In a world in which new identities are asserted with virulence, the very strangeness of the situation can lead us to ask: How did we get here? Many recent works have presented different genealogies of our present situation; in my upcoming book, Body and Identity: A History of the Empty Self, I argue for a much older story than most commentators give. This is a story that cannot be told without speaking of Christianity—its radical proposals and challenges—and how modern thinkers both extended and distorted the Christian vision of identity.
Angela Franks, Ph.D., is a theologian, speaker, writer, and mother of six. She serves as Professor of Theology at St. John's Seminary in Boston and as a Senior Fellow at the Abigail Adams Institute in Cambridge. She is the President-elect for the Academy of Catholic Theology for 2024-25, as well as a Life and Dignity Writing Fellow for Church Life Journal (University of Notre Dame). Her CV can be found here.
Her areas of specialty include the body, identity, the Trinity, Christology, and the thought of John Paul II and Hans Urs von Balthasar. She is currently focused on bringing key ideas in contemporary Continental philosophy into conversation with the Catholic intellectual tradition. She is finishing a two-volume book manuscript entitled The Body and Identity. The first volume is subtitled Liquid Bodies and Empty Selves. The second volume is subtitled Theological and Philosophical Anthropology.
An experienced speaker, she has spoken at numerous conferences, including the International Theology of the Body Congress, and on EWTN, Catholic Answers Live, FOX News, and many other outlets. (The “Blog” tab has links to some of these appearances.) She has been published in America Magazine, First Things, Public Discourse, Church Life Journal, Catholic World Report, The Plough, and academic journals such as Theological Studies, Christian Bioethics, Nova et Vetera, Communio, and others, in addition to contributing chapters to edited books (see the “Writing” tab). She has written two books on sexual ethics and the history of eugenics.
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