Fr. Michael J. Dodds, O.P.
Fr. Dodds is on sabbatical for the academic year 2008/2009
Professor of Philosophy and Theology
Office phone: (510) 883-2080
E-mail: mdodds@dspt.edu
B.A., M.A. in Philosophy, St. Albert's College; M.Div., M.A. in Theology, Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology; S.T.D., University of Fribourg, Switzerland
recommended reading
How do we talk about God? How do we speak of one who infinitely exceeds all that we can know or imagine? Our inclination is to picture God as somehow like us, only bigger and better. This is to speak of God univocally, to assume that our words mean just the same thing, whether we say them of God or of creatures. But when God is conceived in this way, it soon looks like God's activity must interfere with the agency of creatures whether with human freedom or with contingency and chance in nature. There is therefore an urgent need in theology today to recover the language of analogy, which begins with the affirmation that God is not like us.
Fr. Michael hopes to instill in his students an integration of Classical Philosophy and Theology with current questions and issues. His teaching style evokes a Socratic dialogue with his students, which at least initially involves not so much supplying answers as exploring questions. He enjoys interacting with students, exchanging ideas, allowing the tradition to challenge student and student to challenge the tradition.
The courses Fr. Michael Dodds teaches are:
- Philosophy of Nature
- Philosophical Anthropology
- One Creator God
- The Trinity
- Theological Anthropology
- Divine Action
- God and Suffering
Fr. Michael is currently working on a book about Divine Action. Given the scientific account of causality and the world, how can we conceive of God as acting in the world and causing events? His other academic interests are: Theology and Science; Thomas Aquinas; and Theodicy.
Select Publications
"The Teaching of Thomas Aquinas on the Mysteries of the Life of Christ (Summa Theologiae, Part III, Questions 27-45)", in Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM. Cap., et. al., Thomas Aquinas and Christian Doctrine. London: T&T Clark/ Continuum, 2004 (projected).
"The Doctrine of Causality in Aquinas and The Book of Causes: One Key to Understanding the Nature of Divine Action," in Timothy L. Smith, ed., Aquinas's Sources: The Notre Dame Symposium, South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press, (forthcoming).
"Science, Causality and Divine Action: Classical Principles for Contemporary Challenges," CTNS Bulletin, 21, nr.1(Winter, 2001) 3-12.
"Top Down, Bottom Up or Inside Out? Retrieving Aristotelian Causality in Contemporary Science," in John O'Callaghan, ed., Science, Philosophy and Theology, South Bend, IN: St. Augustine's Press, (forthcoming).
Living the Beatitudes Today: Happily Ever After Begins Here and Now, (with Bill Dodds), Chicago, IL, Loyola Press, (1997).
"Of Angels, Oysters, and an Unchanging God: Aquinas on Divine Immutability," Listening 30 (1995):35-49.
"Thomas Aquinas, Human Suffering, and the Unchanging God of Love." Theological Studies 52(1991) 330-344.
The Unchanging God of Love: A Study of the Teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on Divine Immutability in View of Certain Contemporary Criticism of this Doctrine. Fribourg, Switzerland: Editions Universitaires, 1986.
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