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Dr. André Villeneuve is a Catholic biblical scholar and Assistant Professor in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, CA. He previously taught theology and Sacred Scripture at St. John Vianney Seminary in Denver, Colorado. He received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2013, writing his dissertation on the topic of nuptial symbolism in the New Testament and ancient Jewish writings.
André completed a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology (S.T.B.) at the Salesian Pontifical University in Jerusalem (2014), and a Licentiate in Sacred Scripture (S.S.L.) with the Pontifical Biblical Commission in Rome (2019). In 2009, 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. He previously obtained an M.A. in Theology and Catechetics from 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. in Management Science from the University of Ottawa (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. This experience led to a dramatic conversion to Christ through an evangelical church. After moving to Jerusalem to pursue biblical studies, André worked for the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem and became involved with the Messianic Jewish movement, serving as a worship leader in a Messianic community in Tel Aviv. His study of Scripture, Judaism and early Christianity led him back into the Catholic Church in 2002. He worked for the Hebrew-speaking Catholic community in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv as a catechist, and later for the Catholic Episcopal Commission for Pilgrimages and the Franciscan Media Center in Jerusalem.
His main areas of interest include the study of Sacred Scripture, the Jewish roots of the Catholic faith, leading pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and fostering the reconciliation of Israel and the Church through the work of Catholics for Israel (www.catholicsforisrael.com). He is the author of Nuptial Symbolism in Second Temple Writings, the New Testament and Rabbinic Literature: Divine Marriage at Key Moments of Salvation History (Leiden: Brill, 2016).