Mike Murphy photo: Robert von Thaden, Ph.D., has taught in the Religious Studies department at Mercyhurst for nine years. He will be teaching a course on Apocalyptic Literature this year in the J-term.
It has been nine years since Mercyhurst University welcomed Robert H. von Thaden, Ph.D., as a faculty member to the Religious Studies department.

Since joining Mercyhurst, von Thaden has served two terms as Faculty Senate Vice President as well as published his first book, a revision of his doctorate dissertation, titled “Sex, Christ, and Embodied Cognition: Paul’s Wisdom for Corinth” in 2012.

With a doctorate from Emory University specializing in Biblical and other sacred text, von Thaden said the reasons behind his career choice grew from an influential professor he met during his time in college.

“I had a great mentor in college in the Religious Studies Department and through discussions with her I became interested and decided to see what would happen,” von Thaden said.

His first job out of graduate school was a teaching position at Mercyhurst University. Although he has been offered other jobs, he opted to stay at Mercyhurst in favor of its smaller classroom sizes.

“It’s nice that I can talk to students in my office, know them and have that connection with them,” von Thaden said.

Von Thaden teaches Introduction to Religious Studies and New Testament and Christian Origins.

Von Thaden will also be teaching a new class, Apocalyptic Literature, during the J-term this year.

Students will read and analyze texts regarding the end of the world from both ancient and modern times. Through analysis, von Thaden explained, the class is “going to see the literary similarities and differences between the ancient world and modern world texts and what can they tell us about different cultures.”

“Why does America love the Walking Dead for example? These are the things we will look at in this course,” he said.

Von Thaden tells students who have not studied scriptures before that the challenge is just like every other class. For students who have studied religious texts in the past, “the challenge is for them to learn how to think about the text in a different way,” said von Thaden. “The purpose is trying to get people to see things in a different light.”

“When you see students have a moment when things click together about the world that they never thought about,” von Thaden said, is the most rewarding part of his job.

Outside of Mercyhurst University, von Thaden spends time with his wife, an associate professor at Edinboro University, his two cats, as well as running marathons in the Erie area.