A native of Saskatoon, Canada, Dr. Topping earned an MA in Philosophy from the University of Manitoba as well as an M.Phil. and a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Oxford. He is a Professor of Theology and serves as Vice-President and Academic Dean at Newman Theological College, Edmonton. He formerly taught at Thomas More College in New Hampshire and held the Pope John XXIII Chair of Studies in Catholic Theology at St. Thomas University, Canada. Dr. Topping has published on a variety of Catholic themes and figures, from St. Augustine, to Dante, to G.K. Chesterton in academic and popular journals. He has published several books on Catholic culture and education, including Rebuilding Catholic Culture: How the Catechism Can Shape our Common Life (Sophia Institute, 2012), The Elements of Rhetoric (Angelico Press, 2016) and Renewing the Mind: A Reader in the Philosophy of Catholic Education (Catholic University of America Press, 2015). His forthcoming book is Christmas Around the Fire: Poems, Stories, and Lessons for the Season of Christ’s Birth (Tan, 2019).

His newest book, published fall 2018, is The Gift of the Church, volume 1: How Catholicism Transformed the History and Soul of the West. Dr. Topping and his wife have eight children.