Australian Catholic priest and theologian (born 1931)
Gerald Glynn O'Collins SJ AC (born 1931) is an Australian Jesuit priest and academic.[1] He was a research professor and writer-in-residence at the Jesuit Theological College (JTC) in Parkville, Victoria , and a research professor in theology at St Mary's University College in Twickenham .[2] For more than three decades, he was professor of systematic and fundamental theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University (Rome).[3]
In 2006, O'Collins was made a Companion of the General Division of the Order of Australia (AC), in recognition of his outstanding commitment to theological scholarship and ecumenical initiatives.[4]
Life and career
O'Collins was born in Melbourne , Australia, in 1931 and educated at Xavier College . His maternal grandfather Paddy Glynn was a federal government minister, while his sister Maev O'Collins became a professor at the University of Papua New Guinea . O'Collins studied at the University of Melbourne , where he took both a first-class honours baccalaureate degree and a master's degree. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1963 and went on to earn a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL) at Heythrop College , Oxfordshire, in 1967. The next year he was made a Doctor of Theology by Cambridge University , where he held a research fellowship at Pembroke College . He taught at the Weston School of Theology (Boston Theological Institute ) in Cambridge, Massachusetts , and the JTC in Melbourne for five years before accepting a professorship at the Gregorian University in Rome in 1973. He taught there until 2006. Additionally, he served as dean of the theological faculty for six years. After retiring from the Gregorian he was named research professor at St. Mary's University College.[5]
O'Collins's has received several honorary doctorates:[6] from the University of San Francisco (1991), University of Surrey (2003), Sacred Heart University (Bridgeport, Conn.) (2004); John Carroll University (Cleveland, Ohio) (2007); and a DD from Melbourne College of Divinity (2007); Honorary adjunct professor of Australian Catholic University (2007–2010).[7]
O'Collins organised and co-chaired international ecumenical symposia on the Resurrection (1996), the Trinity (1998), the Incarnation (2000), the Redemption (2003), and the legacy of Pope John Paul II (2008), also co-editing their proceedings.[8] He returned to Australia in 2009.
O'Collins has been an honorary visitor and a visiting scholar at Pembroke College, and he currently serves as an honorary adjunct professor at the Australian Catholic University . He has delivered the Fisher Lecture and the Margaret Beaufort Lecture at Cambridge and the Cardinal Hume Lectures at Heythrop College. Amongst other honours, he is the recipient of the Malipiero Prize, the Stefano Borgia European Prize, and the Johannes Quasten Medal given by Catholic University of America .[9]
Selected works
Christology: Origins, Developments Baylor University Press, 2015. ISBN 9781481302562.
O'Collins, Gerald ; Farrugia, Mario (2015). Catholicism: The Story of Catholic Christianity (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198728184 .
Light from Light: Scientists and Theologians in Dialogue (ed. with Mary Ann Meyers) Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2011. ISBN 978-0802866677
Rethinking Fundamental Theology OUP, 2011. ISBN 978-0199605569
Jesus Our Priest: A Christian Approach to the Priesthood of Christ (with Michael Keenan Jones) OUP, 2010. ISBN 978-0199576456
Catholicism. A Very Short Introduction OUP, 2008. ISBN 978-0199545919
The Legacy of John Paul II (ed. with Michael Hayes) Continuum, 2008. ISBN 978-0860124405
Jesus: A Portrait Darton, Longman & Todd, 2008. ISBN 978-1570757839
Salvation for All. God's Other Peoples OUP, 2008. ISBN 978-0199238897
Pope John Paul II. A Reader (with D Kendall and J LaBelle) Paulist Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0809144792
Christ Our Redeemer. A Christian Approach to Salvation OUP, 2007. ISBN 978-0199203130
The Lord's Prayer Darton, Longman & Todd, 2006. ISBN 978-0809144884 (Paulist Press ed.)
Living Vatican II. The 21st Council for the 21st Century , Paulist Press, 2006 (awarded best theology book of 2006 by the Catholic Press Association of the United States and of Canada). ISBN 978-0809142903
Following the Way: Jesus Our Spiritual Director Paulist Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0809139842
Christology: A Biblical, Historical, and Systematic Study of Jesus OUP, 1995 – rev. 2nd ed. 2009. ISBN 978-0199557875
Jesus Risen: An Historical, Fundamental, and Systematic Examination of Christ's Resurrection Paulist Press, 1987. ISBN 0809103931
See also
Notes
External links
International National Academics People Other