Francisco, Jose Mario, S.J., S.T.L., Ph.D.

In keeping with his background in science, cultural studies and theology, his research and teaching are focused on the interaction between these fields especially in Asian contexts. First, theological themes like “original sin” or “divine action in the world” are discussed in relation to their historical contexts and to their reception in different linguistic and cultural contexts. Second, literary works and cultural practices like 17th century sermons of Spanish missionaries or Tagalog-Spanish dictionaries are analyzed in terms of their religious worldview and ethos. Fundamental to his work in these two areas is the paradigm drawn from contemporary translation theory—that Christianity is translated as it moves from one context to another.

• Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City
• Master of Arts in Literature, Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City
• Licentiate in Sacred Theology, Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, California
• Doctor of Philosophy in Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California

• Chapter on The Philippines, in Christianities in Asia, ed. Peter C. Phan (West Sussex UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011), pp. 97-127.
• “Mapping Religious and Social Spaces in Traditional and Charismatic Christianities in the Philippines,” Festschrift in honor of Fr. John N. Schimacher, S.J., Philippine Studies, vol. 58, nos. 1-2 (June 2010), 185-221.
• Speaking in Many Tongues: Translation and Transcendence in Early Filipino Christianity,” in Philosophy, Religions, and Transcendence: Conférence Mondial des Institutions Universitaires Catholique de Philosophie, Manila 2008, ed. Philippe Capelle-Dumont, Budhi, vol XIII, nos. 1-3 (2009), 605-15.
• “Historias de Dios en la vida e historia de las gentes [Reading God’s Story in People’s Lives and Histories],” in Nuevos Horizontes para la Misión: por la voda digna y la justicia (Bilbao: Ediciones Mensajero, 2008), pp. 33-45.
• “Translating Christianity into Asian Tongues: Cultural Dynamics and Theological Issues,” Asian Christian Review, vol. I no. 2 (Summer 2007), 70-84.
• “Christian without Borders: Impossible? Imperative? A View from Asia,” Christian Identity I/Christliche Identität I, Forum Mission, Yearbook Volume 2 (2006), 12-28.
• “Christianity as Church and Story and the Birth of the Filipino Nation in the 19th Century,” in History of Christianity Volume 8 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 528-41.
• “The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed: End and Beginning of Christologies,” Jeebadhara, Vol. XXXVI (May 2006), 175-82.
• Science, Religion and Culture in the Jesuit Tradition: Perspective from East Asia, Co-Editor (Melbourne: Australian Theological Forum, 2006).