Public Lecture on Catholic Migrant Identity
When I returned from study overseas, my first academic posting was in Australia’s only dedicated liberal arts college, Campion College Australia. Apart from a secondment at Depaul University in Chicago, I had nearly five happy years teaching philosophy and theology there.
It was teaching in that context that I developed a love for theology in the tradition of St. Augustine, particularly that of St. Bonaventure, which I taught in my medieval philosophy class in Campion. Reading the Confessions, particularly in light of James K.A. Smith’s coverage of his thought - first in Desiring the Kingdom, then On the Road with St Augustine - made me fall deeper in love with the Augustinian theology of love and its implications for our spiritual, cultural and political lives.
While I had also been reading Ratzinger for many years, it was not until teaching it formally in my current post as Dean of Studies at Vianney College that I started looking Ratzinger as an Augustinian, and found new points of relevance that I had not picked up in all my years of reading him.
In particular, as covered in previous posts (here and here), it shed new light on research I began in Chicago on refracting migrant identity through the lens of Augustinian theology. Over the last decade, I have seen the research topic become more and more focused on the subject of Catholic migrant identity, and the Augustinian thread lengthened by the inclusion of Ratzinger as an interlocutor.
I now have the chance to synthesise the material accumulated in an upcoming public lecture at Campion College, taking place on the evening of 14 August, with the working title “Scattered Home: Catholic Migrant Identity after Augustine, Bonaventure & Ratzinger”.
Further details can be found on the Campion College website in the link above, and there is also an event page on facebook to stay abreast of developments.
This is a free event, although registration is essential, and you can register via the Campion College link above.
This will be a part promotion for Vianney College Seminary, part homecoming, and part research synthesis, and I am looking forward to doing all three in August. I also look forward to seeing you there.
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