Catherine Pickstock

Catherine Pickstock is a British philosopher and theologian known for her work in Radical Orthodoxy, a theological movement that emerged in the 1990s, influenced by John Milbank, Graham Ward, and William Cavanaugh. Her philosophical ideas are rooted in the traditions of Plato, Aristotle, and Thomas Aquinas, and she has been influenced by the works of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Henri de Lubac. Pickstock's work has been associated with the University of Cambridge, where she has taught and researched, and has been influenced by the Cambridge Platonists and the Oxford Movement.

Biography

Catherine Pickstock was born in England and raised in a Christian family, which influenced her early interest in Theology and Philosophy of religion. She studied Philosophy at the University of Oxford, where she was exposed to the works of Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Friedrich Nietzsche. Pickstock's intellectual journey was also shaped by her engagement with the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, and she has been influenced by the Second Vatican Council and the Lambeth Conference. Her biography is marked by a deep commitment to Christian theology and a desire to engage with the broader intellectual traditions of Western philosophy, including the works of René Descartes, John Locke, and David Hume.

Academic Career

Pickstock's academic career has been marked by appointments at several prestigious institutions, including the University of Cambridge, where she has taught and researched in the Faculty of Divinity. She has also held positions at the University of Oxford and the University of Nottingham, and has been a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Pickstock's academic work has been influenced by her collaborations with other scholars, including John Milbank, Graham Ward, and William Cavanaugh, and she has been associated with the Centre of Theology and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. Her research has been supported by grants from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Leverhulme Trust, and she has been a fellow of the British Academy.

Philosophical Work

Pickstock's philosophical work is characterized by a deep engagement with the traditions of Platonic philosophy and Scholasticism, and she has been influenced by the works of Augustine of Hippo, Thomas Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. Her ideas on participation and the analogy of being have been shaped by her reading of Aristotle and Plato, and she has been influenced by the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and Iamblichus. Pickstock's work has also been influenced by the Phenomenology of Edmund Husserl and Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and she has engaged with the Hermeneutics of Hans-Georg Gadamer and Paul Ricoeur. Her philosophical ideas have been applied to a range of fields, including Theology, Philosophy of religion, and Liturgical theology, and she has been influenced by the works of Karl Barth, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.

Liturgical Theology

Pickstock's work in Liturgical theology has been shaped by her engagement with the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, and she has been influenced by the Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the Book of Common Prayer. Her ideas on the Eucharist and the Sacraments have been influenced by the works of Thomas Aquinas and Hans Urs von Balthasar, and she has engaged with the Ecclesiology of Vatican II and the Lambeth Conference. Pickstock's work in Liturgical theology has also been influenced by the Patristics of Origen of Alexandria and Gregory of Nyssa, and she has been influenced by the Mysticism of Meister Eckhart and Julian of Norwich. Her research has been supported by grants from the Catholic Biblical Association and the Anglican Theological Review, and she has been a fellow of the Ecclesiastical History Society.

Influence and Criticism

Pickstock's work has had a significant influence on the development of Radical Orthodoxy, and she has been praised by scholars such as John Milbank and Graham Ward for her innovative readings of Platonic philosophy and Scholasticism. However, her ideas have also been subject to criticism from scholars such as Terry Eagleton and Slavoj Žižek, who have argued that her work is too closely tied to Christian theology and neglects the insights of Marxism and Psychoanalysis. Pickstock's work has also been influenced by the Postmodernism of Jacques Derrida and Jean-François Lyotard, and she has engaged with the Critical theory of Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer. Her research has been supported by grants from the European Research Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, and she has been a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.