News & Events

New M.Phil. in Christian Theology, Diploma in Christian Theology and Certificate in Christian Theology brochure 2022.

Congratulations to all our M.Phil. students in theology who have just graduated. A great day was had by all!

‘Illumination in Dark Times – The Surprising Contemporary Relevance of Catholic Social Teaching’ is the topic of the Inaugural JCFJ Annual Lecture, featuring Professor Anna Rowlands. This FREE lecture takes place on Thursday March 24th at 7pm at the Jesuit Centre for Faith and Justice in Upper Gardiner Street, Dublin but registration is necessary. For more information and link to Eventbrite registration click here.

Dr. Cornelius Casey has written on “The Case for Theology in the University” in the latest edition of “Studies”. Read the article here. This article sets out some of the thinking behind the Festival of Theology that the Loyola institute will host in May 2022 on “Theology and the University”.

To mark its tenth year of academic endeavour the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin is hosting a conference on the theme Theology and the University: the challenges, the relevance, the difficulties, from 19th-21st May, 2022. More details to follow.

We invite you to join us for ‘Lá Fhéile Bríde’ - Tuesday 1st February 7 – 7.45 pm, to learn more about Women and Theology, past and present and to hear from some students. We will outline opportunities for women to study theology at postgraduate level here at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin.

We are delighted to announce our 2022 Faith Seeking Understanding course run by Loyola Institute in conjunction with the Jesuit Education secretariat, and with Le Chéile, Spiritan and Loreto education trusts.This introductory course in Theology, run over three evenings online, is intended to meet the need, expressed by some, to be more literate about their faith.It commences Weds 2nd February. To learn more and register click here

It includes the latest news of activities and forthcoming events as well as articles on “COP26: a Brief Word of Encouragement” by Dr Michael Kirwan SJ and “Women and Theological Formation” by Dr Fáinche Ryan

Dr Mary Stefanazzi, Loyola’s first doctoral student, on her recent publication “Privatio Boni: Evil through the eyes of Carl Jung and Victor White” in the Irish Judicial Studies Journal Ed.2. Follow link to Pdf.

Congratulations to doctoral student Paul Corcoran for his article “Patrick Kavanagh is the Catholic poet we should be reading this Advent” | America Magazine. To view, please click on this link.

The final lecture in this Online Lecture Series is being given by J.-Michel Reaux Colvin from the Modern, Classical Languages and Literatures Department, The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. For more information and to register for this free online lecture, please click on this link.

Dr Alexander O’Hara left the Loyola Institute for Harvard in October 2021. While a Research Fellow at the Loyola Institute, in the project on theology and the early Irish church, Alex made significant contribution to the module entitled Christianity of the Celtic World. He also co-ordinated a very successful webinar series to celebrate the 15th centenary of the birth of St Columbanus, a series which attracted a high number of international attendees. In addition, during his time with us, Alex continued his work toward a publication on cultural perceptions of Ireland and the Irish. He is co-authoring this work with an American colleague. They aim to submit the manuscript to Princeton University in September 2022. We wish Alex all the best in his ongoing research work in this fascinating area of study.

The Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin, is pleased to announce a doctoral scholarship in theology and the early Irish Church. The scholarship will cover academic fees and offer a stipend of €13,000 per annum for four years. Some funding will also be available to help with travel for research and conferences. The successful applicant will have a strong research background and demonstrated track record of excellence in theology and/or medieval history. If the student is lacking expertise in either of these areas, they will be asked to complete appropriate modules from the MPhil in Christian Theology, or from the MPhil in Medieval Studies. This scholarship is offered thanks to generous philanthropic funding. An important part of work of the scholar, as stipulated by the funder, is to ensure the dissemination of the research not only to an academic audience but also to a general audience. The development of the skills necessary for this will form an important part of the student’s work

The next Columcille in Context: Theologians and Historians in Conversation to Commemorate the 15th Centenary of the Birth of Saint Columba of Iona (521/ 2021) lecture series is continuing on Wednesday 6th October, 2021 and is being given by Very Rev Dr Billy Swan. More information and registration is available by clicking on this link.

