He received his Ph.D. in systematic theology from The Catholic University of America in May, 2008. His dissertation is entitled, “St. Thomas Aquinas’s Theology of the Episcopacy in his Commentaries on the Pastoral Epistles.” This work is currently under review for publication. In addition to the theology of the episcopacy, his research interests include the natural knowledge of God’s existence and attributes, the theology of grace and justification, and the distinction among different kinds of magisterial pronouncements and the corresponding types of assent required by each.