Dr. Daniel Drain - Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary

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Dr.

Daniel Drain

Adjunct Professor, Systematic Theology

• E-mail: ddrain@scs.edu

Daniel A. Drain, Ph.D., is the Director of the Office for Life and Family for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He is a father and a theologian living and working to build up the faithful through his administration, teaching, and witness.

Ph.D. (2024) Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America Dissertation: “Saving Finite Freedom: On the Meaning of Freedom in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theology of Redemption”
MTS (2016) Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family at the Catholic University of America
B.A. (2014) DeSales University Philosophy and Theology

2024 – present Director, Office for Life and Family, Archdiocese of Philadelphia
2024 – present Adjunct Professor of Theology, School of Theological Studies, St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Lower Gwynedd, PA
2023-2024 Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology and Coordinator of Academic Operations, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester, NY
2022-2023 Lecturer in Pastoral Theology and Coordinator of Academic Operations, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester NY
2019 – present Adjunct Professor of Theology, DeSales University, Center Valley, PA
2021-2022 Adjunct Professor of Theology, Immaculata University, Immaculata, PA
2019-2022 Director of Religious Education, Our Lady of Guadalupe Roman Catholic Church, Buckingham, PA

Saving Finite Freedom: Hope, Salvation, and Freedom in Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Theology of Redemption under review at Wipf and Stock
No Easygoing Universalist: A Reader’s Guide to Hans Urs von Balthasar on Hell and Hope, proposal under review at Ignatius Press
(Manuscript) The Catholic Church and the Body: Toward a Theological Anthropology in Light of Contemporary Gender Ideology
““What is this that you have done?” (Gen 3:13): A Meditation on Sin as a Denial of Creatureliness,” under review at Lux Veritatis: A Journal of Speculative Theology
Review of Margaret M. Turek’s Atonement: Soundings in Biblical, Trinitarian, and Spiritual Theology (Ignatius Press, 2022) to appear in The New Ressourcement
“‘My hosanna has come forth from the crucible of doubt’: Unbelief and the Atonement,” solicited chapter for a forthcoming volume The Mystery of the Atonement, edited by Margaret Turek, for Humanum Academic Press 2025
“The “Pre-Moral Body” and the Difference of Gender: Identity, Otherness, and Transgenderism,” Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture 27:3 (Summer 2024), 33-43
“‘Our Inheritance and the Christian Task’: von Balthasar’s Metaphysical Debt to St. Thomas Aquinas” in Restoring Ancient Beauty: The Revival of Thomistic Theology, ed. James Keating (American Maritain Association, Catholic University of America Press, 2023)
“Generative Integration: Gift, Community, and Creation,” Review of Michael Taylor’s The Foundations of Nature: Metaphysics of Gift for an Integral Ecological Ethic, published at Humanum Review, 2022

“Drama and the Christological determination of Hell in the Theology of Hans Urs von Balthasar,” panel contribution for the 2025 Sacra Doctrina Project Conference
"What is this that you have done?" (Gen 3:13): Ratzinger, Balthasar, and von Speyr on Sin as a Denial of Creatureliness, conference paper for June 2024 Conference of the Sacra Doctrina Project
“Pluralism and Renewal: A Communio Apology for Pastoral Theology,” panel contribution for the 2024 American Maritain Association Conference
“The ‘Pre-Moral Body’ and the Difference of Gender: Identity, Otherness, and Transgenderism,” conference paper for Human Action and the Drama of Accompaniment: The 30th Anniversary of Veritatis Splendor, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester, NY October 2023
“For What May We Hope? Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Church’s Ecclesial Task,” conference paper for Catholicity as Gift and Task: The 50th Anniversary of Communio: International Catholic Review, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, Rochester, NY October 2022
“Anima Technica Vacua: Modern Man in Jacques Maritain, Robert Spaemann, and Ferdinand Ulrich,” conference paper for 2022 American Maritain Association Conference
“Crossing Deepest Hell: Balthasar’s Descensus Theology” conference paper (with respondent) for the Hans Urs von Balthasar Consultation at CTSA 2022
“The Sacrament of Confirmation (CCC 1285-1321),” Institute for Christian Formation at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, 2024
“Baptism: The Gateway of Heavenly Life (CCC 1210-1277),” Institute for Christian Formation at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, 2024
“Respect Life Month: Abortion Is About All of Us,” Catholicphilly.com, September 2024
“God the Father and the Virtue of Hope,” presented multiple times as part of St. Bernard’s On the Road during AY 2023-24
“God’s Plan for Human Sexuality,” presented multiple times as part of St. Bernard’s On the Road during AY 2023-24
“Gender Ideology and the Humanum,” paid speaker along with Dr. Paul Hruz at Catholic Conversations: Gender Medicine and Sex-Gender Identity Discordance, hosted by St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry and the Finger Lakes Medical Guild, January 28, 2023

Ordinary Member, Sacra Doctrina Project
Associate Member, Catholic Theological Society of America
Professional Member, Catholic Psychotherapy Association
Member, American Maritain Association
(Nominated) Member, Academy of Catholic Theology

Service to Profession

Manuscript Reviewer, Linacre Quarterly (specifically submissions related to sex and gender issues, transgenderism, and anthropological confusion)

Peer Reviewer, Word on Fire Academic

Peer Reviewer, Lux Veritatis: A Journal of Speculative Theology

Conference Committee Member for A Dialogue Renewed: Scholasticism and the Ressourcement Movement on the Nature of Catholic Theology, Conference of the Sacra Doctrina Project, June 12-14, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Co-Chair, presenter, and emcee, Human Action and the Drama of Accompaniment: The 30th Anniversary of Veritatis Splendor, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, Fall 2023

Co-Chair and presenter, Catholicity and Gift and Task: The 50th Anniversary of Communio: International Catholic Review, St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry, Fall 2022

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Faculty

Dr.

Daniel Drain

Adjunct Professor, Systematic Theology

• E-mail: ddrain@scs.edu

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