This lecture series is continuing with a lecture taking place on September 29th titled ‘Soiscela mor Coluim cille’ – The Great Gospel of Colmcille. The Book of Kells (Trinity College Dublin MS 58) contains the four Gospels in Latin based on the Vulgate text (St Jerome, 384AD), intermixed with readings from the earlier Old Latin translation. The date and place of origin of the Book of Kells have attracted a great deal of scholarly interest. This lecture will give an introduction to the Book of Kells - The Great Gospel of Colmcille – discuss its provenance, composition and iconography. In addition a detailed theological reading of one or more of the fully illustrated pages will be presented.

This lecture series is continuing with the next two lectures taking place on September 8th and September 29th respectively as an online series throughout the remainder of 2021. More information and registration is available by clicking on this link.

Trinity College Dublin and the Loyola Institute Trust and Company have signed a revised Memorandum of Understanding with respect to the Loyola Institute at Trinity College. The Institute has been part of Trinity since 2012 and the new MOU provides the formal framework within which the Institute will operate as part of Trinity’s recently restructured School of Religion, Theology, and Peace Studies. Read more here.

Applications for our MPhil, Diploma and Certificate in Christian Theology close at the end of July. Check out the courses and the scholarships available here.

Check out two recent lectures on Columcille to celebrate the 15th centenary of his birth, and presentations by our MPhil students on their dissertations, and lots more on our YouTube channel. Please Follow / Subscribe to our channel to receive automatic notifications of new video’s.

We are delighted to be able to announce that the sixth Power of the Word Conference, with the theme ‘The Call of Literature’, which was prevented by Coronavirus from taking place as a residential conference in Dublin in the summer of 2020, is now being planned as a virtual online conference for summer 2021. Please click on the link for more information and to register for the lecture.

The Second lecture in this series is being delivered by Professor Jonathan Wooding Honorary Professor, Medieval and Early Modern Centre, University of Sydney on, Tuesday 29th June 2021, 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm and the online series will run throughout the remainder of the year.

When: JUNE 17, 2021, 17:00h - 19:00 h CET - We are glad to invite you to a Kircher Online Lecture Series conducted in English by professor Anna Bugajska, Jesuit University Ignatianum, Kraków, Poland. She is the Head of the Institute of Modern Languages and the Head of Language and Culture Studies Department. Bugajska conducts interdisciplinary research in philosophy, bioethics, literature and collaborates with the Institute of Philosophy of the Jesuit University Ignatianum.

Republic Film Distribution will now release FATIMA on 25 June 2021 in cinemas across Ireland and the UK and on digital platforms. Click here for link to Fatima marketing pack with download links for stills, artwork, trailers and social content.

The summer edition of our newsletter is full of news including: reflections of ten years of Loyola Institute by Founding Director Dr Con Casey; Prof Garrigan reclaiming Mary Magdalen; forthcoming events you can join, and reports on what the staff and students of the Loyola Institute have been up to. Click here to read.

We are delighted that our Spring Newsletter 2021 has been published. Have a read of it to find out what our staff and students have been up to over the past year. It also contains details of forthcoming events as well as information on postgraduate opportunities and scholarships. Click here to download

Dr Alexander O’Hara, Research Fellow in Historical Theology, Loyola Institute has organised the first lecture in this series was delivered by Professor Thomas O’Loughlin, Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology, University of Nottingham, on the Feast of Columcille, Wednesday 9th June 2021, 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm and the online series will run throughout the remainder of the year. A recording of this lecture is available by clicking on this link.

This year’s D’Arcy lectures will be given by Dr Patrick Riordan SJ. They aim to explore the concept of Common Good through the three lenses of Aristotle’s philosophy, Catholic teaching, and contemporary political liberalism. The next lecture takes place on 1st June 2021 entitled: Is the Church Paternalistic in Prescribing the Common Good? from 5.30-6.30pm. A full programme and regristration information can be found here.

Dr Michael Kirwan will be presenting to the Political Theology seminar at Goldsmiths College, London, on Thursday 27th May, from 6.00 to 7.30. For details and access, please follow this link.

