Curriculum Vitae
S.T.M,, International Theological Institute, 2016; S.T.L., University of Fribourg, 2017; Th.D., University of Fribourg, 2025; Visiting Instructor of Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Gaming, Austria, 2024-2025; Tutor, Thomas Aquinas College, 2025-.
Profile
“I had never imagined theology as a possibility,” says Dr. Dominic Spiekermann. “My father had studied it in Germany and didn’t speak highly of it because he had experienced a theology that was dry and soulless.”
Still, Dr. Spiekermann attended the International Theological Institute (ITI) in Gaming, Austria, for a Studium Generale in 2011 after graduating from his New Zealand high school, intending to pursue this one-year degree as he discerned what to do next. “To my surprise, at the ITI, I discovered something completely different: the kind of theology that is done on one’s knees and one that responds to existential questions.”
Enamored with the discipline’s richness, Dr. Spiekermann decided to pursue a five-year master’s degree in sacred theology at the ITI. While there, he met his wife, Cecilia, whom he married in 2018.
When he completed his master’s degree in 2016, Dr. Spiekermann moved to Switzerland to pursue his licentiate and doctoral studies in theology at the University of Fribourg. During this time, he became enthralled with the works of Swiss theologian Charles Journet, spending several years translating Volume 3 of Journet’s The Church of the Word Incarnate into English. “Journet has this unique ability to integrate scholastic theology with the experience of the saints and the mystical tradition of the Church,” he says. “It makes his theology particularly edifying.”
Dr. Spiekermann joined the Thomas Aquinas College, California teaching faculty in 2025. He delights in the opportunity to lead his students in their discussions of the great works. “The Discussion Method has a very special place in my heart. It’s my preferred manner of both learning and teaching,” he reflects. “The tutor is pursuing the truth in common with the students.”
Publications
- (Forthcoming) Translation: Charles Journet. The Church of the Word Incarnate. Vol. 3: The Catholic Unity of the Church, vii + 1250 pages. Steubenville, OH: Emmaus Academic Press, 2025. Translated from French edition: L’Église du Verbe incarné, vol. 3. Saint-Maurice: Editions Saint-Augustin, 2002.
- “La notion du travail face au Christ ouvrier chez Thomas d’Aquin.” In Revue de théologie et de philosophie 156/3 (2024): 277‒97.
- “Das Attraktive am Denken des Thomas von Aquin.” In Heute Thomas lesen?! Josef Pieper als Übersetzer und Interpret des Thomas von Aquin, edited by H.-G. Nissing and B. Wald, 150–56. Munich: Pneuma Verlag, 2024.
- Book review: Hanns-Gregor Nissing. Denker und Dichter Thomas von Aquin. Eine Einführung in sein Leben und sein Werk. Munich: Pneuma Verlag, 2022. In Nova et Vetera (French edition) 97/3 (2022): 323–24.
- “Christ’s glorification according to St. Thomas Aquinas.” In Une théologie à l’école de saint Thomas d’Aquin. Hommage au prof. Gilles Emery op à l’occasion de ses 60 ans, edited by N. Awais, B.-D. de La Soujeole, and D. Rey-Meier, 425–54. Paris: Cerf, 2022.
Academic Presentations
- “The Christic Dimension of Grace,” Colloquium “Charles Journet, A Light for Renewal in the Church. A theological Congress on the 50th Anniversary of the Swiss Cardinal’s Death,” University of Fribourg, Switzerland (April 25, 2025).
- “La notion du travail face au Christ ouvrier chez Thomas d’Aquin,” doctoral colloquium (“Nouveaux regards sur le ‘travail.’ Perspectives théologiques, philosophiques et éthiques”), Western Switzerland University Conference (CUSO), Saint-Maurice, Switzerland (February 08, 2024).
- “Heute Thomas Lesen” (presentation of the relevance of Thomas Aquinas for young theologians today), Conference of the Josef Pieper Stiftung and the Philosophisch Theologische Hochschule, Münster, Germany (January 11, 2023).
- “The Grace of Christ,” Workshop for Emerging Scholars, Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University, United Kingdom (May 30, 2022).