Prof. dr. Guido Vergauwen
Honorary supervisors Prof. Dr. A.J. Denaux - 2012 - Tilburg School of Catholic Theology
Guido Vergauwen (Sint-Niklaas, 1944) joined the order of Dominicans after the minor seminary in Belgium, an order with an intellectual tradition in the light of the life and work of Thomas Aquinas. Vergauwen studied philosophy and theology in Leuven, Freiburg, Tübingen, and Zurich.
He spent most of his academic career at the bilingual (German and French) University of Freiburg (Fribourg) in Switzerland. There he was Professor of Fundamental Theology, with the philosophy of religion and ecumenism as the main subjects of interest.
The university honors him for "the special merits of his entire work, which focuses on the relationship between faith and reason, between Christianity and culture, on ecumenical issues, especially the relationship with the Orthodox Churches, and on intercultural and interreligious dialogue."
In 2008, he obtained the title "magister," the highest academic degree and honor within the Dominican order. The eulogy stated that Vergauwen's theological gifts were matched by his ability to give the discipline of theology a place within the framework of a modern, international university, such as that of Freiburg. Vergauwen was Dean of the faculty of theology as well as Rector of the university from 2007 to 2015. In one of his speeches as Rector—from the publication The Idea of a University—Vergauwen appeared inspired by the 19th-century Cardinal John Henry Newman's publication with the same title.
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