Russell Hittinger

Last updated

Francis Russell Hittinger III (born 27 July 1949) is the Warren Chair of Catholic Studies and Research Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa. [1] Hittinger's scholarship is focused on the intersection of philosophy, religion, and law, with particular emphasis on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. For the past several years he has worked and published extensively on the history of Catholic social thought since the 18th century. [2] [3]

Hittinger is on the governing council of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and a member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. [4] Before teaching at the University of Tulsa, he was on the faculties of Catholic University of America and Fordham University. He has served as a visiting professor at Princeton University, Catholic University in Ruzomberok, Providence College and New York University. [5] He serves as the Director of Ethics for the Warren Medical Research Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma and was formerly on the board of the Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame (20042012). He has published more than 100 articles and reviews in addition to several books, among them Thomas Aquinas and the Rule of Law, A Critique of the New Natural Law Theory, and The First Grace: Rediscovering the Natural Law in a Post-Christian World. He has played a role in the writing of papal encyclicals for three popes, his Social Science Academy together with the Pontifical Academy of Science drafted a first report on the global environmental issues only a year before Pope Francis's 2015 encyclical Laudato si' . [6]

Born in Quantico, Virginia, Francis Russell Hittinger III was the son of career Marine Corps officer, Francis Russell Hittinger, Jr. and Anne Pollard. He grew up on or near Marine Corps and Navy bases in Camp Lejeune, Norfolk, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Quantico, Kaneohe Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in Northern Virginia. He has two brothers, John Pollard Hittinger of Houston Texas and Thomas Joseph Hittinger of Manassas, Virginia. Their father was killed in action in Quang Nam Province, Republic of South Vietnam in 1968; their mother died of lung cancer in 1972. Hittinger received his BA from the University of Notre Dame, summa cum laude, majoring in History and Theology in 1975, and matriculated to the Jesuit St. Louis University, where he was awarded an MA and PhD (1986) in philosophy. His dissertation, A Critique of the New Natural Law Theory, was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 1989.

Hittinger has been on the faculty at the University of Tulsa since 1996.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic higher education</span> Type of university affiliated with the Catholic Church

Catholic higher education includes universities, colleges, and other institutions of higher education privately run by the Catholic Church, typically by religious institutes. Those tied to the Holy See are specifically called pontifical universities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacques Maritain</span> French Catholic philosopher (1882–1973)

Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he was agnostic before converting to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive Thomas Aquinas for modern times, and was influential in the development and drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Pope Paul VI presented his "Message to Men of Thought and of Science" at the close of Vatican II to Maritain, his long-time friend and mentor. The same pope had seriously considered making him a lay cardinal, but Maritain rejected it. Maritain's interest and works spanned many aspects of philosophy, including aesthetics, political theory, philosophy of science, metaphysics, the nature of education, liturgy and ecclesiology.

<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.

Catholic social teaching (CST) is an area of Catholic doctrine which is concerned with human dignity and the common good in society. It addresses oppression, the role of the state, subsidiarity, social organization, social justice, and wealth distribution. CST's foundations are considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical, Rerum novarum, which advocated distributism. Its roots can be traced to Catholic theologians such as Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo. CST is also derived from the Bible and cultures of the ancient Near East.

Pacem in terris is a papal encyclical issued by Pope John XXIII on 11 April 1963, on the rights and obligations of people and their states, as well as proper interstate relations. It emphasizes human dignity and human equality in endorsing women's rights, nuclear nonproliferation and the United Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas</span> Pontifical university located in the center of Rome, Italy

The Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (PUST), also known as the Angelicum in honor of its patron the Doctor Angelicus Thomas Aquinas, is a pontifical university located in the historic center of Rome, Italy. The Angelicum is administered by the Dominican Order and is the order's central locus of Thomist theology and philosophy.

Aeterni Patris was an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII in August 1879. It was subtitled "On the Restoration of Christian Philosophy in Catholic Schools in the Spirit of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas". The aim of the encyclical was to advance the revival of Scholastic philosophy.

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace was a pontifical council of the Roman Curia dedicated to "action-oriented studies" for the international promotion of justice, peace, and human rights from the perspective of the Roman Catholic Church. To this end, it cooperates with various religious institutes and advocacy groups, as well as scholarly, ecumenical, and international organizations.

Janet Elizabeth Smith is an American classicist and philosopher, and former professor of moral theology at the Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Michigan.

