Andrew Pinsent
Academic Summary
BA Merton College, Oxford University (Physics, First Class Honours, 1988)
(with a special commendation for experimental work)
MA Merton College, Oxford University (Physics), 1991
DPhil Merton College, Oxford University (Physics), 1991
PhB Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (Philosophy), 2000
STB Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (Theology), 2003
PhL Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome (Philosophy), 2005
PhD Saint Louis University, United States (Philosophy), 2009
ANDREW PINSENT is Research Director of the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion at the Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford. At Oxford since 2009, he has been Principal Investigator for more than $6M of research grants involving scholars in more than a dozen countries.
Formerly a particle physicist on the DELPHI experiment at CERN, Dr Pinsent has degrees in philosophy and theology and a second doctorate in philosophy. A major theme of his research is second-person (I-you) relatedness in science, philosophy, and theology. His publications include work in virtue ethics, neurotheology, science and religion, the philosophy of the person, insight, divine action, and the nature of evil.
Research Interests
- Philosophy of science
- Virtue ethics
- Metaphysical issues in contemporary science and theology
- Philosophy of persons
- Second-person relatedness
- Insight and understanding
Affiliations
- Harris Manchester College, Oxford
- Faculty of Theology and Religion, Oxford
- MInstP Member of the Institute of Physics
- CPhys Chartered Physicist (to 2020)
- FRSA Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts
Publications
A selection of these publications formed part of the return of the Theology and Religion Faculty of Oxford for the Research Excellence Framework in 2014, one of 34 Faculty members selected.
Publications in philosophy and theology
Monographs
The Second-Person Perspective in Aquinas’s Ethics: Virtues and Gifts, Routledge, 2012
Religion and the Sciences, Vol. X of a series on religion, philosophy and society, edited by Chad Meister and Paul Moser, CUP, under contract
Digital humanities projects
Principal Investigator, www.specialdivineaction.com: a £1.4M project with Western Michigan University, the Texas Center for Applied Technology and the Bodleian Library.
Edited volumes
The History of Evil in the Medieval Age, volume editor, Vol. II of a series on the history of evil, edited by Chad Meister and Charles Taliaferro, Routledge, 2018
Special Divine Action, a special edition of the European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, co-edited with Timothy McGrew, Vol. 7, No. 4, 2015
“Neurotheology,” a five-chapter section of the Handbook of Neuroethics, edited by Jens Clausen and Neil Levy, Springer, 2014
The Second-Personal in the Philosophy of Religion, a special edition of the European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, co-edited with Eleonore Stump, Vol. 5, No. 4, 2013
Papers in philosophy and theology
“Temperance and the Second-Person Perspective,” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol 12, No 3, pp.101-115, 2020. doi.org/10.24204/ejpr.v12i3.3408.
“God, Elvish, and Secondary Creation,” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 191-204, June 2019. doi: 10.24204/ejpr.v11i2.2620
“Catholic Perspectives on Human Biotechnological Enhancement,” co-authored with Biggins, Sean, Studies in Christian Ethics, Vol. 32, No. 2, May 2019
“Spell-Breaking with Revitalizing Metaphors,” Res Philosophica, Vol. 96, No. 1, pp. 3-15, January 2019
“Limbo and the Children of Faerie,” Faith and Philosophy Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 293-310, July 2016
“Special Divine Insight: Escaping the Snow Queen’s Palace,” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 7, No. 4, Dec 2015
“Why Matter Matters to Neo-Aristotelian Teleology in Mechanics,” Anuario Filosófico, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2013
“The Non-Aristotelian Virtue of Truth from the Second-Person Perspective,” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 5, No. 4, Dec 2013
“Cosmic Purpose and the Question of a Personal God,” European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Vol. 5, No. 1, March 2013
“A ‘Copernican Revolution’ of the Virtues: One More Step for Peter Hampson's Integrative Role of Habitus,” Edification, Vol.6, No. 1, 2013
Book chapters
“Infused Virtues, Gifts and Fruits.” In The Cambridge Companion to Aquinas, second edition, edited by Eleonore Stump and Thomas Joseph White, forthcoming.
