Brian Davies

Collins Hall, 129
Fordham University
441 E. Fordham Road
Bronx, NY 10458

Phone: 718-817-3285
Fax: 718-817-3300
Email: [email protected]

  • 1994, Oxford University: M.A. (by special decree of the University)

    1976, London University (King's College): Ph.D.

    1973, London University (King's College): M.Th.

    1972, Bristol University: B.A. (Hons): Theology

  • Medieval philosophy, especially Anselm and Aquinas. Philosophy of Religion.

  • Books in Print

    1. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1982).
    2. Thinking About God (Geoffrey Chapman: London, 1985).
    3. The Thought of Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1992).
    4. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (Revised Edition, Oxford, 1993). Korean translation, 1996. Romanian translation, 1996. Ukrainian translation, 1996. Hungarian translation, 1999, Polish translation 2006.
    5. Aquinas (Continuum: London and New York, 2002).
    6. Aquinas: An Introduction (Continuum: London and New York, 2003 (a revised edition of the 2002 volume Aquinas listed above).
    7. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion (3rd edn., Oxford University Press, 2003). (This is a complete rewrite of the 1993 revision of the original text.)
    8. The Reality of God and the Problem of Evil (Continuum: London and New York, 2006).
    9. Thomas Aquinas on God and Evil (Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 2011).
    10. Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae: A Guide and Commentary (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2014).
    11. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Contra Gentiles: A Guide and Commentary (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2016).
    12. Thomas Aquinas: A Very Brief History (SPCK: London, 2017).

    Edited Books

    1. Language, Meaning and God: Essays in honour of Herbert McCabe O.P. (Geoffrey Chapman: London, 1987).
    2. (with G.R. Evans) Anselm of Canterbury: The Major Works (Oxford University Press: Oxford,1998).
    3. Philosophy of Religion: A Guide to the Subject (Geoffrey Chapman: London, 1998).
    4. Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2000).
    5. The De Malo of Thomas Aquinas (Translated by Richard Regan. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Brian Davies) (Oxford University Press: New York and Oxford, 2001).
    6. Thomas Aquinas: Contemporary Philosophical Perspectives (Oxford University Press: New York and Oxford, 2002).
    7. (with Brian Leftow), The Cambridge Companion to Anselm (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2004).
    8. Aquinas’s “Summa Theologiae”: Critical Essays (Roman and Littlefield: Lanham, Boulder, New York, Toronoto, Oxford, 2005).
    9. (with Brian Leftow), Aquinas: “Summa Theologiae”, Questions on God (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge 2006).
    10. (with Eleonore Stump), The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press: Oxford 2011).
    11. (with Paul Kucharski), The McCabe Reader (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2016.

    As Editor of Outstanding Christian Thinkers, (London and New York: Continuum)

    • A. Louth, Denys the Areopagite (1989)
    • G.R. Evans, Anselm (1989)
    • A. Nicholls, Yves Congar (1989)
    • K. Durkin, Reinhold Niebuhr (1989)
    • S. Tugwell, The Apostolic Fathers (1989)
    • B. Ward, The Venerable Bede (1990)
    • H. Swanston, Handel (1990)
    • R. Williams, Teresa of Avila (1991)
    • W. Dyke, Karl Rahner (1992)
    • D. Fergusson, Bultmann (1992)
    • F. Crowe, Lonergan (1993)
    • J. O'Donnell, Von Balthasar (1993)
    • J.E. Smith, Jonathan Edwards (1993)
    • C.K. Barrett, St. Paul (1994)
    • PhilipKennedy, Schillebeeckx (1994)
    • Mary T. Clark, Augustine (1994)
    • C.Parker, Calvin (1995)
    • A. Pettersen, Athanasius (1995)
    • A. Meredith, The Cappadocians (1995)
    • J. Watkin, Kierkegaard (1996)
    • G. Cavallini, Catherine of Siena (1998)
    • J. Heywood Thomas, Tillich (2000)
    • J.Webster, Barth (2000)
    • A. Dulles, Newman (2002)
    • B. Davies, Aquinas (2002)
    • S. Borden, Edith Stein (2004)
    • S. Plant, Bonhoeffer (2004)
    • E. Rummel, Erasmus (2004)
    • M. von der Ruhr, Simone Weil (2006)

