Tom Ryan SM

BA - Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
MA (Hons) – Victoria University of Wellington, NZ
STL – Weston School of Theology, Cambridge Mass
PhD – University of Notre Dame Australia

Lecturer in Moral Theology

E-mail: tryansm@bigpond.net.au

Tom Ryan is a Marist Priest who was born and educated in New Zealand. Ordained in 1965, he has lived in Australia since 1973. He has worked in Colleges and Parishes. After studies overseas, from 1989 to 1995 he was on the staff of Catholic Theological Union, Hunter's Hill Sydney and did Adult Faith Education work with the Aquinas Academy. Between 1996 and 2004 he was a member of the College of Theology in the University of Notre Dame Australia at Fremantle.

Currently he resides in Brisbane. He is an Honorary Fellow in the Faculty of Theology and Philosophy in the Australian Catholic University and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy and Theology, University of Notre Dame Australia. He continues to supervise Research students and is a sessional lecturer and tutor with Good Shepherd College Auckland and Broken Bay Institute, Sydney.

Research Interests:

My principal interest lies in human affectivity and emotions in the moral life, with particular reference to the work of Thomas Aquinas. This form of research inevitably involves work in the interdisciplinary area of psychology/ spirituality/morality. I have also continued to explore the work of Evelyn Underhill and Thérèse of Lisieux.

 

Current Research Projects:

Three areas particularly attract my interest at present: the process of Divinization and the Holy Spirit in spiritual/moral transformation; the nature and role of moral beauty and its implications for evangelization; developments in theological anthropology and the implications for Christian Ethics.

 

Publications

 

Refereed Journals

‘Moral Conversion, Liturgy and The Preface to Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II,' Australian Journal of Liturgy 13:1, 2012.

Reflections on the Two Eucharistic Prayers of Reconciliation and Moral Conversion', Pastoral Liturgy, Vol. 42, March 2012.

‘Christian Ethics: Moral Dilemmas or Something More' Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 46:1, 2012.

‘By Way of Moral Beauty', Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 45:1 Autumn, 2011.

‘Conscience as Primordial Moral Awareness in Gaudium et Spes and Veritatis Splendor ', Australian Ejournal of Theology 18.1, 2011.

‘Faith and Culture in Conversation: Another Theologian at Work': Review article of Neil Ormerod, Creation, Grace and Redemption , (NY: Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2007) and Neil J. Ormerod and Shane Clifton, Globalization and the Mission of the Church (London and New York: T & T Clark, 2009) in Australian Ejournal of Theology, Issue 16, August 2010.

Aquinas on Compassion: Has He Anything To Offer Today?' Irish Theological Quarterly, 75:2, May 2010.

Co-author with ‘Genevieve' and Peter Maher, ‘ Healing Abortion's Trauma and Rachel's Vineyard Retreat : From Three Participants', The Australasian Catholic Record 85.2, April 2009.

‘Healthy Shame? An Interchange between Elspeth Probyn and Thomas Aquinas,' Australian Ejournal of Theology , Issue 12, July 2008.

‘A Spirituality For Moral Responsibility: Evelyn Underhill Today', The Australasian Catholic Record 85.2, April 2008.

‘Holy Spirit, Hidden God: Moral Life and the Non-Believer', The Australasian Catholic Record , 84.4, October 2007.

‘Evelyn Underhill on Spiritual Transformation: A Trinitarian Structure?', Australian EJournal of Tbeology , Issue 8 March 2007.

Aquinas and Theology as Conversation' in Michael Whelan SM [Ed.] Issues for Church and Society in Australia: The Aquinas Academy Jubilee Lectures (Strathfield NSW: St Pauls, 2006).

‘Revisiting Affective Knowing and Connaturality in Aquinas,' Theological Studies 66:1, March 2005.

‘Psychic Conversion and St. Thérèse of Lisieux': The Australasian Catholic Record 82: 1, 2005.

‘Faith and Culture in Conversation: One Theologian at Work,' Australian EJournal of Theology , Issue 3, August 2004.

‘In God's Image: Towards a Theology of our Emotions,' Compass 37:7, 2003.

‘“Speaking For Myself Personally”…Awareness of Self, Of God, Of Others': The Australasian Catholic Record 79:3, July, 2002.

‘Aquinas' Integrated View of Emotions, Morality and the Person': Pacifica 14:1, February 2001.

‘Positive and Negative Emotions in Aquinas: Retrieving a Distorted Tradition': The Australasian Catholic Record 78:2, April, 2001.

‘Ecology' in Judith A. Dwyer [Ed.], The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought [Collegeville MN, The Liturgical Press, 1994], 305-9.

 

Non-Refereed Journals

Our Senses: Five Pathways to God 8 articles published in the NZ Marist Messenger Aug. 2008 – May 2009.

Christian Living Series: 10 articles published in the NZ Marist Messenger June 2004 – April 2005.

‘Shame: The Sentinel of Our Moral Horizon': The Mix: Journal of Catalyst for Renewal , 7:8, October, 2002.

‘The Thérèse “Phenomenon” --Reflections on a Pilgrimage': in Theology@McAuley E-Journal, Issue 2, August, 2002.

‘Ethics and the Environment: Has Catholic Social Teaching and Moral Theology anything to offer?' Australasian Catholic Record , January 1991.

‘Heads I win, Tails you lose: Truth and Integrity in Public Life.' Occasional Paper 5 for the Australian Catholic Social Justice Council, 1990.

Current Issues in Fundamental Moral Theology,' The Australasian Catholic Record, January 1990.

 

Back to top