Meet CDU faculty

Robert Royal, PhD

Dr. Royal is the graduate dean at Catholic Distance University and teaches several online graduate courses as well as the online seminars, Catholics and Politics, Immigration, War and Peace, and Wealth and Poverty, and Christian Literature: The Tales of Narnia." He is a former Fulbright scholar, and holds a BA and MA from Brown University and a PhD in Comparative Literature from the Catholic University of America. He has taught at both his alma maters as well as Rhode Island College.

A prolific writer and sought after speaker on ethics, culture, religion, and politics, he has appeared on various radio and television stations nationally and internationally and his books have been translated into several languages. In addition, his articles have appeared in scholarly journals and publication including First Things, the Wilson Quarterly, the Catholic Historical Review, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, and National Review.

Born and raised in Connecticut, Dr. Royal and Veronica, his wife, make their home in Annandale, Virginia. Together with their three children, they have called Virginia home for more than twenty-five years.

CDU Courses
102-1102, 202-1102, 302-1102: Anti-Catholicism in America: History and Response
102-1203, 202-1203, 302-1203: St. Augustine: Confessions and The City of God
102-1401, 202-1401, 302-1401: Catholics and Politics
102-1402, 202-1402, 302-1402: Catholic Social Teachings: The Church’s Role in the World
102-1403, 202-1403, 302-1403: Immigration, War and Peace, and Wealth and Poverty
102-1404, 202-1404, 302-1404: Catholics and the Environment
102-2200, 202-2200, 302-2200: Christian Literature: the Chronicles of Narnia
201-0541, 206-0541: Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century
206-1203: Philosophy for theology I: Augustine and the Platonic Tradition
206-1204: Philosophy for Theology II: Aquinas and the Aristotelian tradition
206-1205: Philosophy for theology III: Modern Philosophy

Education
BA in Comparative Literature, Brown University, Providence, RI
MA in Comparative Literature, Brown University, Providence, RI
PhD in Comparative Literature, Catholic University of America, Washington, DC

Activity in research, publishing, and professional associations
1492 And All That: Political Manipulations of History
Reinventing the American People: Unity and Diversity Today
The Virgin and the Dynamo: The Use and Abuse of Religion in the Environment Debate
Dante Alighieri in the Spiritual Legacy Series
The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive Global History
Jacques Maritain and the Jews
The God That Did Not Fail: How Religion Built and Sustains the West (Encounter Books, 2006),