David Hollenbach

Last updated
David Hollenbach
Born6 October 1942
Alma mater St. Joseph's University
Known forHis work on Economic Justice for All,
The Common Good and Christian Ethics
Awards1996 Fulbright Fellowship (for research & teaching in Kenya),

2009 Marianist Award (University of Dayton)

John Courtney Murray Award for Distinguished Achievement in Theology (Catholic Theological Society of America)
Scientific career
FieldsHuman Rights and International Justice
Institutions Georgetown University, Weston School of Theology, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Boston College

Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J. (born October 6, 1942 in Philadelphia, PA.) is a Jesuit priest, professor, author, and moral theologian currently serving as the Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. [1] He is a consultant to the Jesuit Refugee Service [2] and is the recipient of the John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America in 1998. [3]

Contents

Education, career, and influences

Hollenbach received his B.S. in physics from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1964 and joined the Society of Jesus upon graduation. After completing his novitiate, He earned a M.A. and Licentiate in Philosophy (Ph.L.) from Saint Louis University in 1968. After serving as an instructor in philosophy at Georgetown University in Washington, DC during the 1968-1969 academic year, he completed his M.Div. at Woodstock College and was ordained a priest on June 5, 1971. After ordination he earned a Ph.D. in religious ethics from Yale University in 1975.

After working as a research fellow during the 1975-1976 academic year at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University, Fr. Hollenbach began his career at as a professor of moral theology at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. In 1991 he was appointed professor of theology at Boston College and was subsequently appointed the University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice and the Director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at the same institution in 2005. In 2016, Hollenbach became the Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Service Professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, where he currently teaches.

Until November 2009, Hollenbach held several positions in the Catholic University of Eastern Africa's Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya. He has also taught at The Jesuit Philosophy Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila, Philippines. [4] In 2015, he held the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the John W. Kluge Center for Scholars at the Library of Congress. [1]

Hollenbach draws from many theologians, including Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Jacques Maritain. [5]

Hollenbach is considered by many experts in Christian ethics to be the principal contributor to Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy. [6]

Works

The Common Good and Christian Ethics

Written in 2002, this book has become one of Hollenbach's most famous works as an author. While in this book Hollenbach does look to his major influences such as Aquinas for inspiration, it mainly focuses on Hollenbach's attempt to define the "common good" and find what contrasts this good. Building on his earlier writings, Hollenbach emphasizes relationships as being the source of the common good. There are certain goods that Hollenbach states are essential for modern day democracies to be successful. These goods include mutual respect, self-determination, and individual agency. Hollenbach points out that these essential goods are completely social and depend solely on human interaction. Ultimately this book is a study on how we as humans relate with one another and what we need to do to better our relationships with one another. Some points of interest that Hollenbach discusses are racism and marginalization. [5]

Partial bibliography

See also

Related Research Articles

Natural law is a system of law based on a close observation of natural order and human nature, from which values, thought by natural law's proponents to be intrinsic to human nature, can be deduced and applied independently of positive law. According to the theory of law called jusnaturalism, all people have inherent rights, conferred not by act of legislation but by "God, nature, or reason". Natural law theory can also refer to "theories of ethics, theories of politics, theories of civil law, and theories of religious morality".

Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fulfill their societal roles and receive their due from society. In the current movements for social justice, the emphasis has been on the breaking of barriers for social mobility, the creation of safety nets, and economic justice. Social justice assigns rights and duties in the institutions of society, which enables people to receive the basic benefits and burdens of cooperation. The relevant institutions often include taxation, social insurance, public health, public school, public services, labor law and regulation of markets, to ensure distribution of wealth, and equal opportunity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Drinan</span> American priest and politician

Robert Frederick Drinan was a Jesuit priest, lawyer, human rights activist, and Democratic U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. Drinan left office to obey Pope John Paul II's prohibition on political activity by priests.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alasdair MacIntyre</span> Scottish philosopher (born 1929)

Alasdair Chalmers MacIntyre is a Scottish-American philosopher who has contributed to moral and political philosophy as well as history of philosophy and theology. MacIntyre's After Virtue (1981) is one of the most important works of Anglophone moral and political philosophy in the 20th century. He is senior research fellow at the Centre for Contemporary Aristotelian Studies in Ethics and Politics (CASEP) at London Metropolitan University, emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, and permanent senior distinguished research fellow at the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture. During his lengthy academic career, he also taught at Brandeis University, Duke University, Vanderbilt University, and Boston University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Courtney Murray</span> American philosopher

John Courtney Murray was an American Jesuit priest and theologian who was especially known for his efforts to reconcile Catholicism and religious pluralism and particularly focused on the relationship between religious freedom and the institutions of a democratically-structured modern state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedro Arrupe</span> Spanish Jesuit priest and 28th Superior General of the Society of Jesus

Pedro Arrupe Gondra, was a Spanish Catholic priest who served as the 28th superior general of the Society of Jesus from 1965 to 1983. He has been called a second founder of the Society, which he led in the implementation of the Second Vatican Council, especially with regard to faith that does justice and preferential option for the poor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Novak</span> American rabbi and philosopher (1941-present)

