Dr. Daniel McGuire
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY
UNIVERSITY OF PROVIDENCE
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR (diaconate)
SAINT LEO UNIVERSITY
​
John 1:46 - "Come and see!"
I teach theology, but I also believe in the good news of Jesus Christ. The disciples asked an ordinary question, but Jesus responds with an extraordinary challenge - follow me and see. This is what is compelling about the Gospel. It is the good news that requires a response.
EXPERIENCE
2007-Present
Theologian
UNIVERSITY OF PROVIDENCE - Full Professor
SAINT LEO UNIVERSITY - Adjunct Professor
1983-2003
Officer of Marines
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS
As a 20 year infantry officer, I have served stateside and overseas; afloat and ashore.
EDUCATION
2003-2007
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Systematic Theology
​
Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI
Dissertation: ENCOUNTER - CALL - MISSION:
CONVERSION IN THE WRITINGS OF HANS URS VON BALTHASAR
1999
Master of Theological Studies (MTS)
University of Dallas, IRPS
1983
Bachelor of Science: Civil Engineering
Virginia Military Institute
Lexington, VA
PUBLICATIONS
The Blue Knights Boy's Club Guides are published by Behold Publications.
Click Here to order:
A Fun, Flexible, Faith-filled Catholic Club for boys ages 5 and up.
The Blue Knights Catholic Club is a boys’ club aimed at teaching the truths of the Catholic faith to boys through Scripture, saints’ biographies, games, crafts and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Based on the popular Little Flowers Girls’ Club, this program developed by retired Marine, theologian and Catholic author, Dan McGuire maps out nine virtues for boys ages 5 and up in the first year, and then follows up with four years covering nine catechetical lessons each.
I alos have some book reviews and articles not linked here. I approach publications in a manner not common for academic types. The vast majority of what gets published today gets read by no one and adds nothing to advancement of any particular discipline; more often it is written to satisfy requirements for advancement. Fortunately, my university did not require extensive publication.
Marine Corps Career
My brother and I were the third generation of Marines in our family ; each of us has a son who are the 4th generation of Marines. Here is a list of duty stations/billets in chronological order. Maybe were served together at some point?
I was on active duty from 1983-2003. I was an infantry officer and commanded the Small Boat Raid Company (Co. B) of 1st Bn. 5th Marines.
​
Tours of Duty
Aug ’83 – May ’84: The Basic School and Infantry Officer’s Course
May ’84 – Dec ’86: 2nd Bn, 2nd Marines at Camp Lejune: Platoon Cmdr and Co XO
Jungle Warfare School, Ft. Sherman Panama
UDP to Okinawa (Camp Schwab) Bear Hunt '85 in Korea
Med Float with the 22 MAU: Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Austria and Turkey
Dec ’86 – Dec ’87: GDF and Fenceline Security at Guantanamo Bay Cuba
Dec ’87 – Feb ’90: Officer Candidate School (Candidate Cadre and Tactics Instructor)
Feb – Jun ’90: Artillery Officer’s Advanced Course, Ft. Sill Ok
Jun ’90 – May ’93: 1st Bn, 5th Marines at Camp Pendelton: S-3A, Co Cmdr and S-4
UDP to Okinawa (Camp Hansen) twice
Mountain Warfare School, Bridgeport CA
UDP/31st MEU: Okinawa, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Australia
May ’93 – July ’94: I MEG G-7
Jul ’94 – May ’97: EWTGPAC, Coronado CA
Jun ’97 – May 2000: MCCDC Quantico, Studies and Analysis Div
May ’00 – May ’03: Training & Education Command, Quantico
Hans Cardinal Urs von Balthasar
My dissertation was on Conversion in the writings of Hans Urs von Balthasar. I was warned not to write about him as I would have to read everything he wrote (it was voluminous). My response was that if I had to read everything from somebody; I wanted it to be someone who caused wonder on every page.
A Short Biography of Balthasar - by Joel Garver He was said, by Henri de Lubac, to be "perhaps the most cultured man of our time." Karl Rahner described his achievements as "really breathtaking." His works include over a thousand books and articles. At one point he was able to give away his stereo and records since, he said, he had all the works of Mozart memorized anyway. And it is my guess that history may well find him to be one of the most important theologians of the 20th century. Hans Urs von Balthasar was born in Lucerne, Switzerland on 12 August 1905. He grew up in the faith, with a pious mother who, he writes, "day by day went to Mass down the steep path from our house." He fondly remembered "quiet, deeply moving early Masses on my own in the choir of the Franciscan church in Lucerne". Balthasar was educated in Benedictine and Jesuit secondary schools and went on to study in Vienna, Berlin, Zurich. On 27 October 1928 he underwent his doctoral examination at the (Liberal Protestant) University of Zurich having completed a dissertation on the History of the Eschatological Problem in Modern German Literature—and, of course, he passed summa cum laude. While completing his dissertation, in the summer of 1927, Balthasar attended a 30-day retreat near Basel about which he writes: Even now, thirty years later, I could still go to that remote path in the Black Forest…and find again the tree beneath which I was struck as by lightning…And yet it was neither theology nor the priesthood which then came into my mind in a flash. It was simply this: you have nothing to choose, you have been called…All I needed to do was to stand there and wait and see what I would be needed for. And so, on 18 November 1928 he entered the Jesuit novitiate for two years—-after which he spent two years studying Scholastic philosophy with a Jesuit faculty near Munich, followed by four years of theology—again in the scholastic vein—near Lyon. Thus he was a licentiate in both philosophy and theology, though his doctorate remained only in literature. While the influence of Scholasticism upon his work is clear, it is far from determinative—he makes reference to "languishing in the desert of neo-scholasticism." Nevertheless Balthasar’s thought may be placed within a broadly Thomistic tradition. He was also drawn to other students who were similarly dissatisfied with the scholastic hegemony—budding scholars such as Jean Danielou and Henri Bouillard. It was at this time that Balthasar met the philosopher-theologian Erich Przywara who knew scholasticism but also interacted with Hegel, Scheler, and Heidegger. He also met Henri de Lubac, nine years his senior, who "showed us the way beyond the scholastic stuff to the Fathers of the Church…" On 26 July 1936 Balthasar was ordained to the priesthood and at his first Mass he preached sermon on the text "Benedixit, fregit, deditque [He blessed it, broke it, and gave it]"—bringing out the theme "Because he blessed, he broke, and because he broke you, he could give you." In 1937 he declined an offer to be a professor at the Gregorian in Rome to establish a institute for ecumenical theology, instead returning to Basel as a student chaplain. At this time it was still constitutionally prohibited in Switzerland for Jesuits to establish houses, schools, churches or any other institutional presence, so Balthasar could not work "officially" as Jesuit chaplain. Nor was there much official oversight by the Society of Jesus due to the war. In fact the Swiss Jesuits were considered part of the south German province of the Society. In addition to his pastoral duties Balthasar worked mostly as an editor and translator, lecturing, and the establishment of a Studentische Schulungsgemeinschaft to conduct courses and conferences (with the likes of K. Rahner, de Lubac, Martin Buber, and Yves Congar). At this time Balthasar also encountered an eminent member of Basel’s theological faculty—the Reformed Protestant neo-orthodox theologian Karl Barth—and found that they shared a common passion in Mozart and with whom he soon became friends. About the same time Balthasar first met a local physician, Adrienne von Speyr, who after the death of her first husband became estranged from God, but eventually came to join the Catholic Church under the care of Balthasar who became her confessor, spiritual director, and associate. With her Balthasar expanded his foundation for lay people to serve in the Church—the Johannes Gemeinschaft or Community of St. John. But between this foundation, von Speyr’s miracles and visions, and other problems, difficult times were in store. While the war was coming to and end, troubles were only beginning for Balthasar. His father, who had been quite ill for some time, died in June 1946. His godmother, with whom he was very much the closest among family