Dr Matthew Del Nevo

Matthew's practice revolves around the maxim: "energy follows thought". We need to get our lives right in our minds first because all our other energy, our emotions, even the physical, and the rest of our life will follow our thoughts and outwork from the level of our thoughts.  

Matthew recognizes that many philosophical life questions are also religious questions. He has special expertise in the religious and spiritual dimensions of philosophy and in religious or spiritual ways of asking questions. In his early twenties Matthew was a dharma student of Achaan Sumedho.

He lived in a Muslim village for several years in the Middle East and spoke Arabic, he has worked with Jean Vanier and L'Arche outside Paris. He has a pre-academic background in social work. As a philosopher he specializes in contemporary philosophy and is currently on the faculty of the Catholic Institute, a pontifical institute (awarding Roman degrees in Sacred Theology), the only institute of its kind in Australia.  

Matthew has lectured in degree programs at Pentecostal colleges in Sydney, including Hillsong, Alphacrucis, and Christian City Church(Oxford Falls) and has given occasional lectures at St. Andrew's Greek Orthodox College.

  • Has been a community worker with people with intellectual disabilities
     
  • Is a trained Philosophy in Schools practitioner and has worked in secondary schools as a full-time teacher.
     
  • Has worked with Muslim Palestinians in Jerusalem in a hospice
     
  • Has studied creative writing in Jerusalem
     
  • Has been working in various capacities across Christian denominations: the Church of England, the Greek Orthodox church, the Uniting Church of Australia, the Catholic church.
     
  • Has lectured at the University of Sydney
     
  • Is currently Senior full-time lecturer in Philosophy at the Catholic Institute of Sydney 

 Competent in the philosophy of:

  • Cultural theory
     
  • Educational theory
     
  • History of ideas
     
  • Literature and poetics
     
  • Informal Logic
     
  • Metaphysics
     
  • Psychology and psychoanalysis
     
  • Spirituality
     
  • Theology
     
  • Aesthetics  

Special interest in the philosophy of:

  • Plato
     
  • Aristotle
     
  • Kant
     
  • Hegel
     
  • Schopenhauer
     
  • Buber
     
  • Levinas
     
  • Derrida

Philosophical research into:

  • Writing on Emmanuel Levinas
     
  • Aesthetics and poetics
     
  • The theological philosophy, cultural theory and new sociology of Franz Rosenzweig and Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy

Qualifications

  • BA Hons AppSocSci (Lanchester Poly UK) 
  • BD (Honours) (USyd, 1991)
     
  • GradDipRE (ACU, 2001)
     
  • PhD (USyd 1996) Bachelor of Divinity Honours Thesis title: An Anatomy of Comparative Spirituality: Common Ground in St Augustine and the Eastern Fathers
     

PhD Thesis title: Reading Edmond Jabès

[Edmond Jabès was a post-Holocaust Egyptian-born French poet. He was the author the Le livre des questions in seven volumes (1963-1973) Le Livre des ressemblances in three volumes (1978-1980) and Le Livre des limites in four volumes (1982 1987). He died in 1991.]
 

Current Position

Senior Lecturer in Philosophy
Catholic Institute of Sydney 

 
Forthcoming Books

  • The Power of Listening: Music, Soul and Society. New Brunswick, NJ/London: Transaction.
  • 2012, The Erotic by Lou Andreas-Salomé (translation of Die Erotik, 1910) with a Critical Essay by Gary Winship and Foreword by Matthew Del Nevo. New Brunswick, NJ/London: Transaction 2012.
     

Books Published

  • The Work of Enchantment. Ne w Brunswick, NJ/London: Transaction, 2011.
  • Philosophical Dilemmas. Sheffield: International Society for Philosophers, 2009.
     
  • The Valley Way of Soul. Sydney: St. Pauls, 2008
     
  • The Continental Community of Inquiry. Sheffield: International Society for Philosophers, 2002.
     

