He holds an M.A. in theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Overbrook, Pennsylvania, a Ph.L. in philosophy from the Pontificia Università Gregoriana (the Gregorianum), Rome, Italy and a Ph.D. in philosophy from the Pontificio Ateneo Sant’Anselmo (the Anselmianum), Rome, Italy.
Messina’s expertise is in the thought of St. Augustine and its influence on the medieval scholastic thinkers (especially St. Thomas Aquinas). His dissertation entitled The Significance of Silence in St. Augustine’s Confessions revealed a “hermeneutics of silence” disclosed by the various forms and treatments of the term, whereby Augustine’s anthropology, psychology, eschatology, conversion experience, and the unity of the entire work could be understood within the manifold concept of silence (silentium). Messina also specializes in ancient philosophy, particularly the thought of Plato and Aristotle; and maintains an intense interest in the philosophy of education and the cultural state of the contemporary American academy. He has co-edited three books: Ambiguity in the Western Mind (Peter Lang, 2005); Confessions of Love: Ambiguities of Greek Eros and Latin Caritas (Peter Lang, 2011); and Augustinian Just War Theory and the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq: Confessions, Contentions and the Lust for Power (Peter Lang, 2011).
