Dr. Fáinche Ryan

In 2007 I was awarded my doctorate in theology from the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas in Rome. The research focused on the concept and method of theology in the work of Thomas Aquinas. This was subsequently published in the prestigious series of the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht with Peeters at Louvain (Belgium). In 2006 I took up the position of Director of Teaching and Learning at the Margaret Beaufort Institute, a member of the Cambridge Theological Federation. From 2006-2008 I was an Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. In 2008 I was appointed Lecturer in Theology at the Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University. In 2013 I was appointed Assistant Professor in Systematic Theology at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin, promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. From July 2016 to August 2020 I was Director of the Loyola Institute. At the Annual General Meeting of the European Society of Catholic Theology, held in Pecs, Hungary, I was elected Vice-President of the Association. I serve in this role for two years, and then succeed as President.

     Church   Eucharistic Theology   Ministry in the Church   Sensus Fidelium   The Virtue of Truth-telling   Theology   Theology of the Book of Kells   Theology of Thomas Aquinas   Women in Leadership

I am an internationally recognised theologian with specific expertise in the theology of Thomas Aquinas, evidenced by acceptance of my paper at the Eleventh International Thomistic Congress (September 2022, Rome). This will be published in the proceedings of the Congress. My research brings Aquinas' philosophical and theological works to bear on contemporary ecclesial and societal concerns. The second key direction of my research concerns church and ministry, with current particular interest in the theme of synodality, the sensus fidei, and the role for women in church leadership. My scholarship on Thomas Aquinas brings an original contribution to these topics. I publish and give talks in these areas both within and outside academia. A third focus of research is truth and truth-telling, a topic with singular relevance to the current political and cultural landscape. My argument is that truth-telling is an integral component within the virtue of justice, and that where truth-telling decays, society decays. My research has been disseminated in keynote papers at international conferences (January 2017, Dublin; June 2017 Porto; January 2019, Cambridge; January 2020, Innsbruck; May 2021, Oxford; September 2022, Rome). A publication emanating from this regards intelligent truth-telling (Aquinas' prudentia) (Religions 2021). In May 2022 I organised an international conference on the role of the university, with particular focus on the role of theology within academia (May 2022). In addition, developing this same topic, I am principal editor of an edited international volume, titled, Theology and the University (Routledge, 2024). As well as editorial material I contributed a chapter titled 'The University: A refuge of truth and truthfulness'. Within this research interest I was led to the work of Thomas Deman, a twentieth century French theologian, little translated into English. In 2022 I published 'Conscience Working within Prudentia. Instructed by Thomas Deman's Reading of Aquinas', Religions, 13. I was awarded a Research Boost fund to visit the Deman archive, University of Fribourg (Summer 2023). I am currently preparing a proposal for a monograph, working title 'Fiat veritas, et pereat mundus: The Complexity of Truth-telling'. T