William T. Cavanaugh is Professor of Catholic Studies and Director of the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University. He is a theologian who specializes in political theology and ecclesiology. His project is entitled "Disenchantment and Idolatry." In it he will explore Max Weber’s idea that modernity is disenchanted through the lens of the biblical concept of idolatry, which blurs the line between explicit and implicit forms of worship.

Professor Cavanaugh is the author of seven books, including Torture and Eucharist (1998), The Myth of Religious Violence (2009), Migrations of the Holy: Theologies of State and Church (2011), and Field Hospital: The Church’s Engagement with a Wounded World (2016). He is the co-editor of three volumes, including The Blackwell Companion to Political Theology (2003), and co-editor of the journal Modern Theology. He has published over a hundred journal articles and book chapters, has lectured on six continents, and his books and articles have been published in twelve languages.

Professor Cavanaugh’s research has been supported by a dissertation fellowship from the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, as well as a visiting fellowship from the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at Notre Dame.