Thomas More College is pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Dominic Taylor will be joining the faculty as a Visiting Fellow for the 2021–22 school year. Dean Walter J. Thompson remarked that “The Fellows are delighted to welcome Dr. Taylor to the College. He has already thrown himself whole-heartedly into the work of teaching.” For Dr. Taylor, “It’s a privilege to be here and share this special form of life and study with Thomas More College students, faculty, and staff.”
Having begun his academic career studying steelhead trout in Alaska before becoming a philosopher, Dr. Taylor is chiefly interested in the relationship between human beings and nature. He is a founding member of the International Laudato Si’ Institute for the Care of Creation in Granada, Spain, and his latest publication, The Foundations of Nature: Metaphysics of Gift for an Integral Ecological Ethic, recently won an Expanded Reason Award from the Ratzinger Foundation and the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria. Dr. Taylor has also spent time doing missionary work in Peru and Chile, an experience that made him “a better student of the human person.” According to TMC president Dr. William Fahey, Dr. Taylor’s wide range will be an asset to the College: “It is wonderful to have a scholar and teacher whose breadth of interest stretches from natural science to theology, and who is keen to study the great texts of the Western tradition with our students.”
On the generous donor who made this addition possible, Dr. Fahey says, “The College is grateful to its benefactor for creating an endowment that allows us to support visiting scholars of various ranks and fields. Dr. Taylor is a young scholar, but his two books and recent award from the Joseph Ratzinger–Pope Benedict XVI Vatican Foundation demonstrate that he is not a novice, but someone who is establishing himself as a thoughtful commentator on the troubles in our society, and a sign of hope for the Catholic intellectual tradition.”
For the College’s newest Visiting Fellow, the academic year begins with Coram Angelis: Prayer Seeking Understanding and Humanities V: Renaissance and Reformation. Dr. Taylor will also bring his knowledge and love of nature along when he accompanies Dr. Fahey and the freshman class on excursions for Natural History. He will continue to write and pursue research in addition to teaching and working with the students. Dr. Taylor has already begun to contribute to the College’s vibrant community life, from accompanying the new students on a hike to Wildcat Falls during Orientation to establishing a “Spanish table” in the lunchroom at the students’ request.
Dean Thompson summed up the College’s excitement by saying, “We look forward to the many ways in which Dr. Taylor’s unique formation and shared commitment to Catholic liberal education will leaven our common life in the year to come.”
