​​​​​JOE HOLLAND is an eco-social philosopher and Catholic-Christian theologian exploring the ecological, social, and spiritual breakdown of Western-rooted but now globalized Modern Industrial-Colonial Civilization, and the philosophical, scientific, and spiritual search for a Postmodern Global Electronic-Ecological Civilization.

Joe completed his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in the field of Ethics & Society, which was structured as an interdisciplinary dialogue of Theology with Philosophy and Social Science. At Chicago, he studied Theology with David Tracy, Philosophy with Paul Ricoeur, and Social Science with Gibson Winter. He was also a Fulbright Scholar in Philosophy at the Universidad Católica in Santiago, Chile during the last year of the democratic-socialist government of President Salvador Allende, which was violently overthrown by the murderous dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet.

While in Chile, Joe studied with Professor Hernani Maria Fiori, a Catholic neo-Hegelian philosopher in exile from the military dictatorship of his native Brazil and a close friend and collaborator with Paulo Freire, the great neo-Hegelian Brazilian philosopher of education. Earlier, in Connecticut, Joe and other leaders in his local community had worked with Paulo while he was at Harvard, to create an alternative secondary school for African-American and Hispanic American high-school "drop-outs." The students received their high-school diploma from the prestigious local Jesuit institution, Fairfield College Preparatory School.

Joe is Adjunct Professor in its School of Law and Emeritus Professor of Philosophy & Religion at Saint Thomas University in Miami Gardens, Florida . He is also Permanent Visiting Professor at the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno, Peru; President of Pax Romana / Catholic Movement for Intellectual & Cultural Affairs USA and Editor of its Pacem in Terris Press, with both based in Washington DC; Vice-Chair of Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice, based in Boston, Massachusetts; and a member of the International Association for Catholic Social Thought, based at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium.

Earlier, Joe served for 15 years as Research Associate at the Washington DC Center of Concern, created jointly by the international Jesuits and the US Catholic Bishops to work with the United Nations on global issues. Later, he taught at New York Theological Seminary in New York City, at the Theological School of Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, and at the Florida Center for Theological Studies in Miami, Florida. For both the Center of Concern and Pax Romana, he served as NGO Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations in New York City.

Joe also served as Research Coordinator for the 1976 Theology in the Americas Conference, with brought together leaders of Latin American Liberation Theology with a wide range of theologians from North America. In addition, he co-founded the American Catholic Lay Network, the National Conference on Religion & Labor (co-sponsored by the AFL-CIO), and Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice. Plus, he was founding Director of the Pallottine Institute for Lay Leadership & Research at Seton Hall University.

Joe has published 17 books and many articles. His book with Peter Henriot, "Social Analysis: Linking Faith and Justice," has more than 100,000 copies in print, including 2 US editions, 5 foreign-language editions, and 2 foreign English editions. He was also ghost-writer for the 1975 document "This Land is Home to Me" (Pastoral Letter on Powerlessness in Appalachia by the Catholic Bishops of the Region), and for its 1995 sequel document "At Home in the Web of Life" (Pastoral Message from the Catholic Bishops of Appalachia on Sustainable Communities).

In the United States, Joe has lectured at Georgetown, Harvard, Notre Dame, Princeton, and many other universities. Internationally, he has lectured at Institut Catholique in Paris, France; Sophia University in Tokyo, Japan; Pontifical Catholic University in São Paulo, Brazil; Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre, Brazil; Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia; and Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno, Peru.

In 1986, Joe received the Boston Paulist Center's Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice; in 2002, the Athena Medal of Excellence from the Universidad Nacional del Altiplano in Puno, Peru; and in 2013 the Irish Echo's Labor Award for contribution to the US labor movement.

Joe is married to Paquita Biascoechea-Martinez Holland, a native of Puerto Rico, and they have two wonderful grown children and four wonderful young grandchildren. His too infrequent hobby is sailing, especially in the beautiful green waters of the Caribbean Sea.

Joe Holland

eco-social philosopher & Catholic theologian

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