Joseph Koterski
Encyclopedia
Joseph Koterski, S.J. is an American Jesuit priest
, philosopher, author, and currently associate professor and chair of the Philosophy Department at Fordham University
in the Bronx, New York
.
from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio
. In 1980, he earned a M.A. from St. Louis University with a thesis titled Aristotle's Ethics and Reflective Equilibrium, and then two years later a Ph.D. from the same school, while there on a Danforth Fellowship. His dissertation, mentored by James Collins
, was titled Truth and Freedom in Karl Jasper’s Philosophy of Science.
Immediately, after obtaining his degree in 1982, Koterski taught at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas
. At the time, he was also discerning a vocation to the religious life. After two years of teaching, he applied to the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. His studies continued and as a Jesuit Koterski earned his Masters of Divinity and License in Sacred Theology from Weston School of Theology in Cambridge
, Massachusetts
with a thesis titled Natural Law and the Book of Wisdom.
From 1986 to 1988, he was Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland.
He was ordained a priest in 1992. Soon afterwards, he was assigned as a professor at Fordham. In the late 1990s he also began teaching philosophical courses at the minor seminary of the Archdiocese of New York.
From 1996 to 2001, he was director of the MA program in philosophical resources at Fordham.
From 1994, he has served as chaplain for Queens Court Residential College Freshmen.
In 2008, Koterski was elected president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
Since 1994, he has served as editor-in-chief of International Philosophical Quarterly
. He is editor of the annual proceedings of the University for Life organization, Life and Learning. Since 1999, he is co-editor of the Fordham University Press Series in Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology.
has employed Koterski for several lectures in its Great Courses series, namely:
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, philosopher, author, and currently associate professor and chair of the Philosophy Department at Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
in the Bronx, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.
Academic career
In 1976, Koterski graduated with a H.A.B. degree in ClassicsClassics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. In 1980, he earned a M.A. from St. Louis University with a thesis titled Aristotle's Ethics and Reflective Equilibrium, and then two years later a Ph.D. from the same school, while there on a Danforth Fellowship. His dissertation, mentored by James Collins
James Collins
-Sports:*James Collins , Welsh footballer, currently playing for Aston Villa*James Collins , Irish footballer, currently playing for Shrewsbury Town*James Collins , NBA basketball player...
, was titled Truth and Freedom in Karl Jasper’s Philosophy of Science.
Immediately, after obtaining his degree in 1982, Koterski taught at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. At the time, he was also discerning a vocation to the religious life. After two years of teaching, he applied to the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus. His studies continued and as a Jesuit Koterski earned his Masters of Divinity and License in Sacred Theology from Weston School of Theology in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
with a thesis titled Natural Law and the Book of Wisdom.
From 1986 to 1988, he was Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Loyola College, Baltimore, Maryland.
He was ordained a priest in 1992. Soon afterwards, he was assigned as a professor at Fordham. In the late 1990s he also began teaching philosophical courses at the minor seminary of the Archdiocese of New York.
From 1996 to 2001, he was director of the MA program in philosophical resources at Fordham.
From 1994, he has served as chaplain for Queens Court Residential College Freshmen.
In 2008, Koterski was elected president of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars.
Publications
Koterski is the editor or author of numerous articles and reviews. For a complete list click [here http://faculty.fordham.edu/koterski/cv.html]Since 1994, he has served as editor-in-chief of International Philosophical Quarterly
International Philosophical Quarterly
The International Philosophical Quarterly is a peer-reviewed academic journal edited by a group of academics at Fordham University, with the collaboration of the Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix. It was established in 1961 to provide a publishing forum for the international exchange of...
. He is editor of the annual proceedings of the University for Life organization, Life and Learning. Since 1999, he is co-editor of the Fordham University Press Series in Moral Philosophy and Moral Theology.
Books
- An Introduction to Medieval Philosophy: Some Basic Concepts (Malden MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
Co-Edited Books
- (with Ron Begley), Medieval Education (Bronx NY: Fordham University Press, 2005).
- (with John Conley, S.J.), Culture and Creed (Philadelphia PA: St Joseph's University Press, 2004).
- (with David Ruel Foster), The Two Wings of Catholic Thought: Essays on Fides et Ratio (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2003).
- (with Raymond J. Langley), Karl Jaspers on Philosophy of History and History of Philosophy (Amherst, NY: Humanity Press, 2003.
- (with John J. Conley, S.J.), Prophecy and Diplomacy: The Moral Teaching of Pope John Paul II (New York: Fordham Univ. Press, 1999).
