Jim Bretzke, SJ, STD

Rev. James T. Bretzke, S.J., S.T.D. is a Professor of Theology at John Carroll University. He has previously taught at Boston College’s graduate School of Theology and Ministry from 2008—2018, after which he moved to Marquette University in his native Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a year before coming to John Carroll in 2019. His doctorate is from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he also taught for three years before coming to the Graduate Theological Union and the Jesuit School of Theology-at-Berkeley (1993-2003). He then served as Chair of the Department of Theology & Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco.  He has also taught for several years in Seoul, Korea at Sogang University and as a Visiting Professor of Moral Theology at the Loyola School of Theology of the Ateneo de Manila, Philippines.

Rev. Bretzke has also published and lectured widely in various aspects of moral theology in over ninety articles and reviews, plus seven books, including, A Handbook of Roman Catholic Moral Terms (Georgetown University Press), A Morally Complex World: Engaging Contemporary Moral Theology and Consecrated Phrases: A Latin Theological Dictionary both from Liturgical Press. He is also a frequent “go-to” person for the media on issues connected to the Catholic Church nationally and internationally.

Selected Courses

• TRS 2500: Moral Decision Making (Honors Only; Service Learning)
• TRS 3126: Jesus In Film & History
• TRS 3530/5530: Catholic Moral Theology
• TRS 3537: Glocal Theological Justice
• TRS 3555/5555: Human Rights & Human Rites in Asia

Selected Publications

• Handbook of Roman Catholic Moral Terms. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 2013
• Consecrated Phrases: A Latin Dictionary of Theological Terms. Collegeville: Liturgical Press: 2003 (third edition)
• A Research Bibliography in Christian Ethics and Catholic Moral Theology. Lewiston NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2006
• A Morally Complex World: Engaging Contemporary Moral Theology. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, 2004
• Bibliography on East Asian Religion and Philosophy. Studies in Asian Thought and Religion, 23. Lewiston NY: Mellen Press, 2001.