Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley: William O'Neill

Associate Professor of Social Ethics
B.A., St. Louis University; M.Div., S.T.M., S.T.L., Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley; M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., Yale University

Phone: (510) 549-5036
Email:
2002-2003 office hours: Mondays 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Download a syllabus for the following courses:
CE 3230: Christian Social Ethics
RSCE 5525: Seminar In Human Rights
RSCE 4675: Thick or Thin? Ethical Criticism
RSCE 4872: Issues and Methods in Ethics (taught with Lisa Fullam, Ph.D.)

"In his inaugural discourse in Luke, Jesus proclaims that he is anointed to 'bring good news to the poor' (Lk. 4:18). If these words are to be fulfilled in 'our hearing' just as they were in Jesus' day (Lk. 4:21), our theology must be inspired by solidarity with all those consigned to society's margins."

Fr. O'Neill truly helps his students integrate their classroom experiences with practice in the world--in addition to teaching classes in Christian Social Ethics, Issues in Human Rights and Ethics and Culture, he lives and works in St. Patrick's parish, an inner-city, African-American and Hispanic parish.

There, he collaborates with other faculty, students and parishioners in exploring the pastoral and academic implications of a contextual theology inspired by the Church's commitment to evangelical justice. He has likewise served as a visiting professor at Hekima College, the Jesuit School of Theology, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Fr. O'Neill has published The Ethics of our Climate: Hermeneutics and Ethical Theory, "No Amnesty for Sorrow: The Privilege of the poor in Christian Social Ethics"; "Commonweal or Woe? The Ethics of Welfare Reform," "Public Reason and the Common Good"; "Rights of Passage: The Ethics of Immigration and Refugee Policy," co-authored with William Spohn; "Babel's Children: Reconstructing the Common Good"; and "African Moral Theology."