“Catholicism, Biotechnology, and the Second-Person Perspective.” In Sociedad Tecnológica y Futuro Humano, vol. 3: Retos sociales y tecnología, co-authored with Biggins, Sean, edited by Héctor Velázquez, Tirant Lo Blanch, Santiago de Chile, 2021.
“Providence and Predestination.” In Divine and Human Providence: Philosophical, Psychological and Theological Approaches, edited by Ignacio Silva and Simon Kopf, Routledge, 2020.
“Hope as a Virtue in the Middle Ages.” In Historical and Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Hope, edited by Steven van den Heuvel, Springer. 2020.
“Eyesight with Insight: Cosmology and Second-Person Inspiration.” In Creatio ex nihilo, edited by Gary Anderson and Markus Bockmuehl, pp. 347-365. Notre Dame, Indiana: Notre Dame University Press, 2018
“Augustine, Original Sin and the Naked Ape.” In Evolution and Theology, edited by Stanley P. Rosenberg and Benno van den Toren. Ada, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2018 (in press).
“Who’s Afraid of the Infused Virtues? Dispositional Infusion, Human and Divine,” In The Virtuous Life: Thomas Aquinas on the Theological Nature of Moral Virtues, edited by Harm Goris and Henk Schoot. Leuven, Paris, Bristol – CT: Peeters, 2017
“‘Till We Have Faces’: Second-Person Relatedness as the Object, End and Crucial Circumstance of Perfect or ‘Infused’ Virtues”. In Varieties of Virtue Ethics, edited by David Carr, James Arthur, and Kristján Kristjánsson, pp. 67–80. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016
“Aquinas: Infused Virtues.” In the Routledge Companion to Virtue Ethics, edited by Michael Slote and Lorraine Besser-Jones, pp.141-154, 2015
“Die Zweite-Person-Perspektive in Wissenschaft und Theologie.” In Theologie Und Natur-wissenschaften, edited by Christian Tapp and Christof Breitsameter, Walter de Gruyter, 2014
“Avarice and Liberality.” In Virtues and their Vices, edited by Kevin Timpe and Craig A. Boyd, Oxford University Press, 2014
“Neurotheological Eudaimonia.” In Handbook of Neuroethics, edited by Jens Clausen and Neil Levy, Springer, 2014
“Aquinas and the Second Person in the Formation of Virtues.” In Aquinas, Education and the East, edited by Brian Mooney and Mark Nowacki, Sophia Studies, Springer, 2013
“Wisdom and Evil.” In The Wisdom of the Christian Faith, edited by Paul Moser and Michael McFall, Cambridge University Press, 2012
“The Gifts and Fruits of the Holy Spirit.” In The Oxford Handbook of Aquinas, edited by Brian Davies and Eleonore Stump. Oxford University Press, 2012
“Humility.” In Being Good: Christian Virtues for Everyday Life, edited by Michael W. Austin and Douglas Geivett. Eerdmans, 2012
“Aquinas and Evil.” In The History of Evil, edited by Chad Meister and Charles Taliaferro, Routledge, in press.
