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I studied History at Balliol College Oxford and then Philosophy at the Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome. After a long spell as Director of Studies of the Berlitz Language Centers in Italy, I resumed my theological studies at Leuven and Heythrop with a Masters in Systematic Theology, and then a doctorate in Church History. This was published by Brepols in 2010. I have taught theology and history in the Pontifical Beda College, Rome and Heythrop College. I currently teach courses at Allen Hall, Maryvale and Blackfriars, Oxford. I am the Prior Provincial of the British Province of Carmelites.
Carmelite spirituality and history; Mariology and Ecclesiology.
Editor - Translator
I am a priest of the Diocese of Brentwood and am currently diocesan Director and Chaplain for Marriage and Family Life, as well as a parish priest. Previously I was a minister in the Church of England, and I received dispensation from the Holy Father to be ordained in the Catholic church as a married man. Having completed the Marriage and Family MA I have subsequently been involved in delivering the Sacramentality of Marriage module for this course.
My first degree at Oxford was in Modern Languages (French and Latin). I followed that with a second BA degree, in Theology. I was in ordained Anglican ministry for five years but subsequently returned to Oxford to do a doctorate in Intellectual History under Sir Isaiah Berlin. My topic was the thought of three publicists of the immediate postRevolutionary period in France; Joseph de Maistre and the Vicomte de Bonald (both promoters of Catholicism) and the proto-socialist Claude-Henri Saint-Simon. I was a Fellow in the History Department at University College London for several years, during which I helped produce scholarly editions of some of the manuscripts of the law reformer and philosopher Jeremy Bentham. I spent three Summers at the University of Geneva working on a book about Bentham and his Genevan editor, former pastor Etienne Dumont – published 2008. I also published the first Encyclopedia of World Fascism (2006). For CTS Publications I produced booklets on Protestantism and Pentecostalism. Over the last 20 years I became increasingly engaged with the Carmelites as a member of the Seculars (OCDS) and translated a book on St Teresa of Avila from the German. My life commitment has been enhanced intellectually by involvement in supervision of a thesis on mysticism and one on monasticism.
I am currently working on a book-length study of the origins of the ideology of the Holocaust, and I have had a lifelong interest in Intellectual History/the History of Ideas, chiefly in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Germany and France.
A long immersion in French studies has given me a particular interest in French Catholic spirituality.
For the past twenty years I have been walking the way of the Secular Carmelites and this has led me deep into the thinking of the Spanish Mystics and St Therese of Lisieux and into the traditions of Catholic spirituality. I am currently involved in the supervision of doctorates on the Contemplative Gaze and on the way that members of Enclosed Orders experience time.
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Dr Briliute was appointed Dean of Maryvale Institute in January 2020.
Studying theology at Catholic University in Leuven gave me a fundamental training in the best European theological traditions and religious studies. Since my PhD was on religious education, I am especially equipped to be a researcher and lecturer in pastoral theology and religious studies. It enabled me to teach in a hermeneutical and communicative way.
Over 30 years as a teacher and lecturer, I have acquired extensive international experience in the field of RE and theology and have a wide range of professional connections, both in the UK and abroad. This has provided me with knowledge of diverse HE educational systems and varied teaching practices to achieve high standards of learning.
I am a Catholic theologian with an especial interest in contemporary methods of education in Catechesis, RE and pastoral theology. My current research looks at how Catholic theology might inform and transform contemporary educational discourses in developing and maintaining Christian identity of Catholic educational institutions in the UK and abroad.
Doctoral Supervision
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My academic journey started in Lithuania after the fall of communism in 1991. This is where my interest in personal and societal transformation and deep learning takes roots from. I was instrumental in establishing a formal RE programme in state schools in Lithuania, starting with RE teacher training provisions, curriculum, publication of textbooks for all state schools and taking part in negotiating related legislation.
In all this work and being part of a society in a rapid transition I felt a need for academic studies which led me to follow MA in social sciences (VMU, Lithuania), MA in RE (Maryvale Institute) and MA and STL in pastoral theology (KU Leuven, Belgium).
My studies exposed me to enriching cultural and educational experiences and have opened doors to work in advisory and coordinating roles in Lithuania, USA and England. While studying for my Ph.D. at Loyola University, Chicago, I coordinated ministerial development and certification of the Directors of RE in Archdiocese of Chicago.
In my pastoral and educational work, I felt a need to integrate theological thought, social, psychological and educational sciences. Therefore, I find my work for the Open University, where I teach undergraduate modules in education and psychology especially enriching.
My current research focuses upon deep learning theories. For my practice-based project in this area I was awarded a Fellowship of Higher Education Academy in 2016. I am also interested in religious transformative experiences in a secular world where in some sacred spaces and places a person is enabled to reach the depth of human soul, reflect on the human condition, find meaning and encounter with the divine. I am interested in the creation of unexpected encounters, environments, spaces and places that are beautiful and rich in symbolism. These can open the doors into the depth of Christian thought and way of life for people who live in a secular context and who are disconnected or have never known the Christian tradition.
