Rev Dr Thomas Ryan

Sm, BA, MA (Hons), STL, PhD
Adjunct Associate Professor in Philosophy

Email: thomas.ryan@nd.edu.au
Phone: 02 8204 4182

  • Biography

    Thomas Ryan is a Marist priest who has been involved in tertiary theological education and adult faith education for many years. He has held honorary positions in theology at the Australian Catholic University and the University of Notre Dame Australia. He has authored books and numerous papers published in books and theological journals, both nationally and internationally.

  • Teaching Areas

    • Moral Theology
    • Spirituality
    • Pastoral Theology

  • Books

    The Eyes and Ears of Conscience: Lessons of Encouragement (St. Pauls, 2022).

    The Reasoning Heart: Jean-Claude Colin and the Marist Spirit (Adelaide, SA: ATF press, 2021).

    Shame, Hope and the Church: A Journey with Mary (Strathfield, NSW: St. Pauls, 2020).

  • Book Chapters

    ‘Devotion: “Being Shore to the Ocean”’, in Claude-Hélène Meyer & Elisabeth Vanderheiden (eds), International Handbook of Love. Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives (Springer, 2021).

    ‘Institutional Moral Failure: Emotional Intelligence and Practical Reason Serving Justice’, in Claude-Hélène Meyer & Elisabeth Vanderheiden (eds), Mistakes, Errors and Failures across Cultures: Navigating Potentials (Springer,2020).

    ‘Transforming Shame: Strategies in Spirituality and Prayer’ in C-H. Mayer & E. Vanderheiden (Eds.), The Bright Side of Shame: Transforming and Growing Through Practical Applications in Cultural Contexts (Springer International Publishing, 2019), 187-198.

    ‘The Positive Function of Shame: Moral and Spiritual Perspectives’ in E. Vanderheiden, C-H. Mayer (Eds.), The Value of Shame: Exploring a Health Resource in Cultural Contexts (Springer International Publishing, 2017), 87-105.

    ‘Aquinas on Shame: A Contemporary Interchange’ in T. Brian Mooney & Mark Nowacki [Eds], Aquinas, Education and the East (Springer: Heidelberg/New York/London: 2013), 73-100.

  • Journal Articles and Proceedings

    ‘”Joseph was a Good Man”: Conscience, Mercy and Wisdom’, , The Australasian Catholic Record 99: 1 (January, 2022): 18-31.

    ‘Conscience, Sin and Divine Mercy: Footprints from the Past’, The Australasian Catholic Record 98: 2 (April), 2021): 217-229.

    Daniel J. Fleming and Thomas Ryan, ‘Witness, Pedagogy of Grace and Moral Development’, The Australasian Catholic Record 95:3 (July) 2018, 259-272.

    ‘Declaration on Religious Freedom: Three Developmental Aspects’, Solidarity: The Journal of Catholic Social Thought and Secular Ethics 8:2 (2018), online journal.

    ‘Pope Francis and Amoris Laetitia’, Pastoral Liturgy 48:2 (2018), 14-17.

    ‘Wisdom as Loving Knowledge in Dag Hammarskjöld’s Markings’, Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, 17:2 (Fall), 2017: pp. 228-245.

    ‘Weakness, and Wounded and Troubled Love in Pope Francis Amoris Laetitia’, The Australasian Catholic Record 94: 2 (April) 2017: 131-147.

    ‘“Jesus-Our Wisest and Dearest Friend”: Aquinas on Moral Transformation’, New Blackfriars 97: 1071 (Sept), 2016: p. 575-510.

    ‘”Yes!’ And ‘Thou’ in Dag Hammarskjöld’s Markings: A Theological Investigation’, Irish Theological Quarterly, 81 (2), 2016: 119-137.

    Our Pathway to God: ‘Taste’, Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 49:4, Summer, 2015, 37-41.

    Our Pathway to God: ‘Scent’, Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 49:3, Spring, 2015, 25-30.

    ‘Our Pathway to God: ‘Touch’, Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 49:2, Winter, 2015, 2-9.

    ‘Our Pathway to God: Hearing’, Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 49:1, Autumn, 2015, 21-7.

    ‘Liturgy, Spirituality and the Moral Life: Learning from Evelyn Underhill’, Pastoral Liturgy 45:2, 2015, 8-13.

    ‘Our Pathway to God: Drawn by Desire’, Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 48:3, Spring 2014, 3-9.

