Affiliate Professor of New Testament
PhD in Theology, Marquette University
BA in Religious Studies, Gonzaga University
Dr. Sylva teaches courses in the New Testament. His research interests include the Johannine literature, Luke-Acts, and the critical incorporation of New Testament perspectives into the contemporary life of the church. His approaches to the literature embrace a range of narrative, sociological and anthropological approaches rooted in dialogue with the ancient literary and demotic texts and archaeological remains. A related area of interest is the particular intertextual use of the Old Testament in the New Testament and the relation of various theological, ecclesial, moral, and eschatological perspectives in each testament. This is part of a larger concern to let various literary strata in the Bible be read in their own unique contexts before engaging in conversations between the viewpoints articulated in each of them.
As an adult minister at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, Sylva has had the opportunity both to share critical methods for the attempts to bridge the linguistic, social, chronological, and cultural gaps between the New Testament and the present and to discuss New Testament books with a focus on their role in the life of the church. Sylva is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature and of the Rhetoric of Religious Antiquity group, for which he has been asked to compose the commentary on the Wisdom of Solomon.
Prior to teaching at Nashotah House, Sylva was Professor of Biblical Studies at St. Francis Seminary in St. Francis, Wisconsin. He also has been an adult minister at St. Jerome Parish in Oconomowoc, WI and at St. John Vianney Parish in Brookfield, WI. Hobbies include walking, hiking, reading novels, short stories, and the Bard, and engaging in collegial dialogues.
Dennis and Mary were married in 1976 and have a son (David Michael), daughter-in-law (Dio) and granddaughter (Camille).
