Joseph Mangina

Professor of Systematic Theology

Joseph Mangina, a native of Westfield, New Jersey, has taught Theology at Wycliffe College since 1998. He received his A.B. from Princeton University, his M.Div from Yale Divinity School, and his Ph.D from the Yale Graduate School (1994). Between his seminary and doctoral studies, he spent two years living and working in what was then West Berlin, engaged in ecumenical work there and in the former East Germany. His scholarly interests include ecclesiology, ecumenism, sacramental theology, and the theological interpretation of Scripture. His Yale dissertation was on the theology of Karl Barth, on whom he has written two books.  

Raised a United Methodist, Dr. Mangina began attending Episcopal/Anglican churches during his time at university. For several years in the 2000’s he served on the Anglican-Roman Catholic dialogue commission for Canada. From 2008 to 2017 he was the editor of Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theology, and remains active on the board of that journal. His non-academic interests include singing, cooking (especially anything Italian), hiking, and cycling (he commutes regularly into work from his home in Toronto’s High Park neighborhood). He enjoys reading fantasy fiction and spy thrillers, being a particular fan of the novels of John Buchan and Alan Furst.   

Professor Mangina’s wife, Elisa, has a Ph.D in Medieval Studies from Cornell and a J.D. from the University of Toronto Law School. She works at the Law Society of Ontario. They are the parents of Frances and Nicholas, and attend the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in west Toronto.

• Podcast: Figural Graffiti with Joe Mangina on The Living Church podcast: https://livingchurch.org/podcasts/figural-graffiti-with-joe-mangina/  (2024)
• “Barth and Bultmann,” in Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Karl Barth (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Blackwell, 2020)
• “The Christian Life,” in The Oxford Handbook to Karl Barth (Oxford University Press, 2019).
• “Baptism at the Turn of the Ages,” in Apocalyptic and the Future of Theology: With and Beyond J. Louis Martyn (Cascade Books, 2012).
• “The Cross-Shaped Church: A Pauline Amendment to the Ecclesiology of Koinonia” in Critical Issues in Ecclesiology: Essays in Honor of Carl Braaton (2011)
• Revelation. Brazos Theological Commentary Series (2010).
• Karl Barth: Theologian of Christian Witness (2004).
• "After Mediating Theologies: Karl Barth Between Radical and Neo-Orthodoxy." Scottish Journal of Theology 56/04 (2003).
• Karl Barth on the Christian Life: The Practical Knowledge of God (2001).
• “Ecumenical Theology” in The Dictionary of Historical Theology, ed. Trevor Hart (2000)