SEPTEMBER 08

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The aim of the Theology Encounters is to offer an opportunity for Faculty staff members to share and discuss their recent research. With the exception of the first Theological Encounter the other meetings are reserved for the academic staff:

Theology after Darwin (Prof. Louis Caruana S.J.)

Abstract: Centuries before Darwin’s famous work The Origin of Species, Christian theology had been engaged in various ways with the question of change within material creation and its evolution. St Paul himself spoke of creation as groaning in one great act of giving birth (Rm 8:22). When Darwin’s book appeared, however, new questions became urgent. Some of these questions have been satisfactorily addressed by theologians, but more work still needs to be done. This lecture will offer a brief overview of Darwin’s cultural legacy and a consideration of some frontier issues for theologians in this area. The problem of evil and the theology of hope will receive special attention, and some conclusions will be drawn in line with current pastoral needs.

As part of the continuous evaluation of the academic programmes, the Faculty of Theology invites annually a lecturer from a foreign university to review students’ performance in final examinations. The Faculty is honoured to have Prof. Franz-Josef Bormann as this year’s external examiner.

Prof. Bormann holds the chair of Moral Theology at the Faculty of Catholic Theology at the University of Tübingen since April 2008. He studied philosophy and theology in Frankfurt (St. Georgen), in Munich (LMU, Hochschule für Philosophie) and in Rome (Gregoriana). He obtained his M.A. in philosophy in 1988 (Tugendethik versus Normenethik. Zu A. MacIntyre`s Versuch einer Systematischen Rehabilitierung des Tugendbegriffs). His doctoral thesis focused on the interpretation on Thomas Aquinas’ natural law theory (Natur als Horizont Sittlicher Praxis, Stuttgart 1999), while his Habilitation focused on John Rawls`  theory of justice and its (in)compatibility with the social doctrine of the Church (Soziale Gerechtigkeit zwischen Fairness und Partizipation. John Rawls und die Katholische Soziallehre, Freiburg 2006). From 2005 to 2008 he was Professor of Moral Theology at the Faculty of Theology in Paderborn. His research areas are in fundamental issues of moral reasoning and in bioethics.

Prof. Kees Waaijman, O.Carm. studied Philosophy and Theology at the Catholic University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands, obtaining his doctorate in 1976 with the study of Martin Buber’s De Mystiek van Ik en Jij (Mysticism of I and Thou). Following his doctorate, he pursued Jewish studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he established himself as a specialist in Biblical Spirituality, particularly in the Spirituality of the Psalms and Jewish Mysticism. Since 1989 he has been Professor of Spirituality at Radboud University of Nijmegen (formerly the Catholic University). During the last 30 years, he was a leading contributor to the setting up of the Titus Brandsma Institute at the same university and is now Director of the Institute. Among his publications, there are numerous articles on spirituality, a commentary of 10 books on the Psalms, and 17 booklets on the Spirituality of the Psalms. His publications include Tegendraads Lezen: De Schrift vanuit Joods Perspectief (Contrary Reading: The Bible in a Jewish Perspective, 2004), Mystiek in de Psalmen (Mysticism in the Psalms, 2004), and The Mystical Space of Carmel: A Commentary on the Carmelite Rule (1999). His book Spirituality: Forms, Foundations, Methods (Peeters, 2002) is a systematic guide to the extensive field of spirituality, where he maps out the multiform phenomenon of spirituality. Prof. Kees Waaijman is also editor of the two journals, Speling and Studies in Spirituality.

Prof. Robert Dodaro was born in 1954 in Chicago, USA. After his priestly ordination he continued his studies in Theology in Rome, and later on he read for a D.Phil at Oxford University under the tutorship of Revd Prof Rowan Williams, Bishop of Monmouth (HL The Archbishop of Canterbury UK). In 2000 he obtained a second doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of the Lateran in Rome. For many years he lectured at the Augustinianum in Rome. In 2003 he was appointed President of the Augustinianum, a Pontifical University which specialises in the Fathers of the Church particularly on St. Augustine of Hippo. Prof. Dodaro was the first invited speaker in the series Annual St Augustine Lecture, University of Malta, back in 1996. In 1998 Prof. Robert Dodaro was invited to Malta again by the Faculty of Theology of the University of Malta as he had been chosen as second reader and co-supervisor of the doctoral dissertation in Theology presented by the Rev. Dr Salvino Caruana OSA on The Ethical Implications for Christian Life of Saint Augustine’s De Sermone Domini in Monte.

PROF.  LOUIS CARUANA SJ

Prof. Christopher Tuckett was successively Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, and Rylands professor of Biblical Criticism and Exegesis in the University of Manchester from 1979 to 1996.  From 1996 he has been successively Lecturer in New Testament Studies, and since 2001 Professor New Testament Studies in the University of Oxford.  He is currently also a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.  He has published widely in the field of New Testament and Early Christianity.  His major publications have included books on The Revival of the Griesbach Hypothesis (1983), Reading the New Testament (1987), Q and the History of Early Christianity (1996), Christology and the New Testament (2001), and The Gospel of Mary (2007).  He has also published over 60 essays and articles in scholarly journals and collections of essays.