About
Rev. James Platania, S.S.L., S.Th.D., is a Catholic priest and biblical scholar whose research focuses on the Pentateuch, biblical narrative, and the interpretation of law. He is Adjunct Professor in the Core Curriculum at Seton Hall University and Parochial Vicar of Corpus Christi Parish in Chatham Township, New Jersey.
Biography
James Platania grew up in Vernon Township in northern New Jersey. He attended Boston University, where he studied finance and graduated summa cum laude in 2005. After college, he worked in finance and management in New York and London, including at the Morgan Library & Museum.
He later pursued graduate studies in philosophy at Mount Saint Mary’s University, earning an M.A. in Philosophical Studies, summa cum laude, in 2009. From there he went to Rome for theological studies and priestly formation at the Pontifical North American College. He received the S.Th.B., summa cum laude, from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 2012 and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Paterson on May 25, 2013.
His studies increasingly centered on Scripture. At the Pontifical Biblical Institute, with a semester at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, he specialized in the Hebrew Bible and received the Licentiate in Sacred Scripture, magna cum laude, in 2016. His thesis, directed by Dominik Markl, S.J., examined divine anger, the intercession of Moses, and the revelation of God’s merciful character in Exodus 32–34.
Fr. Platania returned to New Jersey in 2016 as Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology at Seton Hall University. He taught courses in the Pentateuch, prophetic literature, Biblical Hebrew and Greek, and the relationship between the Old and New Testaments.
In 2019, he returned to Rome for doctoral research at the Pontifical Gregorian University under the direction of Jean-Pierre Sonnet, S.J. During this period, he also served as Director of Campus Ministry at the St. John’s University Rome Campus. He later continued his research in New York as a Research Affiliate at Columbia University Libraries.
He received the S.Th.D. in Biblical Theology, summa cum laude, from the Gregorian University in 2024. His dissertation, Inventing Shabbat: Moses as Agent of Legal Innovation in the Narrated World of Exodus 15:22–16:36, received the Bellarmine Prize for Best Doctoral Dissertation in Theology. Revised for publication, the study will appear with Mohr Siebeck in the Forschungen zum Alten Testament II series.
Since 2024, Fr. Platania has taught in Seton Hall University’s Core Curriculum and served as Parochial Vicar of Corpus Christi Parish. His ministry includes parish work in Chatham Township, service to the Diocese of Paterson as Censor Librorum, and chaplaincy to the NFL.
His current research continues the work begun in Inventing Shabbat, with particular attention to the Pentateuch’s presentation of Moses as an interpreter and mediator of divine teaching.