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In October 2017, I successfully defended my doctoral thesis at the University of Bristol (Roman Catholicism and Modern Democracy: Natural Allies or Uneasy Bedfellows. An Exploration of the Tenability of Catholic Citizenship in Contemporary Liberal Democracies My work sought to develop a Ratzingerian critique of the secular democratic theories of Jürgen Habermas and John Rawls, using the same-sex marriage debates in Ireland and the United Kingdom as case studies.
As a practising pharmacist and a practising Catholic, the formative tensions of Catholic citizenship inform my research interests in theology, political philosophy and communications ethics. In addition to my Pharmacy professional qualification and doctorate in Theology and Religious Studies, I also have an undergraduate degree in History and Political Science and a Masters in Public and Political Communication.
I currently lecture on the MA programme in Catholic Applied Theology at Maryvale Institute. During my time at the University of Bristol, I undertook undergraduate seminar teaching as well as pastoral work as a Senior Resident in one of the University Halls of Residence.
My doctoral research explored the tenability of Catholic participation in the public discourse of contemporary liberal democracy, bringing Joseph Ratzinger’s theology of politics into conversation with the secular liberalism of Jürgen Habermas. My research interests include: Communication of Religion and Theology in Secular Media; Communications Ethics; Agenda-Setting and Framing in Communications Theory; Theology of Politics and the State; Second Vatican Council; Catholic Social Teaching; Political Theory; Religious Discourses in Secular and Post-Secular cultures.
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I have been teaching Biblical Hebrew and Patristics at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford since 2012. I was a graduate student at Brasenose College and Keble College, Oxford (Byzantine Studies) and currently I am preparing my PhD thesis ‘Between Authority and Orthodoxy: Historical perspectives and Narrative Strategies in Sozomen’s Historia Ecclesiastica’ for submission at the Institute of Byzantine Studies, University of Lodz, Poland.
Theological ordination studies began in 1988 at Allen Hall Seminary, Diocese of Westminster and concluded with the award of the Leuven University External S.T.B. in 1994 summa cum laude.
From 1995 until 2009 I acted as an Academic Tutor at Maryvale. Postgraduate studies began in Rome in 2000 with the award of an S.T.L. from the Angelicum in 2002 (magna cum laude) and an S.T.D. from the Alfonsianum defended in 2006 summa cum laude.
Since 2009 I have been on the full-time staff at Maryvale as a Programme Director and since 2013 a member of the Senior Management Board. I have taught undergraduate courses in Paul/Acts, Introduction to Moral Theology, Introduction to Theology, Faith and Revelation, Liturgy, Matthew’s Gospel, and sacred music.
Previous to entering seminary I was a university lecturer in mathematics with a Ph.D. from Cambridge and a B.A. from Oxford.
My dissertation entitled Victor Paul Furnish’s Theology of Ethics in Saint Paul. An Ethic of Transforming Grace was selected for publication in a series of the best Alfonsianum dissertations and appeared in 2007.
From 1986-2002 I was involved in Further Education, teaching Literacy and Numeracy, and eventually serving as Head of Department for Community Education. I helped to develop educational workshops in Mental Health outpatient centres; Family Learning and Basic Skills training for parents of Primary School children and, perhaps most relevantly, taught Study Skills and acted as personal tutor for Adult returners on Access to Higher Education.
For the last twelve years I have been employed in a parish within the Archdiocese of Birmingham as a catechist and pastoral assistant. My responsibilities include First Communion and Confirmation preparation, RCIA and adult faith formation, and Baptism preparation. My great desire is to pass on the truths of the Catholic Faith in language which is both faithful and accurate, but easily accessible to people (adults and children) at all levels.
Having graduated with the Bachelor of Divinity (Ecclesial Service) in 2012, I have served as marker for both the Certificate in Catechesis and the B. Div. (Pathway B). I also serve as a student advisor. My “specialism” is in helping students to plan and structure their work, and to be able to express what they have learnt in their own words.
I am a Dominican Sister of St Joseph, currently responsible for Adult Faith Formation and Catechesis in the Diocese of Portsmouth. I joined the Dominican Sisters after completing a MA in contemporary history at the university of Bordeaux in France. My research was conducted in Krakow in Poland, focusing on the episcopate of Karol Wojtyla, who would become St John Paul II. Once a Dominican Sister, I completed a Baccalaureate in Philosophy, a Master in Applied Theology and a Licence in catechetics, all at Maryvale Institute.
My current focus is on catechetics, and, drawing from my research work and experience in catechesis and catechists formation, I have authored and translated several catechetical resources destined for adults and children.
