John Christopher "Aidan" Nichols (born 17 September 1948) is an English academic and Catholic priest. Nichols served as the first John Paul II Memorial Visiting Lecturer at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

for 2006 to 2008, the first lectureship of Catholic theology at that university since the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. He is a member of the

Order of Preachers The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and Mysticism, mystic Saint ...

(Dominicans) residing in the Priory of St Michael the Archangel in Cambridge, England.

Early life

Nichols was born in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the 2011 census was 42,954. The town is almost contiguous wi ...

, Lancashire, on 17 September 1948. He graduated with

first-class honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied (sometimes with significant variati ...

from

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

, with a degree in modern history.

Religious life

Nichols entered the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of ...

in 1970. He spent the next seven years at

Blackfriars, Oxford Blackfriars Priory (formally the Priory of the Holy Spirit) is a Dominican religious community in Oxford, England. It houses two educational institutions: Blackfriars Studium, the centre of theological studies of the English Province of the D ...

, during which time he was ordained to the priesthood. He then moved to Edinburgh, where he served as a chaplain at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...

. He received his doctorate at Edinburgh in 1986. Between 1983 and 1991, Nichols was Lecturer in Dogmatics and Ecumenics at the

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas A pontifical ( la, pontificale) is a Christian liturgical book containing the liturgies that only a bishop may perform. Among the liturgies are those of the ordinal for the ordination and consecration of deacons, priests, and bishops to Holy O ...

in Rome. In 1990 he was awarded the degree of

Licentiate of Sacred Theology Licentiate in Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Licentiatus; abbreviated STL) is the second of three ecclesiastical degrees in theology (the first being the Baccalaureate in Sacred Theology and the third being the Doctorate in Sacred Theol ...

from the university. In 2003, the master of the Dominican Order conferred on Nichols the degree of

Master of Sacred Theology The Master of Sacred Theology ( la, Sacrae Theologiae Magister; abbreviated STM) is a graduate-level, North American, academic degree in theology equivalent to ThM. The Roman Catholic equivalent is the Licentiate in Sacred Theology (STL). An ...

. From Rome. Nichols moved back to England and to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, where he began as assistant Catholic chaplain, then as an affiliated university lecturer (1998) as

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be low ...

of St Michael's for two terms between 1998 and 2004, and again for a third term from 2013.

Academic work

Nichols began his academic work in the Russian theological tradition and has written on many figures, including

Sergei Bulgakov Sergei Nikolaevich Bulgakov (; russian: Серге́й Никола́евич Булга́ков; – 13 July 1944) was a Russian Orthodox theologian, priest, philosopher, and economist. Biography Early life: 1871–1898 Sergei Nikolaevich B ...

. However he is best known for his work on

Hans Urs von Balthasar Hans Urs von Balthasar (12 August 1905 – 26 June 1988) was a Swiss theologian and Catholic priest who is considered an important Catholic theologian of the 20th century. He was announced as his choice to become a cardinal by Pope John Paul II, b ...

, publishing three analytic volumes on von Balthasar's famous trilogy: ''The Word Has Been Abroad: A Guide Through Balthasar's Aesthetics'' (1998), ''No Bloodless Myth: A Guide Through Balthasar’s Dramatics'' (2000) and ''Say It Is Pentecost: A Guide Through Balthasar’s Logic'' (2001). He was also one of the contributors to the ''Cambridge Companion to Hans Urs von Balthasar'' (2004). He has also written ''The Theology of

Joseph Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...

'' (1988), a book on the theological history of

Anglicanism Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of t ...

in ''The Panther and the Hind'' (1992) and a more general work on religion in the modern world, ''Christendom Awake'' (1993). In April 2019, Nichols was among nineteen Catholic scholars and clergy who signed a 20-page open letter to the bishops of the world accusing

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013 ...

of heresy.