Selected Articles
- "A Reading Guide to Natural Law Ethics" in Ressourcement Thomism: Essays in Honor of Romanus Cessario, O.P., edited by Matthew Levering and Reinhard Hutter (forthcoming).
- "The Status of Personalism in Catholic Moral Thinking Today" - Dunwoodie Review (forthcoming).
- "Memory and The Tempest" in Tolle lege: Essays on Augustine and Medieval Philosophy in Honor of Roland J. Teske, S.J., edited by David Twetten et al. (forthcoming).
- "Society and the Formation of Free Persons" in Yves R. Simon: The Call of Philosophy (Texts with Commentaries), edited by John W. Carlson (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, forthcoming).
- "Jaspers on Truth and Freedom" in Companion to Karl Jaspers, edited by Gregory J. Walters (Amherst NY: Humanity Press, forthcoming).
- "Aquinas on the Sacrament of Marriage" in Rediscovering Aquinas and the Sacraments, edited by Mtthew Levering and Michael Dauphinais (Chicago IL: Hillenbrand Books, 2009), pp. 102–13.
- "Theological Reflections on Natural Family Planning" in Nova et Vetera 6/4 (2008): 765-77.
- "Calderon's La vida es un sueno" in St. Austin Review 8/1 (2008): 15-17.
- "More's Reflections on Complicity with Evil in The History of King Richard III" in Thomas More Studies 2 (2007): 53-62.
- "Non-Negotiable Principles of Christian Politics" in Inside Fordham 29/15 (June 29, 2007): 5.
- "The Four Senses of Scripture" in The Brandsma Review 16/2 (2007): 14-16.
- "The Use of Philosophical Principles in Catholic Social Thought: The Case of Gaudium et Spes" in The Journal of Catholic Legal Studies (St. John's University Law Review) 45/2 (2007): 277-92.
- "The Doctrine of Participation in Aquinas's Commentary on St. John" in Being and Thought in Aquinas, edited by Jeremiah Hackett, William Murnion, and Carl Still (Binghamton NY: Global Academic Publ., 2004), pp. 109–21.
- "Boethius and the Theological Origins of the Concept of Person" in American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 78/2 (2004): 203-24.
- Thomas More on Conscience" in Thomas More: Spiritual Writings (New York NY: Vintage Press, 2003), pp. xi-xxix.
- "The New IGMR and Mass versus populum" (co-authored with Christopher Cullen, S.J.) in Homiletic and Pastoral Review 101/9 (June 2001): 51-54.
- "Response to Robert P. George: Natural Law, The Constitution, and the Theory and Practice of Judicial Review" in Fordham Law Review 69 (2001): 101-04.
- "How Jefferson Honored Religion in Crisis 19/3 (March 2001): 35.
- "On the Aristotelian Heritage of John of Damascus" in The Failure of Modernism: The Cartesian Legacy and Contemporary Pluralism, edited by Brendan Sweetman (Washington, D.C.: The American Maritain Association and Catholic University of America Press, 1999), pp. 58–71.
- "Jaspers on Realism and Idealism" in Jahrbuch der Österreichischen Karl Jaspers Gesellschaft 11 (1998): 58-69.
- "C. S. Lewis and the Natural Law" in CSL: The Bulletin of the New York C. S. Lewis Society 26/6 #306 (April 1995): 1-7.
- "Certain Essentially Human Aspects of Intelligence," paper and discussion in the Proceedings of the ITEST Workshop on Artificial Intelligence (St. Louis MO: March 1984), pp. 38–43 et passim.
- "A Mystic's Epistemology: Truth and Freedom in the Thought of St. Bernard of Clairvaux" in the Proceedings of the Patristic, Medieval and Renaissance Studies Conference 8 (1983): 47-52.
- "Secularization or Christian Culture?" in The Dawson Newsletter 1/2 (1981): 1-4.
- "St. Augustine on the Moral Law" in Augustinian Studies 11 (1980): 65-77.
- "Aristotle on Signifying Definitions" in The New Scholasticism 54 (1980): 75-86
Multi-Media
The Teaching CompanyThe Teaching Company
The Teaching Company is a Chantilly, Virginia company that produces recordings of lectures by university professors and high-school teachers. It sells the courses in CD, DVD, MPEG-4, and MP3 formats.- Background :...
has employed Koterski for several lectures in its Great Courses series, namely:
- Biblical Wisdom Literature
- Ethics of Aristotle
- Natural Law and Human Nature