CULLMAN, Ala. – On Friday, Dec. 4, at the Benedictine Order’s Pontifical University of Sant’Anselmo in Rome, Fr. Bernard J. Denson O.S.B., a monk of St. Bernard Abbey in Cullman, AL, successfully defended his thesis entitled “The Presence of Christ in the Thought and Aesthetic of Percy Bysshe Shelley.” He earned the canonical degree of Licentiate in Sacred Theology, with specialization in the History of Theology. He completed his degree with the distinction, “summa cum laude.”
Shelley, who was a major poet of British Romanticism, was known for his atheism. Fr. Bernard’s work strives to demonstrate the importance of theology’s interdisciplinary dialogue with the arts in order to gain a greater understanding of the history and significance of both.
Fr. Bernard has already begun the program for his doctorate in sacred theology in the same specialization.