Reviews
Reason, Revelation, and Devotion: Inference and Argument in Religion, by W. Wainwright, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 90(1), 79-83, 20 July 2021, DOI: 10.1007/s11153-021-09802-1
The Foundations of Natural Morality: On the Compatibility of Natural Rights and the Natural Law, by S. Adam Seagrave, Notre Dame Philosophical Review, 8 October 2015
Forgiveness and Love, by Glen Pettigrove, Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 65, No. 261, October 2015
Evolution, Games, and God: The Principle of Cooperation, edited by Martin Nowak and Sarah Coakley, Reviews in Theology and Religion, Vol. 22 (4), October 2015
Aquinas and the Nicomachean Ethics, by Tobias Hoffmann, Jörn Müller, and Matthias Perkams (eds.), Notre Dame Philosophical Review, 19 June 2014
God in the Age of Science? A Critique of Religious Reason, by Herman Philipse, Notre Dame Philosophical Review, 3 January 2013
Darwinism and the Divine: Evolutionary Thought and Natural Theology, by Alister E. McGrath, The Way, Vol. 51, No. 4, October 2012
Science and Spirituality: Making Room for Faith in the Age of Science, by Michael Ruse, Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 62, No. 247, April 2012
Divine Impassibility and the Mystery of Human Suffering, edited by James F. Keating and Thomas Joseph White O.P., Theological Studies Book Reviews, March 2012
Analytic Theology, edited by Oliver Crisp and Michael Rea, Reviews in Theology and Religion, March 2012
“Review Essay: New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy.” Harvard Theological Review 104, no. 2 (2011): 255-62
Thomas Aquinas on the Passions, by Robert Miner. Notre Dame Philosophical Review, 7 February 2010
“Can Physics Explain Miracles?” review of The Miracles of Exodus: A Scientist's Discovery of the Extraordinary Natural Causes of the Biblical Stories by Colin Humphreys (2003, Continuum Press), in Physics World, December 2003
“God’s Library through Einstein’s Eyes,” review of Einstein and Religion by Max Jammer (1999, Princeton University Press), in Physics World, June 2000
Reference articles
“Ratiocination,” “Second-Person Relatedness,” and “Stump, Eleonore,” Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy, Third Edition. Ed. Robert Audi. Cambridge University Press, 2015
“Philosophy of Science,” “Philosophical Problems of Quantum Mechanics,” “Second-person Relatedness,” New Catholic Encyclopedia Supplement 2012-13: Ethics and Philosophy. Ed. Robert L. Fastiggi. 4 vols. Detroit: Gale, 2013
Publications in physics as a member of the DELPHI Collaboration at CERN
“Charged Particle Multiplicity Distributions in Restricted Rapidity Intervals in Z0 Hadronic Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). 1991. Published in Zeitschrift Für Physik C 52:271-281, 1991.
“A Search for Neutral Higgs Particles in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration
(P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-132, Aug 1991. 32pp. Published in Nuclear Physics B 373:3-34, 1992.
“A Measurement of the Lifetime of the Tau Lepton,” by the DELPHI Collaboration
(P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-115, Jul 1991. 15pp. Published in Physics Letters B 267:422-430, 1991.
“The Reaction E+ E- ---> Gamma Gamma (Gamma) at Z0 Energies,” by DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-109, Jul 1991. 16pp. Published in Physics Letters B 268:296-304, 1991.
“Study of Orientation of Three Jet Events in Z0 Hadronic Decays using the Delphi Detector,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-79, May 1991. 15pp. Published in Physics Letters B 274:498-506, 1992.
“Search for Excited Charged Leptons in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-100, Jun 1991. 19pp. Published in Zeitschrift Für Physik C 53:41-49, 1992.
“Determination of Z0 Resonance Parameters and Couplings from its Hadronic And Leptonic Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-95, Jun 1991. 60pp. Published in Nuclear Physics B 367:511-574, 1991.
“A Study of the Reaction E+ E- ---> Mu+ Mu- around the Z0 Pole,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-91-43, Mar 1991. 15pp. Published in Physics Letters B 260:240-248, 1991.
“Search for Low Mass Higgs Bosons Produced in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-193, Dec 1990. 28pp. Published in Zeitschrift Für Physik C 51:25-36, 1991.
“Experimental Study of the Triple Gluon Vertex,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-174, Nov 1990. 12pp. Published in Physics Letters B 255:466-476, 1991.
“Charged Particle Multiplicity Distributions in Z0 Hadronic Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-173, Nov 1990. 23pp. Published in Zeitschrift Für Physik C 50:185-194, 1991.
“Search for Nonstandard Z0 Decays in Two Particle Final States,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-167, Nov 1990. 18pp. Contributed to International Conference on High Energy Physics, Singapore, Aug 2-8, 1990.
“Search for Higgs Bosons Using the DELPHI Detector,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-163, Nov 1990. 10pp. Contributed to International Conference on High Energy Physics, Singapore, Aug 2-8, 1990.
“The DELPHI Detector at LEP,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P.A. Aarnio et al.). CERN-PPE-90-128, CERN-EF-90-5, Sep 1990. 73pp. Published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods A 303:233-276, 1991.
