Bernard Philip Kelly

Bernard P. Kelly (1907—1958) was an English Catholic philosopher, born in London.

Works

Kelly's inspiration was scholastic philosophy and, in particular, the "Summa Theologica" of Thomas Aquinas. He was a regular contributor to Catholic periodicals, from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Three main themes were present in Kelly’s work. Apart from Thomism, the second was the provision of a critique of the modern world, tracing it back to the Renaissance. The third was developing a sound approach to the Eastern religions. His mature thought is in the last few essays he wrote before his death. [See in particular: “Notes on the Light of the Eastern Religions” (Dominican Studies, London, 1954, pp. 254-271; reprinted in Religion of the Heart, a Festschrift in honor of the 80th birthday of Frithjof Schuon, Foundation for Traditional Studies, Oakton VA, 1991); “A Thomist Approach to the Vedanta”, (Blackfriars XXXVII, no. 430, January 1956); and “The metaphysical background to analogy” (Aquinas Paper No. 28, Blackfriars Publications, London 1958).]

Rayner Heppenstall [In his book on Léon Bloy (Bowes, London, 1953)] called him “a man of the purest genius”. Barbara Wall [The Chesterton Review, Saskatchewan, May 1987] published an account of Kelly’s life.

References

*William Stoddart, "A Scholastic Universalist: The Writings and Thought of Bernard Kelly (1907–1958)", "New Blackfriars", Volume 76 Issue 897, pp. 455-462 [http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/119960015/PDFSTART Online text (PDF)]

Notes

External links

* [http://www.studiesincomparativereligion.com/Public/journalinfo/default.aspx Studies in Comparative Religion Archive Website]
* [http://www.sapientia.com.br/foto_AM_WS_BK.htm Photograph of Bernard Kelly, Lausanne, 1957]

ee also

*Perennial Philosophy
*Perennialist school
*Traditional Catholicism
*Frithjof Schuon
*René Guénon
*Titus Burckhardt
*Ananda Coomaraswamy
*William Stoddart
*Martin Lings
*Tage Lindbom
*Rama Coomaraswamy
*Angus Macnab
*Whitall Perry

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