James Edward Kelly, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Core Fellow at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, TX. Raised in Needham, MA, he studied Theology at the University of Notre Dame (B.A., 2015) before attending Boston College, where he earned an M.T.S. (2019) and a Th.M. (2020). Afterward, he began his Ph.D. studies in systematic theology at Ave Maria University. There, he wrote his dissertation on the structure of Summa theologiae under the direction of Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P. (2025). Since then, Dr. Kelly has been conducting research on Catholic theology in the High Middle Ages.