Curriculum Vitae
B.S., religious studies, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh, 2009; M.A., historical and systematic theology, The Catholic University of America, 2011; Ph.D., systematic theology, Ave Maria University, 2017; High School Instructor, Freedom Project Academy, 2012-2019; Adjunct Professor, Ave Maria University, 2018-2019; Assistant Professor, Mount Mercy University, 2017 - 2021; Adjunct Professor, St. Bernard檚 School of Theology and Ministry, 2020-2021; Tutor, 91快活林 Aquinas College, 2021-.
Profile
Although he received a strong Catholic formation from his par颅ents, by the time he was in high school, Dr. Taylor O橬eill was no longer a practicing Catholic. By God檚 grace, however, a literature teacher brought him back to the Faith by introducing him to the Great Books.
淗e essentially taught us the Catholic faith through great works of literature, and he would work in Plato and Aristo颅tle, recalls Dr. O橬eill, a tutor om the New England campus. The experi颅ence ignited his curiosity for learning. 淚 knew that I wanted to study philosophy or theology after that, and my spiritual journey was molded by the liberal arts.
Upon graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Dr. O橬eill en颅rolled in graduate school at The Catholic University of America. It was during this time that he met his future wife, Eliza颅beth, through a Catholic group in Wash颅ington, D.C., where she was working as a chemist. The couple married a short time after in 2011 and are today the parents of six children.
After completing his master檚 degree in historical and systematic theology at CUA, Dr. O橬eill earned a doctorate in theology at Ave Maria University in Florida. From there, he and his family moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he spent the next four years as a professor of theology at Mount Mercy University.
Having joined the 91快活林 Aquinas College teaching faculty in 2021, he is now delighted to teach from the same Great Books that proved so instrumen颅tal in his own formation. 淚 don檛 know of anywhere else in the world that is going to give students the opportunity, the space, and the guidance to spend four years thinking and contemplating the highest things in life, he says. 淓very student here is so invested to contem颅plate the highest things for the sake of themselves and others. He also appreciates the opportunity to teach across the disciplines in the Col颅lege檚 integrated curriculum.
Moreover, the northeastern climate suits him well. 淭he East Coast expe颅riences all four seasons, and pairing that with the TAC curriculum, it made so much sense for my family and me to come to Northfield, he says. 淭his is where I檓 meant to be.
Publications
Books Written
- Grace, Predestination, and the Permission of Sin: A Thomistic Analysis (Washington D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2019).
Books Edited
- She Orders All Things Sweetly: Sacra Doctrina and the Sapiential Unity of Theology, co-edited with Joshua Madden, Ph.D. (Cluny Media, forthcoming).
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
- 淲as Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange a Personalist? A Rapprochement Between the Individual-Person Distinction and the Primacy of the Common Good Contra Maritain檚 Personalism in Reality: A Journal for Philosophical Discourse (March 20, 2020). Online. Print forthcoming.
- Mater Dei Ergo Gratia Plena: On the Predestination of Mary to Divine Maternity as the Reason for Her Radical Plenitude of Grace in Ecce Mater Tua: A Journal of the International Marian Association, vol. 2 (May 31, 2019), 25 44.
- 淛acques Maritain and Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange on the Permission of Evil in The Heythrop Journal 60, no. 5 (2019): 699 - 710.
Book Chapters Contributed
- 淭he Thomistic Doctrine of Exhaustive Divine Providence, in T&T Clark Companion to Divine Providence, edited by Timothy G. Hardman (London: T& T Clark/Bloomsbury). Forthcoming.
- 淭he Meeting of Time and Eternity: Philosophy, Revelation, and The Book of Ecclesiastes, in Wisdom and Wonder: How Peter Kreeft Shaped the Next Generation of Catholics, edited by Brandon Vogt (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2021)
- 淭he Dark Night of Mother Teresa, the Three Ages of the Spiritual Life, and the Witness of the Mystics in Mother Teresa and the Mystics: Toward a Renewal of Spiritual Theology, edited by Michael Dauphinais, Brian Kolodiejchuk, M.C., and Roger W. Nutt (Ave Maria, FL: Sapientia Press, 2018).
