Kenneth Garcia is a Teaching Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. Before retirement, Ken was Associate Director of Notre Dame’s Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts. Prior to that, he worked as a Collaborative Research Program Specialist at the National Endowment for the Humanities. Ken received a PhD in Theology from Notre Dame in 2008. His first book, Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012), won the award for “Best Book Published in Theology in 2012” from the College Theology Society. He has published scholarly essays in Theological Studies, Horizons: Journal of the College Theology Society, Academe: Journal of the American Association of University Professors, Marginalia Review, and Church Life Journal.

Ken is a writer of literary nonfiction, including the award-winning Pilgrim River: A Spiritual Memoir (2018). His literary essays have been published in The Gettysburg Review, Southwest Review, Saint Katherine Review, Notre Dame Magazine, and Hunger Mountain. His essay “The Hollow Places of the World” was runner up in the 2014 Hunger Mountain Nonfiction Essay contest, and a finalist for the Waterston Desert Writing Prize (2015). Two of his essays have been listed as “Notable Essays” in The Best American Essays. His essay “Building the Perfect Bookcase” was a finalist for the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors Prize in Creative Nonfiction at the Missouri Review (2022).

Ken’s current Work-in-Progress is tentatively titled Mining the Invisible: Exploring the Second Book of God. In ancient and medieval Christianity, mystics and theologians claimed there are two “Books” of God: Scripture and Nature. Both Books point to and reveal something holy beyond themselves. Mining the Invisible focuses on the Second Book, reflecting on places, activities, and life stages where the splendor of God shines through. The book also describes how Ken has learned to cope during long periods when he experiences the absence of that splendor.

Ken can be reached at: kengarcia.pilgrim@gmail.com