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Dr. André Villeneuve is Assistant Professor of Theology and Sacred Scripture at the St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, Colorado.  He received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013 as recipient of the “President’s Scholarship,” writing his dissertation on “Nuptial Symbolism at Key Moments of Salvation History according to Second Temple Writings, the New Testament, and Rabbinical Literature.”

While in Jerusalem, André also studied at the Salesian Pontifical University (Jerusalem campus), and he spent a semester at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome as recipient of the Brenninkmeijer-Werhahn Fellowship offered by the Cardinal Bea Centre for Judaic Studies (2009).  He previously obtained an M.A. in Theology and Catechetics from the Franciscan University of Steubenville (2005), an M.A. in Jazz Saxophone from the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria (1998), and a B. Com. from the University of Ottaway (1992).

Born in Ottawa, Canada, André grew up in a Catholic family but became agnostic in his early twenties.  While studying jazz in Austria, he volunteered with a Christian humanitarian organization assisting war refugees in Croatia and Bosnia, and this experience led to a dramatic conversion to Christ through an evangelical church.  After moving to Jerusalem to pursue biblical studies, André worked in the music department of the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and became involved with the Messianic Jewish movement, serving as worship leader in a Messianic community in Tel Aviv.  His study of Judaism and early Christianity eventually led him back into the Catholic Church in 2002. His main areas of interest are the study of Sacred Scripture, the Jewish roots of the Catholic faith, and fostering the reconciliation of Israel and the Church through the work of Catholics for Israel.