Faculty Bio

Dr. Peter Baltutis

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

Phone: 403-254-3136
Email: peter.baltutis@stmu.ca

My academic career has explored the overlapping fields of history and religious studies. While working on my BA in history from the University of Richmond, my honours capstone project explored how the state of Lithuania was (re-)created after World War I and how it immediately clashed with the neighbouring state of Poland over the disputed city of Vilnius/Wilno. I continued on to earn a MA in history from the University of Toronto, studying nationalism and state formation in Eastern Europe during the twentieth century. My MA thesis explored the precarious situation of Lithuanian displaced persons in the Allied-occupied zones of Germany after World War II. Both of these research projects highlighted the important role that religion plays in formation of the state, nation, and individual identity. Seeking to understand this relationship more fully, I earned a second MA - in Catholic theology - from the University of St. Michael’s College, the Catholic Graduate Faculty of Theology in the University of Toronto. During this program, I shifted my focus to the history of Catholicism in Canada. Interested in the role of religion as an agent of social change, my MA thesis studied the origins of Catholic social teaching in Canada. Combining my overlapping interests in history and theology, I earned a PhD in theology from the University of St. Michael’s College, specializing in the history of Christianity/Church History.  My doctoral dissertation chronicled the historical and theological development of Catholic social teaching in Canada from Vatican II to the present.  

Since joining the faculty at St. Mary’s University in 2014, I have taught a variety of courses in both the departments of history and religious studies. I regularly teach: an introductory course on the Catholic intellectual tradition; a year-long course on the history of Christianity; a community service-learning course on Catholic social justice; an upper-level seminar on the Second Vatican Council; an upper-level seminar on the history of religion in Canada; and a travel study course on Christian spirituality based in Rome, Italy. In recognition of my commitment to innovative pedagogy, I was honoured to receive the prestigious St. Mary’s University Terrence Downey Award for Teaching Excellence. In 2018, I was appointed the Catholic Women’s Leage Endowed Chair for Catholic Studies. Since 2023, I also serve as the Chair of the Humanities Area for St. Mary’s University. 

Specialization/Research Interest

history of Christianity, history of Catholicism in Canada, Catholic social teaching, Vatican II, experiential learning.

Education

PhD, Theology/History of Christianity, University of St. Michael’s College [since renamed the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology] in the University of Toronto, 2012
MA, Theology, University of St. Michael’s College [since renamed the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology] in the University of Toronto, 2006
MA, History, University of Toronto, 2003
BA (honors) magna cum laude, History, University of Richmond, 2001

  • Baltutis, Peter E. “‘A Disturber of Christians’: The Life and Spirituality of Romeo Maione.” The Catholic Historical Review 110, no. 2 (Spring 2024): 285-311.
  • “‘A Disturber of Christians’: The Life and Spirituality of Romeo Maione.” The Catholic Historical Review 110, no. 2 (Spring 2024): 285-311.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “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.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “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, edited by Donna L. Orsuto and Robert S. White, 43-55. Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2020.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “Realizing the Vision: Building a Nationwide Movement for Social Justice.” In Jubilee: 50 Years of Solidarity, edited by Mike Flynn, Danny Gillis, Hélène Gobeil, and Fabien Leboeuf, 13-20. Toronto: Novalis, 2017.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “Ecumenical Movement, Perspectives of the.” In Encyclopedia of Christianity in the United States, edited by George Thomas Kurian and Mark A. Lamport, 1724-1741. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “‘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, edited by Jacques Monet, Joseph B. Gavin, and John D. Meehan, 157-187. Toronto: Novalis, 2015.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “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 [since renamed Critical Theology] 50, no. 1 (Winter 2013): 1-8.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “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, edited by Michael Attridge, Catherine E. Clifford, and Gilles Routier, 253-275.  Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2011.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “Rooted in the Vision of Vatican II: Youth Corps and the Formation of Christ-Centered Agents of Social Change, 1966-1984.” CCHA Historical Studies [since renamed the Canadian Journal of Catholic History] 76 (2010): 7-26.
  • Baltutis, Peter E. “‘To Enlarge Our Hearts and To Widen Our Horizon’: Archbishop Neil McNeil and the Origins of Social Catholicism in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto, 1912-1934.” CCHA Historical Studies [since renamed the Canadian Journal of Catholic History] 74 (2008): 29-50.