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Fr Marcus Holden has been a lecturer, tutor and course book writer at Maryvale since 2008 and, until recently, was Pathway Leader for the MA in Apologetics. He holds a Master degree in Theology from Oxford University and ecclesiastical Baccalaureate and Licentiate degrees in Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. Since 2013 he has been external examiner for the Theology Masters degree at St Mary's University, Strawberry Hill.
He is parish priest at St Bede's, Clapham Park. He is also co-founder of the Evangelium Project, St Anthony Communications and the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.
Fr Marcus is author of many articles and publications including Saints of the English Calendar (2005), the Evangelium Course (2007), the Why Course (2012). He often represents the Catholic Church for local and national media and has co-presented several historical and catechetical film documentaries.
He is parish priest at St Bede's, Clapham Park. He is also co-founder of the Evangelium Project, St Anthony Communications and the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy.
Fr Dylan's particular interest is in the revival of Thomistic ‘virtue ethics’ approaches, as pioneered by Servais Pinckaers, OP.
Currently Programme Director for the MA in Catholic Applied Theology at Maryvale Institute, I have also worked as a researcher (education) since 2005 in Canterbury Christ Church University and the University of Greenwich and more recently within the charity sector (education) as well as being a Research Associate at the University of Warwick (2012-2018) and a Visiting Fellow at Plymouth Marjon University (2019-2021).
A Department for Education funded project (2018-2020; part of SEND Schools Workforce Contract for 2018-2020)- I led on the implementation, monitoring, evaluation and reporting on a leadership (school) exchange programme for the development of strategic leadership of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.
And an Erasmus project (June 2021- May 2023). One of four partner countries working on the programme- Modules and applications for increased school success of students with the innovative digital school model. Part of team leading on the Digi-school workshops (sharing of good practice in primary schools) and training (increased digital skills of teachers).
I am a Director of Studies for PhD students at Maryvale and have supervised a number of students on the Bachelor of Divinity and Masters in Catholic Applied Theology.
I am a member of British Educational Research Association, have presented at a number of national and international conferences and am Assistant Editor of the Inclusion Journal (Teaching Times publication).
Research areas of interest include: moral education, religious education, evaluation methodologies, inclusive education, SEN, teacher professional development.
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During my years in Rome I taught for a Master’s degree course in architecture, sacred art and liturgy at the Università Europea di Roma/Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum. From 2008 to 2011 I was Coordinator of this Master’s programme. In the academic year 2011/2012 I was Professore incaricato for the history of Christian worship and hagiography the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archeology in Rome.
At present, I teach Church history and patristics at Allen Hall Seminary in London. I am a Visiting Faculty member of the Liturgical Institute at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois. I am also a Board Member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy and edit the society’s journal, Antiphon (published by the Catholic University of America Press).
My doctoral research in Oxford focused on the history of doctrine in the early Christian period, in particular the Christological controversies after the Council of Chalcedon. Since then, my research interests have shifted towards liturgical studies, with a strong historical emphasis. My main interests are ritual, language and non-verbal expression, including questions of sacred architecture, art and music.
My most recent research project explores the liturgical veneration of the Holy Face of Christ in the late medieval and early modern period.
Currently I supervise one MPhil student (at the Maryvale Institute). I am happy to accept postgraduate students in Church history and historical theology, preferably in Christian antiquity, or the late medieval and early modern period, and in liturgical studies.
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A member of the Institute of the Brothers of the Christian Schools (De La Salle) since 1953, I obtained my PhD in Educational Sciences of the Faculty of Psychology and Educatio¬nal Sciences, Katholieke Universi¬teit Leuven. I did my theological studies at the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven and at the International Institute Lumen Vitae, Brussels.
Initially I was professor at the Teacher Training College Saint Thomas, Brussels, and at the International Institute Lumen Vitae where I also acted as director of the Department of Evangelization and Catechesis. In 1975 I moved to the Faculty of Theology of the Catholic University of Leuven where I taught several subjects related to religious education in schools. Besides the theoretical study of catechesis and adult education, I integrated social and organizational psychology as sub-disciplines of practical theology. For several years I acted as Chair of the Department of Practical Theology and of the Centre for the training of teachers of religion. For 23 years I was a member of the standing commission for the curriculum development of religious education in secondary schools.
For the past twenty-five years I organized residential training sessions of participative school management, using systems thinking as a way of situating schools always in their social, cultural, economic, political context. The 3 or 4-day sessions are a kind of laboratory where governors, principals, a delegation of teachers and a delegation of students (17 year) work together and experiment with probing situations and thematic aspects they meet in the reality.
I also launched a project related to the personal search of the many people who abandoned religious practice or distanced themselves from the Church. A space was imagined for people to find the atmosphere and architectural qualities supporting their personal journey: the disclosure of what is waiting inside to be recognized and reflected upon. The research is focussing upon the idea of chora or khôra: the kind of (immaterial) space where things can emerge, can come into being. It’s inducing a new affinity and attention, a new perception of presence, transcendence, interiority, the divine, the personal God of Christian faith.