Forthcoming Chapters in Edited Books

  • 2011, ‘Love in the Christian Period’, in Love in the Religions of the World, ed. W. Cristaudo.  Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Press.
  • Shestov and Gilson: Two Types of Faith and Reason, in From Faith in Reason to Reason in Faith: Transformations in Philosophical Theology from the 18th to 20th Centuries ed. Wayne Cristaudo et al. Washington: University Press of America, 2011.
     
  • Three articles: i) ‘Sergei Bulgakov’. ii) ‘Nicolai Berdyaev’. iii) ‘Joachim of Fiore’ in Encyclopedia of Christian Civilisation. Oxford: Blackwell, 2011.
     

Forthcoming Articles

  • 2011, The Kabbalistic Heart of Levinas, Culture, Theory and Critique. 54.

 
Chapters in Books

  • 2011 Johannine Christianity and Secularisation, inReligion and Spirituality in a Postmodern Globe, ed. Seyed Javad Miri. Köln, Germany: Lambert Academic.
  • 2010 Living Toward the End of Time in Augustine’s City of God, in St. Augustine: His Thought, Relevance and Legacy, ed. Wayne Cristaudo. Adelaide, ATF Press.
     
  • 2009 Goethe, First Father of the Third Age of the Church in The Cross and the Star: The Post-Nietzschean Christian and Jewish Thought of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy and Franz Rosenzweig, ed. Wayne Cristaudo and Frances Huessy. Newcastle-upon-Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Press.
     
  • 2009, Spirituality in a Feminine Key, inRaising Women Leaders: perspectives on liberating women in Pentecostalism (with Robyn Wrigly-Carr). ed. Shane Clifton. Sydney: APS/SCD.
     
  • 2007 ‘John Paul II: A Poetic Impulse’ in John Paul II: Legacy and Witness ed. Robert Gascioigne. Sydney: St Pauls.
     
  • 2006 “Rosenzweig” in Hodder Encyclopedia of Philosophy and Ethics ed. Martin Cohen. London: Hodder.
     
  • 2004 “Philosophy is at the heart of good pedagogy”, in On Education and the Ideal ed. Naomi Smith. Sydney: New Frontier.
     
  • 2003, ‘On Spiritual Knowledge’, in Esotericism and the Control of Knowledge, ed. Gary Trompf. Louvain: Peeters.
     
  • 2000, ‘Edmond Jabès and the Question of Death’, in Strange Fire: Reading the Hebrew Bible after the Holocaust ed. Tod Linafelt. New York: SUNY.
 


Academic Articles in Refereed Journals

  • 2010, ‘Baudelaire’s Aesthetic’ in Sophia, 49/4.
  • 2010, ‘The Enigma of Freud’ in Philosophy Pathways E- Journal, Issue 155.
     
  • http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/#archive
     
  • 2010, ‘Lou Salomé and Rilke’ in Philosophy Pathways E- Journal, Issue 151.
     
  • http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/#archive
     
  • 2009 ‘Lou Salomé and Nietzsche’ in Philosophy Pathways E.Journal, Issue 148
     
  • http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/#archive
     
  • 2009, ‘Buber invites Barth to Dance – in Jerusalem’ ACU Ejounal of Theology, 13.
     
  • http://www.acu.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/158537/Del_Nevo_Buber_Barth.pdf
     
  • 2009, “Parameters of Pentecostal Aesthetics”.CyberJournal of Pentecostal-Charismatic Research #18 Feb. http://www.pctii.org/cyberj/cyberj18/nevo.html
     
  • 2008 ‘Pentecostalism and the Age of Interpretation’. Australasian Pentecostal Studies 11.http://webjournals.alphacrucis.edu.au/journals/aps/issue-11/pentecostalism-and-age-interpretation/
     
  • 2008 ‘Melancholy and the Good Life’, eOikonomia 3.
     
  • 2008, “Rosenzweig the Three Ages of the Church” in  INTER, The Romanian Review for Inter-Orthodox, Inter-Confessional and Inter-Religious Studies Vol II, nr. 1-2
     
  • 2008, 'Thinking Allowed: Philosophy for Children at Gallions Primary School' Review. Philosophy Pathways E- Journal, May Issue 135.
     
