David J. Collins, S.J., Ph.D. is currently an associate professor of history at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He holds a doctorate in History from Northwestern University and advanced degrees in Philosophy and Theology from universities in the U.S.A. and Germany, where he has also taught and lectured at several universities. David Collins''s field of specialization is the cultural and intellectual history of medieval and early modern Europe. His first scholarly work focused on the devotional writings by Renaissance humanists about the saints. He is currently studying the relationship of late medieval church reform movements and developments in scientific thought. His research in this field has been awarded fellowships from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Gerda Henkel Foundation. From 2007 to 2009 he was a visiting fellow at the Monumenta Germaniae Historica in Munich.