Supervison: Regular teaching visits to Latin America and Asia offered me an opportunity to become acquainted with Liberation theology and Political theology. I supervised or evaluated a number of doctoral theses related to this theological discipline.
Articles in numerous reviews, including Lumen Vitae, Verbum, Tijdschrift voor Catechese, Korrel, Temps et Paroles, Word in Life, The Living Light, The Sower, Medellin, Journal for Religious Education, Katecheta, and in various collective works.
Rev Dr Robert Ignatius Letellier was educated in Grahamstown, Cambridge, Salzburg, Rome (the Gregorian University, the Biblical Institute) and Jerusalem (the Ecole Biblique). He is a member of Trinity College (Cambridge), the Salzburg Centre for Research in the Early English Novel (University of Salzburg), the Maryvale Institute (Birmingham), and the teaching panel of the Institute for Continuing Education at Madingley Hall (Cambridge).
His publications number over 100 items, including books and articles on the late-seventeenth-, eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century novel (particularly the Gothic Novel and Sir Walter Scott), the Bible, and European culture. He has specialized in the Romantic opera, especially the work of Giacomo Meyerbeer (a four-volume English edition of his diaries, studies and analysis of his operas), the opéra-comique, the Operetta, and the Romantic Ballet. He has also worked for the BBC, the Royal Opera House, Naxos International and Marston Records, in the researching and preparation of productions.
All aspects of Biblical studies.
Professor Loughlin is a Fellow of Blackfriars Hall, Oxford, Emeritus Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge and Emeritus Professor of European Politics at Cardiff University. He is a Fellow of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences (FAcSS), of the Royal Historical Society (FRHistS), of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA – until 2015) and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW). He has held Visiting Professorships and Fellowships in Oxford, Paris, Florence, Princeton, and other European universities.In 2009, he received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Umeå, Sweden in recognition of his research on European politics. In 2010, the French Government appointed him Officier des Palmes Académiques (equivalent to the OBE) in recognition of his contributions to French language and culture and research on European politics.
Professor Loughlin's research interests include:
I also launched a project related to the personal search of the many people who abandoned religious practice or distanced themselves from the Church. A space was imagined for people to find the atmosphere and architectural qualities supporting their personal journey: the disclosure of what is waiting inside to be recognized and reflected upon. The research is focussing upon the idea of chora or khôra: the kind of (immaterial) space where things can emerge, can come into being. It’s inducing a new affinity and attention, a new perception of presence, transcendence, interiority, the divine, the personal God of Christian faith.
Supervison: Regular teaching visits to Latin America and Asia offered me an opportunity to become acquainted with Liberation theology and Political theology. I supervised or evaluated a number of doctoral theses related to this theological discipline.
Authored and Co-Authored Books
Books and Journal Special Issues (Edited)
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In retirement from a civil service career, I studied at undergraduate and postgraduate levels at Maryvale, attaining a distinction at MA. I was awarded the Institute’s Edward Hulmes Prize for Research in 2016 for my MA dissertation on the pre-Reformation Church in England. I was subsequently invited to teach the module on controversial issues from Church history on the MA course and, having revised the coursebook, am about to work on a more substantial revision.
My particular interest is in pre-Reformation Church history, and I am currently scoping a research project in that area.
Robert was educated at the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG) and Maynooth (NUIM), Ireland, where he studied physics and applied science, and philosophy and theological studies, respectively, at the International Theological Institute (ITI), Austria, where he received a master's degree in the theology of marriage and family, and at Liverpool Hope University (LHU), United Kingdom, where he completed a doctorate in philosophy with a dissertation in philosophical anthropology detailing Edith Stein’s engagement with the thought of Thomas Aquinas in her mature philosophy of the human person. Robert is a faculty member of Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS), Ohio, where he teaches philosophy and theology, an associate member of faculty at Maryvale Institute (MI), United Kingdom, and the Priory Institute (PI), Ireland, and a founding member of the Aquinas Institute of Ireland.
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Research interests include the curriculum of secondary education, teaching about other faiths in Catholic secondary schools, the use of Catholic art in catechesis, and the Holocaust. I am currently revising a course on Catholic art.
My first studies were in modern history at Girton College, Cambridge University. Later I gained a BD degree from London University, where I also studied for my doctorate. My publications have mostly been in Old Testament although my thesis was published in 1990, Human Agents of Cosmic Power in Hellenistic Judaism and the Hellenistic Tradition, and re-printed in 2015 by Bloomsbury Academic Press. I have lectured and researched in biblical texts and interpretation for 30 years.
Conferences: I have been a regular giver of papers at the Society of Biblical Literature Meetings each year, and have been a member of the Society for OT Study for many years. In addition I am a member of the EABS. I have given annual bible workshops at the Oxford University Department for Continuing Education for many years. I have also examined and supervised research students in a number of HEIs and in my recent post at Maryvale Institute have overseen the successful completion of doctoral degrees of over 20 students.
Monographs: include Biblical Morality: Moral Perspectives in OT Narratives, cited in biblical ethics scholarship; Reading Ecclesiastes, cited in later wisdom texts scholarship; Alterity, Pain and Suffering in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, also cited in recent scholarship and Urban Imagination in Biblical Prophecy. As well as these I have published articles in a number of volumes of Collected Papers, including the series Constructions of Space in Biblical Context.
Dissemination: works include Images of God in the OT, Joshua to Kings (now 3rd edition), Study Guide to Jeremiah and articles in two of the OUP Handbooks series with biblical content.
I am a theologian and church historian based in Macau SAR, China, at the University of St Joseph, where I am Dean of the Faculty of Religious Studies and Assistant Professor of Theology, and Academic Director of the Diocesan Seminary, and teach courses in fundamental and dogmatic theology.
I am an alumnus of the Maryvale Institute’s undergraduate Catholic Theology programme and my post-graduate work was undertaken at the University of Oxford, where I obtained a Master of Studies degree in Church History and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Theology, with a thesis concerning doctrinal development in the work of Blessèd John Henry Newman. I am a Permanent Deacon of the Diocese of Portsmouth.
I am currently engaged in editing the letters and journals from the Second Vatican Council of Abbot Christopher Butler, an English theologian who served on the Council’s doctrinal commission and was instrumental in the form and content both of the Constitutions on Divine Revelation and the Church. I am concurrently working on the concept of “glory” as a theological category bound upwith theosis in the Liturgy.
I am currently supervising a doctoral candidate, who is working on Aristotle’s Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Early Modern Liturgical Music, and a second candidate as secondary promoter who is working on Newman, Congar and the Holy Spirit.
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Andrew has spent forty years working in Catholic education in a variety of teaching, leadership, administrative and governance roles, and has four degrees, including a PhD and an honorary BA.
He is a former secondary school Headteacher and Deputy Director of Schools for the Archdiocese of Birmingham. He has worked with the Catholic Education Service and the Office for Standards in Education to publish a number of papers on the academic standards and attainment in Catholic schools in England.
He was seconded to Liverpool Hope University in 2007 to work as Director of its Centre for Christian Education and subsequently was appointed Director of Postgraduate Research at the Maryvale Institute from 2013-15. He remains an Associate of the Institute, of the National Centre for Christian Education and is also an Associate Member of the National Institute for Christian Education Research at Canterbury Christ Church University.
Andrew is an established author and reviewer. He has prepared employment and other quasi-legal documentation for the CES, Catholic dioceses and local authorities, and has been the lead liaison officer for the Catholic sector in three Local Authority reorganisation schemes, Coventry, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.
My academic specialism is in the field of faith-based education and school leadership.
My current research is primarily historical, looking at the changing patterns of headteacher recruitment in the Catholic sector since 1946.
I have supervised nineteen doctoral students at Liverpool Hope University and eleven at Maryvale (plus one M.Phil student) in the field of education, and of aspects of theology.
I have been an external and internal examiner at Liverpool Hope University and an internal examiner at Maryvale.
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John Murray graduated from Mater Dei Institute in 1985 and taught Religion and English in two secondary schools: Presentation College, Carlow [1985-6] and St. David's Holy Faith Secondary School, Greystones [1986-2002]. He did a Masters degree in Mater Dei [1998-2001] and began lecturing in Mater Dei Institute in 2002. His main teaching is in the area of moral theology (Christian Ethics), but he also supervises Teaching Practice, conduct Religious Studies tutorials, moderates theses, and so on. Dr Murray finished his doctoral degree in theology [St. Patrick's College, Maynooth] in 2009. His doctorate is entitled: "The Role of Religion as a Basic Human Good in the Moral Theory of Germain Grisez".
John Murray currently teaches Moral Theology modules on Maryvale's MA in Catholic Applied Theology programme and also supervises MA dissertations.
In relation to his link to the Iona Institute [see below], Dr Murray has been frequently involved in public debate in the media, including short pieces in newspapers, and radio and TV appearances. These debates concerned the place of denominational schools in a pluralist Ireland; marriage; sexual ethics; abortion; euthanasia and assisted suicide; and even Christmas.
The fundamental moral theology of Germain Grisez and his collaborators [esp. John Finnis, Joseph Boyle, and Robert P. George]. New natural law. # Fundamental Moral Theory in general [especially the issue of moral truth]. # Moral theories. # Catholic Sexual Ethics and its relationship to sexual ethics more generally.
The nature and value of faith-based education/schooling, with reference to liberal values such as freedom of religion, as well reference to the place of parents in education, as well as the wider context of the relationship between Christian faith and human reason.
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Louise Nelstrop is a College Lecturer and Full Member of the Theology and Religion Faculty, Oxford University and a Lecturer in Philosophy, Religion and Ethics, York St John University. Her research focuses on medieval theology and mysticism, particularly the English Mystics. She has edited a number of essay collections that explore the taxonomy of mysticism for Routledge (Contemporary Theological Explorations in Christian Mysticism series). Most recently, Art and mysticism: interfaces in the medieval and modern periods (Routledge, 2018). She has also written an introduction to Christian Mysticism, Christian Mysticism: An Introduction to Contemporary Theoretical Perspectives with K. Magill and B.B. Onishi (Routledge, 2009) and published a number of articles on the English Mystics. She is co-convenor of the Mystical Theology Network.
Starting in summer 2019, Louise will undertake a Jubilee Fellowship at the Margaret Beaufort Institute, Cambridge, sponsored by the English Province of the Congregation of Jesus. She will produce an article on deification and union in the Middle English translation of Marguerite Porete’s Mirror of Simple Souls. She will compare the annotation by the anonymous, possibly female translator M.N. found in St John’s College, Cambridge MS 71 with those of Richard Methley in his Latin translation of the Middle England text, found in Pembroke College, Cambridge, MS 221. This is part of a larger project which Dr Nelstrop is carrying out, involving the close analysis of translated texts both by and about female mystics, to reveal whether, and if so, how, the English translators brought the central concepts of this new mysticism, such as ‘union with God’ and ‘deification’, into line with the English Anchoritic tradition.
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Fr Guy is a priest of the Birmingham Oratory. He holds a Masters degree in Classics from Cambridge University; an STL from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome; and a D.Phil in Theology from Oxford University. Fr Guy is lecturer for the module God and Salvation in Jesus Christ and tutor for the module Liturgy and Sacraments on the MA in Catholic Applied Theology programme.
Fr Guy’s research interests include the theology of Blessed John Henry Newman, Patristics, dogmatics, liturgy and Church music.
I am Sr. Mary Priscilla Ohawuchi,IHM, a Roman Catholic Nun of the Religious Institute of the Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Mother of Christ. I obtained my Msc.Ed in 2014 from the Walden University Minneapolis Minnesota U.S.A. After my Bsc.Ed, I taught at Immaculate Heart Juniorate High School in Edorate Kenya East Africa. I also served as an Associate Director of Pastoral care at Provena Health service, Rockford Illinois U.S.A. Further to this, I taught Christian Morality in Religious Education at Bishop Grimes High School Syracuse New York U.S.A.
I later served with the Diocesan Caritas office in the Pastoral care of immigrants, as well Parish secretary at Sacro Cuore Rimini Italy. I worked at St. John’s school Antigua Caribbean Island as a Vice Head teacher and a Religious Education teacher. For the last six years, I have been engaged in the leadership of my Religious Institute as the Sub-Regional Superior of my Institute in Italy. Within this period, I have also been engaged with several part-time and voluntary activities. I taught in the program of Trinity College preparatory course of English language at Benedetto XV School, served as a voluntary staff of African University Students’ Service, Rome, as well as serving as a member of academic staff at Maryvale Institute.
As a Religious, I am a finally professed member of my Institute. I am also a distinguished member of the American International Society of Poets.
I am interested in the area of holistic and inclusive education and their positive effects in the integral formation of the human person for greater efficiency in the society.
Dr Phillips wrote the coursebook and teaches for the module Evangelising Culture, and also teaches on Cultural Horizons of Faith. He completed his BA (Hons) in Theology at Heythrop College, and his MA in Systematic Theology and PhD at King's College London. He has published various papers on Catholic theology, systematic theology (particularly in the German tradition), the intersection of faith and culture, and interreligious relations in Catholic theology. He also teaches at Allen Hall Seminary, St Mary's Twickenham and the University of Roehampton. A more complete academic profile can be found at:
I recently completed my PhD at King's College London, working on human subjectivity and obedience in the theology of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and I work also on the thought of John Henry Cardinal Newman, particularly regarding his more philosophically-orientated work, and his attempts to establish an empirically-orientated epistemics of belief, or 'assent'.
Following undergraduate studies at Oriel College, Oxford, and an MA at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies (UCL) I spent some years in secondary education before being awarded an AHRC scholarship for a doctorate at the University of Bristol, focusing on the doctrine of deification in the Russian tradition. This doctoral work forms the basis for my 2018 monograph on Vladimir Solov’ev and also led to a research fellowship in the Centre for Eastern Christianity at Heythrop College.
At Maryvale I teaching the MA module on Ecclesiology and also mark and moderate essays across a number of modules on the MA programme. In addition to my involvement with Maryvale, I am also a theology lecturer at St Mary’s University, Twickenham. I lecture across a range of topics, including Systematic theology at MA and BA levels; Orthodox mystical theology for the MA in Christian Spirituality; Theological Anthropology, Christian Ethics, Ecclesiology, Eastern Christianity, for the BA programme. I am also the Programme Director for the BA In Theology, Religion, and Ethics.
I am a board member of Mater Ecclesia College, established in 2019, which provides seminarian formation for Allen Hall and Wonersh seminarians, as well as ecclesiastical degrees. My membership of the St John Chrysostom Society reflects a strong personal commitment to Catholic-Orthodox reunion. I am also contributor and theological advisor for Radio Maria England.
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FR ANDREW PINSENT MA DPhil PhD STB PhL is a lecturer at Maryvale, principally for the MA programme on the Apologetics pathway. He is also a Research Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford University, Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion, and a member of the Theology and Religion Faculty, where he supervises dissertations on theological issues in relation to contemporary science. He was formerly a high energy physicist on the DELPHI experiment at CERN, has degrees in philosophy and theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University and a second doctorate, in philosophy, from St Louis University. He is widely published and is a regular contributor to public debate in the media, including for the BBC and EWTN, and is also the co-author, with Fr Marcus Holden, of several catechetical projects published by the Catholic Truth Society, such as the Evangelium and Why? courses.
A fuller academic profile is available on the Ian Ramsay Centre website.
I obtained my PhD from the University of Edinburgh in 2007, and have taught there and at the University of Glasgow. Since 2010, I have been a research supervisor at Maryvale.
My PhD focussed on the religious and cultural exchanges between England and the Continent at the end of the Middle Ages.
Most of my research is multi-disciplinary, incorporating history, history of art, literature, theology and anthropology. I am particularly interested in structures, cultural transmission and encounters and in the narratives that flow from these.
My fields of research are as follows:
I have just completed a book on the role of the Catholic Duchesses of Perth in the Jacobite period and am currently working on the life of St Elizabeth Hesselblad, who re-invigorated the Bridgettine Order.
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My first degree was a PhB with Heythrop College (the original one near Oxford). Many years later I studied with the very first cohort for a theology degree at Maryvale (validated by Maynooth: a B A Divinity, first class honours. At my bishop’s request I set up a diocesan cathechetical centre called the Ogilvie Institute that worked in alliance with Maryvale. For some years I served on the Academic Board at Maryvale whilst working as the Director of Studies for the national programme of formation for the permanent diaconate since 2002. I still fulfill that role on behalf of the Diaconate Commission of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland. Before that I swerved as chairman of the Board of Governors of Aberdeen College for fourteen years. I have published on Medical Ethics and Human Life, the Foyers of Charity as pioneers in the New Evangelisation, and Healing of Memories Ministry. I was a co-founder of the journal, New Diaconal Review, now called the Josephinum Diaconal Review. I chair the Council and Board of Trustees of a new community called NEW SPRING.
The history and theology of the ministry of the diaconate and healing ministry as part of New Evangelisation.
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Canon John Udris acquired his STL in Spiritual Theology from the Angelicum, Rome. He is Spiritual Director at St Mary’s College, Oscott and teaches on Christian Spirituality and Homiletics. Fr John is the lecturer for the module Prayer and the Spiritual Life on the MA in Catholic Applied Theology Programme.
Research interest in the spirituality of Therese of Liseux. Currently investigating the potential for opening of the Cause for Beatification of G K Chesterton on behalf of the Bishop of Northampton.
I obtained my PhD in May 2018. The PhD is an empirical study specifically exploring a disconnect in faith and praxis amidst Catholics. It examines the sexual moral teaching of the Catholic Church in light of those electing to marry in the Catholic Tradition.
My research interests pertain to Catholic Sexual Morals and the teaching of the Magisterium.
I studied at Maryvale as a part-time distance-learning student from 1992 to 2011, obtaining B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. During this time I also worked as a parish catechist for confirmation candidates and adults, as well as producing and leading parish bible studies.
Since 2008 I have lectured on the BPhil programme at Maryvale in: Metaphysics and Epistemology, Christian Anthropology, The Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, Philosophy of God and Latin for Philosophy. From 2013, I have lectured on the BDiv programme at Maryvale in: Systematic Philosophy, Introduction to Philosophy and History of Philosophy.
During 2012-13 I lectured on Metaphysics and Christology at the Maryvale Summer Schools at Buckfast Abbey. I also lectured on Epistemology to Catholic seminarians at Redemptoris Mater seminary, Kitwe, Zambia, April-May 2012 (Gregorian University syllabus).
In October 2013 I lectured on Introduction to Philosophy through Fides et Ratio to Year 1 and on Plato & Aristotle to Year 2 seminarians at St. Malachy’s Seminary College, Belfast. The following year I returned to lecture on History of Philosophy and Metaphysics and on Aquinas and Late Medieval Philosophy.
Marking essay and exam papers for Maryvale, and research as below, are ongoing.
Thesis on comparisons and contrasts in the philosophical and theological anthropology of St Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure, Bl. John Duns Scotus and William of Ockham (Supervisor: Professor David Luscombe, University of Sheffield; External examiner Dr. Fergus Kerr, O.P., Oxford University)
Research into the historical and anthropological consequences of nominalism is ongoing, with particular focus on the spiritual and psychological element of ‘receptivity’.
