Rev. Prof. Michael A Conway
Professor in Faith and Culture
TheologyContact Details
Email: michael.conway@spcm.ie
Phone: +353 (0)1 708 6293
Office: 9 Dunboyne House
Research Interests
- The dialogue between Faith and Culture as evidenced in the so-called theological turn in contemporary Franco-German phenomenology.
- Maurice Blondel – the relevance of his thought to contemporary debates in Fundamental Theology with a particular emphasis on dialogue with recent developments in Phenomenology, Pragmatism, Philosophy of Science, Hermeneutics, and Philosophy of Religion.
- Theology and the natural sciences – the structure and philosophical foundations of the sciences, with a particular emphasis on the critical validation of their achievement and a dialogue with a religious worldview.
- The changing nature of Irish culture in its relationship to religion, spirituality, and faith.
Highlighted Publications
Research
The Science of Life: Maurice Blondel’s Philosophy of Action and the Scientific Method (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2000 [European University Studies; Series XX – Philosophy, Vol. 616]
‘Faith and reason in René Descartes (1596-1650): An Appreciation and Critique from Maurice Blondel,’ Gregorianum 83 (2002): 111-130.
‘Maurice Blondel and Early Anglo-American Pragmatism,’ Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 79 (2003): 72–96.
‘Maurice Blondel and the Structures of Science within a Positive Phenomenology,’ Irish Theological Quarterly 69 (2004): 377-401.
‘A Positive Phenomenology. The structure of Maurice Blondel’s early philosophy.’Heythrop Journal 47(2006): 579-600.
‘From Neo-Thomism to St. Thomas: Maurice Blondel’s Early Encounter with Scholastic Thought,’ Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 83 (2007): 1-22.
‘Monade’ and ‘(Natur-)Wissenschaft,’ in Lexikon philosophischer Grundbegriffe der Theologie, Hg. Albert Granz, Wolfgang Baum, Karsten Kreutzer (Herder: Freiburg, 2003 / 2007).
‘Blondel, Maurice’ in the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity, ed. Daniel Patte, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
‘A Church in Changing Times,’ The Furrow, 59 (2008): 280-284.
‘The Chaste Morning of the Infinite: Secularization between the Social Sciences and Theology,’ in The Taylor Effect: Responding to a Secular Age, ed. Ian Leask et al, London: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.
‘Maurice Blondel and Ressourcement’ in Ressourcement: A Movement for Renewal in Twentieth-Century Catholic Theology, ed., Gabriel Flynn and Paul Murray, London: Oxford Univ., 2011.
‘Mathematics and the Mind of God’ in Having Life in His Name, ed., Brendan Leahy and Seamus O’Connell, Dublin: Veritas, 2011.
‘“As if my eye were still growing”: Living Disability,’ Irish Theological Quarterly 3 (2013): 255-61.
‘Intelligence and the Mystic Life for Maurice Blondel,’ Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 90/1 (2014): 1-39.
‘Christianity in Europe: a Future? The Furrow 65 (2014): 331-38.
‘Ministry in Transition,’ The Furrow 65 (2014): 131-146.
‘Priesthood, Authority, and Leadership,’ in Performing the Word (Festschrift for Ronan Drury), ed. Enda McDonagh (Dublin: Columba, 2014), 67- 73.
‘Beyond Sight: The Artist and Mystic Intuition, The Furrow 65 (2014): 592-99.
With Mind and Heart: Maurice Blondel and the Mystic Life’ in Mystical Theology: Eruptions from France, ed., Louise Nelstrop (London: Ashgate, 2015).
‘The Tensions of Ministry,’ The Furrow 66 (2015): 196-209.
‘An Open Space in the City: Galway Cathedral at Fifty Years,’ The Furrow 66(2015): 563-581.
‘Theology going Somewhere and Nowhere,’ The Furrow 67 (2015): 375-386.
‘Preface,’ to Foraging for the Spirit in the North Wall Community, ed. Martin Byrne (Dublin: Scribbles from the Margins Press, 2016), 7-11.
‘The Underdeveloped Heart,’ The Furrow 67 (2016): 259-265.
‘The Developing Heart,’ The Furrow, 67 (2016): 583-594
‘Sixth Station: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus, Reflection,’ in The Cross of Addiction: Reflection on the Stations of the Cross for an Addicted World, ed. Barry Matthews, (Dublin: Veritas, 2017), 41-46.
‘The Role of Free Will in Certitude: The Early Blondel and Freedom,’ Gregorianum 98, 3 (2017): 545-68.
‘Croagh Patrick (Featured Review),’ The Furrow 68 (2017): 433-37.
‘New Beginnings and Painful Endings,’ The Furrow, 68 (2017): 268-78.
‘Faith-Life, Church, and Institution,’ The Furrow, 68 (2017): 461-74.
‘Changing Foundations: Identity, Church, and Culture,’ The Furrow 69 (2018): 90-102.
‘Allegory and Cross-Reading: Paul Ricoeur and The Songs of Songs,’ in The Cultural Reception of the Bible: Explorations in Theology, Literature, and the Arts ), edited by Salvador Ryan and Liam Tracey. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2018
‘Maurice Blondel and the Mystic Life’, Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses,94/4 (2018): 661-92.
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‘The Transmission of Faith,’ The Furrow 69 (2018): 259-70.
‘Wisdom at the Crossroads (Featured Review),’ The Furrow 69 (2018), 368-71.
‘Reflection for 24 October 2018,’ Mission Month, World Missions Ireland, 2018.
‘Intercommunion of One and All: Theology and its Future.’ The Furrow 69(2018): 460-73.
‘Building Christian Community in Contemporary Culture,’ The Furrow 70 (2019): 457-66.
‘Something Happening: The Hospital Chaplain in Contemporary Culture,’ The Furrow 70 (2019): 659-69.
‘Finding Your Place: Family, Story, and Identity,’ The Furrow 70(2019): 137-144.
‘Distance and Desire: From Mission to New Evangelization,’ The Furrow 71(2020): 82-92.
‘Church in its Irish Horizons,’ Cover Story, Reality Magazine, March 2020, 12-17.
‘Keeping God Alive in these Strange Times of Covid-19,’ The Western People, 5 May 2020.
Entry for Thursday, 15 October 2020, in World Mission Ireland (WMI), Mission Month Booklet, 16.
‘Baking bread in Strange Times,’ Reality Magazine, October 2020, 34-35.
‘Should I Stay or Should I Go: Faith in Contemporary Culture,’ Doctrine and Life 70 (2020): 6-22.
Review of Forming Humanity: Redeeming the German Bildung Tradition. By Jennifer A. Herdt. London: The University of Chicago Press, 2019. Pp. 329. Studies in Christian Ethics 34(2021): 265-67.
Review of Reasons to Hope. By Werner G. Jeanrond. London: T & T Clark, 2020. Pp. xii + 222. Irish Theological Quarterly, 86 (2021): 100-103.
Review of: The Outlaw Christ: The Response, in poetry, to the question Who do you say that I am? John F. Deane. Dublin: Columba Press, 2000, Furrow, 71 (2020): 449-50.
‘“Break Every Mirror in the House”: The Place of Theology,’ Furrow 72 (2021): 195-204.
‘The Place of Theology: Against the Backdrop of Light and Life,’ Furrow, 72 (2021): 338-50.
‘The Place of Theology: From Sphere to Polyhedron,’ Furrow 72 (2021): 271-80.
‘Maurice Blondel on the Mystic Life: Exchanges with Laberthonnière,’ Gregorianum 102 (2021): 109-130.
‘Maurice Blondel’s Philosophical Debt to Maine de Biran,’ in Posterities of Maine de Biran’s Physio-spiritualism, ed. Manfred Milz, vol. 3., in the series Studies in Mysticism, Idealism and Phenomenology (Brill), forthcoming.
‘Blondel and the Triadic Structure of the Natural-Supernatural Relationship,’ Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, forthcoming.
Biography
Priest of the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora, ordained 1989. Undergraduate studies at NUIM and St. Patrick’s College Maynooth (B.Sc Mathematical Sciences, BD.); graduate studies at NUIM (M.Sc. Mathematics), Gregorian University Rome (STL), Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg i. Br. (D. Theol). Parish ministry (St. Brigid’s Parish, Ballybane, Galway (1990-1995). Director of Higher Diploma in Theological Studies (2000-2006), Lecturer in Systematic Theology, 2000, appointed Professor of Faith and Culture, 2006. Director of Irish Centre for Faith and Culture (2006-present). Editor of the Irish Theological Quarterly (2006-2013).
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