About - Recent News
Celebrating Maryvale Academic Research
Celebrating Maryvale Academic Research
On 26th June 2021, Maryvale Institute's MA in Catholic Applied Theology Director, Dr Stephen Yates, gave a well-received paper to the Annual Conference of the Irish Guild of Catholic Scholars. While last year, the conference took place in Dublin, this year's event was delivered online, enabling Dr Yates to take part in this prestigious event from the UK in spite of continuing travel restrictions. The paper, How are Catholic Theologians to Approach the Problem of Hell? is based on Dr Yates'current academic research and builds upon his recent book Between Death and Resurrection: A Critical Response to Recent Catholic Debates Concerning the Intermediate State, issued by Bloomsbury Publishing.
On Dr Yates' lecture, attendee Dr John Murray commented: "Dr Yates gave an excellent talk via Zoom for the Irish Guild of Catholic Scholars on Saturday, June 26th 2021. Titled What are Catholic Theologians to Make of Hell?; the talk outlined the traditional Catholic doctrine on hell and also the main alternative theological theories to this doctrine, with copious references to relevant authors and texts. Particularly interesting was Dr Yates' focus on proper theological method in approaching this topic, and thus on the importance of seeing 'hell' as a mystery to be believed and explored in the light of faith, rather than a 'problem' to be comprehensively 'solved'. Dr Yates discussed a number of aspects of the mystery and outlined areas for future theological research. The talk was followed by a hour's Q & A, in which Dr. Yates engaged in detailed discussion of various issues arising from his talk or related to it. It is greatly to be hoped that Dr Yates will continue this valuable research into a highly significant theological topic that is too often neglected.
For more on Maryvale's MA in Catholic Applied Theology programme, validated by Open University, enrolling each January, visit the course page or contact us below: