The Basilica di Santa Chiara, slightly obscured by trees. While the upper church of the Basilica di San Francesco is, I think, my favorite place in Assisi, overall I think I prefer the architecture of Clare’s basilica to Francis’s.

Fresco inside the Chapel of Santa Clara inside the Church of San Damiano

Basilica di San Francesco d’Assisi

A view from St. Peter’s Square

Il Papa! (If you squint you can see him.)

Light beams in Santa Maria del Popolo

Just in time to leave for Rome/Assisi, tomorrow, I got a little Francis of Assisi sticker for my water bottle.

I love Brother Bird perched on his arm, the stigmata on his hands folded in prayer, & especially the patchwork of his habit.

A week from today I’ll be on my way to Rome for a small conference on last things (de novissimis) in the theology of Alexander of Hales, plus a few days for sightseeing. I’m most excited for an overnight trip to Assisi—I’ve never been!

I’ve just booked airline tickets for a research workshop in Rome this summer. I was last in Rome in 2018 (also for a research workshop), & I had only a few days on that trip. But this time I’ll be staying about a week. I can’t wait!

Pictured here from my last trip to Rome are (left to right) Boyd Taylor Coolman (my Doktorvater), Aaron Gies (current colleague at St. Bonaventure University), Justin Shaun Coyle, Katie Wrisley Shelby, Robin Landrith (three classmates from BC), & Stephen Brown (a giant among historical theologians of the medieval period).

Fenway Park (September 2019), from the student discount seats

Deception Pass Bridge, which supports the cars crossing the river. (A stretch, I know, but it’s late & this is the best I can think of right now.)

The court at Saint Isidore’s College in Rome, home of the Quaracchi archives. I’ll be at Saint Isidore’s again this summer for a research workshop on eschatology in the theology of Alexander of Hales

I know spiders are not technically insects, but I think this is the best I can do today. Shot on Superia X-tra 400.

Tiny campfire in Glacier National Forest.

Not quite a portico—more a pronaos? I don’t really know architecture—but I’ve always liked this photo of the Lincoln Memorial. From a visit to DC in 2017, when I lived in my favorite city in the US, Baltimore.

Not quite a road, but a path overlooking the Middle Falls in Letchworth State Park. Shot on (I think) Fujifilm 200

Between gray seas and gray skies, the horizon nearly disappears. Parsons Beach near Kennebunk, Maine.

Shiny mirror in the Museum of Pop Culture

Smith Tower, the oldest skyscraper in Seattle and the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast until the completion of the Space Needle in 1962. This counts for engineering, right?

Zip lines near (I think) Ahuachapán in El Salvador. Shot last July with my Pentax K1000 on Superia X-tra 400

Somewhere in Vermont at dusk.

Salvadoran Pupusería 📷🎞️

This past weekend I participated in the 47th Annual International Patristics, Medieval, and Renaissance Studies Conference at Villanova University. I presented a paper on the christologies of the Summa halensis and Albert the Great, on a panel exploring the shared intellectual culture of Franciscan and Dominican theologians working at the University of Paris in the 1240s. Pictured here are Kevin Hughes (Villanova University) and Luke Togni (Franciscan Institute, St. Bonaventure University), the organizers of the panel; Sam Baudinette (University of Chicago Divinity School), John Kern (Pepperdine University) and myself, the panelists; and Boyd Taylor Coolman (Boston College), the panel’s moderator.

Enthusiastic dog owners at Letchworth State Park