Theologian Gary Anderson awarded 2024 Barry Prize; Paolo Carozza, Richard Garnett and Christian Smith also honored
Gary A. Anderson, the Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Thought at the University of Notre Dame, has been awarded a 2024 Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement from the American Academy of Sciences and Letters. The academy conferred the prize Wednesday (Oct. 23) in a ceremony at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Three other Notre Dame faculty were also invested as members of the academy: Paolo Carozza, a professor of law and concurrent professor of political science; Richard Garnett, the Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law and a concurrent professor of political science; and Christian Smith, the William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Sociology.
In becoming academy members, the honorees join prestigious fellow members including Salman Rushdie, Jay Bhattacharya, Jonathan Haidt, Steven Koonin, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Steven Pinker, Niall Ferguson, Nicholas Christakis, Akhil Reed Amar and two Nobel laureate scientists — chemist Arieh Warshel and biochemist Jennifer Doudna.
The Barry Prize for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement, open to scholars across diverse fields and disciplines, honors “those whose work has made outstanding contributions to humanity’s knowledge, appreciation, and cultivation of the good, the true and the beautiful.” Recipients are also inducted into the academy.
“It is a great honor, of course, to receive this sort of recognition about one’s academic work,” Anderson said. “I still find myself a bit in shock to be listed among such leaders in their respective fields. I am humbled to have been chosen.”
Anderson, who joined Notre Dame’s Department of Theology in 2003, focuses his research on the religion and literature of the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, with special interest in the reception of the Bible in Judaism and Christianity. According to the prize citation, he was recognized for his contributions to humanity’s understanding of one of its oldest and most influential sacred traditions.
“By his thorough exploration of the theology of the Hebrew Bible and its relationships to later traditions, Gary Anderson has illuminated some of history’s most influential metaphysical and moral ideas, as well as contributing to interfaith understanding,” the citation stated. “His work explores both continuity and changes over the millennia in our understanding of such concepts as compassion for the poor, good and evil, atonement, reconciliation and our existence.”
Contact: Carrie Gates, associate director of media relations, 574-993-9220 or c.gates@nd.edu
Latest ND NewsWire
- Dockworkers reconsider strike that shut down East and Gulf Coast ports: A conversation with supply chain expert Kaitlin WowakThe union representing dockworkers at U.S. ports walked away from the negotiating table with port employers this week over automation concerns as the two sides face a mid-January deadline to finalize a deal and prevent the resumption of a strike. Business Analytics Professor Kaitlin Wowak discusses potential supply chain disruptions.
- Student research strengthens State Department’s global conflict prevention workUndergraduate and graduate students at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs are conducting research that will inform policymakers working on global conflict prevention work, thanks to a partnership with the U.S. Department of State.
- When countries hide their true public debt, they hurt themselves, their citizens and their lendersGlobal public debt may soon collectively catch up to the worldwide gross domestic product (GDP), likely matching it by 2030. New research from a Notre Dame economist suggests that this could happen even sooner, thanks to countries’ hidden debts. This misreported debt can lead to higher interest rates for borrowers and lower recovery rates for lenders, suggesting indirect adverse effects on global financial stability and consumer welfare.
- WSJ editor and columnist Gerry Baker to deliver Thomas H. Quinn LectureGerry Baker, editor-at-large of The Wall Street Journal, is the featured speaker for the Thomas H. Quinn Lecture Series. “Unpacking the Election: Where Do We Go From Here?” will take place at 3:30 p.m. Friday (Nov. 8) in the Jordan Auditorium at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business.
- ‘Show kindness and compassion’: In Fr. TED Talks, Notre Dame community explores what we owe each otherLast Monday and Tuesday evenings (Oct. 28 and 29), hundreds gathered under a tent on the Library Lawn to attend a Notre Dame Forum event titled “Fr. TED Talks: Ideas from the Catholic Social Tradition That We Find Inspiring.” The event featured a series of eight speakers from the Notre Dame community, culminating in a talk by University President Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.
- Gov. Ron DeSantis to deliver Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government lectureGov. Ronald D. DeSantis, the 46th governor of Florida, will speak at the University of Notre Dame at 4 p.m. Nov. 8 in Room 101 of DeBartolo Hall. Sponsored by Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship and Constitutional Government, the talk will serve as the center’s 2024 Jeanie Poole O’Shaughnessy Memorial Lecture.