Simon Wayte

Simon is the Academic Dean of Catholic Theological College, University of Divinity, and lectures in Systematic Theology there. He is a priest of the Missionaries of God’s Love within the Catholic Church and is appointed as the Dean of Studies at the Missionaries of God’s Love Seminary in Burwood.

Simon completed a doctorate in astrophysics at Mount Stromlo Observatory, ANU for which he was awarded the 1990 ANU J.G. Crawford Prize for excellence in PhD theses, for his thesis on the Magellanic System. His second doctorate some years later focussed on developing a Christology, organised around the concept of presence, using the analogy of a hologram.

Simon currently teaches Ecclesiology and Mariology to undergraduates and postgraduates at Catholic Theological College. Simon has worked on the importance of pneumatology in Christology. With the aid of a holographic analogy, he has also worked on the indivisible nature of the continuing presence of the risen Christ in the Church and her liturgy. His current research areas include Christology, Ecclesiology, Mariology, and the dialogue between faith and science.

QUALIFICATIONS

• DTheol, University of Divinity
• PhD, The Australian National University
• GCHE, Australian Catholic University
• BTheol, Melbourne College of Divinity
• BSc(Hons), University of Adelaide
• CertIV TAA, Charles Darwin University

SCIENCE/FAITH INTERESTS

I am currently researching for a book on rational proofs for the existence of God. I have some expertise in using scientific analogies in theology. I am interested in the universe as far from equilibrium system and the resultant emergence of order under divine influence.

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

• Australian Catholic Theological Association
• College Theology Society
• Catholic Theological Society of America
• Centre for Theology and the Natural Sciences
• Catholic Scholars Guild

RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Wayte, Simon R. “The Indivisible Totus Christus and the Universal Church.” In Ecclesiology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium, edited by Kevin Wagner, M. Isabell Naumann, and Peter J. McGregor, 127-151. Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2020. ISBN 978-1532665332

Wayte, Simon Richard. “Beyond Boethius: The Clarity and Capacity of Relational Personhood.” In Theological Anthropology at the Beginning of the Third Millennium, edited by Kevin Wagner, Peter John McGregor, and M. Isabell Naumann, 55-75. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2022. ISBN 978-1-6667-0926-1