HTI Alumni

Field of Study: Practical Theology and Theology

Dr. Antonio (Tony) Eduardo Alonso is Aquinas Associate Professor of Theology and Culture at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology where he also serves as the inaugural Director of Catholic Studies. His scholarly work lies at the intersection of theology and culture, with a particular focus on materiality, worship, and ritual. Alonso’s first book, Commodified Communion: Eucharist, Consumer Culture, and the Practice of Everyday Life (Fordham University Press, 2021) offers a theological account of contemporary consumerism and its relationship to the Eucharist. The book won the 2021 Hispanic Theological Initiative Book Prize, an award that recognizes the best book written by a junior Latinx scholar on theology or religion each year. In 2019, he was awarded the Catholic Theological Society of America’s Catherine Mowry LaCugna Award for new scholars for the best academic essay in the field of theology within the Roman Catholic tradition for his essay “Listening for the Cry: Certeau Beyond Strategies and Tactics” (Modern Theology, 2017). His second book, The Intimate Notion of Things: Material Transformations in U.S. Catholicism since Vatican II—under contract with Fordham University Press—focuses on the theological significance of transformations in Catholic material culture in the wake of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. In addition to his scholarly work, Alonso is a Latin Grammy-nominated composer of sacred music and the author of over 200 published compositions and arrangements—including a commission to compose the responsorial psalm for the first Mass Pope Francis celebrated in the United States in 2015. He has been featured as a commentator on a range of national and international outlets including CNN, CNN International, and many others.