Following initial studies in Theology, Music, Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology I acquired a BSc (Hons) in Physics, Mathematics & Engineering followed by a PGCE. I taught and undertook chaplaincy work in various secondary schools between 1975 and 1997 and was also a catechist for parish sacramental programmes and post-baptismal catechesis.
In 2000 I attained an M.Ed. (Distinction) with a dissertation on lay participation in ministry, especially School Chaplaincy. As an executive member of the Association of Catholic Chaplains in Education, I helped research the training needs of school and college chaplains, collated the findings and worked on the 2nd draft of a document to be promulgated by the Bishops of England & Wales. During that time I was part of the team preparing for and leading the annual Conferences of the ACCE.
I also assisted in developing a course for school chaplains as a pathway of the MA at Maryvale Institute. I took part in the course as a mentor and tutor until about 2002.
From 2003 onwards I trained in and worked at marking coursework; initially BA Div. Pathway B and then with FE Certificated courses. I also lectured to FE students on Prayer, Church History and Christology.
Post-baptismal catechesis.
‘Can Children learn Science?’ I was part of the team which took part in the 2nd Year of research (1986-7). A joint Glos. & Wilts. LEA venture on the constructivist approach to education. Research published in booklet form January 1988.
In 1993 I was part of a working party in the ACCE seeking to form better guidelines for school and college chaplains. I was also working within my own diocesan chaplaincy team to do the same. The diocesan guidelines were progressing well but the national working party was struggling. I took the diocesan outline to the national group, now associated with the CES, and used the framework to help develop an ACCE document. My work was to define chapters and write up all the content we had prepared. At the 1995 Conference the draft was accepted. It was not yet in a form required for the Bishops’ Conference to adopt it. In 1996 the final version was launched by Cardinal Hume: Chaplaincy, the Change and the Challenge.
I am Programme Director for Maryvale's BA (Hons) Philosophy and the Catholic Tradition programme and also contribute as a lecturer on the MA in Catholic Applied Theology.
After completing a PhD in Medieval Philosophical Theology at King's College London (2013), from 2013-2016 I was Research Associate at King's on a major AHRC-funded project on Meister Eckhart (c. 1250-1327) and the theological and philosophical debates at Paris in the early fourteenth century. For this, I worked on manuscripts at the Vatican Library, and across Germany—especially the University of Erfurt, where I was also a guest post-doctoral researcher at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Social and Cultural Studies. I have been an adjunct professor at Korea University in Seoul, South Korea (2016).
I am a free research associate at KU Leuven, a member of the International Society for the Study of Medieval Theology (IGTM), the American Philosophical Association, and the Royal Institute Philosophy.
Philosophical theology is my area of research, especially during the medieval period, and I specialise in the ontological, linguistic, and psychological implications of metaphysics. I am particularly interested in the ontology of language and the analogy of being, as well as the relationship between metaphysics and psychoanalysis.
My book Meister Eckhart on the Principle (Leuven: Peeters, 2017) was on Eckhart's metaphysics of creation, and demonstrated that his conception of the relationship between God and man was one of mutual 'compenetration'. It shows how Eckhart's 'mystical' thought is expressed equally in his scholastic Latin works, and thereby suggests the dissolution of the strict taxonomic difference between his vernacular and Latin works.
I have published on the connection between medieval thought and contemporary issues (both in Continental philosophy and psychoanalysis) and I am particularly interested in the work of Erich Przywara SJ (1889-1972) on Thomistic analogical thought, and his relation to the psychoanalytic work of Jacques Lacan. Much of my research focuses on questions of language (medieval grammatical theories on the relationship between grammar and being) and the body (the relationship between matter and form, and the eschatological orientation of matter).
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I am the Programme Director for Maryvale’s MA in Catholic Applied Theology. My academic background is in philosophy, education and theology. Prior becoming an academic I was employed as a primary school teacher, and a provider of Continuing Professional Development for teachers of Religious Education in the Archdiocese of Birmingham, UK.
At Maryvale, I teach courses in Christian Anthropology, Prayer and Spirituality, and Research Methods. I have delivered courses in England, Ireland, and the United States of America, and as a Programme Director of a distance learning programme have had students from the UK, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the USA, Canada, the Baltic States, South America and Australia.
I am a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers.
My areas of research are Christian anthropology, eschatology and the Philosophy of Religion. I have particular interest in the following: the intermediate state and the anima separata, purgatory and prayers for the dead, philosophical accounts of identity through death and resurrection, Catholicism and evolution, the doctrine of hell, the cult of relics, miracles, and religious experience.
I am currently pursuing research into competing models of purgatory, and the taxonomy of accounts of personal identity through death and resurrection.
I am supervising and examining a number of doctorates on topics including The Philosophy of Edith Stein and Discipleship in the Writings of Gregory of Nyssa.
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