Douglas Knight

What makes monotheism a potential ally of humane liberalism is its high anthropology. Historically, of course, this liberal tradition grew up and out of a Christian monotheistic context; so its admiration of human dignity is no coincidence. Nor is it a coincidence, therefore, that Habermas’ new-found appreciation for religion comes at a time when he [...]

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With the restructuring of government departments, higher education is now under the control of the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (“DIUS”). We no longer have a Department for Education in this country. The idea of a university as “a place of teaching universal knowledge” — Cardinal Newman’s phrase — has, it seems, no relevance [...]

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The priest was gradually changed in the popular imagination from the celebrant of the Sacred Mysteries of salvation into the coordinator of the liturgical ministries of others. And this false understanding of the ministerial priesthood produced the ever-expanding role of the “priest presider,” whose primary task was to make the congregation feel welcome and constantly [...]

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Catholic Theology and the Public Academy
A colloquium in dual celebration of the establishment of the Durham Centre for Catholic Studies and the Bede Chair of Catholic Theology 8th-10th May, 2008 Durham University
Tina Beattie
Gavin D’Costa
Eamon Duffy
David Ford
Paul Griffiths
Karen Kilby
Michael Kirwan, S.J.
Paul Lakeland
Nicholas Lash
Gerard Loughlin
Andrew Louth
John Milbank
Francesca Murphy
Paul [...]

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The Maryvale Institute – our International Catholic College for Catechesis, Theology, Philosophy and Religious Education at Birmingham shows more energy than any other Catholic institution in the UK than I am aware of. Maryvale wants to see ‘the proclamation of the Catholic faith in its fullness and integrity‘. In the UK, this sounds like a [...]

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Does the Harvard-educated manager of cultures function too much as a Nietzschean Übermensch, operating upon the raw material of humanity from the supposed heights of critical understanding rather than leading from within the ranks? Will a person in a position of power who “reads” his fellow man, rather than listening to what he actually says, [...]

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Certainly, philosophy, theology, and literature were weakened by the apparently embarrassing comparison to strict science. But the humanities were already in bad shape. The romantic emphasis on personal uniqueness had undermined the belief that universal ideas are conveyed in great texts. Perennial themes about nature and human nature looked like the furniture of grandma’s attic, [...]

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The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has announced a new higher degree programme as an expansion of the Archbishop’s Examination in Theology. Applications for PhD and MPhil degrees in Theology will be accepted from early 2008 with the first awards of the new MPhil degrees anticipated in 2012 and Doctorates shortly afterwards. Candidates will [...]

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Two generations later, new winds of change are blowing through Catholic higher education in America: the bracing winds of dynamic orthodoxy. Some elite Catholic schools are, sadly, lost — and quite likely lost for good. Yet others have made significant comebacks in recent years, thanks to generational change in theology departments, courageous presidential and board [...]

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Andy Goodliff has posted on The promise of a Christian university –
Christian University? You have got to wonder where he gets these ideas from. Andy posts a handy list of titles then, as these bloggers do, asks for more ideas.
Obviously his list includes Bristol’s finest, Gavin D’Costa Theology in the Public Square: [...]

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In his 1990 apostolic constitution on Christian education, John Paul II insisted that the university is ex corde ecclesiae—from the heart of the Church. He spoke of the Catholic university, of course, but the vision challenges every Christian university. In Ex Corde Ecclesiae, John Paul wrote: “With every other university [the Christian university] shares that [...]

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Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
1. We, the Catholic Bishops of Scotland, greet you in the name of the risen Christ. As we continue to celebrate the mystery of Easter, we renew our hope in Jesus Christ as the source of our salvation.

2. Elections to the Scottish Parliament and to Local Authorities are approaching. Each [...]

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The first of The Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar consultations took place in Cheltenham in April 1998. The theme for this meeting was the crisis in biblical interpretation and the sort of answers to it being proposed by advocates of speech act theory such as Anthony Thiselton, Nicholas Wolterstorff and Kevin Vanhoozer, all of whom were [...]

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Aquinas is the cornerstone of Catholic thought, not just for his doctrine, but for his fidelity and prayer; for his constant and humble attitude of inclusion instead of exclusion—always open both to the truths coming from the faith and to those coming from every other thinker and tradition. He did not create a philosophical or [...]

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Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology of Oxford

The Queen has been pleased to approve that The Reverend Professor Nigel Biggar MA PhD be appointed a Canon of Christ Church and Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology in the University of Oxford from 1 October 2007,in succession to the Reverend Professor Oliver O’Donovan MA [...]

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We can still, I think, register disquiet that so little is done by collaboration among Catholics themselves in settings where there is taken for granted a Catholic liturgical and spiritual ambience, and a general consensus about the elements which should enter into a Catholic systematics – a suitable philosophical preamble, linked in some way to [...]

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The vocation to the Theologian to reflect, to study, to teach, and to write is placed within the mission of the Church, as one of service to it. Examining the British context for theological work, the document discusses Government policy in higher education in relation to the often vulnerable and difficult entrustment of the theologian [...]

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I have just had a look around the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family in Melbourne
Here is the curriculum for the Masters in Sacred Theology

The Human Person
Being, Knowing and Choosing
Philosophical Foundations of Bioethics
St Thomas for the 21st Century
Nature and Method of Theology
Biblical Theology of Marriage and the Family
Marriage in the Catholic [...]

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One clear realization to emerge from … Christianity and the Soul of the University … is that Protestants may actually have a more difficult time maintaining a meaningfully Christian university than Catholics. As Daniel Williams, a religion professor at Baylor, explains, “antitraditionalist and antidogmatic perspectives are built into the Protestant religious ethos,” and an emphasis [...]

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I have found another place I want to be next summer.
A Day for the Lord: A Sign of Contradiction?

June 11 – 13, 2007 at the University of Notre Dame
The thirty-fifth annual conference of the Notre Dame Center for Liturgy will address the relationship between cult and culture by considering what it means [...]

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