Faculty Bio

Dr. Peter Baltutis

Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies and Catholic Women's League Chair for Catholic Studies. Chair of Humanities

Dr. Peter Baltutis earned his Ph.D. in the history of Christianity/theology from Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in the University of Toronto. An expert in the history of Catholicism, his research focuses on the historical and theological development of the Catholic social tradition in Canada. A winner of the St. Mary’s University Terrence Downey Award for Teaching Excellence, he teaches courses in both religious studies and history and he currently holds the Catholic Women's League (CWL) Chair for Catholic Studies. A professed lay member of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans), he is a popular public speaker on topics across the Catholic intellectual tradition, from lives of the saints to the Second Vatican Council to contemporary challenges facing the Catholic Church today. He can often be found camping with his family or long-distance running in the Rocky Mountains.

Specialization/Research Interest:

History of Christianity; modern Catholicism (19th century to the present); history of Catholicism in Canada; Catholic Social Teaching; Vatican II; experiential learning

Education

Ph.D., History of Christianity/Theology, Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in the University of Toronto, 2012
M.A., Theology, Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology in the University of Toronto, 2006
M.A., History, University of Toronto, 2003
B.A. (honors) magna cum laude, History, University of Richmond, 2001

  • “Book Review: Empire and Emancipation: Scottish and Irish Catholics at the Atlantic Fringe, 1780–1850. By S. Karly Kehoe. University of Toronto Press, 2022.” University of Toronto Quarterly, vol. 93, Issue 3 (August 2024).
  • “‘A Disturber of Christians’: The Life and Spirituality of Romeo Maione.” The Catholic Historical Review 110, no. 2 (Spring 2024): 285-311.
  • “Book Review / Compte Rendu: Catholic Activism Today: Individual Transformation and the Struggle for Social Justice. By Maureen K. Day. New York University Press, 2020.” Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, volume 51, issue 2 (June 2022): 263-265.
  • “Making the Abstract Concrete: Teaching the Catholic Social Tradition through Experiential Learning.” The Journal of Catholic Higher Education 40, no.1 (Winter 2021): 64-82.
  • “The Bishops and Laity as Collegial Partners in Social Justice: The Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace.” In Full, Conscious, and Active: Lay Participation in the Church’s Dialogue with the World, eds. Donna L. Orsuto and Robert S. White, 43-55. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2020.
  • “Book Review: Turning to the World: Social Justice and the Common Good Since Vatican II. Edited by Carl N. Still and Gertrude Rompré. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018.” CCHA Historical Studies 85 (2019): 125-127.
  • “Realizing the Vision: Building a Nationwide Movement for Social Justice.” In Jubilee: 50 Years of Solidarity, eds. Mike Flynn, Danny Gillis, Hélène Gobeil, and Fabien Leboeuf, 13-20. Toronto: Novalis, 2017.
  • “Ecumenical Movement, Perspectives of the.” In Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, eds. George Thomas Kurian and Mark A. Lamport, 1724-1741. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
  • “‘Do Justice. Love Kindness’: A Faith that Does Justice - Jesuit Social Apostolate in English Canada, 1842-2014.” In Builders of a Nation: Jesuits in English Canada, eds. Jacques Monet, Joseph B. Gavin, and John D. Meehan, 157-187. Toronto: Novalis, 2015.
  • “Book Review: Singular Vision: The Founding of the Catholic Church Extension Society of Canada, 1908 to 1915. By Michael Power. Novalis, 2013.” Canadian Catholic Historical Association Bulletin vol. 28, no. 2 (Fall 2014): 3-5.
  • “From Charity to Justice: The Evolution of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, 1967-1982.” The Ecumenist: A Journal of Theology, Culture and Society 50, no. 1 (Winter 2013): 1-8. ”
  • “Experimenting Creatively with Being Church in the Modern World: The Social Affairs Commission of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1965-1984.” In Vatican II: Expériences canadiennes – Canadian experiences, eds. Michael Attridge, Catherine E. Clifford, and Gilles Routier, 253-275. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2011.