“Measurement of the Partial Width of the Decay of the Z0 into Charm Quark Pairs,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-123, Aug 1990. 14pp. Published in Physics Letters B 252:140-148, 1990.
“Energy-Energy Correlations in Hadronic Final States from Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-122, Aug 1990. 13pp. Published in Physics Letters B 252:149-158, 1990
“Charged Multiplicity and Rapidity Distributions in Z0 Hadronic Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-117, Aug 1990. 28pp. Contributed to International Conference on High Energy Physics, Singapore, Aug 2-8, 1990.
“A Measurement of the Partial Width of the Z0 Boson into B Quark Pairs,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-118, Aug 1990. 10pp. Contributed to International Conference on High Energy Physics, Singapore, Aug 2-8, 1990.
“DELPHI Results on the Z0 Resonance Parameters through its Hadronic and Leptonic Decay Modes,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-PPE-90-119, Aug 1990. 19pp. Contributed to International Conference on High Energy Physics, Singapore, Aug 2-8, 1990.
“A Comparison of Jet Production Rates on the Z0 Resonance to Perturbative QCD,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-89, Jun 1990. 14pp. Published in Physics Letters B 247:167-176, 1990.
“A Search for Sleptons and Gauginos in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-80, Jun 1990. 19pp. Published in Physics Letters B 247:157-166, 1990.
“A Study of Intermittency in Hadronic Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-78, Jun 1990. 20pp. Published in Physics Letters B 247:137-147, 1990.
“Search for Scalar Quarks in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-79, Jun 1990. 19pp. Published in Physics Letters B 247:148-156, 1990.
“Search for Pair Production of Neutral Higgs Bosons in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-60, May 1990. 20pp. Published in Physics Letters B 245:276-288, 1990.
“Search for Light Neutral Higgs Particles produced in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-44, Apr 1990. 18pp. Published in Nuclear Physics B 342:1-14, 1990.
“Search for the T and B-Prime Quarks in Hadronic Decays of the Z0 Boson,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-46, Apr 1990. 12pp. Published in Physics Letters B 242:536-546, 1990.
“Search for Heavy Charged Scalars in Z0 Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-33, Mar 1990. 15pp. Published in Physics Letters B 241:449-458, 1990.
“A Precise Measurement of the Z Resonance Parameters through its Hadronic Decays,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P. Abreu et al.). CERN-EP-90-32, Mar 1990. 18pp. Published in Physics Letters B 241:435-448, 1990.
“Study of the Leptonic Decays of the Z0 Boson,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P.A. Aarnio et al.). CERN-EP-90-31, Mar 1990. 14pp. Published in Physics Letters B 241:425-434,1990 Also in Moriond 1990: Electroweak:79-92 (QCD161:R4:1990:V.1).
“Study of Hadronic Decays of the Z0 Boson,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P.A. Aarnio et al.). CERN-EP-90-19, Feb 1990. 24pp. Published in Physics Letters B 240:271, 1990.
“Measurement of the Mass and Width of the Z0 Particle from Multi-Hadronic Final States Produced In E+ E- Annihilations,” by the DELPHI Collaboration (P.A. Aarnio et al.). CERN-EP-89-134, Oct 1989. 11pp. Published in Physics Letters B 231:539, 1989.
Publications in biology
“Functional equivalence between plant PROP1 and bacterial RNase R Ribonucleic acid (RNA) raises questions on control and recognition mechanisms,” by G. Auletta, I. Colagè, G. Cook, P. D’Ambrosio, M. Ramón, and A. Pinsent. Journal of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Research, Vol. 3(5), pp.63-64, 2011
Other Details
ANDREW PINSENT was formerly also a business and scientific consultant with Itautec Philco S.A., Brazil (1994-1998), part of one of the largest private Brazilian business groups, and with Smith System Engineering Limited (1991–1994), UK, specialising in geographical information systems. His ecclesiastical training was at the Venerable English College, Rome, for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, England (1998–2005). He was ordained priest in 2005 and has worked in variety of parishes in the US and UK. In the media, in schools, and at a great diversity of other venues, he is a regular contributor to public engagement with science and faith issues.
