Rex F. Fortes, CM is a Catholic priest of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) of the Philippine Province since 2003. He received his Licentiate in Sacred Scriptures (SSL) at the Pontificio Istituto Biblico (Biblicum) in Rome in 2013. He continued his biblical studies at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, finishing his Advanced Master’s and Licentiate in Theology and Religion (STL) in 2016 and Doctorate in Sacred Theology (STD/Ph.D.) in 2022 with a dissertation titled, "The Ethnic Groups in the Fourth Gospel: A Historical-Literary and Social-Scientific Reading of the Dynamics of Identification and Representation within a Contested Ethnicity". Now, he is a resident teaching staff and an administrator of the St. Vincent School of Theology, Quezon City, Philippines.

ACADEMIC WORKS

Theses and Dissertation :

Fortes, Rex. “The Ethnic Groups in the Fourth Gospel: A Historical-Literary and Social-Scientific Reading of the Dynamics of Identification and Representation within a Contested Ethnicity.” PhD Diss., dir. Reimund Bieringer and Ma. Marilou Ibita. KU Leuven. 2022.

________. “The Ethnic Groups in the Fourth Gospel: A Status Quaestionis.” MA Thesis, dir. Reimund Bieringer. KU Leuven. 2016.

________. “Understanding 2 Kgs 18:26b-27a in the Light of Extramural Dwellers.” MA Thesis, dir. Peter Dubovský. Pontificio Istituto Biblico. 2013.

Authored Academic Journals / Publications :

Fortes, Rex. “Gen 4:10b ‘Listen! Your Brother’s Blood Cries Out to Me from the Ground’.” Hapag: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Theological Research 10, no. 2 (2013): 85-107.

________. “The Greek Other: An Investigation of the Social and Ethnic Identity of the Hellēnes in the Fourth Gospel and Its Implications to the Present Migration Crisis.” Hapag: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Theological Research 16, no. 1-2 (2019): 145-174.

________. “‘The Judeans’ for οἰ Ἰουδαῖοι? Contested Ethnicity in the Fourth Gospel.” Neotestamentica 55, no. 2 (2021): 365-387.

________. “Did 1 Maccabees Turn Galilee into a Gentile Habitation? A Semantic and Literary Rereading of Γαλιλαία ἀλλοφύλων in 1 Maccebees 5,15.” Edited by Jan Willem Van Henten. BETL 328. Leuven: Peeters (forthcoming).

________. “A Samaritan Jew? Hybridization in the Jewish and Samaritan Identification of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel.” Hapag: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Theological Research (forthcoming).

Published Books :

Fortes, Rex, and Adonis Narcelles, Jr. OK ka lang D’yan?: Mga Kwento, Tula at Pagninilay para sa mga Migranteng Pinoy. Manila, Logos Publications, 2011 (circulated also at St. Pauls and National Bookstore, Philippines).

________, and Noemi Buena. MISMO!: Mission Modules of the Vincentian Popular Mission. 2 Vols. Congregation of the Mission. 2007–2008 (used until now in the CM Popular Mission).

Presentations in Academic Conferences:

2015, “Understanding 2 Kgs 18:26b-27a in the Light of Extramural Dwellers.” Society of New Testament Studies (SNTS) and Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines (CBAP) Joint Conference. CBAP 16th Convention. Quezon City, Philippines.

8 Aug 2017, European Association of Biblical Studies (EABS) and Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Joint Conference, Berlin, Germany.
“A Samaritan Jew? Hybridization in the Jewish and Samaritan Identification of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel.”

12 Oct 2018, Doctoral Colloquium (Universities of Leuven, Regensburg, and Berlin).
“The Unsettled Ethnic Dispute and Social Divide between the Jews and the Samaritans in Jn 4:4-42.”

14 Aug 2019, EABS Conference, Warsaw, Poland.
“The Greek Other: An Investigation of the Social and Ethnic Identity of the Ἕλληνες in the Fourth Gospel.”

16 Oct 2020, Doctoral Colloquium (Universities of Leuven, Regensburg, and Berlin).
“‘The Judeans’ for οἰ Ἰουδαῖοι? Contested Ethnicity in the Fourth Gospel.”

3 Feb 2021, Colloquium Biblicum Lovaniense LXIX, Leuven, Belgium.
“Did 1 Maccabees Turn Galilee into a Gentile Habitation? A Semantic and Literary Rereading of Γαλιλαία ἀλλοφύλων in 1 Maccabees 5,15.”

3 Aug 2021, EABS Conference, Wuppertal, Germany.
“Anti-Judaism in the Fourth Gospel: Reconsidered from the Social-Scientific Lens of Identity Contestations of Johannine Ethnic Groups.”

24 Sept 2022, 23rd CBAP Convention, Quezon City, Philippines.
“The Indiscriminate Use of Ethno-Cognates in Biblical Studies and Its Repercussions to the Ethnic Determination of Filipino Migrants Abroad.”

10 Nov 2022, Catholic Theological Society of the Philippines (DAKATEO: Damdaming Katoliko sa Teolohiya) 20th Academic Conference, Manila, Philippines.
“The Dynamics of Identification and Representation of Biblical Ethnic Groups: The Ethnic Encounters in the Fourth Gospel as Test Case.”

PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Member Adamson-Ozanam Incorporators
Member and Secretary Catholic Biblical Association of the Philippines (CBAP) (2014 to present)
Member ABAP, KU Leuven (2016 to 2020)
Teaching Staff St. Vincent School of Theology (2006 to present)
Teaching Staff St. Vincent Seminary (2005 to 2006)
Teaching Staff Confraternity of Christian Doctrine of the Archdiocese of Manila (2003 to 2006)