Dr Jo Laffin

BA Hons (University of Adelaide), MA (Adel), PHD (Adel), BTH (Flinders)

Dr Josephine Laffin is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy. She lectures in church history and biblical studies.  Before joining ACU in January 2014, she was senior lecturer in church history for Catholic Theological College of South Australia and the Department of Theology at Flinders University.  Her research interests include Christian spirituality, art history and biography. She is currently researching the impact of the Second Vatican Council on the archdiocese of Adelaide.

Recent Publications

“A Saint for All Australians?” Studies in Church History, vol. 47 (2011): 403-414. 

Selected Publications

Matthew Beovich: A Biography. Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2008.

Beovich, Matthew, Australian Dictionary of Biography. vol. 17, ed. Diane Langmore, Melbourne University Press, 2007: 87-8.

“‘Sailing in Stormy Waters’: Archbishop Matthew Beovich and the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide in the 1960s”, Journal of Religious History, vol. 34, no. 3 (2010): 289-311.

“Saints in the Catholic Tradition” in What Does it Mean to be a Saint? Reflections on Mary MacKillop, Saints and Holiness in the Catholic Tradition, edited by Josephine Laffin.  Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 2010.

“What Happened to the Last Judgement in the Early Church?” Studies in Church History, vol. 45 (2009): 20-30.

Church History, Biblical Studies

Christian art history and Spirituality. Participant in the Lived History of Vatican II project run by the Cushwa Centre at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana 2012-2014.  The project is led by Kathleen Sprows Cummings (University of Notre Dame), Timothy Matovina (University of Notre Dame) and Robert Orsi (Northwestern University). 

Christian History, Biblical Studies

• Secretary, Ausralian National Lutheran-Roman Catholic Dialogue
• Australian Historical Association
• Ecclesiastical History Society
• Religious History Society