Tom was enchanted by the study of Theology and Religion in childhood, finding within it the most essential and fascinating ultimate questions about human life. He is especially interested in the intersections of theology and modernity’s politics, economics, and technological advances. He specializes in theological ethics, political theology, comparative religious theology, and possesses a special interest in Anabaptism and Biblical Studies, religion and education, and in the works of Balthasar, Aquinas, King, Tolstoy, and Nietzsche. Tom’s greatest hope is to bring himself and others into deeper critical reasoning regarding Ultimate Reality, into more clear and penetrating understanding of our absolute interrelationship with everything else and Goodness, and into a more Beautiful experience of Being.
Education
BOSTON COLLEGE, Chestnut Hill, MA
Doctorate of Philosophy in Theology (Major: Theological Ethics; Minor: Comparative Theology), 2024-Ongoing
GORDON-CONWELL THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, South Hamilton, MA
Master of Theology (Thesis: Hans Urs von Balthasar), 2018-2019
Master of Divinity, 2015-2018
ASSUMPTION COLLEGE, Worcester, MA
Bachelor of Arts (Major: Psychology; Minor: Theology), 2012-2014
MOUNT WACHUSETT COMMUNITY COLLEGE, Gardner, MA
Associate Degree in Liberal Arts Studies, 2010-2012
Courses Taught
Introduction to Theology
Faith and Reason
Problem of God
Awards
2021 d’Alzon Faculty Summer Grant
Publications
“Confounded: What Was Liz Cheney Supposed to Teach BC?,” The Heights (October 31, 2024). https://www.bcheights.com/2024/10/31/confounded-what-was-liz-cheney-supposed-to-teach-bc/
“Anything and Everything All of the Time: Escaping Democracy’s Infernal Nadir of Individualism with Emmanuel d’Alzon.” Assumptionist Virtual Library, Summer d’Alzon Grant (October 2022). https://assumption.us/virtual-library/anything-and-everything-all-of-the-time-escaping-liberalisms-infernal-nadir-of-individualism-with-emmanuel-dalzon/
“Servants of Caesar: The Politically Violent Love of Luther and Calvin.” Heythrop Journal 63, no.4 (July 2022): 626-637. https://doi.org/10.1111/heyj.13686
Presentations
Thomas Elbourn, “What is it Like to be a Child?,” Phenomenology and Value: Pedagogy and Childhood Development, Boston College, October 19, 2024.
“The Doctrine of One-Kingdom: Barth Reforming the Reformers on Church and State.” Theology for Everyone: An Evening with Karl Barth. South Hamilton, MA. September 26, 2019. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu3FsYwi-HU