The three courses were given on Zoom in
May2021 via Zoom meetings.
They are now available on YouTube.
Each course needs to be taken in order.
Study notes are available for the courses.
The courses are freely available, though if you find them helpful, then
a donation towards our costs would be greatly appreciated - click below.
Nick King SJ, Jesuit priest and is tutor and fellow in New Testament Studies and Dean of Degrees in Oxford University. He has worked for many years on Living Theology.
Pope Francis' notion of 'integral ecology' stresses that the social, political, economic and ecological crises are intertwined. We have to think about them together. The COVID pandemic has surely demonstrated this. Overcoming COVID means battling not just against a virus, but also against ancient and deeply ingrained habits of fear, tribal prejudice, and self-interest. Among these ingrained habits, the need to find scapegoats whom we can blame for what has gone wrong, is as strong as ever. Drawing on René Girard's theory of social formation, and on the teachings of Pope Francis, these talks will look at mercy and at brotherly and sisterly solidarity, as the 'vaccines' we need to protect ourselves ... from ourselves.
Michael Kirwan SJ is a Jesuit of the British Province, currently living in Ireland, where he teaches and researches Catholic Theology at Trinity College, Dublin. He is interested in the work of the French cultural theorist, René Girard, and in political theology.
Dr Jan Jans will consider how Scripture, especially the story
of the Good Samaritan in Luke can be legitimately used as a foundation
for ethics today. We shall do this with particular reference to
Pope Francis' use of this parable in Fratelli tutti.
Dr Jans is a moral theologian who has worked in the
Tilburg (Netherlands) Faculty of Theology and the Tilburg School of
Humanities, as associate professor. He has also brought his lively
style of presentation to students in Louvain-la-Neuve,(Belgium), South
Africa and the Philippines.
