Saint Patrick: The Man and His Works

Thomas O'Loughlin, BA, Phil, PhD, STB, and DD, is a professor of historical theology at the University of Nottingham, Faculty of Arts, UK. But he started his teaching career at University College Dublin.

While researching his MPhil and, later, his PhD at Dublin, he held several positions, instructing in church history, traditional logic, the history of theology, and patristics. This experience gave him perspective on his research topics and pressed him to reflect on his personal theological method. In so doing, he recognized that while others might value his teaching as "the history of theology" or "the history of ideas," his desire to teach and research was rooted in what he calls "the discipline and perspective of historical theology."

He was offered a position in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter, in January 1997, which he says allowed him to develop "a distinctive style of historical theology focused on the dynamics of tradition within theology." His work there led to his appointment as Professor of Historical Theology at the University of Wales in February 2006 and being awarded a DD by Bangor University in 2010. He was later made scholar at the School of Religious Studies at the University of Wales—the school's first professor of historical theology.

He joined Nottingham in 2009. His research has focused on the early medieval period and the works of insular writers. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, and the Royal Historical Society.

O'Loughlin is also a Catholic priest. In addition to The Didache: A Window on the Earliest Christians, O'Loughlin authored Saint Patrick: The Man and His Works, Missionary Monks: An Introduction to the History and Theology of Missionary Monasticism, and The Eucharist.