JOHN ANTHONY BERRY is Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology and former Dean of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Malta.
He studied Philosophy and Theology at the University of Malta, KU Leuven and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, specialising in Augustine, Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger, and earning a doctoral degree on Yves Congar OP with the highest distinction summa cum laude. He was also a visiting scholar at the Institut Catholique de Paris in France and the University of Leuven in Belgium.
His specialisation led to his appointment to leadership roles in the European society for ecumenical research Societas Oecumenica (President, 2018-2022) and in the European Society for Catholic Theology (committee member on the international Presidium, 2017-2021). He was guest lecturer at prestigious institutions in Braga, Dortmund, Dublin, Hamburg, Leuven, Lviv, Toruń, Rijeka, South Bohemia and Wroclaw. Berry also served as consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in the response team for Faith and Order Paper 214 (The Church: Towards a Common Vision) and has recently been engaged within the ecumenical section of the Theology Faculty of Florence.
At local level, he is the secretary of the Diocesan Commission for Interreligious Dialogue and member of the Interfaith Integration Forum established by the Ministry for Justice, Equality and Governance.
Berry convened five International Theological Conferences: ‘Between Two Synods: Journeying Together’ (2015); ‘The Spirit of the Reformation: 500 Years On’ (2017); on ‘Resilience in a Troubled World’ (2018); ‘Reconsidering Transcendence. Between Presence and Absence’ (2019) and ‘Living Tradition: Continuity and Change as Challenges to Churches and Theologies’ (2022).
Two of his recent publications are ‘Moral Aspects of Imaginative Art in Thomas Aquinas’ (2021) and ‘Fidelis et Verax’ (2022). He co-founded and co-edits the international journal ‘Theology and Philosophy of Education’, and reviews ‘Forum Philosophicum’, ‘Religions’, ‘Rocznik Teologii’ amongst others.
BERRY, J.A. and ROSZAK, P., 2020. "Moral Aspects of Imaginative Art in Thomas Aquinas". Nicolaus Copernicus University, Poland.
BERRY, J.A., 2019, 31.03.19. "What Future for Malta's Christian Faith?". Sunday Times of Malta, 12-13.
BERRY, J.A., 2018. "Hans Urs von Balthasar". In: P. DIMECH, ed, Il-Vuċi Quddiem il-Misteru. Teologi ta' żmienna Malta: Miller Publishers, pp. 41-57.
BERRY, J.A., 2017. "Christian Hope for a Better Europe". Studia Gdańskie, 41, pp. 187-194.
BERRY, J.A., 2017. "Christian Witness: Its Grammar and Logic". Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia, 10(2), pp. 211-229.
BERRY, J.A., 2017. "Retrieving the Mystical Dimension in Ecumenism". Roczniki Teologiczne, 64(7), pp. 137-156.
BERRY, J.A., 2017. "What Makes us Human? Augustine on Interiority, Exteriority and the Self". Scientia et fides, 5(2), pp. 87-106.
BERRY, J.A., 2015. "'From the Open Side of the Lord': On Joseph Ratzinger’s Eucharistic Ecclesiology". In: E. AGIUS and H. SCERRI, eds, The Quest for Authenticity and Human Dignity, A Festschrift in honour of Professor George Grima on his 70th birthday. Malta: Outlook Coop, pp. 93-115.
BERRY, J.A., 2015. "Yves Congar. Ecumenism and the Changing Face of Roman Catholicism". In: C. HOFFMANN, F. TUDER and I. ZELTNER PAVLOVIĆ, eds, Ökumenische Begegnungen / Ecumenical Encounters. Beihefte zur Ökumenischen Rundschau 100 edn. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, pp. 158-169.
BERRY, J.A., 2012. "Tested in Fire: Hans Urs von Balthasar on the Moment of Christian Witness". Melita Theologica, 62, pp. 145-170.
BERRY, J.A., 2009. "Communion Ecclesiology in Theological Ecumenism". Questions Liturgiques/Studies in Liturgy, 90(2), pp. 92-105.
BERRY, J.A., 2008. "Ecumenical Formation: Yves Congar’s Personal Testimony". Melita Theologica, 59, pp. 3-19.
BERRY, J.A., 2007. "Man's Capacity for Self-Transcendence. On 'Conversion' in Bernard Lonergan's Method in Theology". Melita Theologica, 58, pp. 23-42.
