Avery Dulles

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Coat of arms of Avery Cardinal Dulles

Avery Robert Cardinal Dulles SJ (born August 24, 1918 in Auburn , New York , † December 12, 2008 in New York City ) was an American theologian .

Life

Avery Dulles was born to the Protestant politician John Foster Dulles . His family was extremely influential, his father was US Secretary of State from 1953 to 1959 ; two of his grandfathers had previously held this office, John W. Foster from 1892 to 1893, who after the First Sino-Japanese War of 1895, enforced the Treaty of Shimonoseki negotiated and Robert Lansing from 1915 to 1920, he had negotiated the Lansing-Ishii Agreement in 1917 , in which the United States recognized the Japanese Empire "special interests in China". Allen Welsh Dulles , the influential director of the American Secret Service ( OSS and CIA ) was his uncle and the economist and diplomat Eleanor Lansing Dulles was his aunt.

He converted to Catholicism while studying at Harvard University . After his military service, he entered the Jesuit order and studied Catholic theology and philosophy . In 1956 he received the sacrament of ordination at Fordham University from Cardinal Francis Spellman , Archbishop of New York . It was for the purpose of further studies to Rome sent, where he attended the Pontifical Gregorian University for doctor of theology doctorate was.

As early as 1951 he became professor of philosophy at Fordham University and also taught from 1960 to 1974 at Woodstock College and from 1974 to 1988 at the Catholic University of America . In 1988 he received the Laurence J McGinley Professorship in Religious and Social Studies at Fordham University. In addition, he held 15 visiting professorships at various universities, authored several books and over six hundred theological essays and articles. He acted as advisor to the Episcopal Commission for the Dialogue between American Lutherans and Catholics and, as President, headed the Catholic Theological Society of the USA. Despite his advanced age, he was still a lecturer at Fordham University in New York from 1988 to 2008 . The 38 biannual lectures are published in book form. In his farewell lecture on April 1, 2008, he once again confessed that he was never interested in an original, “new” theology, but that he was guided by the concern of putting his thinking in the service of the faith of the Church.

Pope John Paul II accepted Avery Dulles into the College of Cardinals on February 21, 2001 as a cardinal deacon with the titular diaconia Santissimi Nomi di Gesù e Maria in Via Lata . Due to his advanced age at the time of creation as cardinal , the Pope exempted him from the obligation to receive the obligatory episcopal ordination for cardinals .

Honors

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Honorary doctorates

Bibliography (selection)

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personal data
SURNAME Dulles, Avery
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dulles, Avery Robert Cardinal
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American Catholic theologian and cardinal
DATE OF BIRTH August 24, 1918
PLACE OF BIRTH Auburn , New York
DATE OF DEATH December 12, 2008
Place of death New York City