  • http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/#archive
     
  • 2007 ‘Pentecostalism and the Three Ages of the Church’ in Australasian Pentecostal Studies 10.http://webjournals.alphacrucis.edu.au/journals/aps/issue-10/pentecostalism-and-three-ages-church/
     
  • 2007 ‘The New Catholic Modernists’ in ACU Ejournal of Theology, 9.http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aejt_9/delnevo.htm
     
  • 2007, 'Jesus as a Jewish Philosopher' in Philosophy Pathways E.Journal, Nov. Issue 131.
     
  • http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/#archive
     
  • 2007, 'Heidegger, Technology and Time: review of the film The Ister' Review. in Philosophy Pathways E.Journal, Jan. Issue 124. http://www.philosophypathways.com/newsletter/#archive
     
  • 2005 ‘The Need for Philosophy in Values Education’ in Dialogue Australasia.
     
  • 2005 ‘Man’s Irreconcilable Freedom’ Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, Conference Papers, Volume III: Metaphysics, Angelicum, Rome.
     
  • 2003 ‘Michael Rosenak: Tree of Life, Tree of Knowledge: Conversations with Torah,’ Australian Religion Studies Review, 16/1, 2003, 141-143.
     
  • 2003 ‘On Morals and Universals’, ACU Ejournal of Theology (AEJT) Vol.1http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/aet_1/del_Nevo.htm
     
  • 2002 ‘Le nom Derrida’, ACU Ejournal of Theology Vol.2http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/research/theology/ejournal/Issue2/Matthew_Del_Nevo.htm
     
  • 2002 “Theology, Technology and Aesthetics”, Phronema, Vol 17, 41-49.
     
  • 2001 ‘Philosophy is Not a Technology’, Critical and Creative Thinking, (March).
     
  • 1999 ‘Rilke and Wallace Stevens: Theologians of the Poetic Imagination’,
     
  • 1998 ‘Blanchot’s  Amitié’, The Philosopher Magazine, No.6, 43-44
     
  • 1997 'Edmond Jabès and Kabbalism After God', Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 65/2, 403-442.http://jaar.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/pdf_extract/65/2/403
     
  • 1996 'Edmond Jabès and The Book', Literature and Theology, 10/4, Oxford University Press, 301-336.http://litthe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/10/4/301
     
  • 1995 'Reading Edmond Jabès', Literature and Theology, 2/4, Oxford University Press, 399-422.http://litthe.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/9/4/399
     
  • 1993 'Edmond Jabès, Jewish Destiny, & Deconstruction', Australian Journal of Jewish Studies, 6/2, 37-52.
     
  • 1992 'Imaginal Psychology's Disability, St. John of Damascus and the truth about Iconoclasm', Spring 53: A Journal of Archetype & Culture. U.S.A., 113-120. http://www.pantheatre.com/pdf/6-archives-forum-2006-metaphysics.pdf
     

[non-refereed writings and reviews are not included above]

 
Professional Associations

  • Fellow, International Society for Philosophers  (ISFP) – (London)
  • Society for Literature and Aesthetics (Sydney)
     
  • Associate, Critical Theory of Religion (Harvard)
     
  • The Australasian Philosophy of Religion Association (APRA)
     
  • Australasian Society for Continental Philosophy (ASCP)
     
  • Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP)
     

Supervised Research Theses

Principle supervisor. Completed only.
2005 Jurgen Lawrenz (MA Hons)  “The Renaissance of Leibniz's Cosmology and Natural Science in the Present-day Scientific Environment”
 

Research Reports Examined

  • International Society for Philosophers (London) Research Fellowship dissertations and Associate Portfolios
  • 2011, Tony Fahey Fellowship dissertation, Giambatista Vico on Language and Education.
     
