Apczynski, John V.

Books 

• Doers of the Word:  Toward a Foundational Theology Based on the Thought of Michael Polanyi. Missoula, Montana: Scholars Press, 1977.
• Editor. Foundations of Religious Literacy. The Annual Publication of the College Theology Society. Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983.
• Editor. Theology and the University. The Annual Publication of the College Theology Society. Lanham: University Press of America, 1990.
• Editor. The Intellectual Journey. Needham Heights, MA: Simon & Schuster Custom Publishing, 1998. [Text based on themes of Bonaventure’s The Mind’s Journey into God developed for the introductory foundational seminar course of Clare College, the core program at S.B.U.] 

Articles in Scholarly Journals and Collections 

• “Integrative Theology:  A Polanyian Proposal for Theological Foundations,” Theological Studies, 40 (1979), 23-43. 
• “Truth in Religion: A Polanyian Appraisal of Wolfhart Pannenberg’s Theological Program,” Zygon, 17 (1982), 49-73.
• With Michael Chiariello. “Agassi on Polanyi:  Comments on Joseph Agassi’s Science and Society,” Tradition and Discovery, 13, no. 1 (Fall, 1985-86), 4-19.
• “Mysticism and Epistemology,” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 14 (1985), 193-205.
• “Are Religion and Science Distinct or Dichotomous Realms?” Tradition and Discovery, 15, no. 1 (Winter, 1987-88), 4-14.
• “Authority: A House or a Home?” Raising the Torch of Good News. Ed. Bernard P. Prusak. Annual Publication of the College Theology Society, 1986. Lanham:  University Press of America, 1988. Pp. 127-144.
• “Richard Rorty and Michael Polanyi: Is There Truth after Foundationalism?” Reflections for a panel, “The Tacit Victory and the Unfinished Agenda,” Tradition and Discovery, 18, no. 1 (1991-92), 11-13. 
• “John Hick’s Theocentrism: Revolutionary or Implicitly Exclusivist?” Modern Theology, 8:1 (1992), 39-52. 
• “Belief in God, Proper Basicality, and Rationality,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 60:2 (1992), 501-512. J. Wesley Robbins, “Response,” JAAR, 61 (1993), 339-41; “Rejoinder,” 341-42.
• “Polanyi’s Augustinianism: A Mark of the Future?” Tradition and Discovery, 20, no. 1 (1993-94), 27-41.

See Web site for reviews, papers and addresses

My professional and research interests focus around issues of contemporary religious thought. My current concerns are shaped by the effort to bring scientific and post-modern assumptions into dialogue with a renewed interpretation of certain Augustinian themes about human subjectivity, particularly as they were expressed by the medieval Franciscan theologian, Bonaventure.

Recent Activity 

• “The Discovery of Meaning through Scientific and Religious Forms of Indwelling,” a paper presented at the Polanyi Society meeting at the national convention of the American Academy of Religion, Atlanta, November 21, 2003.
• “The Meaning of Meaning,” a paper presented at a conference on Polanyi’s Post-Critical Thought and the Rebirth of Meaning, Loyola University, Chicago, IL, June 8-10, 2001.
• “Creation, Evolution, and Divine Agency: A Bonaventurian Perspective,” paper presented at a conference on evolution and design at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI, May 24-6, 2001.
• “Reflections on Gunter’s Resurrection Knowledge,” a paper presented at the Polanyi Society meeting held at the national convention of the American Academy of Religion, Nashville, November 17, 2000.
• “Book review of Theology as the Road to Holiness in St. Bonaventure by Charles Carpenter,” Horizons, 27 (2000), 411-13.