“The principal task for the theologian now would seem to be the assimilation of this new understanding of man, this new experience, which we are accustomed to explore and to invoke in literature, plastic art, film, music, the social sciences, and so on: a ‘modern theology’ would issue from that.” – Kerr, ‘Christianity and the Liberal Vision’, Slant 9, 1966
Fr Fergus Kerr OP’s (1931-2025) two After’s – Aquinas and Wittgenstein –present a legacy of critical and faithful inquiry into the Catholic intellectual tradition and its reception. By assimilating the insights of contemporary philosophies while clinging to the essential of his tradition, Fr Fergus modelled a sympathetic yet critical attitude toward the diverse intellectual traditions with which he interacted. In turn, we too might examine how new ways of thinking can be the issue and issuer of theology today, how thinking like Fr Fergus might be continued in the academy as well as in the church.
Proposals (<300 words) of papers of no more than 15 minutes on topics related to the life and work of Fr Fergus are invited for a two-day conference at Blackfriars Oxford.