We are delighted that Loyola Institute’s Dr Fáinche Ryan, had been invited to explore the subject of webinars ‘The Complexity of Truth-Telling in a Post-Truth Age’ as part of this prestigious series of lunchtime webinars. Fáinche will be interviewed by her Loyola Institute colleague, Dr Alexander O’Hara.

You are warmly invited to come and hear some of our MPhil graduates do short presentations on their research. These presentations will cover a variety of Christian theology topics and there will be an opportunity to ask questions. This Colloquium will be held online on Tuesday 27th April, 7.30-9.00 pm. The Zoom link for joining will be available by clicking here.

We are delighted to invite you to join us at this online event, where you will have the opportunity to learn more about the Loyola Institute, its academic mission, the opportunities to do post-graduate studies in Christian theology, our scholarships, research, and other activities. As part of this you will hear from students, and short lectures from our teaching staff. Please register in advance here for this Free Event.

You are warmly invited to come and hear some of our MPhil graduates do short presentations on their research. These presentations will cover a variety of Christian theology topics and there will be an opportunity to ask questions. This Colloquium will be held online on Tuesday 27th April, 7.30-9.00 pm. The Zoom link for joining will be available by clicking here.

This year’s D’Arcy lectures will be given by Dr Patrick Riordan SJ. They aim to explore the concept of Common Good through the three lenses of Aristotle’s philosophy, Catholic teaching, and contemporary political liberalism. The eight-part lecture series will explore questions such as: Is concern for the common good compatible with upholding respect for human rights? -- Can the conception of the common good be sufficiently robust to generate concrete policy proposals? -- Is the notion of common good intrinsically conservative, so that its usage undermines the possibility of critique of established interests? The lectures will beheld every Tuesday, starting on 27th April, from 5.30-6.30pm. A full programme and regristration information can be found here.

PhD student Stephen Huws, is working on a very visual PhD (Scriptural representations in Stained Glass) and updates his twitter and instagram regularly which you can follow via this link. First-year PhD student Stephen Huws discussed his recently published article on a William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones stained glass window in Yorkshire, reconstructing the damaged window in its original context and the religious significance it held for its community. See our News page for details.

We are delighted to welcome Dr Alexander O’Hara, as Research Fellow at the Loyola Institute. Dr O’Hara is a historian of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages specialising in monastic history and theology, the medieval cult of the saints and medieval Latin literary culture. A graduate of the University of St Andrews and Oxford University, he has held Research Fellowships at the Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, the University of St Andrews and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton.

The Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development is committed to partnering with ecologically-focused clergy and theologians to augment the faith voice in hastening the transition to cleaner, healthier and more sustainable communities. In conjunction with the publication of Eco Bible, Vol. 1: An Ecological Commentary on Genesis and Exodus, they are sponsoring two webinars featuring theologians speaking to religion and ecology.

Marking the third anniversary of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, the event was hosted by Gangwon Province, PyeongChang County, and Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and organized by the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation. The slogan of the event was Peace! Here and Now and it sought to identify new challenges and opportunities in achieving peace on the Korean Peninsula and across the world in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. David Mitchell contributed a video presentation on the peacebuilding role of sport in Northern Ireland during a session on sport and peace in Korea around the world.

To celebrate the Irish School of Ecumenics 50th Anniversary, you are welcome to participate in the first event of a Webinar Series which will be taking place over the coming year. Entitled: Ecumenical Movement and Reconciliation in Ireland and Beyond - Like wheat that springs up green. Takes place on 28 January, 2021 at 5 PM WEBINAR - Free attendance with registration via Eventbrite. Click here for more information.

November 20, 2020, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York (UK) - First-year PhD student Stephen Huws discussed his recently published article on a William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones stained glass window in Yorkshire, reconstructing the damaged window in its original context and the religious significance it held for its community.

Faith Seeking Understanding Lecture Series continues online from January 2021. Tickets can be purchased from Eventbrite - €20 payment for all four lectures. All Welcome.