Zaccary A. Haney, PhD

Zaccary A. Haney, PhD.

Zaccary A. Haney is an early-career scholar and writer originally from Wisconsin, and now based in Chicago. He grew up in Cambria, attended St. Norbert College (De Pere) for his bachelor’s degree in religious studies, and The University of Chicago Divinity School for his master’s degree in religion and the history of Christian thought.

After his master’s program, Zaccary joined the Norbertine Community of Santa María de la Vid in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he spent over two years in formation as a novice and seminarian. He took classes at the University of New Mexico in Spanish and philosophy and graduate courses in theology at the St. Norbert College satellite campus. He returned to Chicago to attend Catholic Theological Union, and then left religious life after one semester.

Zaccary moved back to Chicago permanently, and he worked in Catholic publishing (J.S. Paluch & World Library Publications) until 2022. In 2020, in the middle of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, he started his PhD in Integrative Studies in Ethics and Theology at Loyola University Chicago. He defended his dissertation with distinction in April 2025, and continues to reside in Chicago’s Uptown/Andersonville neighborhood with his partner and their two pets.

An interdisciplinary theologian whose research draws on medieval Christian thought, medieval history, systematic and liberation theologies, queer theory, critical theory, and political theory. Rural theory and theories of imaginary worlds are two recent interests that have been especially impactful for his teaching. The central thread of his research is temporality and how assumptions about time contribute to the shaping of our theological and political discourses.

Zaccary has presented his work at conferences in the United States and around the world (Costa Rica, El Salvador, University of Oxford, University of Leeds, the Sorbonne). His work has been published in academic and popular venues, including Genealogies of Modernity and (forthcoming) in Political Theology Network. He is currently a part-time instructor of theology at both Loyola University Chicago and Benedictine University while also working as a server and digital services coordinator at A Taste of Heaven Bakery and Cafe in Andersonville.

In his spare time, Zaccary can usually be found at a coffee show or craft brewery around the neighborhood or reading at home on his patio. He also leads a local book club for queer men.