# Robert P. Imbelli

Rev. Robert P. Imbelli (born January 8, 1939, New York City) is a Christian theologian and Roman Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of New York. Imbelli is an associate professor emeritus of theology at Boston College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where he taught from 1986 to 2014. He was the director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College from 1986 to 1993. He previously taught theology at the New York Archdiocesan Seminary, St. Joseph's Seminary at Dunwoodie (1970–78) and at the Maryknoll School of Theology in Ossining, New York (1978–1986). While teaching in Boston, Imbelli served at Sacred Heart Church in Newton Centre.

## Education

Imbelli attended the Jesuit-run Regis High School on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He matriculated at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York, with a bachelor's degree in philosophy in 1960. After Fordham, Imbelli entered St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, and was sent to study at the Gregorian University in Rome, Italy, where he earned a licentiate in systematic theology in 1966. While in Rome, Imbelli resided at the Almo Collegio Capranica. He was ordained a priest in Capranica's chapel on July 24, 1965. Imbelli's years of theological study in Rome coincided with the Second Vatican Council, which has profoundly shaped his theological thought and writing. Imbelli returned to New York after completing his degree at the Gregorian and, after a time serving as a parish priest, went to Yale University, where he completed his Ph.D. in systematic theology in 1972.

## Career

Following his graduation from Yale, Imbelli continued teaching at St. Joseph's Seminary where he had been a professor of systematic theology beginning in 1970. After leaving Dunwoodie in 1978, he taught at the Maryknoll School of Theology in Ossining, New York. In 1986, he accepted the position of director of the Institute of Religious Education and Pastoral Ministry at Boston College. In 1993, he stepped down as director and continued as an associate professor of theology until 2014. Imbelli was also an adjunct associate professor of theology in the Department of Religion and Religious Education at Fordham University (Summer 1977 and Summer 1981), a visiting lecturer in theology at Princeton Theological Seminary (Spring 1980) and scholar in residence at St. Joseph Seminary, Dunwoodie (1994–95). In recent years, he has taught as an adjunct professor at Dunwoodie.
In addition to teaching, Imbelli has been a prolific contributor to journals and magazines, including Commonweal, America, L'Osservatore Romano, Theological Studies, The Thomas, Pro Ecclesia, Communio, Worship, Origins and Nova et Vetera. He edited and contributed to Handing on the Faith: the Church's Mission and Challenge, in 2006, and authored Rekindling the Christic Imagination: Theological Meditations for the New Evangelization in 2014. In 2018, Imbelli recorded a nine part lecture series, The Christic Imagination: How Christ Transforms Us, developing several themes from his book. In addition to his frequent articles, he contributes regularly to Firstthings.com and Thecatholicthing.org.

## Awards and honors

In 2007 Imbelli's book Handing on the Faith: the Church's Mission and Challenge was chosen in third place for books in theology by the Catholic Press Association. He also received the Theron Rockwell Field Prize for his doctoral dissertation in 1973. His 2014 Rekindling the Christic Imagination received the First Place Award from the Association of Catholic Publishers in 2015.
A festschrift, The Center Is Jesus Christ Himself: Essays on Revelation, Salvation, and Evangelization in Honor of Robert P. Imbelli (Andrew Meszaros, ed.), was published by The Catholic University Press in spring 2021.

## Views on Christology

Imbelli's 2014 book, Rekindling the Christic Imagination: Theological Meditations for the New Evangelization (Liturgical Press), "seeks to meditate upon [the] Christic Center of Catholic faith as it expands from its Center in Christ into the intimately interrelated realities of Eucharist, church, and ultimately, Trinity". Rekindling "aspires to offer a 'mystagogical' meditation: one that evokes the mystery to which it inadequately points". To that end, each section of the book is accompanied by a work of art "internal to the book's purpose . . . of restoring the aesthetic to full citizenship in the theological enterprise". As the title suggests, the book aspires to contribute to the "New Evangelization" to which the post-conciliar popes have summoned the Church: "this evangelization is, at its heart, the call to renewed conversion to Jesus Christ and the passionate desire to share his Good News with others that they 'may have life and have it to the full' (John 10:10)."

## Problems facing the Church

Imbelli's book, Handing on the Faith: the Church's Mission and Challenge, is a collection of essays discussing the problems facing the Church. The different contributors' chapters address issues like religious education, community-based faith formation, identity and individualism, communication and future problems. Imbelli writes a thought provoking introduction to get the ball rolling on tackling these tough issues. Avery Dulles commented, "The Church is faced by no more serious problem than that of handing on the faith to the young. Recognizing current failures, Boston College recently assembled a distinguished group of Catholic scholars and educators, whose considered reflections are presented by the essays in this volume. The series closes with a summons to hope and courage evoking the spirit of Pope John Paul II. The authors seem to agree that teachers of Catholic doctrine can succeed if they are joyful witnesses to the Lord as he continues to dwell in the community of faith." He acknowledges the difficulties of passing on the faith to the next generation. His editing and collaboration with others starts an important discussion not only to bring to light these serious problems, but also to solve them.