Paul Murphy
Professor
Background
Paul Murphy has taught at John Carroll University for more than twenty years. Like Pope Leo XIV, he was born on the south side of Chicago and is a Chicago White Sox fan.
Areas of Expertise
I focus my research on the religious and cultural history of Renaissance and Reformation Europe, Italy in particular.
Research Interests
I am currently examining the decision of the high-born sixteenth-century prince, Aloysius Gonzaga, to leave behind his inheritance as an Italian duke and enter the Jesuit order. I am inteested in particular with what his vocations says not only about the identity of the Jesuits in the late sixteenth century but what it says about the changing realities of Italian society under Habsburg domination and after the Council of Tretn (15451563).
Education
Ph.D., University of TorontoM.Div., Weston School of Theology
A.B. Fairfield University
Courses Taught
HS 1213: Saints and Scoundrels: The Jesuits from Renaissance to Revolution.HS 1215: Trials of the Centuries.
HS 2212: Prophecy and Order.
HS 3205: Rome: City of Emperors, Popes and Saints
HS 3207: History of the Popes
HS 3212: Renaissance and Reformation
HS 4014: The Catholic Experience
Publications
Ruling Peacfully: Cardinal Ercole Gonzaga and Patrician Reform in Sixteen-Century Italy (CUA, 2007).Confessions: The Autobiography of Pedro de Ribadeneira (Institute of Jesuit Sources, 2024)
