Dr. Tim Horner

Assistant Professor

center for peace and justice education

Villanova center for liberal education

106 corr hall

Villanova University

800 Lancaster Ave.

Villanova PA 19085-1699

Phone: (610) 519-7904

Fax: (610)  519-5410

timothy.horner@villanova.edu

The GlobalSmackDown: Wednesdays 2:30-2:53pm Corr Lounge

 TEDx  28 March 2012:

2012 Villanova Senior Class Last Lecture

2014 Lindback Statement:


The older I get the more insatiable my curiosity becomes about this puzzle of our existence. I came to Villanova with a D.Phil. in Theology. But I have moved from second century Christian anti-Judaism, to Jewish/Christian Relations, to the Hebrew Prophets, and then Rwanda and Genocide. In no way am I saying that this is a linear progression. But that is the whole point. Villanova - via the Augustine and Culture Seminar, the Honors Program, Theology and Religious Studies, and now the Center for Peace and Justice - has given me the freedom to develop and sharpen my sensibilities as a scholar and teacher.


I try to be clear with my students about what I know, what I think I know, and what I know I do not know (Socrates). My style of inquiry is open and draws from many sources across the academic disciplines and beyond. I invite my students not only to be analytical and critical of the academic sources in front of them, but also with every piece of information that comes across their screens. Learning how to ask good questions, chase down loose ends, and even answer a question with a question (Jesus) can only build their capacity to ‘take in the world’.


In order to be curious about the world you must have the capacity to contain what you find. This is especially true in my genocide course where every class is vulnerable to anger, frustration, and pain. But the discomfort they are feeling is growth and expansion. If they can learn to hold it, understand it, and feel it, then they can build their own human capacity. When you can expand to hold the world, all parts of it, you will find yourself equipped to act in love, not guilt. And the great surprise is that we can learn to laugh with those who laugh and weep with those who weep. Building the capacity for true empathy increases curiosity and humanity and love. This has turned my life into an adventure. If only one of my students ‘gets ‘ this, then I have done my job.
When I teach I am aware that in order to engage the young mind there must be an element of risk.

I welcome tangents and especially pre-class banter. My goal with such exchanges is to see if I can steer the conversation to a place where there is a connection with what we are doing in class. Every once in a while this actually works and I can move from a discussion on health care to the use of Nazi propaganda, or a discussion on the iPhone 5 will segue into Freud’s idea of the ‘prosthetic god’. I will also chase down a reference on youtube if I think that there is something to gain from the excursus. It creates an environment where students sense a connection between our world and the world we are studying. The art of teaching comes in negotiating the classroom space so that I am always in control, but verging of chaos. It is as close to creating Jazz as I will come. When this works, it is thrilling, and I believe very effective.


I want to push against the tendency I see in many students to regard their coursework as a series of facts to be memorized or that their education as something disconnected from their ‘real life’. At the risk of sounding ephemeral, I do believe that all of life is connected. This can be a terrifying notion for my students in the genocide class: How am I personally connected to what happened in Rwanda and Congo and Nazi Germany? Being able to connect our humanity demands capacity and empathy. It is the key that unlocks so much.


Increasingly, I find myself saying “I have the best job in the world.” and not just during the breaks! I love the opportunity that the university classroom affords. There is no place like it and I treat this privilege and responsibility with the utmost seriousness, even if my demeanor is sometimes less than dour. For me, teaching is more about uncovering than imparting, asking rather than telling, pulling instead of pushing. There is no question too dangerous to ask and no scenario too impossible to imagine.