Herbert McCabe

Herbert John Ignatius McCabe OP (2 August 1926 – 28 June 2001) was a Dominican priest, Catholic theologian and philosopher. Born in Middlesbrough, North Riding of Yorkshire, he initially studied chemistry at Manchester University but was influenced by Dorothy Emmet to switch to philosophy. He contributed to *Humanitas* and became friends with Eric John. McCabe joined the Dominicans in 1949, where Victor White guided his study of Thomas Aquinas. His novice master, Columba Ryan, gave him the religious name Herbert in honour of Herbert of Derwentwater. Ordained in 1955, he served as a pastor in Newcastle for three years and then as a chaplain at De La Salle College, where Terry Eagleton was a pupil. In 1965, he became editor of *New Blackfriars* in Cambridge but was removed in 1967 after an editorial criticizing theologian Charles Davis for leaving the Catholic Church. McCabe argued that the Church's corruption was not a reason to leave. He moved to Dublin during the controversy but was reinstated three years later, resuming his editorial role with a combative style. He spent many years teaching at Blackfriars, Oxford, authoring books such as *The New Creation* (1964), *Law, Love and Language* (1968), *The Teaching of the Catholic Church* (1986), *God Matters* (1987), and *God Still Matters* (2002). He was part of the *Slant* group, integrating the philosophies of Thomas Aquinas and Ludwig Wittgenstein with a socialist political outlook. In 1989, he received the STM degree, the highest Dominican academic degree. McCabe's sermons were known for their intelligence and wit, often warning against reducing God to an object of idolatry. He became an Irish citizen in 1974. Terry Eagleton noted McCabe's view: 'If you don't love, you're dead, and if you do, they'll kill you.' McCabe died in Oxford on 28 June 2001 and was buried at Wolvercote Cemetery. His memorial service included a Spanish revolutionary song sung by his brother Bernard, a Joyce expert.