On Nov. 21 in Rome, Father James Platania, a priest of the Paterson Diocese in New Jersey, received the Bellarmine Award at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The award is the university’s highest distinction for doctoral research and is granted each year to one dissertation judged to make an exceptional contribution to theological scholarship.
Father Platania, who holds a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and a Doctorate in Sacred Theology, serves as parochial vicar at Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township, N.J., teaches at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., and serves as Catholic chaplain to the New York Giants.
The award was bestowed by Jesuit Father Mark Lewis, rector of the university, during a formal ceremony held in conjunction with a meeting of rectors from Jesuit universities across Europe. Named for Robert Bellarmine, Doctor of the Church and a major figure in the Catholic intellectual tradition, the award honors work that exemplifies rigorous scholarship in the service of the Church’s intellectual mission.
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Father Platania received the award for his doctoral dissertation, completed in 2024, which examines the emergence of Shabbat in the book of Exodus. The research challenges the common assumption that this central biblical practice is instituted either in God’s rest at creation or solely in the law given at Mount Sinai. Instead, it argues that Shabbat first takes shape in the wilderness as a lived practice, discovered as the people learn to trust in God’s daily provision. Through a close narrative analysis of Exodus 16, the work highlights Moses as a faithful interpreter who helps the people discern meaning in God’s actions and respond with concrete practices of trust and obedience.
The conferral of the Bellarmine Award in Rome, within the context of an international gathering of Jesuit academic leaders, underscores the vitality of contemporary Catholic biblical scholarship and its enduring commitment to faith seeking understanding.
