Thomas D. Williams, PhD, is an American Theologian, author, consultant and international speaker. He taught theology for more than a decade at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, where he also served as dean of the Theology School for seven years. He has taught courses in Catholic Social Thought, Moral Theology, Dignity and Human Rights, Ethics, and Christology.
Dr. Williams has served as news analyst on faith, religion and the Vatican for several television news networks, including CBS, NBC and Sky News in the United Kingdom, and has appeared on The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, Dateline, and The Early Show. He also starred in MSNBC's ten-part special series The Ethical Edge. In his capacity as news analyst, Dr. Williams covered the final illness and death of Pope John Paul II, the 2005 papal conclave, the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the U.S. Papal visit of Pope Benedict in 2008, the Pope's trip to the Holy Land in 2009, and the papal trip to the UK in 2010.
Thomas Williams grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, and studied finance and economics at the University of Michigan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration and managerial economics with high distinction. Shortly afterward, in September, 1985, he entered the seminary of the Legionaries of Christ. He studied spirituality in Cheshire (Connecticut), classical humanities and ancient and modern languages in Salamanca (Spain), and philosophy and theology in Rome, earning a licentiate degree in Philosophy and a Doctorate in Theology, summa cum laude. Williams was ordained a Catholic priest in 1994 and later granted a dispensation by the Holy See in order to marry.
Dr. Williams is senior fellow at the Saint Paul Center for Biblical Theology in the United States and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Williams has taught in various capacities in Trujillo (Peru), Leggiuno (Italy), Caracas (Venezuela), Krakow (Poland) and Madrid (Spain). In 2002 and 2003 he served as theological consultant to Mel Gibson for the making of the film The Passion of the Christ. He was also the founding publisher of the Zenit News Agency, a post he held for thirteen years.
Dr. Williams is conversant in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and German and has a working knowledge of Portuguese, Latin and ancient Greek.
A well-known speaker and writer, Williams has published 15 books, including Who Is My Neighbor? Personalism and the Foundations of Human Rights (Catholic University of America Press, 2005), Servants and Witnesses of Hope (Logos Press, 2001), Springtime of Evangelization (Ignatius Press, 1999), Building on Solid Ground (Staten Island: Alba House, 1994), Spiritual Progress: Becoming the Christian You Want to Be (Hachette, 2007), Greater Than You Think: A Theologian Answers the Atheists About God (Hachette, 2008), Knowing Right From Wrong: A Christian Guide to Conscience (Hachette, 2008), and Can God be Trusted? (Hachette, 2009), and The World As It Could Be: Catholic Social Thought for a New Generation (Crossroad, 2011). His latest book, where he is interviewed by Dr. Robert Moynihan, is called But for the Grace of God (2014).
Dr. Williams has also published numerous articles both scholarly and popular on a wide range of topics, and his essays have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, First Things, Sacerdos, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The National Catholic Register, Catholic Dossier, Seminarium, The Irish Catholic, Inside the Vatican, Logos,Crisis Magazine, Alpha Omega, National Review, Sapientia, The Human Life Review, Nova et Vetera, The Catholic Thing, Katholische Wochenzeitung, Homiletic and Pastoral Review, új Ember, Catholic Men's Quarterly, Catalunya Cristiana, Ecclesia, Kvarnerski Vez, The Denver Catholic Register and Famiglia Cristiana. He has also been cited in The New York Times, Newsweek, Time Magazine, USA Today, The Detroit Free Press, The Philadelphia Enquirer, and The Houston Chronicle.
Thomas Williams lives in Rome with his wife Elizabeth and their family.
