Joseph S. O'Leary

Joseph S. O'Leary, priest of the diocese of Cork and Ross, Doctor of Divinity from Maynooth, postdoc studies in Paris, has been associated with Nanzan since 1984. He worked on the Crossroad Encyclopedia volumes on Buddhist Spirituality, learning the basics of Buddhist history in the process, and he rewrote a translation of Nishida's Intuition and Reflection in Self-Consciousness. He held the Roche chair in 2015–2016 after retiring from Sophia University. His first studies were in literature and he has gathered his essays on Irish literature in two volumes published by Chisokudo, Joysis Crisis and Irreducible Ireland. His study of theology was heavily influenced by Heidegger's project of "overcoming metaphysics" (see Heidegger et la question de Dieu, 1980, and Questioning Back,1985), as applied to the Fathers of the Church, and then by Derrida and Nagarjuna (Religious Pluralism and Christian Truth, 1996). He brought his literary approach to bear on texts by Origen (Christianisme et philosophie chez Origène, 2011), Athanasius, Gregory of Nyssa, Augustine, and also on a major Buddhist text (Buddhist Nonduality, Paschal Paradox: A Christian Commentary on The Teaching of Vimalakirti, 2018). Somewhat torn between the different tracks of his studies—theology, patristics, philosophy, literature, Buddhism—he hopes to use well the time left him to bring it all together AMDG!