M. A. (Research), St. Louis University, M. Div., STL, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, M. Phil, Ph.D., Union Theological Seminary. Former Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Regis University, Denver, Colorado. Author of Pattern of Redemption: The Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar (Continuum, 1997), editor of German Essays on Religion (Continuum, 1994), co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs von Balthasar (Cambridge University Press, 2004), translator of Hans Urs von Balthasar's The Theology of Karl Barth: Exposition and Interpretation and Explorations in Theology, Volume IV: Spirit and Institution (both from Ignatius Press) and Josef Pieper's The Concept of Sin (St. Augustine's Press).

Oakes' articles and reviews have appeared in Journal of Religion, Pro Ecclesia, Theological Studies, First Things, Commonweal and other scholarly and popular periodicals.

Media

Can Secular Culture be Evangelized?. FrontRow @ Boston College. A Project of Boston College Magazine. McGuinn Hall 121, Feb. 26, 2004.

Does Doubt Belong to Faith? "On the Square" / First Things October 2, 2007.
Prayer and Politics "On the Square" / First Things September 18, 2007.
On Relativism "On the Square" / First Things September 5, 2007.
On Canons "On the Square" / First Things August 8, 2007.
Antinomies of Limbo: Some Historical Milestones "On the Square" / First Things June 21, 2007.
Tatian on Death and Immortality "On the Square" / First Things March 21, 2007.
Are Protestants Heretics? "On the Square" / First Things January 31, 2007.
-- Response to Oakes on Protestants and Heresy, by Stephen Barr. February 1, 2007.
-- A Heretic Is as a Heretic Does, by Alyssa Lyra Pitstick. February 5, 2007. Reason and Pop Atheism "On the Square" / First Things January 22, 2007.
What Do Zombies Think? First Things January 2006.
Oakes: The Body in St. Paul and Benedict XVI "On the Square" / First Things November 20, 2006.
The "I" of Christ First Things August / September 2005.
The Witness of Balthasar America Vol. 193, no 3. August 12, 2005. [subscription only]
Evolution in the Eyes of the Church - Zenit interview on Cardinal Christoph Schõnborn's attempt to clarify the Church's position on evolution and the resulting 'media firestorm.'

• Part I: The Importance of Definitions
• Part II: On the Difficulty of Reconciling Science and Faith. July 27-28, 2005.

Benedict XVI and Current Theology Studies Irish Quarterly Review Summer 2005.
The Missionary Pope: John Paul II and the New Evangelization Crisis May 25, 2005.
Mary, Mother of the Eucharist Mater Eucharistiae, May 2005.
John Wesley: A Biography First Things December 2004.
Reconciling Judas: Evangelizing the Theologians Crisis Oct. 6, 2004.
The Age of Shakespeare, The Trial of Man First Things June / July 2004.
Review of Luther, The Movie. First Things 139 (January 2004): 20-22.
Newman's Liberal Problem. First Things 132 (April 2003): 43-50.
Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750 First Things April 2002.
Basel in the Age of Burckhardt: A Study in Unseasonable Ideas First Things December 2001.
Continuing The Conversation. Commonweal June 2, 2000. Response to Christopher Ruddy ["Young Theologians", April 21].
Shakespeare's Millennium. First Things 98 (December 1999): 17-24.
Repent. Commonweal April 23, 1999.
Pascal: The First Modern Christian. First Things 95 (August/September 1999): 41-48.
Discovering the American Aristotle. [On Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914)]. First Things 38 (December 1993): 24-33.
Original Sin: A Disputation. First Things 87 (November 1998) 16-24. [Correspondence.]
The Achievement of Alasdair MacIntyre. First Things 65 (August/September 1996): 22-26.

