Blackfriars Scholarship lets student fulfil dream of studying at Oxford

The generous support of donors this year has strengthened Blackfriars as a place to study the roots of philosophy and theology.

Recently we announced the appointment of Rev. Dr Reginald Lynch OP as Senior Research Fellow and Departmental Lecturer in Medieval and Scholastic Theology.

And now we are delighted to announce Ty Harrington as the scholar who has been awarded the Oxford-Summum Bonum Scholarship, providing full funding for his Masters degree (MPhil) in Philosophical Theology (covering both fees and living costs). The scholarship was funded thanks to the generosity of a couple in the USA, Mike and Julie Rice from the Seattle area, with matched funding provided by Oxford University.

Introducing our new Scholar

Scholar Ty Harrington is congratulated by Rev Dr Reginald Lynch OP

We asked Ty to tell us a little about himself, and what attracted him to study for his Masters here in Oxford:

I come from Indiana in the United States. I attended the University of Notre Dame for my undergraduate degree, where I studied the Program of Liberal Studies alongside Philosophy & Theology.

Since my introduction to the writings of Thomas Aquinas at an early age, I have been interested in the relationship between reason and faith, or philosophy and religion. I am particularly interested in the way that philosophical perspectives can illuminate religious claims and, conversely, the way that religious claims can provide pathways for innovation in philosophy, especially in metaphysics and epistemology. I focus mainly on the Western Christian traditions and their relationships to Greco-Roman and modern philosophies, though I have done work comparing modern Christian metaphysics with certain forms of Hindu/Vedantic thought.

I’ve long dreamed of continuing my philosophical and religious studies at Oxford, since these subjects have been engaged here for hundreds of years, and continue to be engaged in the present day by an enormously impressive array of scholars and students working in world-renowned libraries and study spaces. I was especially attracted to Oxford since my interests are well represented among the Faculty, and since the unique one-on-one tutorial system enables me to engage these interests directly in conversation with these leading experts.

On the subject of the Oxford-Summum Bonum Scholarship, Ty continues:

I would not be at Oxford were it not for the generosity of the donors and their contribution to this scholarship. Since I had funded offers from other universities for graduate study, it would not have made financial sense for me to pay for Oxford on my own. Since Oxford had long been my dream, this was a genuinely saddening reality. I really cannot adequately express my enormous gratitude for this gift.

Helping Students to Succeed

Scholarships to support students who wish study at Blackfriars are enormously helpful in attracting gifted and dedicated students. They can be a springboard to success, and in many cases allow students to pursue their vocation of becoming teachers and researchers. As Ty comments:

Following this MPhil at Oxford, I plan to pursue doctoral studies in philosophy and theology/religion. My ultimate aim is to become a professor. My own professors have shown me that serious academic engagement can be a tremendous source of personal and intellectual fulfilment, and I hope one day to have a similar impact on students of my own.

Could you fund a scholarship?

We are immensely grateful to our donors for the support they provide for education and research at Blackfriars.

Blackfriars welcomes enquiries from anyone interested in funding scholarships, at all levels. Please just email Richard Brown development.director@bfriars.ox.ac.uk if you would like to discuss this.