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Dr. Fáinche Ryan

Associate Professor (School of Religion)
      
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Dr. Fáinche Ryan

Associate Professor (School of Religion)

 faryan@tcd.ie

 


Fáinche Ryan is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Trinity College Dublin and is the current President of the European Society of Catholic Theology. She has served as Director of the Loyola Institute, establishing an MPhil in Christian Theology. She is the current course co-ordinator. Her specific expertise is in the theology of Thomas Aquinas. In contemporary issues such as truth-telling in an age of "post-truth", ecclesial leadership, sensus fidei and synodality, theological anthropology, she brings Aquinas" work to bear as a valuable resource and conversation partner. The development of a module on the theology of the early Irish Church, with particular focus on the theology of the Book of Kells, is a notable innovation to her teaching portfolio. She has played a leading role in the organisation of international conferences in Trinity College, notably The Tasks of Theology in Europe Today (2025), Theology and the University (2023), The Role of the Church in a Pluralist Society (2016). Fainche is frequently asked to contribute by public media, most recently providing expert commentary during the papal conclave (2025). As well as academic work in theology she is regularly invited to talk at diocesan and parish level. She was awarded her doctorate in theology by the Pontifical University of St Thomas Aquinas, Rome (2007). This research was subsequently published in the prestigious series of the Thomas Instituut te Utrecht with Peeters, Louvain - Formation in Holiness: Thomas Aquinas on Sacra doctrina. From 2006-2008 she was Director of Teaching and Learning at the Margaret Beaufort Institute, a member of the Cambridge Theological Federation and Affiliated Lecturer at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge. In 2008 she took up appointment as lecturer in Theology at the Mater Dei Institute, Dublin City University. In 2013 she took up her appointment at Trinity College Dublin, elected to Fellowship in 2019.
     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
Project Title
 Theology in the University
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Project Title
 Religious Literacy
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Details Date
President of the European Society of Catholic Theology 2025-2027
HS1 Evaluation panel, National Science Centre, Poland 2025
President of the Irish Theological Association 2012-2016
Invited expert on a Vatican project, Church of the Sheaves, a global initiative of the Dicastery for Evangelization, working in collaboration with a network of Catholic universities across five continents. 2026
Elected President, Irish Section of the European Society for Catholic Theology (ESCT) 2019-2025
Invited member of scientific committee for the newly founded journal CREATION (Budapest). Inaugural issue - Methodology of the Care for Creation. 2026
Journal reviewer for Toronto Journal of Theology, University of Toronto Press. 2026
Editorial member of the Journal ET-Studies
External examiner, University of Malta, Faculty of Theology. 2019
Invited member of committee for the state doctoral examination, Faculty of Theology, University of South Bohemia 2023
External examiner for Licentiate dissertation, Pontifical University, Maynooth. 10.12.2021
External Examiner, Carlow College, St Patrick's 2022
Member of the Board of Mount Anville Heart Education Trust 2019
Appointed by the Teaching Council of Ireland as subject assessor in the area of Religious Education 2014
As Irish representative at the European Third Level Network of rectors and deans of Jesuit Universities and Faculties (Kircher Network I attended meetings in Paris (2017), Bilbao (2018) and Innsbruck (2019) 2017
Appointed member of the Academic Council of the Priory Institute, Tallaght, Dublin 2010
Invitation to present a paper to the Christian Theology Seminar, at the Divinity Faculty, Cambridge. Title of presentation: 'Priesthood and Thomas Aquinas' Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews: Some Pointers for a Theology of Priesthood today.' 6.3.2013
Invited participant at a symposium entitled Factions, Fears, and Fake News. This was organized by the Trinity Long Room Hub Arts and Humanities Research Institute and the Heyman Center for the Humanities, Columbia University, New York. 7.11.2017
I am an invited member of the Applied Catholic Social Tradition Network, an international group of scholars focused on the application of Catholic social tradition (CST) to various social problems. In this capacity I have participated in seminars in London and Rome. At the Rome colloquium, entitled, "Enacting Catholic Social Tradition: Making a Difference on the Ground," I gave a paper entitled "Catholic Social Teaching and the Christian Theological Virtue of Hope. January 2017
I was invited to present a paper at a colloquium entitled Aquinas and Analytic Philosophy. My paper was titled "Post-truth in the light of Aquinas analysis of truth-telling (veritas sive veracitas). Other speakers included Prof Eleanore Stump,The Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy, Saint Louis University and Prof. Roger Pouivet, Université de Lorraine. 27-28.1.2017
Invited speaker at the Second International Symposium Thomisticum (held in Porto, Portugal, June 2017) and the forthcoming Fourth International Symposium Thomisticum to be held in Rome (July 2019). July 2019
Keynote speaker at the SMA Summer School 2017 - "Faith Responding To Changing Times". My paper was titled "Imbalanced Leadership within the Church". 7-9.7.2017
Language Skill Reading Skill Writing Skill Speaking
English Fluent Fluent Fluent
French Fluent Medium Medium
German Basic Basic Basic
Greek Basic Basic Basic
Irish Medium Medium Medium
Italian Fluent Medium Medium
Latin Medium Basic Basic
Details Date From Date To
European Academy of Religion 2018 Present
Irish Theological Association (President 2012-2017) 1998 Present
Catholic Theological Association (GB) 2006 2018
European Society for Catholic Theology (ESCT)[President Irish Section, 2019-2025] 2003 Present
Irish Biblical Association 1998 2016
Fáinche Ryan, Formation in Holiness. Thomas Aquinas on Sacra doctrina. , Leuven, Thomas Instituut Utrecht - Peeters , 2007, 1 - 217pp, Book, PUBLISHED
Fainche Ryan, Toward an understanding of Ratzinger"s assertion of an "inalienable right of Greek thought to a place in Christianity", Concilium: International Journal of Theology, (1), 2025, p111 - 118, Notes: [This article addressed the issue of fundamental imporantance of how to understand the interaction of hellenistic culture and Hebrew culture, a matter of core importance in the formation of early Christianity. This is a revision of a paper given at a congress to approx 50 people. It is published in six languages, and Concilium claims status as the most widely read theological journal in the world.], Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Darwin and Aquinas. Descent with Modification in, editor(s)Louis Caruana , Darwinism and Catholicism. The Past and Present Dynamics of a Cultural Encounter, London/New York, T&T Clark, 2009, pp43 - 59, [Fáinche Ryan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Fainche Ryan, Theology and the University, Routledge: Taylor and Francis Group, 2024, Book, PUBLISHED  DOI
Fainche Ryan, . On Restoring the Centrality of Prudentia (Phronēsis) for Living Well: Pathways and Contemporary Relevance , Religions , 12, (10), 2021, p1 - 19, Journal Article, PUBLISHED  TARA - Full Text  DOI
The University: A Refuge of Truth and Truthfulness in, editor(s)Fainche Ryan, Dirk Ansorge, Joseph Quitterer , Theology and the University, London and New York, Routledge, 2024, pp24 - 38, [Fainche Ryan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Special Issue of Religions: "Decision-Making in an Uncertain Time. Should You Always Obey Your Conscience?", (2022), Fainche Ryan, Journal, PUBLISHED
2016 On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine in, editor(s)Cornelius J.Casey, Fáinche Ryan , The Church in Pluralist Society: Social and Political Roles, USA, Notre Dame University Press, 2019, [Fáinche Ryan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
The Quest for Aquinas' Theology of Church: An Ecclesiology sub ratione Dei, in, editor(s)Matthew Levering, Piotr Roszak, Jörgen Vijgen , T&T Clark Handbook of Biblical Thomism, London, Bloomsbury Publishing, 2025, [Fainche Ryan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Cornelius J.Casey, Fáinche Ryan eds, The Church in Pluralist Society: Social and Political Roles, USA, Notre Dame University Press, 2019, 1 - 178pp, Book, PUBLISHED
  

