Sr. Sara Fairbanks, O.P., Ph.D.

Sr. Sara Fairbanks, O.P., Ph.D., has served as Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Barry University in Miami. The Director of Vocations for the Adrian Dominican Sisters, Dr. Fairbanks holds a Master of Theology from Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis and a Doctorate in Theology from the University of St. Michael’s College, Toronto School of Theology. Previously, she was the Pollok Lecturer at the Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her areas of expertise are Christian anthropology, the theology of lay ecclesial ministry, the theology of preaching, and practical theology.
Sr. Fairbanks authored, together with her colleagues in the Barry Department of Theology, the book Theology: Faith, Beliefs, Traditions (Kendall Hunt, 2010), and she has published in numerous scholarly journals, such as Worship, The Way, Listening: Journal of Religion and Culture, and Liturgical Ministry. She is a contributing author to the series Feasting on the Gospels—Luke Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary (Westminster John Knox Press, 2014).
Praise for Sr. Sara Fairbanks
“Personal warmth, intellectual breadth, and remarkable clarity make Dominican sister and theologian Sara Fairbanks an engaging and effective teacher. Her careful study of history, ecclesiology, lay ministry, preaching, Christology, and ecology . . . has shaped her compelling theological and spiritual vision.” – James B. Nickoloff, College of the Holy Cross
 “Sara Fairbanks’s expertise in the university classroom as both an undergraduate and graduate teacher for the past 17 years makes her an extraordinary communicator of theological practice and theory.” – Mark E. Wedig, O.P., Associate Dean, Barry University
“Sr. Sara Fairbanks, O.P., Ph.D. is an excellent scholar and a master teacher in her field. She is one of those great professors who are able to clearly correlate the theological tradition with today’s culture. Here she takes the fruit of her many years teaching in the classroom and makes it accessible to all who are wise enough to listen.” – Rev. Jorge Presmanes, O.P., D.Min., Associate Professor of Theology, Barry University