The Faculty of Philosophy at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, held the launch of two books by their newest members of staff, Dr Gaven Kerr and Dr Philip Gonzales. The launch took place on Monday 18 November in Renehan Hall in the college. The speakers at the launch were Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Rev Prof Michael Mullaney, president of Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, and Prof Philipp Rosemann, chair of philosophy, Maynooth University.
The two books published were Reimagining the Analogia Entis: The Future of Erich Przywara’s Christian Vision (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2019), by Dr Philip Gonzales (foreword by Cyril O’Regan), and Aquinas and the Metaphysics of Creation (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019) by Dr Gaven Kerr.
Dr Gonzales holds a PhD in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain and is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Formally he taught at the University of Dallas for four years at both their Texas and Rome campuses. He is the editor of Exorcising Philosophical Modernity: Cyril O’Regan and Christian Discourse after Modernity, forthcoming, 2020. He is also currently working on his second book Agamben, Metaphysics, and Political Theology: A Theopolitical Critique.
Dr Kerr is a married father of three and a third order Dominican. He has three degrees in philosophy, all from Queen’s University Belfast. Dr Kerr has numerous articles published in international peer reviewed journals such as The Thomist, Journal of Philosophical Research, Religious Studies, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. Gaven has worked at Queen’s University Belfast, Saint Malachy’s seminary Belfast, Maynooth University, Mary Immaculate College, and he currently is a lecturer in philosophy at Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth. Dr Kerr’s latest book is a sequel to his well received 2015 publication, Aquinas’s Way to God: The Proof in De Ente et Essentia.
The book launch was attended by bishops, students, staff, interested professionals, and family members. Prof Mullaney opened proceedings by introducing Dr Gonzales and Dr Kerr as the newest members of the philosophy faculty, and Archbishop Martin proceeded to speak on the importance of studying philosophy at third level, and the impact that such study can have on wider society especially in Ireland. Archbishop Martin expressed his desire to grow the faculty of philosophy and that with the appointment of the two new staff members SPCM now has a faculty equal to the standing of the best international faculties.
ENDS