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Synodality and Co-responsibility in, editor(s)Margit Eckholt , Synodality in Europe, Zurich, Lit Verlag, 2024, pp129 - 144, [Fainche Ryan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Fainche Ryan, Die Prämisse Gott Die Theologie bleibt fundamental für die europäische Identität., Herder Korrespondenz, 80, (1), 2026, p6-, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Fáinche Ryan, "Continuity and Radical Discontinuity: Temple Vocabulary and Priestly Ordination", Doctrine and Life, 64, 2014, p22 - 38, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Fainche Ryan, The Complexity of Truth-telling , IV Symposium Thomisticum, Rome, 4th-6th July, 2019, 2019, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Fainche Ryan, Augustine, Aquinas and Lying, Thomas Aquinas and the Church Fathers, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, 4th-6th April, 2019, Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Fainche Ryan, Truth, Lies, Violence, European Academy of Religion EuARe , Bologna, 4th-7th March, 2019, 2019, Notes: [Conference: Contribution to a Panel entitled Violence and Grace in the Human Condition], Conference Paper, PRESENTED
Fáinche Ryan, Secrets of an Irish masterpiece - The Book of Kells , The Tablet, 273, (9293), 2019, p4 - 5, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
The Times They Are A-Changin' in, editor(s)John Littleton, Eamon Maher , The Francis Factor. A New Departure, Dublin, Columba Press, 2014, pp125 - 132, [Fáinche Ryan], Book Chapter, PUBLISHED
Fáinche Ryan, On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine: From Newman to Vatican II and Beyond, 106, (423), 2017, p344 - 355, Journal Article, PUBLISHED
Fainche Ryan, Aquinas on Faith, Reason and Charity, Review of Aquinas on Faith, Reason, and Charity, by Roberto Di Ceglie , Faith and Philosophy, 2022, Review, APPROVED

  


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Award Date
Fellow of Trinity College Dublin 29th April, 2019
President of European Society of Catholic Theology 24.8.2025
I am an internationally recognised theologian with specific expertise in the theology of Thomas Aquinas. Recognition of my international reputation was my election as President of the European Society of Catholic Theology in August 2025. In this role I co-ordinate collaboration between 21 national associations, organising events, network building. chairing meetings. My research brings Aquinas' philosophical and theological works to bear on contemporary ecclesial and societal concerns. My distinctive feminist readings of Aquinas" corpus recover insights long hidden by patriarchal readings. Aquinas is not a feminist, or a liberal, yet his thinking contributes richly to current debates. My current research foci are two-fold: truth-telling and ecclesiology. The former develops the argument that truth-telling is an integral component within the virtue of justice: where truth-telling decays, society decays. The latter engages with an intra-Church issue, that of synodality. With regard to truth-telling a monograph, `Fiat veritas, et pereat mundus: The Complexity of Truth-telling" is progressing. To this purpose I have delivered keynote papers at international conferences (2017, Dublin; 2017 Porto; 2019, Cambridge; 2020, Innsbruck; 2021, Oxford; 2022, Rome; 2025, Olomouc, Czech). Four journal articles published. I organised an international conference in 2022 on Theology and the University, I contributed a chapter entitled 'The University: A Refuge of Truth and Truthfulness' in the publication which ensued Routledge (2024). This year I offer a Sophister module on Truth. With regard to ecclesial synodality, a topic of debate today, my work argues that to engage with the theology of Aquinas in this contemporary topic reveals insights hitherto unseen, or perhaps forgotten (deliberately?) in the understanding of the theology of ordination, and that of ecclesial leadership. I am involved in two research groups in this area. Four book chapters, four journal articles published.