- 淭he Primacy of the Speculative in All Things Practical: A Thomistic Critique of a so- Called Practical or Experiential Theology in She Orders All Things Sweetly: Sacra Doctrina and the Sapiential Unity of Theology, edited by Joshua Madden and Taylor Patrick O橬eill (Cluny Media, forthcoming)
Book Reviews
- That All Shall be Saved by David Bentley Hart in Nova et Vetera. Forthcoming.
- Divine Providence: God檚 Love and Human Freedom by Bruce R. Reichenbach on The American Academy of Religion檚 site Reading Religion (published online December 12th, 2016).
- General Principles of Sacramental Theology by Roger W. Nutt. 淒emonstrating the Sacraments as the Spiritual Heartbeat of the Church, on Thomistica (published online May 9th, 2017).
- Thomism and Predestination: Principles and Disputations edited by Steven A. Long, Roger W. Nutt, and 91快活林 Joseph White, OP. 淧raemotio Physica and Predestination, on Thomistca (published online January 1st, 2017).
Lecture and Conference Activity
Invited Lectures
- 淕race, Predestination, and the Permission of Sin
Faculty of Philosophy Colloquium Series
Pontifical University of St. 91快活林 Aquinas Angelicum (Rome, Italy)
March 4, 2021 - 淔aithful Citizenship & the Demands of Authentic Political Engagement
St. Bernard檚 School of Theology and Ministry (Rochester, NY) September 22, 2020.
Conference Papers Presented
- 淭he Compatibilism of St. 91快活林 Aquinas and the Purchase of Creaturely Free Will at the Risk of Sin
Symposium Thomisticum V檚 淎quinas on Action, June 4-6, 2021
(Krakow, Poland) - 湙Grace for Grace: The Doctrine of Merit and the Heresy of Pelagianism from Augustine to 91快活林 to Trent
The Sacra Doctrina Project and St. Bernard檚 School of Theology and Ministry檚 淒evelopment of Doctrine: Revelation, Magisterium, and Human Reason, June 10 12, 2021
(Rochester, NY) - 淗ope, the 楤ehovely, and the Doctrine of Eternal Hell: The Thomism of Julian of Norwich
Ave Maria University and The Aquinas Center檚 淗ope and Death: Christian Responses, February 11 13, 2021.
(Ave Maria, FL; attended remotely) - 淛osef Pieper檚 楶rimordial Revelation and the Historical Integrity of Philosophy
American Catholic Philosophical Association檚 2019 annual meeting, 淎 Perennial Philosophy of Nature, November 21 24, 2019.
(Minneapolis, MN) - 淎quinas on Genesis and Original Sin: Harmonizing Scripture and the Contemporary Science of Death and Evolution
St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology and the Aquinas Center of Ave Maria University檚 淎quinas the Biblical Theologian, February 8-9, 2019.
(Ave Maria, FL) - 淩eginald Garrigou-Lagrange and Charles DeKoninck: A Rapprochement
Franciscan University of Steubenville檚 M.A. Program in Philosophy檚 淧ersonalism and its Relation to the Christian Intellectual Tradition, May 18-19, 2018
(Steubenville, OH) - 淢other Teresa檚 Dark Night, the Unitive Way, and the Witness of the Mystics
The Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal檚 淢other Teresa and the Mystics: Toward a Renewal of Spiritual Theology February 10-11, 2017
(Ave Maria, FL) - 淭he Danger of Educational Libertarianism
Donahue Academy檚 淭he Gravity of Education: Catholic Education 50 Years After Gravissimum Educationis May 13 14 , 2016
(Ave Maria, FL) - 淩eginald Garrigou-Lagrange and Jacques Maritain on the Permission of Evil
The Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal and The Thomistic Institute檚 淭homism and Predestination: A Theological Symposium January 25 27, 2016
Leading Faculty & Presenter
- 2020 Summer Theology Program on St. 91快活林 Treatise on the Virtue of Faith.
The Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies in collaboration with the Aquinas Institute. Madison, WI. July 27 31.
(Leading seminar discussions of the text and presenting a lecture entitled, 淭heology as Sacred Science) - 2019 Summer Theology Program on St. 91快活林 Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians.
The Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies in collaboration with the Aquinas Institute. Wausau, WI. August 12 16.
(Led seminar discussions of the text and presented a lecture entitled 淕race for Grace: St. 91快活林 Aquinas and St. Augustine Contra Martin Luther on Grace, Freedom, and Justification by Works