

Professor of Systematic Theology
Professor Ordinarius
Chair, Ecclesiastical Faculty
Simboli Hall 214
Telephone: 617-552-6522
Email: lennan@bc.edu
Ecclesiology, Ecumenism, Theology of Ministry; he is particularly interested in the Theology and Spirituality of Karl Rahner
Richard Lennan, who is Professor of Systematic Theology in the STM and Professor Ordinarius, grew up in Newcastle, on the east coast of Australia, and has been a priest of the diocese of Maitland-Newcastle (Australia) since 1983. Richard has a degree in history from the University of Newcastle, a Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology from the Catholic Institute of Sydney, a Master of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford and a doctorate in theology from the University of Innsbruck in Austria, where his dissertation was on Karl Rahner’s ecclesiology. From 1992 to 2007, he taught Systematic Theology in the Catholic Institute of Sydney; from 2005–07 he was President of the Australian Catholic Theological Association. Richard taught at Weston Jesuit School of Theology (2007–08), before becoming part of the Boston College Theology and Ministry at its foundation in 2008; from 2010–13, he was chair of the STM’s Ecclesiastical Faculty. He currently directs of the STM's S.T.L. program, serves on the editorial board of Theological Studies, and chairs the steering committee of the "Karl Rahner Society." Richard has authored two books and edited five others.
Beyond theology, Richard’s interests are movies, politics, modern history, and trying to get fit (or less unfit) by running. On weekends, he assists with the liturgy in Sacred Heart parish in North Quincy, MA.
The Church
Seminar: Karl Rahner 1-3:30
"Beyond Scandal and Shame?: Ecclesiology and the Longing for a Transformed Church," Theological Studies (2019)
"Moving the Church: A Theology of Possibility," in Health and Integrity in Church and Ministry Conference Papers (2019)
“Karl Rahner,” in The Oxford Handbook of Ecclesiology (Oxford, 2018).
The Holy Spirit: Setting the World on Fire [co-edited with Nancy Pineda-Madrid] (Paulist, 2017).
“Tradition: God’s Future, Our Past, and the Challenge of the Present,” Australasian Catholic Record. (2017).
“Ministry as Merciful Accompaniment,” in Go Into the Streets!: The Welcoming Church of Pope Francis (Paulist, 2015).
An Introduction to Theology - video/audio/MP-3 recordings (Now You Know Media, 2015).