Writings of
Tad Dunne
Below are materials under four headings:
New Works
Spirituality
Philosophy/Theology
Author
Last update: April 7, 2017
Permission to copy anything here will be freely given.
Email me at: tdunne@sienaheights.edu
An introduction to an integration of religious and secular views on ethics. Includes an exercise in preparing a personal advance directive form on the end of life. Key elements: Good as self-absorption vs self-transcendence. Religion and moral impotence. Comparisons of religious and secular ethical criteria. Finding common ground. 13 pages.
The Common Good
A lecture on the history, the philosophy, and the current political, social, and economic thinking about the common good. 10 pages.
The Open Ethicist
Defines "open" as being open to learning about learning, choosing how we choose, and letting our lives be led by love�as articulations of what intellectual, moral and affective conversions mean for anyone concerned about method in ethics. This treatment is a modified version of chapter 7 in my Doing Better: The Next Revolution in Ethics. 36 pages.
Still Learning
A link to 28 adult education lectures, arranged in four sections: Intelligence, Strategies, Communicating, and Faith. Lonergan's mind is evident throughout.
Thinking about God
A college-level lecture on the six modes of thinking that have emerged in history. It serves as a preparation for studying religious beliefs. 11 pages.
Spirituality
Being a Teen
A guide for teenagers to know "how to be" and "how not to be." 14 pages.
Boundary Crossers
A lecture given to graduating seniors at Siena Heights University. 8 pages.
Guilt and Healing
Three distinct kinds of guilt, and their corresponding kinds of healing, based on the works of the Freudian psychologists Karen Horney and Claudio Naranjo.
9 pages.
Image of God in Death
Eight questions about what God is like, given the reality that we all die. Based on the life of Matty Ventresca, who was born with half a heart, and died at nine years old. This account is taken from ch. 3 of my We Love You Matty: Meeting Death with Faith. 38 pages.
Spiritual Care for the Dying
An exploration of how those who care for the dying might attend to their faith, charity, and hope. 8 pages.
Ignatian
Contemplation for Love
An adaptation of Ignatius' "Contemplation to Attain Love," to incorporate being in love both with God and neighbor. 6 pages.
The Cultural Milieus of the Spiritual Exercises
The effect on the composition of the Spiritual Exercises of reform movements in the Church, a military attitude toward spirituality, and avoidance of mentioning the Holy Spirit. 13 pages
Extremism in Ignatius Loyola
An account of how Ignatius keen sense of moderation in practical matters was the fruit of an extreme vigilance over interior movements of thoughts and feelings. 11 pages.
Realism in Ignatius Loyola
An account of how Ignatius' intellectual realism grounded his sense of objectivity and enabled him to identify "grace," "thoughts," and "desire" as key categories in a spiritual theology. 16 pages.
Rules for Discerning Inspirations
Rules for testing which interior inspirations are likely from God and which are not. 6 pages.
Spirituality and the Arts
A correspondence over several years with Jerry Graham, SJ, about spirituality and the arts, with particular emphasis on Jesuit spirituality. 77 pages.
Spiritual Wisdom: Letters of Ignatius Loyola
A collection of passages from the letters of St. Ignatius Loyola. 19 pages.
Philosophy / Theology
College & the Christian Vision
Three Christian doctrines suitable for inclusion in academic study: Human progress & decline, the mysterious nature of the real, and the connection between the mission of the college and personal vocation. 13 pages.
Consciousness in Christian Community
An exploration of the ground of Christian community in a "common consciousness" as defined by Lonergan. 12 pages.
Critical Thinking
Based on an assertion that people do not want to think. Developed with emphasis on the four biases identified by Lonergan, plus a bias of "secularism." 11 pages.
Desire
An analysis of the functions of desire as it relates to spirituality. Originally published in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, ed. Michael Downey. Liturgical Press, 1993, pp. 265-269. 5 pages
Experience
An analysis of the meaning of "experience" as it relates to spirituality. Originally published in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, ed. Michael Downey. Liturgical Press, 1993, pp. 365-377. 16 pages.
