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Former Faculty

Fr. Richard Schenk, OP

DSPT Professor- Fr. Richard Schenk, OP

Former Professor of Philosophy and Theology

Current President of Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt

E-mail:

Education:

BA, MA in Philosophy (St. Albert"s College); Dr. theol., Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (University of Munich); Master of Sacred Theology (Order of Preachers).

Biography:

CV- Academic and Administrative Positions pdf
CV- Basic Dates and Academic Curriculum pdf
CV- Courses and Symposia pdf

After graduating Summa cum laude in systematic theology at the University of Munich and editing medieval Latin manuscripts for over five years at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, Fr. Richard joined DSPT on both its faculties in 1990 and soon became a member of the GTU’s Core Doctoral Faculty. He served for over ten years as director of "think tanks" in Hannover, Germany, and Washington, D.C., both dedicated to interdisciplinary and ecumenical studies at the intersection faith and culture. He was elected the founding president of the Academy of Catholic Theology 2007/2008. He was regent of studies (1999-2003, 2007-2011) for the Western Dominican Province and Vice-Chancellor of DSPT. He has been a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts since 1991.

The manifold crisis about human dignity is also a crisis about God. It belongs to Dominican study to grasp the link between the two, tracing where our loss of God leads ultimately to our loss of human dignity and finding both with each other again. For this reason it is as impossible for Dominican study to neglect the fundamental questions of God, salvific history or the ultimate truths of creation as it is to neglect the questions of the peace, justice, and stewardship to which the Gospel leads us.... Study is thus linked with that "misericordia" which moves us to proclaim the Gospel of God"s love for the world and the dignity which results from such love. Our study helps us to perceive human crises, needs, longings, and sufferings as our own (cf. Thomas Aquinas, STh, II-II 30, 2 co: "...Quia autem tristitia seu dolor est de proprio malo, intantum aliquis de miseria aliena tristatur aut inquantum miseriam alienam apprehendit ut suam").

From "Misericordia Veritatis," the document on "The Intellectual Life," Dominican General Chapter, Providence 2001.

Courses Taught:

Research Interests:

Fr. Richard"s work in philosophy and theology seeks to develop a stronger Catholic identity in the service of Church and society today by a searching recollection of the past and the anticipation of a future urged in particular by the memory of human suffering.

Essays by Fr. Richard:

Select Publications:

  • "What does Trinity "Add" to the Reality of the Covenants?" in David L. Schindler (ed.), Love Alone is Credible. Hans Urs von Balthasar as Interpreter of the Catholic Tradition, Volume 1 (Ressourcement. Retrieval and Renewal in Catholic Theology), Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge, U.K.: Eerdmans, 2008, 105-112.
  • "The Life of Study and the Common Good," Dominican Studies II (2008): 22-35.
  • Guest Editor, St. Albert the Great and Dominican Teaching (Listening. Journal of Religion and Culture 43, no. 3 (Fall 2008)).
  • Lexicon articles in Robert Benedetto et al. (ed.), The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History, Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008: Albert the Great, 12-13; Richard Fishacre, 247-248; Robert Kilwardby, 371; Thomas Aquinas, 643-645; Thomism, 645-646; William of Auvergne, 678.
  • "Officium signa temporum perscrutandi. New Encounters of Gospel and Culture in the Context of the New Evangelisation," in Johan Verstraeten (ed.), Scrutinizing the Signs of the Times in Light of the Gospel (Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, CCVIII), Leuven: University Press and Leuven/Paris/Dudley: Peeters 2007, 167-203.
  • "Option für den Thomismus in der Enzyklika?" in P. Koslowski and A.M. Hauk (ed.), Die Vernunft des Glaubens und der Glaube der Vernunft. Die Enzyklika Fides et Ratio in der Debatte zwischen Philosophie und Theologie, Munich: W. Fink, 2007, 59-81.
  • "Creative Fidelity. Remembrance and Forgetting, Renewal and Accommodation. On the 800th Anniversary of the Foundation at Prouille," Dominican Studies (Inaugural Issue, 2007).
  • "Zwischen "Projekt Weltethos" und "The Clash of Civilizations." Religioese Identitaet im Zeitalter der Globalisierung," in A. Rauscher (ed.), Nationale und kulturelle Identität im Zeitalter der Globalisierung, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2006, 111-124; translated as "Entre el "Proyecto de la Weltthos [Ética Mundial]" y "el Choque [Clash] de las Civilizaciones." Identidad Religiosa en la Era de la Globalización," in Aná Mnesis XVIII, no. 2 (2008), 113-123.
  • "Views of the Two Covenants in Medieval Theology," Nova et Vetera 4, no. 4 (2006): 891-916.
  • "The Unsundered Net: Benedict XVI and the Prospects of Ecumenism," Dialog. A Journal of Theology 44, no. 3 (2005): 292-296.
  • "What Does Trinity "Add" to the Reality of the Covenants?" Love Alone Is Credible: Hans Urs Von Balthasa As Interpreter of the Catholic Tradition. David L. Schindler (ed.): p. 105-115.