The Rev. Dr. James Shire

Associate Priest

I have been serving as a priest in Toronto since 2020, and I was previously serving at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church on Huron St near the University of Toronto campus. I am originally from Hawai’i, but I have been in Canada for nearly a decade now. 

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I first moved to Toronto in 2015 to pursue graduate studies at the University of Toronto, beginning first with a Master of Arts and then later a PhD in religious studies. My research and studies focus on Christian-Muslim relations in late-antique Syria and Iraq, and I just completed my doctoral program last December 20 after successfully defending my thesis From Beatific Sanctuary to Besieged Stronghold: Syriac Monastic Conflicts and Early Islam. My dissertation examined a conflict between two Christian monasteries in eighth century Syria over whether their leaders should interact with the Muslim government of the period. One monastery favouring close ties and the other wishing for the church to keep its distance from it. 

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When I am not working, I like to cook, bake, cycle, and play rugby. This last one is a relatively new hobby for me (this summer will be my third season playing), but it is a lot of fun.