Fr Simon Gaine Probes the Intersection Between Theology and Anthropology

Fr Simon Gaine OP left behind his usual duties as Regent at Blackfriars, Oxford, to spend three weeks of the summer at the famous University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.

Along with a dozen other academics from different religious backgrounds and with expertise in different areas of theology, he participated in a summer seminar on ‘human distinctiveness’ in the University’s anthropology department. Held through the generosity of the John Templeton Foundation, the seminar gave its participants a thorough grounding in evolutionary, archaeological, linguistic and cultural anthropology. Each participant is now engaged in a research project on the cusp of theology and the science of anthropology. Fr Simon’s project is to write a volume on ‘theological anthropology’ in a new series of textbooks for seminarians and theology students, where he will tackle such as issues as the origins of the human race, evolution, original sin, and whether Christ died for Neanderthals. While he doesn’t expect his work to be published until 2019, in the meantime you can find out about his latest book Did the Saviour See the Father? Christ, Salvation and the Vision of God, visit the Bloomsbury T&T Clark website.