Bernard McGinn is the Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago where he taught for thirty-four years (1969-2003). Trained in both theology and Medieval intellectual history, McGinn taught Historical Theology and the History of Christianity at Chicago. Among his major concerns have been the history of apocalypticism and the broad story of Christian spirituality and mysticism, though he has also written on such topics as Thomas Aquinas, the Doctors of the Church, monasticism, and the Crusades.

Professor McGinn is the author and/or editor of thirty-three books and well over three hundred articles. He was Editor-in-Chief of the Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality Series between 1988 and 2015, and has served on the editorial boards of many publications. His current long-range project is a theological history of Western Christian mysticism under the general title The Presence of God. The first volume, The Foundations of Mysticism: Origins to the Fifth Century, appeared in 1991, and Volume VI, Part 1, Mysticism in the Reformation, 1500-1650, came out in 2016. Volume VI, Part 2, Mysticism in the Golden Age of Spain, 1500-1650, is due out in Fall of 2017. His current research and writing concentrates on Volume VI, Part 3, Mysticism in Catholic Italy, Germany, and France, 1500-1650.

Professor McGinn has served in numerous leadership roles, including as President of the Medieval Academy of America (2007-2008). He is a Fellow of the Medieval Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His several grants and awards include a Mellon Foundation Emeritus Grant, a Fulbright-Hays Research Fellowship, an American Association of Theological Schools research award, and a Lily Foundation Senior Research Fellowship.