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Fr. David Burrell, CSC, RIP

10/02/2023 9:38 PM | Nancy Pineda-Madrid (Administrator)

Dear Colleagues

I write to share with you the sad news that on Sunday morning, October 1, Fr. David Burrell, CSC, passed away.  He was a long-time and illustrious CTSA member, receiving the John Courtney Murray award in 2009.  He was former Chair of the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame.  The Funeral Mass will be at 3:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, October 4, 2023 at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame, Ind. You may also join us via livestream at https://livestream.holycrossusa.org.  May perpetual light shine upon him and may his memory be eternal.

His obituary can be found here.

May he rest in peace,

Nancy Pineda-Madrid

President Elect


Comments

  • 10/05/2023 11:12 AM | Dr. Kristin Colberg
    David Burrell taught one of the classes that impacted me the most in my graduate work - a doctoral seminar on creation and metaphysics. This was not a class that I was super excited to take, but it stretched my thinking and gave me tools that I have used ever since. I worked with him in various capacities during my time in graduate school and I remember him as someone who was truly a life-long learner and a voracious learner. He also had a gift for conveying profound theological ideas with examples from his own experiences.
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  • 10/05/2023 3:20 PM | Amir Hussain
    Fr. Burrell was one of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever been privileged to meet. I can't remember if I first met him at Tantur in Jerusalem, or at Notre Dame. I know I was humbled at how a scholar of Aquinas could recognize the gaps in his knowledge, and later in life learn about Muslim and Jewish philosophy to help him better understand his own Catholic tradition. I'll remember him in my prayers in the days to come. A brilliant scholar, and an even better person.
    Link  •  Reply
  • 10/05/2023 9:02 PM | Francis X Clooney, SJ (Administrator)
    David Burrell, CSC, was an inspiration and encouragement for me when I was starting my own work in comparative theology forty years ago. A respected scholar of Aquinas, David realized that he needed to learn from the interlocutors Aquinas learned from, key Jewish and Muslim thinkers such as Maimonides, Ibn Sina and Ibn Rushd. Mid-career, he learned Arabic, in order to be able to do the new work to which he was intellectually and vocationally called; and in turn this drew into the world of interreligious learning and friendship. Knowing the Unknowable God (1986) and Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions (1993) are masterpieces that will be long read and appreciated. May David rest in peace, in that Heaven where all the faithful dwell in friendship with God.
    Link  •  Reply

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