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David Thomas Orique, O.P.

David Thomas Orique, O.P., is an Associate Professor of Colonial and Modern Latin American as well as Iberian Atlantic World History, and the Director of Latin American Latina/o Studies at Providence College. His professional career includes completing a B.S. in Business Administration and a minor in Spanish from California State University Fresno, working for twelve years in the business world, and then entering the Dominican Order in 1993. Subsequently, at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, he received a Master of Divinity and a Master of Theology with special emphasis in Luso-Hispanic historical, theological, philosophical, and juridical issues. After ordination to the priesthood in June 2001, Father Orique served the academic and pastoral needs of St. Thomas More Newman Center at the University of Oregon as well as of the rapidly growing Latino community in the Archdiocese of Portland, and other locations. During his service to the student and Hispanic populations, he earned a Masters in History at the University of Oregon in 2007 and a Ph.D. in 2011. His thesis and his dissertation centered on the life, labor and legacy of Bartolomé de Las Casas, which was also the focus of his 2016 Masters in Spanish Literature. Professor Orique has lived, traveled, and conducted research in Spain and Portugal and in other European countries, as well as has engaged in investigative activities in nineteen Latin American nations—and has continued to do so today. Doctor Orique’s writings and publications include, among others: “To Heaven or Hell: An Introduction to the Soteriology of Bartolomé de Las Casas” (2016); “Justice and the Church in Latin America in the Era of a Jesuit Pope” (2015); “A Comparison of Bartolomé de Las Casas and Fernão Oliveira: Just War and Slavery,” (2014); “Journey to the Headwaters: Bartolomé de Las Casas in a Comparative Context” (2009). His book titled “To Heaven or to Hell: Bartolomé de Las Casas’s Confesionario” was published in 2018 by Penn State. The manuscript for another book titled “The Unheard Voice of Law from the Often-heard Text: A New Rendition of Bartolomé de Las Casas’s Brevísima relación de la destruición de las Indias” has been completed. Professor Orique is also an editor for the Oxford Handbook of Latin American Christianity(2019),as well as for the forthcoming Brill publication titled Bartolomé de Las Casas, O.P.: History, Philosophy, and Theology in the Age of European Expansion(2019).