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Sam Zeno Conedera, SJ

Assistant Professor
History

Courses Taught

Undergraduate: Origins of the Modern World to 1500, History of the Jesuits, Catholic Tradition to 1540, Catholic Tradition since 1540, History of Catholicism, Reformation Era, Historian's Craft Graduate: Jesuits and Empires, Early Modern Catholicism

Education

Ph.D., UCLA, 2009

M.A.P.R., Fordham University, 2012
 
S.T.B., Gregorian University, 2017

M.A., UCLA, 2006

B.A., Saint Louis University, 2002

Research Interests

At the beginning of my graduate studies, I was primarily interested in medieval Spain, especially military orders and crusades.  My first book, Ecclesiastical Knights, examines the religious life of three military orders in the kingdom of Castile from the twelfth to the early fourteenth centuries.  Entering the Society of Jesus added philosophy and theology to my intellectual interests, and altered the course of my historical studies.  At the request of my superiors, my research has shifted to early Jesuit intellectual history.  I have completed a monograph on Alfonso Salmerón, one of the founding members of the Society and a luminary of the Council of Trent, who wrote a massive commentary on the New Testament that scholars have mostly neglected.  I am currently researching the life of Pedro de Ribadeneyra, S.J., Jesuits and crusading, and Jesuit liturgy.

Publications and Media Placements

Monographs

  • Alfonso Salmerón (1515–85) on the Scriptures: Theological Perspectives of a Founding Jesuit (Durham: Durham University Press) (forthcoming)
  • Ecclesiastical Knights: The Military Orders in Castile, 1150-1330 (New York: Fordham University Press, 2015).
Journal Articles

  • With Vincent L. Strand.  “Beyond Ratzinger’s Republic: Communio’s Postliberal Turn,” Nova et Vetera (English) (Summer 2023): 889–917
  • “Forgotten Saint: The Life and Writings of Alfonso Salmerón, SJ,” Studies in the Spirituality of Jesuits, vol. 52, no. 4 (Winter 2020): 1–34.
  • With Vincent L. Strand.  “Ratzinger’s Republic: Pope Benedict XVI on Natural Law and Church and State,” Nova et Vetera (English), vol. 18, no. 2 (2020): 669–694.
Essays in Edited Volumes

  • Leading the Blind: Aquinas, Ignatius, and Other Jesuits on Obedience,” in Ignatius of Loyola and Thomas Aquinas: A Jesuit Ressourcement, ed. Justin Anderson, Matthew Levering, and Aaron Pidel (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 2024) (forthcoming)
  • “Universal Monarchs: Crusading in the Life of St. Ignatius Loyola,” in Crusading in Art, Thought, and Will, ed. Matthew Parker, Ben Halliburton, Anne Romine (Boston: Brill, 2019), 286–298.
  • “A Wall and a Shield: Alfonso VIII and the Military Orders,” in King Alfonso VIII of Castile: Government, Family, and War, ed. Miguel Gómez, Kyle Lincoln, Damian Smith (New York: Fordham University Press, 2019), 102–117.
  •  “Brothers in Arms: Hermandades Among the Military Orders in Medieval Iberia,” in Crusades: Medieval Worlds in Conflict, ed. Thomas Madden, James Naus, Vincent Ryan, (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010), 35–44.