members, suffered a stroke and was left paralyzed. Earlier in May Balthasar’s close friend and student at Basel, Robert Rast, died of a lung disease. At this time Balthasar’s mentor Przywara was also quite ill and Balthasar was attempting to gain him an entrance visa into Switzerland In the midst of all these difficulties it came time for the yearly renewal of Jesuit vows. However, prior to this Balthasar was informed by Society of Jesus that the order was unwilling to take responsibility for either the Community, its publishing house, or the reports of von Speyr’s visions. Balthasar decided at this time to postpone his vows until Adrienne’s experiences could be examined by the Church—but had little success in this endeavor. If these burdens were not already enough Balthasar and the nouvelle theologie as a whole were coming under fire, first in the August issue of the Revue Thomiste by the Dominican Labourdette and then, with far less restraint, in the December issue of the Angelicum by another Dominican, Garrigou-Lagrange. While Balthasar himself was never a direct target, his friends and like-minded associates, de Lubac and Boulliard, soon came under investigation by the Vatican (the irony, of course, being that these theologians are now considered the "conservatives"). The next two years, 1947 and 48, again saw the refusal of the Church to recognize von Speyr’s experiences as genuine or the willingness of the Society to endorse the Johannes Gemeinschaft, the Father General directed Balthasar to make a retreat to think through what direction he should take. By the end of his retreat he had reached the decision to leave the Jesuit order if it were not willing to test what he saw as his mission. And so Balthasar left the Jesuits on 11 February 1950. He writes: I took this step, for both sides a very grave one, after a long testing of the certainty I had reached through prayer that I was being called by God to certain definite tasks in the Church…So, for me, the step taken means an application of Christian obedience to God, who at any time has the right to call a man not only out of his physical home…but also from his chosen spiritual home in a religious order, so that he can use him for purposes within the Church. Leaving the Society, of course, meant that Balthasar was left without a position, a pastorate, a place to live, or an income. He eventually found an ecclesiastical home in the diocese of Chur under its sympathetic bishop and was able to maintain an income by a grueling schedule of lecture tours. Though he was offered various teaching chairs he did not accept any of them and, besides, would not have been able to since the Catholic Congregation for Seminaries and University had imposed a teaching ban upon him since he had left a religious order. Von Speyr’s health was on the decline in the early 1950’s due to heart trouble, with various compounding problems, bringing her close to death several times. Balthasar’s own health was deteriorating during his busy lecturing, eventually leaving him nearly homebound for six months in 1957. The next year saw a bought of phlebitis, serious illness bringing him near death, and a paralysis later diagnosed as a symptom of leukemia. Nevertheless, during this period and into the early 1960’s his theological output grew and drew much attention in Europe, and, even though he had not been invited to participate in the Second Vatican Council, he later received a number of honorary doctorates in theology and the Golden Cross of Mount Athos. During this period he was placing the finishing touches on his theological Aesthetics, working next door to Adrienne von Speyr who was nearly bedridden—she had gone blind and in 1967 she developed cancer of the bowel which slowly drained away her life in painful agony until she died 17 September 1967. After her death Balthasar began to publish her works, revealing an Adrienne of which not even her closest friends had been aware. In the 1970’s and 80’s Balthasar gained ever greater stature on the theological scene, not only through his writings, but also through the publishing house of the Johannes Gemeinschaft and the international Catholic journal Communio, eventually receiving from the Vatican the Paul VI Prize in theology. In 1988 von Balthasar was appointed by John Paul II to become a cardinal, an honor he had before refused. This time he accepted out of obedience to the Pope and out of his friendship with him. However, on 26 June 1988, two days before his elevation as a cardinal, while he was preparing to celebrate morning Mass, Hans Urs von Balthasar died.
Random Bits of Wisdom
Some are mine and some that have moved me
Prayer to an Unknown Saint
I pray to you whose name I do not know.
I do not know your name
because you were no one in this world
but you are now before the Throne of Grace.