David Novak, is a Jewish theologian, ethicist, and scholar of Jewish philosophy and law (Halakha). He is an ordained Conservative rabbi and holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto since 1997. His areas of interest are Jewish theology, Jewish ethics and biomedical ethics, political theory, and Jewish-Christian relations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Finnis</span> Australian legal scholar and philosopher

John Mitchell Finnis is an Australian legal philosopher and jurist specializing in jurisprudence and the philosophy of law. He is an original interpreter of Aristotle and Aquinas, and counts Germain Grisez as a major influence and collaborator. He has made contributions to epistemology, metaphysics, and moral philosophy.

Francis J. "Frank" Beckwith is an American philosopher, professor, scholar, speaker, writer, and lecturer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian ethics</span> Branch of theology that defines virtuous and sinful behavior from a Christian perspective

Christian ethics, also known as moral theology, is a multi-faceted ethical system. It is a virtue ethic, which focuses on building moral character, and a deontological ethic which emphasizes duty. It also incorporates natural law ethics, which is built on the belief that it is the very nature of humans – created in the image of God and capable of morality, cooperation, rationality, discernment and so on – that informs how life should be lived, and that awareness of sin does not require special revelation. Other aspects of Christian ethics, represented by movements such as the social Gospel and liberation theology, may be combined into a fourth area sometimes called prophetic ethics.

Catholic moral theology is a major category of doctrine in the Catholic Church, equivalent to a religious ethics. Moral theology encompasses Catholic social teaching, Catholic medical ethics, sexual ethics, and various doctrines on individual moral virtue and moral theory. It can be distinguished as dealing with "how one is to act", in contrast to dogmatic theology which proposes "what one is to believe".

James Vincent Schall was an American Jesuit Roman Catholic priest, teacher, writer, and philosopher. He was Professor of Political Philosophy in the Department of Government at Georgetown University. He retired from teaching in December 2012, giving his final lecture on December 7, 2012, at Georgetown; it was entitled "The Final Gladness," and was sponsored by the Tocqueville Forum. has been described as "a reflection on different aspects of lifelong learning" by the National Catholic Register.

Benedict M. Ashley, O.P., was an American Catholic priest, theologian and philosopher who had a major influence on 20th century Catholic theology and ethics in America through his writing, teaching, and consulting with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. He was a member of the Dominican Order.

Richard Ryscavage, S.J., was director of the Center for Faith and Public Life and a professor of sociology and international studies at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut, and developed courses at Georgetown University. He was an internationally recognized expert on migration issues.

Lisa Sowle Cahill is an American ethicist, and J. Donald Monan Professor at Boston College. She first became known in the 1980s with her studies on gender and sexual ethics, but now she has extended her work to social and global ethics. Lisa Sowle Cahill's work focuses on an attempt to discuss the complexity of moral issues while lowering tensions about theological disagreements between the Church and society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James F. Keenan</span> Jesuit and moral theologian

James F. Keenan is a moral theologian, bioethicist, writer, and the Canisius Professor of theology at Boston College.

Kenneth R. Himes is an American Roman Catholic theologian, currently teaching at Boston College. His most recent book is the coedited work, with Conor M. Kelly, Poverty: Responding Like Jesus.

Joseph Koterski, S.J. was an American Jesuit priest, philosopher, author, and professor at Fordham University in the Bronx, New York.

John Aloysius "Jack" Mahoney SJ is a Scottish Jesuit, moral theologian, and academic, specialising in applied ethics and business ethics. He was principal of Heythrop College, London from 1976 to 1981, F. D. Maurice Professor of Moral and Social Theology at King's College, London from 1986 to 1993, and Dixons Professor of Business Ethics and Social Responsibility at the London Business School from 1993 to 1998. He was also Gresham Professor of Commerce between 1988 and 1993.

Andrew Joseph Christiansen was an American Jesuit priest and author. He was Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Human Development at the Georgetown University Walsh School of Foreign Service, a senior fellow at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, and the former editor-in-chief of the Jesuit magazine America. His areas of research included nuclear disarmament, nonviolence and just peacemaking, Catholic social teaching, and ecumenical public advocacy.

References

  1. 1 2 "Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J." jesuits.georgetown.edu. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  2. Boston College Theology Department. "David Hollenbach". Boston College. Archived from the original on 2010-06-20. Retrieved 2011-04-05.
  3. "Catholic Theological Society of America - Awards". ctsa-online.org. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  4. "David Hollenbach, S.J. - Theology Department -". Boston College . Retrieved 2011-04-05.
  5. 1 2 Craig, Daniel M (1 January 2004). "Book Review". The Journal of Religion. doi:10.1086/382324. JSTOR   10.
  6. Egan, Keith J (2002). "David Hollenbach,The Common Good and Christian Ethics". St. Mary's College. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 17 April 2011.