Rev. Prof. Michael A Conway

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.
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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.
‘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.
‘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.
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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