Primary research focus: metaphysics, medieval Latin philosophy, Chinese philosophy (esp. Neo-Confucianism 程朱理学), philosophy of religion.

Secondary: political philosophy, epistemology, ethics. 

Fr. James Dominic (Alan) Rooney, O.P., was born in Akron, OH. He graduated from the Catholic University of America with a Bachelors of Philosophy, and then proceeded to obtain a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy from the University of Toledo, before entering the Order of Friars Preachers (Dominicans). After spending his novitiate year in Denver, Colorado, he completed his studies in theology at the Aquinas Institute of Theology (St. Louis, MO) with a dual Master of Arts/Master of Divinity degree. He was subsequently ordained to the priesthood and completed doctoral studies at Saint Louis University in 2015 under Dr. Eleonore Stump. He has taught previously at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, Italy, and remains a fellow of the Angelicum Thomistic Institute.