Ex corde Ecclesiae is an apostolic constitution issued by Pope John Paul II regarding Catholic colleges and universities. Promulgated on 15 August 1990 and intended to become effective in the academic year starting in 1991, its aim was to define and refine the Catholicism of Catholic institutions of higher education.

Reinhard Hütter is a Christian theologian and Professor of Fundamental and Dogmatic Theology at The Catholic University of America. During the 2012–2013 academic year, he held The Rev. Robert J. Randall Professor in Christian Culture chair at Providence College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giuseppe Pecci</span> Italian Jesuit Thomist theologian

Giuseppe Pecci was a Jesuit Thomist theologian whose younger brother, Vincenzo, became Pope Leo XIII and appointed him a cardinal. The Neo-Thomist revival, which Leo XIII and his brother Giuseppe, Cardinal Pecci originated in 1879, remained the leading papal philosophy until Vatican II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas</span>

The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas is a pontifical academy established on 15 October 1879 by Pope Leo XIII. The academy is one of the pontifical academies housed along with the academies of science at Casina Pio IV in Vatican City, Rome.

Benedict M. Ashley, O.P., was an American 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. Author of 19 books, Ashley was a major exponent of the River Forest Thomism. Health Care Ethics, which he co-authored in 1975 and now in its fifth edition, continues to be a fundamental text in the field of Catholic Medical Ethics. Ashley taught at numerous institutions and was an active teacher, consultant, and author. He was a faculty member of the Institute for Advanced Physics, a physics research and educational organization reintegrating the foundational principles given directly through our senses into the heart of modern science, from 2003 till his death. He called the Institute for Advanced Physics "the first and only institution addressing this problem [the disintegration of secular and religious culture] at its core by integrating the proper philosophical depth into the heart of modern science."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theology of Pope Leo XIII</span>

The theology of Pope Leo XIII was influenced by the ecclesial teachings of the First Vatican Council (1869-1870), which had ended only eight years before his election in 1878. Leo issued some 46 apostolic letters and encyclicals dealing with central issues in the areas of marriage and family and state and society.

Christian corporatism is a societal, economic, or a modern political application of the Christian doctrine of Paul of Tarsus in I Corinthians 12:12-31 where Paul speaks of an organic form of politics and society where all people and components are functionally united, like the human body.

Sister Mary Prudence Allen is an American philosopher who converted to Catholicism and joined the Religious Sisters of Mercy. In 2014 she was appointed to the International Theological Commission for a five-year term by Pope Francis. Her areas of specialization include the history of philosophy, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of woman, existentialism, and personalism. Areas of competence include metaphysics, philosophy of God, epistemology and logic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jude Patrick Dougherty</span> American philosopher (1930–2021)

Jude Patrick Dougherty was an American philosopher, Dean Emeritus of the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America, and Editor-in-Chief for 44 years of The Review of Metaphysics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracey Rowland</span> Australian Roman Catholic theologian

Tracey Rowland is an Australian Roman Catholic theologian and professor at the University of Notre Dame Australia. She was appointed to Pope Francis' International Theological Commission in 2014 and in 2020 became the first Australian, and third woman, to be awarded the Ratzinger Prize for theology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Alford</span> Dean Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas

Helen Mary Josephine Alford is an economist and dean of social sciences at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. April 1, 2023, was appointed president of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

References

  1. "Faculty: F. Russell Hittinger". University of Tulsa. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  2. The Teachings of Modern Christianity: On Law, Politics, & Human Nature. 2 vols. (Columbia University Press, fall 2005). Edited by John Witte and Frank Alexander. In Vol. I, “Introduction,” and “Pope Leo XIII,” pp. 3-38, 39-74. In Vol. II, annotated primary texts of Leo XIII, pp. 3-33
  3. “The Coherence of the Four Basic Principles of Catholic Social Doctrine: An Interpretation.” Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, XVIII Plenary Session (Città Del Vaticano) 2 May 2008. http://www.pass.va/content/scienzesociali/en/publications/acta/commongood.html
  4. "F. Russell Hittinger". Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.
  5. "Francis Russell Hittinger, Ph.D.: Liberty and Solidarity: Living the Vocation to Business". Catholic University of America. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  6. "Point Person: Our Q&A with Francis Russell Hittinger, an American scholar close to Pope Francis", The Dallas Morning News , September 25, 2015.