Richard Damian Finn, O.P. (born 27 March 1963) is presently Director of the Las Casas Institute for Social Justice, at Blackfriars, Oxford, and a member of the Theology Faculty and the Classics Faculty at the University of Oxford. He has previously served as Regent of Blackfriars, as well as Novice Master for the English Province of the Order of Preachers. Richard Finn was educated at

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

( BA English, MA). He joined the Order of Preachers in 1985 and was ordained a Priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1990. He read

Classical Moderations Honour Moderations (or ''Mods'') are a set of examinations at the University of Oxford at the end of the first part of some degree courses (e.g., Greats or '' Literae Humaniores''). Honour Moderations candidates have a class awarded (hence the ' ...

and Literae Humaniores at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, where he was awarded the Haigh Prize. After a period as Chaplain to the University of Leicester he became Assistant Chaplain at

Fisher House, Cambridge The Cambridge University Catholic Chaplaincy, known as Fisher House after its patron, English martyr and Cambridge chancellor St John Fisher, is the Catholic chaplaincy for members of the University of Cambridge in England. Founded in 1896, si ...

. He completed a

MPhil The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

at Jesus College, Cambridge. Returning to Corpus, he studied for a DPhil, producing a thesis entitled ''The Christian promotion and practice of almsgiving in the later Roman Empire: (313-450)'', which was supervised by Averil Cameron and Peter Garnsey. It formed the basis of his book ''Almsgiving in the later Roman Empire: Christian promotion and practice (313-450)'' (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). He became Regent of Blackfriars, Oxford in September 2004, and is Chair of the advisory board of its
Las Casas Institute
on ethics, governance and social justice. He is an adviser to the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. He has been a lecturer at the Centre for Christianity and Culture (Regent's Park College, Oxford) and at

Melbourne College of Divinity The University of Divinity is an Australian collegiate university of specialisation in divinity. It is constituted by eleven theological colleges from eight denominations. The University of Divinity is the direct successor of the second oldest ...

Writing

His second book, ''Asceticism in the Graeco-Roman World'' has been published by Cambridge University Press (2009).

Sermons by Richard Finn

''Torch'' website

Sources

Blackfriars, Oxford webpage

University of Oxford Annual Review 2004/05''Oxford University Gazette''
1963 births Living people 20th-century English Roman Catholic priests 20th-century English theologians 21st-century English Roman Catholic priests Academics of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Leicester Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Christian writers English Dominicans English classical scholars English historians New Blackfriars people People from Oxford Regents of Blackfriars, Oxford Religion academics {{UK-historian-stub