Thomas M. King - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Thomas Mulvihill King, S.J.

Society of Jesus

The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...

(born May 9, 1929 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

, died June 23, 2009 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

) was a professor of theology

Theology

Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...

at Georgetown University

Georgetown University

Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...

. King entered the Society of Jesus

Society of Jesus

in 1951 after completing undergraduate studies in English

English studies

English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language , English linguistics English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the U.K., U.S.,...

at the University of Pittsburgh

University of Pittsburgh

The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...

. As a Jesuit, he undertook further studies 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...

and Woodstock College

Woodstock College

Woodstock College was a Jesuit seminary that existed from 1869 to 1974. It was the oldest Jesuit seminary in the United States. The school was located in Woodstock, Maryland, west of Baltimore, from its establishment until 1969, when it moved to New York City, where it operated in cooperation with...

and was ordained

Holy Orders

The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....

a Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

priest

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...

in 1964. After completing a doctorate in theology

Theology

at the University of Strasbourg

University of Strasbourg

The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....

in 1968, King began teaching at Georgetown. A member of the American Teilhard Association, he has written or edited several books on Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin SJ was a French philosopher and Jesuit priest who trained as a paleontologist and geologist and took part in the discovery of both Piltdown Man and Peking Man. Teilhard conceived the idea of the Omega Point and developed Vladimir Vernadsky's concept of Noosphere...

, including Teilhard's Mysticism of Knowing (1981), Teilhard and the Unity of Knowledge (1983) Teilhard de Chardin (1988), The Letters of Teilhard de Chardin and Lucile Swan (1993) and Teilhard's Mass (2005). His other works include Sartre and the Sacred (1974), Enchantments: Religion and the Power of the Word (1989), Merton: Mystic at the Center of America (1992) and Jung's Four and Some Philosophers (1999). He also wrote the introduction for a new 2004 translation by Sion Cowell of Teilhard's The Divine Milieu.

Impact at Georgetown University

Father King was also well-known among Georgetown students and alumni for offering Mass

Mass (liturgy)

"Mass" is one of the names by which the sacrament of the Eucharist is called in the Roman Catholic Church: others are "Eucharist", the "Lord's Supper", the "Breaking of Bread", the "Eucharistic assembly ", the "memorial of the Lord's Passion and Resurrection", the "Holy Sacrifice", the "Holy and...

at 11:15 p.m. each night from Sunday to Friday in Dahlgren Chapel on Georgetown's main campus, a tradition he started in 1969. In 1999, The Hoya
The Hoya
The Hoya, the oldest and largest student newspaper of Georgetown University in Washington, DC, was founded in 1920. The Hoya prints an edition every Tuesday and Friday during the academic year and has a circulation of 6,500...

, Georgetown's student newspaper, declared King "Georgetown's Man of the Century", noting that "no one has had a more significant presence on campus and effect on students than Father King.". In addition, Father King was presented as third in a series of cover stories regarding Jesuit identity in the Georgetown Voice on September 27, 2001.

Political Positions

In line with Catholic moral teaching, he took a strong stance against abortion and euthanasia and was the co-founder of the University Faculty of Life, a group that seeks to create dialogue on life issues in the academic community. King was also a member of Pax Christi

Pax Christi

-History:Pax Christi was established in France in 1945 as a reconciliation work between the French and the Germans after the Second World War. In 2007, it existed in more than 60 countries...

and opposed war and capital punishment, though he stressed the peaceful prevention of conflict over strict pacifism

Pacifism

Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...

Final Days

Fr. King turned 80 on May 9, 2009. Many different groups of friends, colleagues, and former students came together to celebrate his 80th birthday and 40 years of 11:15pm Mass over the months of May and June. On June 23, 2009, King died of heart attack

Myocardial infarction

Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...

in his bedroom at the Jesuit Residence at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Books Written or Edited By King

Teilhard's Mass: Approaches to "The Mass on the World". Mahwah, NJ: Paulist, 2005.
Jung's Four and Some Philosophers: A Paradigm for Philosophy. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1999.
Merton: Mystic at the Center of America. Collegeville, Minn: Liturgical Pr, 1992.
The Letters of Teilhard de Chardin and Lucile Swan. Editor, with Mary Gilbert. Washington, DC: Georgetown Univ Pr, 1993.
Enchantments: Religion and the Power of the Word. Kansas City, Mo: Sheed & Ward, 1989.
Teilhard de Chardin. Wilmington, Del: Michael Glazier, 1988.
Teilhard and the Unity of Knowledge. Editor, with James F. Salmon. New York: Paulist Pr, 1983.
Teilhard's Mysticism of Knowing. New York: Seabury Pr, 1981.
Sartre and the Sacred. Chicago: Univ of Chicago Pr, 1974.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters by King