    As editor of Great Medieval Thinkers (Oxford University Press): Fourteen volumes are published so far:

    • Richard Cross, Duns Scotus
    • G.R. Evans, Bernard of Clairvaux
    • Deirdre Carabine, Eriugena
    • James McEvoy, Grosseteste
    • John Marenbon, Boethius
    • Philipp Rosemann, Peter Lombard
    • Constant Mews, Abelard and Helouise
    • Christopher M. Cullen, Bonaventure
    • Sandra Visser and Thomas Williams, Anselm
    • Paul Rorem, Hugh of Saint Victor
    • Stephen Lahey, John Wyclif
    • Gyula Klima, John Buridan
    • Jon McGinnis, Avicenna
    • Peter Adamson, Al-Kindi
    • John T. Slotemaker and Jeffrey C. Witt, Robert Holcot

    Herbert McCabe O.P., who died in 2001, made me his literary executor. Since his death I have edited five published volumes drawing on materials he left behind at the time of his death. These are:

    • God Still Matters (Continuum: London and New York, 2002)
    • God, Christ and Us (Continuum: London and New York, 2003)
    • The Good Life: Ethics and the Pursuit of Happiness (Continuum: London and New York, 2005).
    • Faith Within Reason (Continuum: London and New York, 2007).
    • God and Evil in the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Continuum: London and New York, 2010).

    Chapters in Books

    1. 'The Resurrection and Christian Belief', in Paul Burns and John Cumming (ed.), The Bible Now (Gill and Macmillan: Dublin, 1981).
    2. 'Impassibility', 'Infinity' and 'Ubiquity' in Alan Richardson and John Bowden (ed.), A New Dictionary of Christian Theology (S.C.M Press: London, 1983).
    3. 'Speaking in Tongues: A Philosophical Comment', in David Martin and Peter Mullen (ed.), Strange Gifts? (Basil Blackwell: Oxford, 1984).
    4. 'God, Time and Change', in Santiago Sia (ed), Process Theology and the Christian Doctrine of God(Fowler Wright: Petersham MS and Leominster, 1986).
    5. 'God, Time and Change', in J. Van der Veken and E. Lippens (ed.), God and Change: Process Thought and the Christian Doctrine of God (Centre for Metaphysics and Philosophy of God: Leuven, 1987).
    6. 'Catherine of Siena', in Louis Dupré and James Wiseman (ed.), Light from Light (Paulist Press: New York, 1988).
    7. 'Eternity' in Louis J. Pojman (ed.), Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology (Wadsworth: Belmont, CA., 1989).
    8. The Doctrine of God’, in Michael J. Walsh (ed.) Commentary on the Catechism of the Catholic Church(Cassell: London, 1994).
    9. ‘How is God Love?’, in Luke Gormally (ed.), Moral Truth and Moral Tradition: Essays in Honour of Peter Geach and Elizabeth Anscombe (Four Courts Press: Dublin and Portland OR, 1994).
    10. ‘St Thomas Aquinas’ in John Bowker (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (Oxford University Press: Oxford and New York, 1997).
    11. ‘Absolute Idealism’, ‘Contingency’, ‘Determinism’, ‘Cosmological Argument’, ‘Ontological Argument’, ‘Quinque Viae’, in E.A. Livingstone (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 1997).
    12. ‘Aquinas’: Chapter 11 of John Marenbon (ed.), The Routledge History of Medieval Philosophy(Routledge: London, 1998).
    13. ‘Aquinas' in A. Hastings (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Christian Thought (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2000).
    14. ‘Anselm of Bec and Canterbury’, ‘Catherine of Siena’, and ‘Thomas Aquinas’, in Patrick W. Carey and Joseph T. Lienhard (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians (Hendrickson: Westport, CT, and London, 2000).
    15. ‘Thomas Aquinas’ in Jorge J.E. Gracia and Timothy B. Noone (ed.), A Companion to Philosophy in the Middle Ages (Blackwell: Oxford 2003).
    16. ‘Thomas Aquinas’ in Adrian Hastings, Alistair Mason and Hugh Pyper (ed.), Key Thinkers in Christianity (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2003).
    17. ‘God and Some American Philosophers’ in Frank T. Birtel (ed.), Religion and the American Experience(New City Press:Hyde Park, NY, 2005).
    18. ‘Is God a Moral Agent?’ in D.Z. Phillips (ed.), Whose God? Which Tradition? The Nature of Belief in God (Ashgate: Aldershot and Burlington, 2008).
    19. 'Simplicity' in Charles Taliaferro and Chad Meister (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Christian Philosophical Theology (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2010).
    20. 'The Action of God' in John Cottingham and Peter Hacker (ed.), Mind, Method, and Morality: Essays in Honour of Anthony Kenny (Oxford University Press: Oxford, 2010).
    21. ‘God’ in Philip McCosker and Denys Turner (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Summa Theologiae (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2016).

