Theologian James F. Keenan, S.J., celebrated
The scholarship and legacy of Vice Provost for Global Engagement, Canisius Professor, and Jesuit Institute Director James F. Keenan, S.J., an internationally respected and influential Catholic moral theologian, will be celebrated at a conference at Boston College on September 13-14.
The conference, “Bothering to Love: James F. Keenan’s Retrieval and Reinvention of Catholic Ethics,” will bring many of Fr. Keenan’s former students—now academic theologians in the United States and abroad—back to campus to honor their professor and his body of work in the field of theological ethics.
“This Festschrift conference is a way to express our admiration for all Jim has done in the field and our gratitude for what he’s done for so many of us in the field today,” said Clough School of Theology Associate Professor Daniel J. Daly, who received a doctorate in theological ethics from BC in 2008 under the direction of Fr. Keenan and is serving as a convener of the conference along with CSTM Professor Mary Jo Iozzio, another of Fr. Keenan’s doctoral advisees.
The event will begin Friday at 4 p.m. in Gasson 100 with remarks from Daly, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., and Theology Department Chair and Walsh Professor of Bioethics Andrea Vicini, S.J. Professor of Ecumenics Linda Hogan from the School of Religion at Trinity College, Dublin, will offer the keynote address, “Love’s Work: The Performative Theological Ethics of James F. Keenan.”
Vice Provost for Global Engagement, Canisius Professor and Jesuit Institute Director James F. Keenan, S.J.
“The spirit of the conference goes beyond gratitude; it will look back and look forward,” said Daly. “It will look back to Jim’s work, which is ongoing. He’s as productive now as he’s ever been. It will also look forward to where the discipline is going, given his many contributions. At the conference, Jim’s work will serve as a point of departure for addressing issues that confront humanity, Christians, and Catholics today.
“There’s not one person in the world who is more deserving of this honor,” Daly added. “He’s a giant in the field.”
Fr. Keenan, who has authored more than 27 books and edited volumes and more than 225 professional essays, is considered one of the most prolific and influential Catholic ethicists living in the world today, said Daly, citing Fr. Keenan’s contributions in the areas of Aquinas, virtue ethics, and the history of Catholic moral theology.
“He’s widely cited and I’d say every academic theological ethicist has read him. He has influenced academic theological ethics in many of its sub-fields, and his work will be read for decades and decades to come.”
Beyond academic circles, Fr. Keenan has written widely for lay Catholics, authoring more than 150 essays and articles in publications such as America, National Catholic Reporter, and Commonweal.
“He’s influenced how lay Catholics think about their moral lives,” said Daly. “He has a style of writing where he tells stories and he connects with people’s experience in order to teach them about the tradition. He’s not telling them what to do, but guiding their own discernment, helping them to make better decisions in light of the Catholic moral tradition.”
One of Fr. Keenan’s most notable accomplishments is his founding of the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church, the first and only global network of Catholic theological ethicists, said Daly.
“He has given scholars in the Global South a platform, raising up voices of people who traditionally had not been listened to," said Daly. "It’s been an enormous shift in the field. He has given scholars in the Global North a way to read, listen to, and meet scholars from Latin America, Africa, and Asia. It has really enriched the scholarship coming out of the Global North now that we’re reading the work of our sisters and brothers from the Global South.”
"There's not one person in the world who is more deserving of this honor. He's a giant in the field.”
A beloved teacher and mentor, Fr. Keenan led the University’s Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program for 10 years and has directed more than 40 doctoral dissertations and scores of licentiates in sacred theology.
“His influence has filtered down in so many ways through the work of his students,” noted Daly, citing the S.T.L. degree recipients who have returned to Asia, Africa, and Latin America to teach in their seminaries as well as the recipients of the Ph.D. in theological ethics who are teaching and writing.
On day two of the conference many of Fr. Keenan’s former students will participate in panels where they will engage with Fr. Keenan’s work on topics such as fundamental moral theology, virtue and the virtues, bioethics, ethics of sex and gender, marginalized communities, and pastoral, practical and pedagogical perspectives.
Other members of the campus community participating in the conference as panel conveners/participants or speakers include CSTM Dean Michael McCarthy, S.J.; Monan Professor of Theology Lisa Sowle Cahill; John W. Kozarich ’71 Chair of the Engineering Department Glenn Gaudette; Global Public Health Director Professor Philip Landrigan; BC Law Professor and Dean’s Distinguished Scholar Katharine Young; and BC students Mark John Shimave, Barbara Anne Kozee, Valentina Nilo Covarrubias, and Zoe Feist.
The conference has been funded and supported by the Institute for the Liberal Arts, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Provost’s Office, Clough School of Theology and Ministry, and Theology Department.
The conference’s September 13 session is open to the public and will be available on Zoom. Registration is required for the September 14 sessions. See bit.ly/james-keenan-conference-2024 for details.