"Reflection from a Roman Catholic Priest." In Hail Mary and Rhythmic Breathing: A New Way of Praying the Rosary, vii-viii. Mahwah, New Jersey: Paulist Press, 2006.
"Believers and their disbelief." Zygon 42, no. 3 (September 2007): 779-791.
"The Thomas Merton Encyclopedia." Theological Studies 67, no. 4 (December 2006): 931-932.
"God and the Human Future." In Teilhard and the Future of Humanity, 20-28. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006.
"An atheist on the 'compost of Catholicity': remembering Jean-Paul Sartre on his centennial." National Catholic Reporter 41, no. 32 (June 17, 2005): 18.
"Scientific Research as Adoration: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)." The Way 44, no. 3 (July 2005): 21-34.
"Teilhard makes Christianity most exciting thing on block." National Catholic Reporter 41, no. 25 (April 22, 2005): 8-10.
"Teilhard and the environment." Ecotheology 10, no. 1 (April 2005): 88-98.
"A Holy Man and Lover of the World: the spirituality of Teilhard de Chardin." America 192, no. 11 (March 28, 2005): 7-10.
Forward. In The Divine Milieu, vii-xxvi. Portland: Sussex Academic Press, 2004.
"Teilhard's unity of knowledge." In Teilhard in the 21st Century, 33-43. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2003.
"Globalization and the soul: according to Teilhard, Friedman, and others." Zygon 37, no. 1 (March 2002): 25-33.
"Teilhard and Globalization." Theology Digest 40, no. 3 (2002): 211-215.
"Le Salut du Monde selon Teilhard de Chardin (The Salvation of the World According to Teilhard de Chardin)." In Le sens de l'évolution en question? : Colloque international Teilhard de Chardin, 2001, Lille-Hastings, Saint-Etienne: Aubin, 2002.
"Virtual Faith: The Irreverent Spiritual Quest of Generation X (Book Review)." Theological Studies 60, no. 3 (September 1999): 587.
"Jung and Catholic Spirituality." America 180, no. 11 (April 1999): 12-15.
"Karl Barth And Thomas Merton Climbing Church Towers At Night." America 179, no. 19 (December 12, 1998): 12-14.
"Work on Teilhard, 1980-1994 : An Annotated Bibliography." With James F. Salmon. Zygon 30, no. 1 (March 1995): 131-142.
"An Explosion of Dazzling Flashes : Teilhard's Unity of Faith and Science." Zygon 30, no. 1 (March 1995): 105-115.
"The consecration of our world in the spiritual exercises of Ignatius." Journal of Spiritual Formation 15, no. 3 (November 1994): 273.
"Thomas Merton: The Development of a Spiritual Theologian." Theological Studies 47, no. 3 (September 1986): 546-547.
"The Milieux Teilhard left behind." America 152 (March 1985): 249-254.
"A Writer Loses Himself: A Study of Thomas Merton." Chicago Studies 24, no. 1 (1985): 69-86.
"A sermon for Teilhard's Mass on the world." In Teilhard and the Unity of Knowledge, 150-152. Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983.
"Appendix : Teilhard and Piltdown." In Teilhard and the Unity of Knowledge, 159-169. Ramsey, NJ: Paulist Press, 1983.
"The Teilhard centennial." America 146, no. 16 (April 1982): 318-319.
"Atheism of Jean-Paul Sartre." In God in Contemporary Thought, 851-863. New York: Learned Pub, 1977.

Book Reviews by King

"Boredom and the Religious Imagination (Book Review)." Theological Studies 61, no. 4 (December 2000): 799.
"Religion and the Spiritual in Carl Jung (Book Review)." Theological Studies 61, no. 2 (June 2000): 392.
"Wounded Prophet: A Portrait of Henri J. M. Nouwen (Book Review)." Theological Studies 60, no. 4 (December 1999): 792.
"Nearer My God: An Autobiography of Faith (Book Review)." America 178, no. 3 (January 31, 1998): 32-39.
"The Phenomenon of Teilhard: Prophet for a New Age (Book Review)." Theological Studies 58, no. 1 (March 1997): 193.
"Searching for Christ: The Spirituality of Dorothy Day (Book Review)." Theological Studies 56, no. 1 (March 1995): 169.
"Silent Lamp: The Thomas Merton Story (Book Review)." Theological Studies 54, no. 1 (March 1993): 199.
"Thomas Merton's Art of Denial: The Evolution of a Radical Humanist (Book Review)." Theological Studies 51, no. 1 (March 1990): 178.
"Up and Down Merton's Mountain: A Contemporary Spiritual Journey (Book Review)." Books and Religion 16, (1989): 9.
"Thomas Merton: The Ongoing Story; A Vow of Conversation (Book Review)." Books and Religion 16, (1989): 9.
"New seeds for Merton contemplation (Book Review)." Books and Religion 16, (1989): 9.
"Thomas Merton in Alaska (Book Review)." Books and Religion 16, (1989): 9.
"Thomas Merton on Nuclear Weapons (Book Review)." Books and Religion 16, (1989): 9.
"Honorable Reader (Book Review)." Books and Religion 16, (1989): 9.
"Thomas Merton (Book Review)." Theological Studies 47, no. 3 (September 1986): 546-547.
"A Reason to Hope: A Synthesis of Teilhard de Chardin's Vision and Systems Thinking (Book Review)." Theological Studies 45, no. 2 (June 1984): 395-396.
"The Cosmic Christ in Origen and Teilhard de Chardin (Book Review)." Theological Studies 44, no. 2 (June 1983): 324-325.
"Evolution from space (Book Review)." America 147 (October 1982): 238-239.
"The spirit of the earth (Book Review)." America 145 (December 1981): 407-408.
"Teilhard, Scripture, and Revelation (Book Review)." Theological Studies 42, no. 4 (December 1981): 690-691.
"Towards a New Mysticism (Book Review)." Theological Studies 42, no. 2 (June 1981): 318-320.
"The Heart of Matter (Book Review)." Theological Studies 40, no. 4 (December 1979): 760-762.
"Exercises in Religious Understanding (Book Review)." Theological Studies 36, no. 3 (September 1975): 533-534.
"Jung, Gods, and Modern Man (Book Review)." Theological Studies 32, no. 3 (September 1971): 554-555.

External links

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