David Hollenbach


Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J. is a Jesuit priest, professor, author, and moral theologian currently serving as the Pedro Arrupe Distinguished Research Professor of the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He is a consultant to the Jesuit Refugee Service and is the recipient of the John Courtney Murray Award from the Catholic Theological Society of America in 1998.

Education, Career, and Influences

Hollenbach first received his B.S. in physics from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA, followed by his Ph.L. from the College of Philosophy and Letters and his M.A. from the Department of Philosophy at the same institution in 1968. He went on to receive his M.Div. from Woodstock College in 1971 and his Ph.D. in Religious Ethics from Yale University in 1975.
After receiving his B.S. in 1968, he went on to teach at Georgetown University until 1969. From 1976-1991, Hollenbach was the Professor of Moral Theology at the Weston School of Theology in Cambridge, MA. Until November 2009, Hollenbach held several positions in the Catholic University of Eastern Africa's Hekima University College in Nairobi, Kenya. From there, he went on to assume his current positions of University Chair in Human Rights and International Justice and Director of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Boston College. He has also taught at The Jesuit Philosophy Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and the East Asian Pastoral Institute in Manila, Philippines. In 2015, he held the Cary and Ann Maguire Chair in Ethics and American History at the John W. Kluge Center for Scholars at the Library of Congress.
Regarding his membership in the Society of Jesus, he joined September 7, 1964. Hollenbach was ordained into priesthood on June 5, 1971. He acts as the Higher Education Secretary within the society, he is also the advisor on global collaboration of Jesuit universities on human rights.
Hollenbach draws from many theologians, including Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and Jacques Maritain.
Hollenbach is considered by many experts in Christian ethics to be the principal contributor to Economic Justice for All: Pastoral Letter on Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy.

Works

''The Common Good and Christian Ethics''

Written in 2002, this book has become one of Hollenbach's most famous works as an author. While in this book Hollenbach does look to his major influences such as Aquinas for inspiration, it mainly focuses on Hollenbach's attempt to define the "common good" and find what contrasts this good. Building on his earlier writings, Hollenbach emphasizes relationships as being the source of the common good. There are certain goods that Hollenbach states are essential for modern day democracies to be successful. These goods include mutual respect, self-determination, and individual agency. Hollenbach points out that these essential goods are completely social and depend solely on human interaction. Ultimately this book is a study on how we as humans relate with one another and what we need to do to better our relationships with one another. Some points of interest that Hollenbach discusses are racism and marginalization.

Partial bibliography