Jerry Farmer specializes in both systematic theology and theological ethics. He teaches courses on liberation theology which highlight issues of social justice in conversation with decolonial thought in the North Atlantic world. He also teaches courses on various aspects of theological ethics: Foundational themes of marriage and family, human sexuality, health, business, social justice and the environment; Environmental Science and Theology in Dialogue; and Introduction to Bioethics from multi-disciplinary perspectives of both theology and philosophy (team-taught).
Research interests
Farmer’s research interests center on the theology of Karl Rahner, whose critical theological analysis seeks to promote a dynamic and probing approach to contemporary issues and concerns. His theology has deeply influenced and contributed to many of the conclusions and directions resulting from the Second Vatican Council, 1962-1965, that has laid the groundwork for a renewed and vibrant Catholic Christianity.
Selected publications
Books and Chapters
Ministry in Community: Karl Rahner’s Vision of Ministry, (Leuven: Louvain Theological and Pastoral Monographs, 13, Peeters, 1993)
“Ministry and Worship,” in Cambridge Companion to Karl Rahner, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005)
“Ecclesia semper reformanda: Karl Rahner, Pope Francis, and Theology as Radical Critique,” in Answerable for our Beliefs: Reflections on Theology and Contemporary Culture Offered to Terrence Merrigan, (Leuven: Louvain Theological and Pastoral Monographs, 48, Peeters, 2022).
Articles
“My Theological Reflection with Karl Rahner: Rupture, Discontinuity . . . Incomprehensible Mystery,” in Horizons, the Journal of the College Theology Society, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014).
“Common Good and Creation: A Postmodern Critical Understanding in an Ethics of Responsibility of Louis Janssens,” in To Discern Creation in a Scattering World, (Leuven: Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 2013).