    Reflection ‘If I were God for a Day, What Would I Do?’ Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 48:2, Winter 2014. 43-4.

    ‘Our Pathway to God: Sight’ (plus Guest Editorial), Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 48:4, 14-20, Summer 2014.

    Reflection ‘If I were God for a Day, What Would I Do?’ Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 48:2, Winter 2014. 43-4.

    ‘Second Person Perspective, Virtues and the Gifts in Aquinas’s Ethics’, Australian eJournal of Theology 21.1: (April 2014).

    ‘Abortion Before Marriage, Marriage Tribunal Jurisprudence and Moral Theology’, The Australasian Catholic Record 91:1, 2014: 58-72.

    ‘Christian Ethics Today: Is the Ground Shifting?’ Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 48:1, Autumn 2014. 14-19.

    ‘Does Liturgy Always Mean Being On A “High?”’, Liturgy News (43:4), December 2013, 6-7.

    ‘Liturgy, Ethics and Reconciliation: Learning from Abraham Lincoln’s Rhetorical Art’, The Australasian Catholic Record 90:3, July 2013: 311-328.

    ‘Covenantal Ethics, the Church and the Royal Commission on Sexual Abuse’, Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 47:1 (Autumn), 2013, 4-13.

    ‘Moral Conversion, Liturgy and The Preface to Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation II,’ Australian Journal of Liturgy, 13:1, 2012.

    ‘Reflections on the Two Eucharistic Prayers of Reconciliation and Moral Conversion’, Pastoral Liturgy, Vol 42, March 2012.

    ‘Christian Ethics: Moral Dilemmas or Something More’ Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 46:1, 2012.

    ‘Conscience as Primordial Moral Awareness in Gaudium et Spes and Veritatis Splendor’, Australian Ejournal of Theology 18.1, 2011.

    ‘By Way of Moral Beauty,’ Compass: A Review of Topical Theology 45:1 Autumn, 2011.

    Review article ‘Faith and Culture in Conversation: Another Theologian at Work’. Review of Neil Ormerod, Creation, Grace and Redemption, (NY: Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 2007) and Neil J. Ormerod & Shane Clifton, Globalisation and the Mission of the Church (London and New York: T & T Clark, 2009), The Australian Ejournal of Theology, 16, August 2010.

    ‘Aquinas on Compassion: Has He Anything to Offer Today?’ Irish Theological Quarterly 75:2, May 2010.

    Co-author with ‘Genevieve’ and Peter Maher, ‘Healing Abortion’s Trauma and Rachel’s Vineyard Retreat: From Three Participants’, The Australasian Catholic Record 85.2, April 2009.

    ‘Healthy Shame? An Interchange between Elspeth Probyn and Thomas Aquinas,’ Australian Ejournal of Theology, Issue 12, July 2008.

    ‘A Spirituality For Moral Responsibility: Evelyn Underhill Today’, The Australasian Catholic Record 85.2, April 2008.

    ‘Holy Spirit, Hidden God: Moral Life and the Non-Believer’, The Australasian Catholic Record, 84.4, October 2007.

    ‘Aquinas and Theology as Conversation’ in Michael Whelan SM [Ed.] Issues for Church and Society in Australia: The Aquinas Academy Jubilee Lectures (Strathfield NSW: St Pauls, 2006).

    ‘Revisiting Affective Knowing and Connaturality in Aquinas,’ Theological Studies 66:1, March 2005.

    ‘Psychic Conversion and St. Thérèse of Lisieux’: The Australasian Catholic Record 82: 1, 2005.

    ‘Faith and Culture in Conversation: One Theologian at Work,’ The Australian EJournal of Theology, Issue 3, August 2004.

    ‘In God’s Image: Towards a Theology of our Emotions,’ Compass; Review of Topical Theology 37:7, 2003.

    ‘“Speaking For Myself Personally”: Awareness of Self, Of God, Of Others’: The Australasian Catholic Record 79:3, July, 2002.

    Aquinas' Integrated View of Emotions, Morality and the Person': Pacifica 14:1, February 2001.

    Positive and Negative Emotions in Aquinas: Retrieving a Distorted Tradition’:  The Australasian Catholic Record 78:2, April, 2001.

    ‘Ecology’ in Judith A. Dwyer [Ed.]. The New Dictionary of Catholic Social Thought [Collegeville MN, The Liturgical Press, 1994], 305-9.