018.

30. 2017 “The Parasite Theory of Evil: a Neoplatonic Gift to Christian Demonology,” at the Annual Fall Colloquium, Department of Philosophy, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 23 November, 2017.

29. 2017 “Augustine and Iamblichus on Evil Demons and Theurgy: Contacts and Conflicts,” at the Patristics, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference (PMR), 13-15 October, 2017, Villanova University, Pennsylvania. 14 October, 2017.

28. 2016 “The Heresy of Angelism and the Idea of God,” at the ‘Idea of God’ Conference, 23-25 November, 2016, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 24 November, 2016.

27. 2016 “Why the ‘Parasite Theory’ is Essential to Augustine’s Doctrine of Evil,” at the annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 3-6 November, 2016 in a satellite session entitled, “The Philosophy of St. Augustine,” San Francisco, California. 4 November, 2016.

26. 2016 “Augustine and the Problem of Evil,” presented to graduate students and faculty at the Department of Philosophy, Penn State University, State College, Pennsylvania. 26 October, 2016.

25. 2016 “An Education in Demonology: studiositas or curiositas?,” at the Memorial European Summer School in Philosophy (MESSP), 23-27 May, Krakow, Poland. 25 May, 2016.

24. 2016 “Curiositas and Occult Knowledge,” at Text and Context Symposium, 21-22 April, 2016, at the Department of Religious Studies, ����APP, St. John’s Newfoundland. 21 April 2016.

23. 2016 “Creative Diffusion in Thomas Aquinas’ Treatise on the Angels,” at Nature and Ethical Thought: Reflections on Laudato Si', a conference jointly organized by Dominican University College and The ����APP, 7-8 March, 2016, Ottawa, Ontario. 8 March, 2016.

22. 2016 “Images of the Grotesque in Dante’s Inferno and Purgatorio,” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 10 February, 2016.

21. 2016 “The Metaphysics of Demonic Possession: a Medieval Controversy,” at the Medieval and Early Modern Research Group Colloquium 2015-2016, ����APP, St. John’s Newfoundland. 29 January, 2016.

20. 2015 “ 'aequales angelis sunt’: Demonology, Angelology, and the Resurrection of the Body in Augustine and Anselm,” at the Department of Philosophy Fall Research Colloquium, ����APP, St. John’s Newfoundland. 26 November, 2016.

19. 2015 “A Response to Chelsea Harry’s ‘On Intuiting Simplicity: á¼€πλᾶ in Aristotle and Schelling’,” at the Annual Meeting of the North American Schelling Society, ����APP, 17-19 September, 2015, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 17 September, 2015.

18. 2015 “Joël Madore’s 'Disenchanted Faith': A Kantian response to Marcel Gauchet’: A Thomistic Reply,” at the 2nd Annual Kant Conference at ����APP: Why Faith?, 21-22 May, 2015, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 22 May, 2015.

17. 2015 “The Spatio-Material Principle in the Demonology of Apuleius,” at Text and Context Symposium, 13-14 April, 2015, at the Department of Religious Studies, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 13 April, 2015.

16. 2014 “Where is the Devil?” at Text and Context Symposium, 10-11 April, 2014, at the Department of Religious Studies, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 10 April, 2014.

15. 2014 “Righteous Anger: the Sublimation of Violence in Dante’s Divine Comedy,” Sublimating Violence? When Philosophy Meets Literature, an Arts on Violence Event, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 3 April, 2014.

14. 2014 “Dante on the Twofold End of the Human: Earthly and Heavenly Utopias,” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program, St, John’s, Newfoundland. 23 January, 2014.

13. 2013 “Augustine’s Demonology: Texts and Contexts,” at Text and Context Symposium, 11-12 April, 2013, at the Department of Religious Studies, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 12 April, 2013.

12. 2013 “Augustine’s Confessions and Dante’s Divine Comedy – Autobiography and Human Nature” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 31 January, 2013.

11. 2012 “Augustine’s Heavenly City and Christian Politics,” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 21 March, 2012.

10. 2012 “Eritis Sicut Dii: Theosis, Pride, and the Dialectic of the Devil in Platonic and Christian Thought,” at the annual departmental colloquium, Department of Philosophy, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 28 February, 2012.

9. 2011 “Philosophy as the ‘Practice of Death’ or a ‘Way of Life’? Body and Soul in Ancient Greek and Christian Thought,” at the annual departmental colloquium, Department of Philosophy, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 18 January, 2011.

8. 2010 “Ancient Innatist and Associationist Theories of Language Acquisition: Pre-Socratics, Plato, Stoics, Epicureans, and Augustine,” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 5 October, 2010.

7. 2010 “The Power of the Image: A Defense of Plato’s Imagination,” at the annual departmental colloquium, Department of Philosophy, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 2 February, 2010.

6. 2007 “Augustine’s Confessions as Autobiography: Reflecting the Theology of the Incarnation,” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 17 January, 2007.

5. 2006 “John Stuart Mill’s Conception of ‘The Good Life’,” presented to graduate students at ����APP, M. Phil Humanities program. 24 May, 2006.

4. 2006 “Porphyry’s Nous Mysticism and Augustine’s Confessions,” at the annual departmental colloquium, Department of Philosophy, ����APP, St. John’s, Newfoundland. 4 April, 2006.

3. 2005 “Free Will and Theodicy: A Reading of Genesis 1-2,” at St. Bonaventure’s College, St. John’s, Newfoundland. December, 2005.

2. 2004 “The Plotinian Character of Augustine’s ‘Visions’: An Examination of Confessions 7.10 and 9.10,” at the Department of Classics, Dalhousie University. 5 February, 2004.

1. 2004 “Augustinian Theodicy: how can we believe in a benevolent God if evil is allowed into the world He created?,” at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, Halifax. 15 March, 2004.