A "Dark" Greeting from Atchison

I hope the title of the post caught your attention! I'll explain it at the end of the post.  My name is Dr. Matthew Ramage, and I'm a professor of theology at Benedictine College in Atchison.  I am so pleased to have the opportunity to contribute to this blog.  Like the others who have already made their initial post, here I'm just going to share with you my story and a little about my ministry so you can get to know the folks you'll be encountering here.

My academic and pastoral career actually began not in theology but in the sciences. I actually began my tenure as an undergraduate studying biochemistry and French at the University of Illinois.  However, experiencing a deepening of my faith at the campus Newman Center led me to change direction after my sophomore year. At that time I moved to Rome to begin philosophy studies at the Pontifical Lateran University and discern the priesthood with the Apostles of the Interior Life, religious community with a very fruitful ministry in our own archdiocese.

My Roman adventure came crashing to a halt when I suddenly fell seriously ill and incapacitated one winter day. After having spent over a month in a Roman hospital in excruciating pain but still with no diagnosis, I returned to the States and was soon diagnosed with the chronic auto-immune disorder called lupus. Today I still deal constantly with lupus issues–from hip necrosis to kidney issues to a detached retina. By the grace of God, however, this does not prevent me from doing my day to day activities more or less how I wish.  But I can’t dunk basketballs and catch fly balls.

After sufficiently recovering from my initial acute lupus symptoms upon returning to the States I was eventually able to complete my undergraduate degree in Religious Studies and Philosophy at the University of Illinois. Upon graduation I continued to discern with the Apostles of the Interior Life and worked in campus ministry for students at Illinois State University and the University of Kansas. During my time in Kansas I pursued further philosophy studies at Benedictine College where I wrote a thesis on contemporary theories of natural law.  This year ended up being quite providential when it later came to apply for a teaching job.

Over the course of these years I discovered my vocation to married life and to the life of a Catholic theologian.  I thus went on to earn my M.A. at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Ph.D. at Ave Maria University, during which time my wife and I began to date, courted, and got married.  Before coming to Benedictine College in 2009, I was blessed to teach Religious Studies at the University of Illinois and the St. John Institute of Catholic Thought alongside my friend and mentor, Dr. Kenneth Howell.

Today I am blessed to teach a number of different courses at Benedictine College and elsewhere. I help out from time to time with Benedictine College campus ministry and serve in an advisory capacity for the college’s Institute for Missionary Activity.  I also form the Catholic school teachers here in Atchison for the archdiocesan School of Faith and teach the Year of Faith catechism classes here in town.  This Spring I will also begin teaching classes for the archdiocesan permanent diaconate program.

My wife, Jen, is also a theology and language nut.  We have so much fun sharing the life of being Catholic parents and educators!  She serves as an adjunct professor in the Benedictine College Theology Department and–when she is not off at some Bible study or book group– stays at home full-time with our children Julia and Joseph.

If you’ve read all the way to here, now you’ll find out why I used the word “dark” in my post.  One of my favorite ministries is actually not usually considered a ministry at all.  Rather, it’s what Benedict XVI calls “intellectual charity,” and for me it consists in evangelizing through scholarly writing.  My most major and recent work is my book that just came out last week.  It’s called Dark Passages of the Bible: EngagingScripture with Benedict XVI and Thomas Aquinas.  In a word, it asks and answers the question you’ve probably asked yourself many times: “How can that be in the Bible?”

My hope is that through efforts like this book I will be able to make a unique contribution to the New Evangelization by engaging in some of the most difficult challenges that can be leveled at our Catholic faith, taking the bull by the horns, and offering an account of the hope that is within us, as S. Peter says in 1 Pet 3:15.