In Memory

Just before the printing of this issue of Logos we were informed of the death of Fr. Edward T. Oakes, SJ. Fr. Oakes, who taught at New York University, Regis University, and the University of St. Mary of the Lake, entered the Society of Jesus in 1966 and was ordained in 1979. An academic theologian who made his name primarily on the basis of his work on Hans Urs von Balthasar, Oakes was nevertheless interested in all areas of study. His articles in Logos reflected particularly his interests in literature, the last being an essay in our Fall 2013 issue on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the philosophical currents in which it was written.

While I cannot claim a friendship with Fr. Oakes, I met him at several conferences over the years and found him to be as lively and stimulating in person as he was in his writing on theological, literary, and cultural topics. I will miss his contributions not only to this journal but to the Catholic and ecumenical worlds in which he acted. It is no doubt providential that he died in the Advent season on the Feast of St. Nicholas, since his last book was a Christological study titled Infinity Dwindled to Infancy. May he rest in peace and know fully the Infinite One who became an infant.