Jesus Founder
An essay on vision and mission in Christian higher learning based on a survey of 15 Christian-based colleges. Included is a proposal to include Jesus the Nazarene as the source and founder of the college's mission. 16 pages.
A Philosophy of Art
An analysis of how artists make artistic decisions and how these decisions can be affected by biases. 34 pages.
Technology & the Human Condition
Lectures and history. Aligns historical technological advances with three fundamental developments in the Human Condition: Jasper's Axial Period, Modern Science, and Praxis in Human Studies. Particular attention to the growing links between technology and political economies. 97 pages.
Scholarship and the Bible
A college-level lecture addressing the question, "How does a community of faith ensure that readers of the Bible correctly grasp the significance of their reading?" Includes brief explanations of Lonergan on community, hermeneutics, horizon, conversion, and the self-correcting process of learning, with additional emphases on Doran's psychic conversion and Voegelin's saving tale. Incorporates a hermeneutics that combines personal inspiration and author-engagement. Sketches the resolution of differences in a dialectical forum. 23 pages.
Science & Religion
An account of the emergence of modern science and how the knowledge it brings relates to religious knowledge. Particular emphasis is given on how the human sciences affect people's ordinary religious beliefs. 10 pages.
The Question of God
How the question of God arises from wonder about our historicity, our nature, our personal existence, and our religion. 13 pages.
Why the Christian Story Endures
An account of how the emblematic (mythical/symbolic) factor of the Christian Story invites readers to take seriously the events of history and the events of the heart. 27 pages.
Ethics
Christian Theological Ethics: History
A brief history covering (I) Scripture (2) Turn to Philosophy, (3) Ethical Systems, (4) Faith & Works, (5) Turn to the Subject, and (6) 20thCentury Issues. 55 pages.
Doing Better: The Next Revolution in Ethics
Marquette University Press, 2010
Table of Contents
Study Guide with references to
The Lonergan Reader
(University of Toronto Press, 1997).
Exercises for noticing the norms in consciousness. Part of an effort to provide a common ground for assessing any ethical principles and moral views.
A Glossary of Ethics
Definitions of basic terms. 12 pages
Method in Ethics
An extension of Lonergan's generalized empirical method into the field of ethics. Covers moral knowing, objectivity, metaphysics, existential dimensions, method in ethics, and education in ethics. 97 pages.
Moral Objectivity
A discussion of what objectivity means in moral opinions and decisions. 20 pages
The Next Evolution of Ethics
Text of a presentation on the revolution that a generalized empirical method can bring about in ethics. 9 pages.
Lonergan Studies
Lonergan on Being in Love
"Being in Love": An article published in 1995, plus six addenda on later materials regarding a "5th level." 26 pages.
Lonergan's Generalized Empirical Method
An entry in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Covers the main ideas in Lonergan's works, with special emphasis on ethics. 29 pages.
Lonergan's Method in Theology
A short introduction for students. 8 pages.
Lonergan: Sources of Key Terms
A list of 61 key terms, followed by the main primary sources. 9 pages.
Lonergan & Spirituality
An introduction to how key ideas in Lonergan's work relate to spirituality. (1985 original out of print) 242 pages.
Author
I grew up in Detroit and now live in Royal Oak, MI with my wife, Dorothy Seebaldt. Under the direction of Fred Crowe, I wrote my doctoral thesis on Lonergan's development of the ideas of community and progress. The doctorate was awarded by St. Michael's College / University of Toronto.
I was then hired to teach theology at Regis College/ University of Toronto. Some years later I accepted the position of Director of Novices for the Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus for five years. I then left the Jesuits and taught at University of Detroit Mercy; Marygrove College, and currently in totally online courses at Siena Heights University.
I'm interested ethics, art, music, and the works of Lonergan. I published several books and articles in these subjects. I also provide weekly drawings for America magazine.