GORDON A. RIXON, S.J., A.B.; M.Div.; S.T.L.; Ph.D.

Dean, Regis College
Associate Professor, Systematic Theology
gordon.rixon@utoronto.ca
Room 112; ext. 225

Gordon Rixon, S.J. completed undergraduate studies in philosophy and mathematics at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, a Master of Divinity and Licentiate in Theology at Regis College, Toronto, and doctoral studies in theology at Boston College. Gordon joined the Regis faculty in 1996 after working on the program staff at the Jesuit Center for Social Faith and Justice in Toronto and serving as the Executive Director of Camp Ekon, a Jesuit sponsored youth leadership program in Muskoka, Ontario. He has been a Senior Resident at Massey College at the University of Toronto and the Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research at St. John's University, Collegeville, Minnesota. Gordon is a literary trustee for the estate of the Canadian Jesuit philosopher and theologian Bernard Lonergan. He is serves on the board of directors of Covenant House (Toronto), the Jesuit Forum for Social Faith and Justice and the Lonergan Research Institute. He represents the Canadian Catholic Bishops on the Churches' Council on Theological Education. Gordon complements his academic work by preaching regularly in local parishes and doing popular education.

Research Interests

Gordon is a specialist in Lonergan studies, systematic theology, and the relation of mysticism and co-developmental (personal, cultural, social and ecological) transformation. He is presently working on a manuscript entitled Transforming Mysticism: Reintroducing Ignatius of Loyola and Bernard Lonergan.

Gordon is particpating in a collaborative pilot project with Crivella West Inc, a knowledge firm based in Pittsburgh, the John M. Kelly Library of the University of St. Michael's College, the University of Toronto Press and other partners to explore the application of advance algorithms to the analysis of digitzed corpuses of theological authors.. He is presently guiding a working group focused on the anlysis of twenty of Bernard Lonergan's published texts.

Selected Publications

• "The Ignatian Presupposition as a Methodological Ground for Collaboration," in Lonergan Workshop Journal 23 (2009), 413-422.
• "Re-tensioning Lonergan's Hermeneutical Scissors," in URAM 30/4 (2009), pp. 156-164.
• "Catalogue Entry," in Patricia Bellamy, Maureen Morin and Karen Turko eds., Books that Inspire Faculty: An Exhibition at the University of Toronto Libraries, Toronto: University of Toronto Libraries, 2009, p. 47.
• "Religion as the Dynamic Horizon of Moral Discernment," in H. Daniel Monsour, ed., Ethics & Genetics: An Integrated Approach, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007, pp. 93-104.
• "Transforming Mysticism: Adorning Pathways to Self-Transcendence," Gregorianum 85 (2004), pp. 719-34. Reprinted in Paul Gilbert and Natalino Spaccapelo, eds., Il Teologo e la Storia: Lonergan's Centenary (1904-2004), Rome: Editrice Pontificia Universita Gregoriana, 2006.
• “Bernard Lonergan to Thomas O’Malley, November 8, 1978,” edited text with introduction and footnotes supplied, Method: Journal of Lonergan Studies 20 (2002), pp. 77-86.
• "Derrida and Lonergan on Human Development," American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 76 (2002), pp. 221-36.
• "Derrida and Lonergan on the Human Subject: Transgressing a Metonymical Notion," Toronto Journal of Theology 18 (2002), pp. 213-29.
• "Bernard Lonergan and Mysticism," Theological Studies 62 (2001), pp. 479-97.