• Dr. Don St. John was presented The Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Foundation Award for Distinguished Teaching at the end of spring semester, 2010. This award has been presented annually at Moravian College since 1964 to the faculty member selected on the basis of a poll of seniors, faculty, and administrators, with the final choice made by a panel of past recipients, the Dean of the College, and the President.  The criteria for selection are excellence in teaching, professional development, and relationship to students.

Dr. Don St. John
Professor of Religion

StJohn

Education:
B.A., St. Francis College (PA)
M.A., Temple University
Ph.D., Fordham University

Interests:
Religions of Asia, Native American Religions, and Environmental Philosophy/Spirituality.

Dr. St. John has focused much of his recent research and publishing on Thomas Merton (1915-1968), the American Catholic spiritual writer. In 2004 Don won a Catholic Press Association award for "Teilhard in the 21st Century: The Emerging Spirit of Earth," co-edited with Arthur Fabel. Editor of "Teilhard Studies" from 1994-2007, Don is also founder and editor of "Ecospirit," a mini-journal dedicated to the exploration of ecological spirituality.

Articles:
"Ecological Wisdom in Merton's Chuang Tzu," in Merton and Taoism, Louisville: Fons Vitae Press, spring, 2013.
Review of the book   The Environmental Vision of Thomas Merton,  by Monica Weis,  The Merton Annual  Vol. 24(2012): 281-285.
"Contemplation & Cosmos: Merton on Maximus and Teilhard."Teilhard Studies, Spring, 2011.
"Thomas Merton's Troubling Questions on Violence: From Auschwitz to Vietnam," Prajna Vihara Journal of Philosophy and Religion, Vol. 10 No. 1-2 (Jan-Dec, 2009), pp. 3-50.

Recent Courses:
Religions of India: Hinduism and Buddhism
Religious Thought of China & Japan
Native American Religions
Environmental Philosophy
The Moral Life in Four Asian Traditions
Contemplative Spirituality: Buddhist and Christian
Spiritual Poetry in the World's Religions
The Holy Fool
Religion & Ecology
The Legacy of Thomas Merton


Contact:
Phone: 610 861-1585
Email: medps01@moravian.edu
Office: Comenius-204