Selected books

* (2020) ''Balthasar for Thomists'' * (2019) ''Conciliar Octet: A Concise Commentary on the Eight Key Texts of the Second Vatican Council'' * (2016) ''All Great Art is Praise: Art and Religion in John Ruskin'' * (2015) ''There Is No Rose: The Mariology of the Catholic Church'' * (2013) ''Figuring out the Church: Her Marks, and Her Masters'' * (2012) ''Chalice of God. A Systematic Theology in Outline'' * (2011) ''The Latin Clerk. The Life, Work, and Travels of Adrian Fortescue'' * (2011) ''Lost in Wonder. Essays on Liturgy and the Arts'' * (2011) ''The Poet as Believer. A Theological Study of Paul Claudel'' * (2011) ''A Key to Balthasar. Hans Urs von Balthasar on Beauty, Goodness, and Truth'' * (2010) ''Criticising the Critics. Catholic Apologias for Today'' * (2010) ''Romance and System. The Theological Synthesis of Matthias Joseph Scheeben'' * (2009) ''From Hermes to Benedict XVI. Faith and Reason in Modern Catholic Thought'' * (2009) ''G. K. Chesterton, Theologian'' * (2008) ''The Realm. An Unfashionable Essay on the Conversion of England'' * (2008) ''Reason with Piety. Garrigou-Lagrange in the Service of Catholic Thought'' * (2007) ''Redeeming Beauty. Essays on Sacral Aesthetics'' * (2007) ''Lovely, like Jerusalem. The Fulfilment of the Old Testament in Christ and the Church'' * (2007) ''Divine Fruitfulness: A Guide to Balthasar's Theology beyond the Trilogy''

Catholic University of America Press The Catholic University of America Press, also known as CUA Press, is the publishing division of The Catholic University of America. Founded on November 14, 1939, and incorporated on July 16, 1941,Roy J. Deferrari ''Memoirs of the Catholic Unive ...

* (2007) ''Redeeming Beauty: Soundings in Sacral Aesthetics'' * (2007) ''The Thought of Pope Benedict XVI: An Introduction to the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger'' * (2006) ''Scattering the Seed: A Guide Through Balthasar's Early Writings on Philosophy And the Arts''

* (2003) ''A Spirituality for the Twenty First Century'' * (2002) ''Epiphany: A Theological Introduction to Catholicism'' * (2002) ''Discovering Aquinas: An Introduction to His Life, Work and Influence'' * (2002) ''Beyond the Blue Glass: Catholic Essays on Faith and Culture'' * (2002) ''A Pope and a Council on the Sacred Liturgy: Pope Pius Xii's Mediator Dei and the Second Vatican Council's Sacrosanctum Concilium With a Comparative Study a Tale of Two Documents'' * (2001) ''Pentecost: A Guide Through Balthasar's Logic'' * (2000) ''No Bloodless Myth: A Guide Through Balthasar's Dramatics''

* (2000) ''Christendom Awake: On Re-Energising the Church in Culture'' * (1998) ''The Word Has Been Abroad: A Guide Through Balthasar's Aesthetics''

* (1997) ''The Service of Glory: The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Worship, Ethics, Spirituality'' * (1996) ''Looking at the Liturgy: A Critical View of Its Contemporary Form'' * (1995) ''The Splendour of Doctrine: The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Christian Believing'' * (1994) ''Byzantine Gospel: Maximus the Confessor in Modern Scholarship'' * (1992) ''Rome and the Eastern Churches: A Study in Schism'' * (1992) ''The Panther and the Hind: A Theological History of Anglicanism'' * (1991) ''Holy Order: The Apostolic Ministry from the New Testament to the Second Vatican Council'' * (1991) ''The Shape of Catholic Theology: An Introduction to Its Sources, Principles, and History'' * (1991) ''The Holy Eucharist: From the New Testament to Pope John Paul II'' * (1991) ''A Grammar of Consent: The Existence of God in Christian Tradition'' * (1990) ''From Newman to Congar: The Idea of Doctrinal Development from the Victorians to the Second Vatican Council'' * (1990) ''Theology in the Russian Diaspora: Church, Fathers, Eucharist in Nikolai Afanas'ev (1893–1966)'' * (1989) ''Yves Congar'' * (1988) ''The Theology of Joseph Ratzinger: An Introductory Study'' * (1980) ''The Art of God Incarnate: Theology and Image in Christian Tradition''

References

External links

Blackfriars, Cambridge

Christendom Awake website

Interview with ''Touchstone'' magazine

Sermons by Aidan Nichols at Torch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichols, Aidan 1948 births Living people 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests 21st-century English Roman Catholic priests Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Alumni of the University of Edinburgh English Dominicans 20th-century British Roman Catholic theologians Alumni of Blackfriars, Oxford Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas faculty Academics of the University of Cambridge Dominican theologians 21st-century British Roman Catholic theologians