John Michael Rist is a British scholar of ancient philosophy, classics, and early Christian philosophy and theology, known mainly for his contributions to the history of metaphysics and ethics. He is the author of monographs on Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Epicurus, Plotinus, the dating of the Gospels, and Augustine. Rist is Professor of Classics Emeritus at the University of Toronto, part-time Visiting Professor at the in Rome, holds the Father Kurt Pritzl, O.P., Chair in Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and is a life member of . During his lengthy academic career he has also been Regius Professor of Classics at the University of Aberdeen, and the Lady David Visiting Professor in Philosophy at the . His work has been important in the fields of ancient philosophy and historical theology for two main reasons. First, Rist is noted for a level of conceptual reading comprehension in ancient texts that is exceptionally high; he thereby produced studies marked by "acute observations," singular "insights," and "valuable interpretations." Second, Rist's work executes meticulous scholarship and detailed discussion of problems while engaging large philosophical and theological themes, setting both within their relevant historical contexts.
Major works
Books: 1. Eros and Psyche: Studies in Plato, Plotinus and Origen. ; Italian edition. 2. ' ; Italian edition with new introduction. 3. ' ; Spanish translation with new introduction 1995. 4. ' pp. xiv, 185; Italian edition ; Catalan translation. 5. The Stoics . 6. '. 7. Human Value: A Study of Ancient Philosophical Ethics . 8. Platonism and Its Christian Heritage. 9. The Mind of Aristotle. 10. '. Italian edition ; Spanish edition planned. 11. '. 12. '. 13. '. 14. ' pp. xiv, 361. 15. '. 16. .
Philosophical and Religious Views
Rist has argued that the most coherent and sound form of ethical realism is what he calls 'transcendental realism,' that is, realism grounded in transcendent standards for morality, and thus in a metaphysics of morals that is in some sense 'Platonic.' Unlike Iris Murdoch's slightly earlier work proposing Platonic metaphysics as a guide to morals, with which it shares some sympathies, Rist's project has been to show that in order for an ethics to be realist, it must be theistic, that is, grounded in a divine principle that is metaphysically real. Rist is a convert to Catholicism from agnosticism. As he explained in a 1997 article, after studying Plato and Plotinus he became convinced that the notion of an intrinsically evil act requires an unchanging standard for morality, and that this transcendent standard must exist in a divine mind. Subsequently, he became convinced that a divine mind that was absolutely good would intervene in human history out of concern for individual human beings; he thus began to move beyond neo-Platonism and become interested in Christianity. A study of the Gospels of Matthew and Mark convinced him that the compilation of Matthew was to be dated before 70 A.D./C.E., and so he became convinced that "the full range of Christian beliefs must go back to the very earliest followers of Jesus, and in all probability to Jesus himself. The solution that either Jesus was a lunatic or his earliest followers were all blatant liars again seemed the only alternative possibility if their claims were false.... I had to decide only whether the totality of Jesus' recorded behavior looked like that of a madman; it was not difficult to see that it did not." By further research into Patristics, and through reading John Henry Newman, he became convinced that the present-day Catholic Church is in continuity with that of the apostles. Like other Catholic intellectuals of the same generation—e.g. Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, and Rémi Brague—Rist has turned in his later career increasingly to the relationship of Catholic thought and culture to history and public policy. In April 2019, Rist was among 19 signatories of a letter to the bishops of the world, accusing Pope Francis of heresy.