In this world you were despised or simply ignored.
You were not rich – teach me poverty.
You were not powerful – teach me humility.
You were a fool for the Lord – teach me wisdom.
You now see the Lord in His glory – turn me towards Him.
In this world you were no one
but now you enjoy the company of saints I know by name
and you are equal to them in Christ.
By praying to those others and neglecting you
I show that I have not learned the simple charity
to which I have been called.
Pray for me that I might learn, not your name
but that I might see you in the world today
in all those I ignore.
Pray for me that I might learn to love
all members of the Body
and through them, love Him who is the head.
Stray Thoughts
-
All major undertakings of life are marked by insufficient knowledge upon entering and a gradual growing into the reality (marriage, fatherhood, career...). This process requires a dying to one's own preconceptions.
-
When knowledge of personal sinfulness compels one to throw himself into the arms of Christ, it is an act of the Holy Spirit. When it leads to despair and self loathing, it is the work of Satan
-
2 gardens, Eden and Gethsemane. To get back to the former you must pass through the latter.
-
Prayer - When you want to pray, imagine that you are in a room and Christ walked in. Would you bombard Him with questions, or would you worship Him or would you simply sit in silent awe and let Him speak? Would you want the encounter to be on your terms or His? Whose agenda would you like to discuss?
-
What is the image of God that lies behind your prayer? Is God someone that owes us something?
-
The seriousness of prayer of petition - When you ask for something, God may ask what you are willing to do to get it. (When the rich young man asked Him how to get to heaven...) When you pray that God be glorified, He may respond by requiring your death as a martyr; that is one way that God is glorified in His people (sainthood is another - possibly more of a challenge). Christ asked the father for several things. God said, "OK, just hang from the cross and die." And He did. When you embrace the cross, you embrace God's will and action in your life.
The Grand Illusion
The challenge is to recognize that what most of us consider to be reality is simply the man-made manifestations that cloud the vision of the world which God has revealed in His Son.
Entering into His reality is painful, but it is the only place worth living. Actually, we already exist there, we just don't recognize it.
Seeing and Doing
Prayer of Dedication
Henceforth:
Thee alone do I love, Thee alone I follow, Thee alone I seek, Thee alone am I prepared to serve, for Thou alone art Lord by a just title, of Thy dominion do I desire to be.
Direct, I pray, and command whatever Thou wilt, but heal and open my ears, that I may hear Thine utterances. Heal and open my eyes, that I may behold Thy significations of command. Drive delusion from me, that I may recognize Thee. Tell me whither I must tend, to behold Thee, and I hope that I shall do all things Thou mayest enjoin.
O Lord, most merciful Father receive, I pray, Thy fugitive; enough already, surely, have I been punished, long enough have I served Thine enemies, whom Thou hast under Thy feet, long enough have I been a sport of fallacies. Receive me fleeing from these, Thy house-born servant, for did not these receive me, though another Master's, when I was fleeing from Thee?
To Thee I feel I must return: I knock; may Thy door be opened to me; teach me the way to Thee. Nothing else have I than the will: nothing else do I know than that fleeting and falling things are to be spurned, fixed and everlasting things to be sought. This I do, Father, because this alone I know, but from what quarter to approach Thee I do not know.
Do Thou instruct me, show me, give me my provision for the way. If it is by faith that those find Thee, who take refuge with Thee then grant faith: if by virtue, virtue: if by knowledge, knowledge. Augment in me, faith, hope, and charity.
O goodness of Thine, singular and most to be admired!
St. Augustine, “Soliloquies", Chapter Five
God, grant me the grace to see myself as I am seen by you.
Do not allow me to linger in a false world of my own construction.
Free me from my hidden faults, but first bring me face to face with them.
In the moment of despair that follows this revelation, show me the bruised and bloody face of Your Son who suffered to rid me of these very infirmities.
Then, with the precious blood of Christ, wash away this vestige of my old self and create in me the new person you want me to be.
Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen