Deepan Rajaratnam is a doctoral candidate at Saint Louis University where he researches the intersection of ecclesiology and pneumatology with a particular interest in the laity. Building on Yves Congar and Ormand Rush, Rajaratnam focuses on the sense of the faithful through the lens of local church to advance a synodal reception of Vatican II. Accordingly, Rajaratnam creates space for a stronger consideration of culture and place in Catholicism as it is lived. Rajaratnam was selected as the 2019-2020 Religion & Public Life Fellow for the Lived Religion in the Digital Age initiative. In 2020, Rajaratnam earned the Susan Perry Award for the Best Graduate Essay from the College Theology Society. His most recent peer-reviewed work can be found in the 2024 Annual Volume of the College Theology Society. Rajaratnam is also a regular contributor to Sacred Heart University's public theology forum, Go, Rebuild My House. In Fall 2024, he will join Saint John's University's School of Theology & Seminary in an academic position as the Director of Formation and Field Education. In his new position, he will continue his research as he teaches and forms the next generation of lay and ordained ministers for the Catholic Church.
Research Interests
Pneumatology, Ecclesiology, Sense of the Faithful, Local Church, Synodality, Ministry, Discipleship, Mission, Theological Ethnography, Catholic Social Teaching
Education
PhD Candidate, Christian Theology, Saint Louis University
M.T.S, Theological Studies, Boston College
B.S. Aerospace Engineering, University of Tennessee
Publications
Peer-Reviewed articles
“Do Culture, Place, and Local Church Matter?: A New Schema of the Sensus Fidei For a Synodal Church.” In Theology and Media(tion): Rendering the Absent Present, edited by Stephen Oakey and Katherine Schmidt, Vol. 69. The Annual Volume of the College Theology Society (2024)
Working Manuscripts
“An Integrated Model of Yves Congar’s Communion Ecclesiology: A Model for Interpreting Pope Francis’ Language of Center and Periphery” (In Progress)
“The Spirit Has Called Me and the Church Should Install Me: The Theologian as an Ecclesially Repositioned Minister in the Local Church” (In Progress)
Book Reviews
“Pope Francis as a Moral Leader,” In Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics 44, no. 2 (2024 forthcoming).
Public Scholarship
“The Challenge of Race and Place for Local Synodality” Go, Rebuild My House. Sacred Heart University. May 2024.
“Finding Meaning Under the Stars” Humanities Moments: A Project of the National Humanities Center. Humanities Center, July 2021.
Invited Papers
“The Sensus Fidei of the Poor: A Theological Locus from which to Respond to Economic Exclusion,” Catholic Theological Society of America (Baltimore, MD), June 2021
“An Integrated Model of Yves Congar’s Communion Ecclesiology: A Resource for Interpreting Pope Francis’ Categories of Center and Periphery,” College Theology Society (Mobile, AL), June 2021
Fellowships & Awards
Hank Fellowship, Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (Loyola University Chicago), $5K, August 2021
Susan Perry Best Graduate Student Essay, College Theology Society, May 2020
Religion & Public Life Fellowship, Lived Religion in the Digital Age (Saint Louis University), $23K, Aug 2019 – June 2020
Brennan Summer Research Award, Graduate Student Association (Saint Louis University), $1K, May 2020
Conference Presentations
“Ecclesial Diversity Amid white Normativity: How Inculturating white Culture Cultivates Catholicity,” Ecclesiological Investigations (Chicago, IL) June 2024
"Interventionist Papacies and Synodal Intransigencies: The Limits of Decentralization in the Context of Racial Vulnerability and White Supremacy,“ College Theology Society (Denver, CO) June 2024
“Schematizing the Sense of the Faithful: How the Local Church Mediates the Universal Church’s Sense of Faith,” College Theology Society (Fairfield, CT), June 2023
"The Emergence of White Catholicism: The Intersection of Race and Space in the U.S. Catholic Church," Midwest American Academy of Religion (Muncie, In), March 2020 *This paper was accepted but the conference was cancelled due to COVID19.
"Ecclesiology as Theodicy: Discerning the Spirit in the Midst of Ecclesially Caused Suffering,” Midwest American Academy of Religion (Muncie, In), March 2020. *This paper was accepted but the conference was cancelled due to COVID19.
"The Spirit Has Called Me, the Church Should Install Me: The Theologian as an Ecclesially Repositioned Public Intellectual,” American Academy of Religion (San Diego, CA), Nov 2019
“The Legacy of Catholic Whiteness: Discerning Ecclesial Political Action in the Age of Trump,” Leuven Encounters in Systematic Theology XII (Leuven, Belgium), Oct 2019
“Discerning the Spirit in a Polarized Church: An Application of Catholic Social Teaching to the Concept of Sensus Fidelium.” New Wine, New Wineskins (South Bend, IN), July 2019
"Liberating the Spirit: The Sensus Fidelium as a Phenomena Oriented toward Black Liberation," College Theology Society (South Bend, IN), May 2019
"Liberating the Spirit for Mission: An Understanding of the Sense of Faith through Black Liberation Theology," Midwest American Academy of Religion (Muncie, In), March 2019
"Is it Racism or the Spirit? An Application of James Cones’ Missional Theology to the Catholic Concept of Sensus Fidelium," Minority Scholars of Religion and Theology Student Conference (St. Louis, MO), March 2019
"The Theological Vocation in Light of Vatican II: The Theologian as Ecclesial Minister," Graduate Research Symposium, Saint Louis University (St. Louis, MO) April 2018
"Pope Francis' Vision of a Poor Church for the Poor: An Unpredictable, Open-Ended, and Spirit-Driven Process," American Academy of Religion Midwest (Muncie, IN) Mar 2018
"The Ecclesial Character of Dissent," Minority Scholars of Religion and Theology Student Conference (St. Louis, MO), March 2018
"Taking on the Smell of the Sheep: An Ecstatic Congruence between the Bishop's Sensus Fidei and his Local Church's Sensus Fidelium," Lumen et Vita, Boston College (Boston, MA), Feb. 2018
"Particular & Final Judgement: A Singular Event United Through the Metaphor of Sleep," Lumen et Vita, Boston College (Boston, MA), Jan. 2017
Professional Organizations
Catholic Theological Society of America (Since March 2020)
The College Theology Society (Since January 2017)
American Academy of Religion (Since January 2017)
Society of Christian Ethics (Since March 2020)
Catholic Campus Ministry Association (Since December 2020)
National Federation for Catholic Youth Ministry (Since Jan 2012)
Academic Service
Leadership Team, College Theology Society BIPOC Caucus (July 2023 – Present)
Section Chair, Undergraduate Papers, Midwest American Academy of Religion (August 2018 – August 2020)