    Published Articles

    1. 'Thinking About God', New Blackfriars (February, 1974).
    2. 'God and Language', The Downside Review (January, 1975).
    3. 'Through a Glass Darkly', The Downside Review (October, 1975).
    4. 'Apologetics and Religious Education', Catholic Education Today (April/June,1976).
    5. 'Mary in Christian Practice', Doctrine and Life (June,1976).
    6. 'Contemporary Anglo-Saxon Philosophy of Religion', The Clergy Review (October, 1976).
    7. 'A Modern Irenaean Theodicy: Professor Hick on Evil', New Blackfriars (November, 1976).
    8. 'Theology and Natural Theology', New Blackfriars (June,1977).
    9. 'Some Comments on a Proposed Sexual Ethic', The Downside Review (October,1977).
    10. 'Wittgenstein and Religion', New Blackfriars (October,1977).
    11. 'God, Time and Change', The Clergy Review (February,1978).
    12. 'In Defence of Natural Theology, New Blackfriars (February,1978).
    13. 'Experience, Knowledge and God', The Clergy Review (September, 1978).
    14. 'The Rule of the Master (Regula Magistri) and Christian Practice', The Downside Review (January, 1979).
    15. 'The Coherence of Theism', New Blackfriars (February, 1979).
    16. 'St Thomas Aquinas as a Dominican', New Blackfriars (March,1979).
    17. 'Heads in the Clouds: Thomas Aquinas and John Hick on Faith', New Blackfriars (June, 1979).
    18. 'The Natural Knowledge of God', Irish Theological Quarterly (1979:2).
    19. 'Wittgenstein and God', Philosophy (January, 1980).
    20. 'A Reply to Robin Attfield', New Blackfriars (June 1980).
    21. 'An Approach to Sexual Ethics', The Clergy Review (July, 1980).
    22. 'The Concept of Divine Necessity', New Blackfriars (November, 1980).
    23. 'What Happens When You Pray?', New Blackfriars (December,1980).
    24. 'The Rule of St Benedict and Christian Practice', Theology (January, 198l).
    25. 'Faith and Reason', New Blackfriars (September, 1981).
    26. 'Kenny on God', Philosophy (January, 1982).
    27. 'More Modern Philosophy of Religion', The Clergy Review (January, 1982).
    28. 'George Eliot and Christianity', The Downside Review (January, 1982).
    29. 'Scarlet O'Hara: A Portrait Restored', Philosophy (July,1982).
    30. 'The Intelligible Universe', New Blackfriars (September,1982).
    31. 'Does God Exist?', Catholic Truth Society (London, 1982).
    32. 'The Problem of Evil and Modern Philosophy', New Blackfriars (December, 1982 and January,1983).
    33. 'The Cosmological Argument', New Blackfriars (March,1983).
    34. 'A Timeless God?', New Blackfriars (May,1983).
    35. 'Mackie on the Argument from Design', New Blackfriars (September, 1983).
    36. 'God and Evil: Responses and Questions', The Clergy Review (November, 1983).
    37. 'Yet More Modern Philosophy of Religion', The Clergy Review (October, 1984).
    38. 'God and Evil', Catholic Truth Society (London, 1984).
    39. 'Thomas Aquinas', Catholic Truth Society (London, 1985).
    40. 'God and Freedom: A Discussion', New Blackfriars (January, 1986).
    41. 'Proving God's Existence I', Cogito (January, 1987).
    42. 'Proving God's Existence II: The Cosmological Argument', Cogito (July 1987).
    43. 'Proving God's Existence III: The Argument from Design', Cogito (January 1988).
    44. 'Proving God's Existence IV: The Ontological Argument',Cogito (Summer 1988).
    45. 'Homilies for September', The Furrow (August, 1988).
    46. ‘Proving God's Existence V: The Argument from Experience’, Cogito (Autumn 1988).
    47. ‘Why Should We Believe It?’, New Blackfriars (October,1988).
    48. 'Proving God's Existence VI: The Argument from Morality', Cogito (Vol.3, No.1, 1989).
    49. 'Thomas Aquinas: An Outline', Cogito (Vol.3, No.3, 1989).
    50. 'The Psychologisation of the Church', New Blackfriars (January, 1990
    51. 'Is Sacra Doctrina Theology?', New Blackfriars (March,1990).
    52. 'Does God Create Existence?', International Philosophical Quarterly (June 1990).
    53. 'God, Time and Helm', New Blackfriars (June 1990).
    54. 'Quod Vere Sit Deus: Why Anselm Thought God Truly Exists', New Blackfriars (May 1991).
    55. 'Miracles', New Blackfriars (February 1992).
    56. ‘God and Freedom: Reply to Jordan’, Sophia (Vol.31, 1992).
    57. 'Philosophy and Theology in the Monastery: The Thought of Dom Illtyd Trethowan', New Blackfriars(December 1993).
    58. ‘The Action of God’, New Blackfriars (February 1994).
    59. 'The Mystery of God: Aquinas and McCabe', New Blackfriars (July-August 1996).
    60. 'Aquinas, God and Being', The Monist, 1998.
    61. 'Aquinas on What God is Not', Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Volume 52, No.204, 1998.
    62. ‘Aquinas’s Third Way’, New Blackfriars (October 2001).
    63. ‘Aquinas and the Academic Life, New Blackfriars 83 (2002).
    64. ‘Letter from America’, New Blackfriars 84 (2003).
    65. ‘Why Is There Anything At All?’, Think (Journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, U.K.), Issue 4, Summer 2003.
    66. ‘God and Evil: A Dialogue’, New Blackfriars 85 (2004).
    67. ‘Aquinas and Catholic Universities’, New Blackfriars 86 (2005).
    68. ‘Kenny on Aquinas on Being’, The Modern Schoolman LXXXII (January, 2005).
    69. ‘D.Z. Phillips on Belief in God’, Philosophical Investigations 30 (July, 2007).
    70. 'Is God Beyond Reason?', Philosophical Investigations 32 (October 2009).
    71. ‘Aquinas on What God is Not’, Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements (2016).

