In his two series of lectures, McInerny discusses natural theology in the present philosophical climate. His first series answers the question, ‘whatever happened to natural theology’, tracing the fate of philosophical efforts to establish the existence and nature of God in modern times. In his second series, he covers ‘the recovery of natural theology’, defending the viability of the philosophical effort against certain dominant trends in contemporary philosophy.
Ralph Matthew McInerny was born on 24 February 1929 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A philosopher at Notre Dame for more than half a century, he authored the Father Dowling mystery series. Briefly Lecturer at Creighton University in 1954, he then joined the philosophy faculty at Notre Dame. Made Assistant Professor in 1957, Associate Professor in 1963, and Full Professor in 1969, he was also a Fulbright Research Fellow. In 1978, he became Michael P. Grace Professor of Medieval Studies and was appointed Director of the Jacques Maritain Center in 1979.
Visiting Professor at the Catholic University of America and Cornell, he held six honorary doctorates and was appointed to President George W. Bush’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Important works include The Logic of Analogy (1961), Thomism in an Age of Renewal (1966), Rhyme and Reason (1981), St Thomas Aquinas (1982), Being and Predication (1986), Art and Prudence (1988), Aquinas on Human Action (1992), The Question of Christian Ethics (1993), and Very Rich Hours of Jacques Maritain (2003). A festschrift in his honour, Recovering Nature, was published in 1999.