Book Reviews

The Three Rings of Monotheism. Review of The Monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Conflict and Competition, by F. E. Peters. Vol's I & II. First Things 140 (February 2004): 50-55.
The Reality of the Beautiful. Review of Speaking of Beauty by Denis Donoghue. First Things 138 (December 2003): 44-48.
Second-Hand Civ.. Review of Eccentric Culture: A Theory of Western Civilization, by Rèmi Brague. Translated by Samuel Lester. First Things 134 (June/July 2003): 42-45.
The Great Awakener. Review of Jonathan Edwards: A Life, by George M. Marsden. Commonweal June 6, 2003.
Pride of the Valkyrie. Review of The Tristan Chord Wagner and Philosophy, by Bryan Magee Henry Holt Commonweal Oct. 25, 2002.
Smart Thinking. Review of Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, by Martha C. Nussbaum. First Things 126 (October 2002): 65-69.
Problems or Puzzles?. Review of Wittgenstein's Poker: The Story of a Ten-Minute Argument Between Two Great Philosophers, by David Edmonds and John Eidinow. First Things 123 (May 2002): 41-43.
Jump-Starting the Enlightenment. Review of Radical Enlightenment: Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-1750, by Jonathan I. Israel. First Things 122 (April 2002): 41-46.
Celebrating Hellenism. Review of Greek Ways: How the Greeks Created Western Civilization, by Bruce Thornton. First Things 115 (August/September 2001): 57-59.
Newman, Yes; Paley, No, Review of The Wedge of Truth: Splitting the Foundations of Naturalism, by Phillip E. Johnson. First Things 109 (January 2001): 48-52. [Response: Edward T. Oakes and His Critics: An Exchange. First Things 112 (April 2001): 5-13.]
Radicals of the Rhine. Review of Basel in the Age of Burckhardt: A Study in Unseasonable Ideas, by Lionel Gossman. First Things 118 (December 2001): 56-60.
Stanley Fish's Milton. Review of How Milton Works, by Stanley Fish. First Things 117 (November 2001): 23-34..
To ravage and redeem the world. Review of No Bloodless Myth: A guide through Balthasar's Dramatics, by Aidan Nichols, OP. Times Literary Supplement April 2001.
Why The Dane was Melancholy. Review of Hamlet in Purgatory, by Stephen Greenblatt. Commonweal May 4, 2001.
Icons and Kitsch. Review of The Forbidden Image: An Intellectual History of Iconoclasm, by Alain Besançon. Translated by Jean Marie Todd. First Things 111 (March 2001): 37-43.
Philosophy in an Old Key. Review of Confessions of a Philosopher: A Personal Journey Through Western Philosophy from Plato to Popper, by Bryan Magee. First Things 108 (December 2000): 27-34.
Never At A Loss For Words. Review of Shakespeare's Language, by Frank Kermode. Commonweal, Sept 8, 2000.
Really Bad Ideas. Review of God's Funeral, by A.N. Wilson. Commonweal, Oct. 8, 1999.
Nature as Law and Gift. Review of Natural Law in Judaism, by David Novak. First Things 93 (May 1999): 44-51.
The Man Behind the Curtain. Review of Unauthorized Freud: Doubters Confront a Legend, edited by Frederick Crews. First Things 89 (January 1999): 38-41.
Making the Wager. Review of God: The Evidence. The Reconciliation of Faith and Reason in a Postsecular World, by Patrick Glynn. First Things 85 (August/September 1998): 64-66.
The Blind Programmer. Review of How the Mind Works, by Steven Pinker. First Things 81 (March 1998): 35-42.
The Law Word. Review of The Last Word, by Thomas Nagel. Commonweal Jan. 30, 1998.
The Heart of The Church. Review of Mary Through the Centuries: Her Place in the History of Culture, by Jaroslav Pelikan. First Things 70 (February 1997): 52-54.
Eros & Rage. Review of The Therapy of Desire: Theory and Practice in Hellenistic Ethics, by Martha Nussbaum. First Things 55 (August/September 1995): 51-54.
The Capital of Ambivalence. Review of Modernity and Crises of Identity: Culture and Society in Fin-de- Si`ecle Vienna, by Jacques Le Rider. Translated by Rosemary Morri. First Things 48 (December 1994): 60-64.
Poisoned Eros. Review of Love and Friendship, by Allan Bloom. First Things 40 (January 1994): 52-54.
Evangelical Theology in Crisis. Review of No Place for Truth: Or Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology. By David F. Wells. First Things 36 (October 1993): 38-44.
Attention Must Be Paid. Review of Multiculturalism and "The Politics of Recognition". An Essay by Charles Taylor. With Commentary by Amy Gutmann (Editor), Steven C. Rockefeller, Michael Walzer, and Susan Wolf. First Things 32 (April 1993): 48-51.
Jewish Ethics Engaged. Review of Jewish Social Ethics, by David Novak. First Things 34 (June/July 1993): 42-49.