    Newspaper Articles

    1. Obituary for Professor Elizabeth Anscombe, The Times (London), January 8, 2001.
    2. Obituary for Herbert McCabe OP, The Times (London), July 11, 2001.
    3. Credo column, The Times (London), November 10, 2001.
    4. ‘Creationism and All That’, The Tablet (London), May 11, 2002.
    5. Credo column, The Times (London), March 9, 2002.
    6. Credo column, The Times (London), June 1, 2002.
    7. Credo column, The Times (London), May 17, 2003.

    Published Book Reviews

    Numerous reviews in the following journals (details can be supplied on request):

    • Anglican Theological Review
    • The Clergy Review
    • The Downside Review
    • Faith and Philosophy
    • International Philosophical Quarterly
    • Journal of Theological Studies
    • The New York Times
    • Philosophy
    • The Philosophical Review
    • Religious Studies
    • The Tablet
    • Theology
    • Theology Today
    • Times Literary Supplement
    • The Thomist
    • New Blackfriars

    Other Editorial Work

    • From 1979 to 1995 I was Book Reviews Editor of New Blackfriars./li>
    • Since 1992 I have been Associate European Editor of International Philosophical Quarterly. I was Book Reviews Editor of the journal from 1996 to 2006.
    • From December 2000 to January 2006 I was a member of the Editorial Board of Religious Studies, published by Cambridge University Press.