Marty Tomszak

BIOGRAPHY

Marty Tomszak completed his PhD at Loyola University of Chicago in the Integrative Studies in Ethics and Theology program with a concentration in systematic theology. His dissertation, A Radically Weak (I)ncounter: Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker, and Overcoming Otherness, an Anatheistic Argument for a Political Theology Based in Community, focused on the potential practical implications the radical Catholic lay apostolate of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin might have on the realm of postmodern and post-structuralist political theology and their impact on the institutional Church in the twenty-first century.

The intersection between theology, continental philosophy, and radical community not only influence his research interests but shape the way in which he intertwines theory and praxis in his day-to-day life as he serves as director of the Fire for Food Drive, an initiative aimed at overcoming food insecurity in Chicago in Partnership with the Chicago Fire Soccer Club; engages with Chicagoland’s Catholic Worker communities via experiential learning models in his courses; is active in Mutual Aid initiatives on Chicago’s North Side; and contributes to literature documenting state sanctioned violence by the CPD against his city’s residents.  

Additionally, Professor Tomszak is a Certified Cicerone and manages the taproom at Metropolitan Brewing on a part time basis. The overlap between theological inquiry and the brewing of beer has a long-standing history in the Catholic tradition and he takes pride in continuing that relationship.  

EDUCATION

Ph.D., Loyola University Chicago, ISET-Theology, 2021

M.A., Wheaton College, History of Christianity-Early Church, 2014

B.A., Benedictine University, History and Religious Studies, 2012

CONTRIBUTIONS

Monographs:

Political Theology Based in Community: Dorothy Day, The Catholic Worker Movement, and Overcoming Otherness Under contract with Lexington/Fortress Academic Press. Anticipated Publishing Date:  Fall 2022

Journal Articles:

 “Anti-Capitalism in the Tradition of Catholic Social Teaching” in The Business of God: Theological and Ethical Reflections on the Church Industrial Complex
Under contract with Wipf Stock. Anticipated Publishing Date: Fall 2023

“Hospitality and Works of Mercy as Liberative Praxis: Dorothy Day, the Catholic Worker, and a Path Forward for Radical Theology”
Keynote at the Centre for Liberation Theologies Annual Colloquium, KU Leuven, November 2022.

“Contextualizing The Long Loneliness: The Theoretical Framework of the Catholic Worker”
Visiting lecture presented at the University of St. Thomas, September 2022.

“‘With Desire I have Desired’, Enjoying the Face of the Other as Political Theology” Telos, Spring 2022.

“Works of Mercy and the Primacy of the Other: Viewing the Catholic Worker through a Levinasian Lens” Under review by the editorial staff at the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology, Fall 2022.

“On the Cusp of Sacred Anarchy: John Caputo’s Divine Weakness Witnessed in the Praxis of Dorothy Day’s Catholic Worker” Political Theology, Fall 2021.

Review of A Church of the Poor: Pope Francis and the Transformation of Orthodoxy by Clemens Sedmak In Reviews in Religion and Theology, Fall 2018, 791-792.

Review of Basil of Caesarea by Stephen M. Hildebrand In Reviews in Religion and Theology, Spring 2017, 499-501.

Presented Works:

“Martin Tomszak on the Work and Legacy of Dorothy Day” Hermitix Podcast, May 2022.

“Martin Tomszak on Dorothy Day: Political Theology Based in Radical Community” The Telos Press Podcast, Episode 54, May 2022.

“Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker as Political Theology: A Practical Outlet for the Postmodern Radical Democratic Projects of Jeffrey Robbins and Clayton Crockett” Presented at the Political Theology Network Conference, “Truth, Post-Truth, and Democracy”, May 2022.

“Weakness, Sacred Anarchy, and Peaceful Dissent: Contesting Institutionalism Through the Theo-Ethic of the Catholic Worker” Presented at Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology XIII: Dissenting Church-Exploring the Theological Power of Conflict and Disagreement, KU Leuven, October 2021.

“Meeting the Moment: Challenges and Models for Hope in the U.S. Church” Moderator, Sign of the Times: Context, Contingency, Crisis Conference, Loyola University Chicago, April 2021.

“Doing Nothing: Dorothy Day and Apophaticism as the First Step of Hospitality” Presented at the Mystical Theology Network Conference, University of Oxford, UK, July 2020.

“Tangibly Beautifying the Soul: St. Basil of Caesarea as a Metaxu between Apophatic Contemplation and Cataphatic Social Orthopraxy” Presented at the North American Patristics Society Conference, Chicago Illinois, May 2020 (postponed).

“Justice Oriented Praxis as a Learning Outcome: Learning Communities, Experiential Immersion, and Service as Pedagogical Tools for Theology and Ethics Faculty” Presented at the “TEP Theo-Ethical Pedagogy” Symposium—Loyola University Chicago, November 2019.

“Coming Home Before the Street Lights Do: Chicago Artists, Method, and the Church’s Preferential Option for the Poor” Presented at “Option for the Poor: Engaging the Social Tradition” the 2019 Catholic Social Tradition Conference—Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, March 2019.

“Failing to Beautify the Soul: St. Basil of Caesarea and the Relationship Between Apophatic Contemplation, Church Dogma, and Social Orthopraxy” Presented at “Metaphor, Making, and Mysticism” the 2019 Annual Conference of the Mystical Theology Network — Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts, February 2019.

“Dorothy Day’s Long Loneliness and the Re-Examination of Genre: The Conversion Narrative as Pedagogical Tool” Presented at the Conference of Catholic Conversion Narratives in Modernist Aesthetics — hosted jointly by KU Leuven and Loyola University Chicago — Chicago, IL, May 2018

“‘Grasses and Vegetables’: Ethical Eating in St. Basil of Caesarea” Presented at the 2017 North American Patristic Society Conference – Chicago, IL, May 2017

“Dorothy Day’s Prophetic Witness: De-Criminalizing the Marginalized” Presented at the Joan and Bill Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage Conference “Revolution of the Heart: A Celebration of Dorothy Day” – Loyola University Chicago, Chicago IL, February 2017

“Overcoming a History of Silence: The Women of Tirol in the Sixteenth Century” Presented at the Wheaton College History of Christianity Conference – Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL, September 2014

“Proper Pedagogy or Inconsistency? An Exploration of Origen’s Apokotastasis” Presented at the Wheaton College Early Church Seminar – Wheaton College, Wheaton IL, December 2013

INTERESTS

Areas of Specialization: Catholic Social Teaching; Peter Maurin, Dorothy Day, and the Catholic Worker; Political Theology

Minor Fields: Liberation Theologies; Early Church History

Teaching Areas: Theology, Social Ethics, Historical Theology

MEMBERSHIPS

The Dorothy Day Guild

North American Patristic Society

Mystical Theology Network

Political Theology Network