  • 2009, Edoardo Salvadori,   Associate Award Portfolio.  1. 'Spinoza and Einstein: a life in search of God' 2. 'Theology of an impotent God and other reflections' 3. 'The scientific method: an indisputable truth or a real hoax?' 4. 'From the fear of death to redemption: the 'ecumenical' soteriology of a Jewish thinker' (on Franz Rosenzweig)
     
  • 2008, George E. Brooks, Fellowship dissertation: ‘Otto Bird’s Dialectic Idea of Justice and Modern German Positive Law Philosophy’.
     
  • 2006, Samuel Michelides. Fellowship dissertation: ‘Mary and the Philosophical Goosechase’.
     
  • 2006, Mike Finch. Fellowship dissertation:  ‘A Metaphysics of Distinction, Performance and Practice’.
     
  • 2005, Andrew Watson. Associate Portfolio: i) Why Fine Arts are Dangerous in Book Ten of Plato’s Republic ii) Assessment of Plato’s theory of Divine Inspiration (mania) iii) A Comparison of Plotinus’ Philosophy of Art and Beauty with that of Plato iv) Mimesis  in Aristotle and Pollock.
     
  • 2005, William Eliot. Associate Portfolio: i) The Two Spheres of Right and Wrong ii) The Metaphysics of Humanity iii) The Metaphysics of Existence iv) The Metaphysics of Religion.)
     
  • 2005, Mary Jennings. Associate Award Portfolio: i) A Discussion of Heidegger’s concept of Befindlichkeit in Being and Time ii) Doubt, Certainty and Knowledge in the Context of the Critique of Descartes’ Cogito in Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception iii) Heidegger’s notion of Dasein as a rejection of Descartes’ solution to skepticism regarding the external world iv) Levinas’ Concept of Other and of Justice in Totality and Infinity.
     
  • 2004, Rachel  Browne. Fellowship dissertation: ‘Ethical Relations’.
     
  • 2004, Fr. Seamus Mulholland. Fellowship dissertation:  ‘The Franciscan Masters of Theology and Philosophy.
     
  • 2004, John Dudley. Associate Award Portfolio: i) Words and Meaning ii) Saying and Meaning iii) It’s All in the Mind iv) Citizenship, Political Liberalism and the National Curriculum.
     
  • 2003, George A. Mashour. Fellowship dissertation: ‘Zarathustra: a New  Dimension to Freud’s Structural Theory of the Mind’.
     
  • 2003, Jurgen Lawrenz. Fellowship dissertation: ‘Sources  of Metaphysical Thinking in Presocratic Philosophy’.
     
  • 2003, Samuel Thorpe. Associate Award portfolio: i) N/A.  ii) The Foundation of Morality iii) N/A.  iv) The Nature of Faith.

Born: England

Based: Sydney, AUSTRALIA


My Philosophical Counselling Practice

My Philosophical Counselling practice is psychologically oriented within philosophy. Unlike psychoanalysts I do not treat my clients experimentally as 'case studies'. As a philosopher I treat clients from the wisdom tradition of philosophy.   'Energy follows thought' is the maxim I follow.  What we have in mind – thoughts, intentions, fantasies and so on – may lead to action or inaction. But perhaps not what we desire, or what will make us flourish. My client's flourishing is my aim.

'Energy follows thought' after Freud and Lacan, is not to be understood as being located exclusively at the level of consciousness.  'Energy follows thought' encompasses what we have in the depths of our mind, or what lurks unconsciously under our thoughts. In other words, the unthought. This also has to be reckoned as impacting on thought. We delve into the unthought by questioning, and by certain other practices.

 

I take contextual factors into account. If a client is a free spirit stuck in front of a computer, and encased in a concrete and glass tower block for forty five hours a week - battling peak hour traffic either way - it may be that her issues are in part due to the structure of our society. An awareness of our society's unyielding imperatives and its collective unconscious is important. Life-style choices then become a vital consideration in terms of therapy.

I have a special interest and expertise in Religion.  A senior colleague of mine - a famous psychologist in the English-speaking world - once told me that she had made her living and established her career with clients whose lives had been screwed up by religion.

I am aware that - because religion effects the human spirit - it has the potential to be detrimental: and perhaps more often than not. I however, have a positive attitude to religion, but at the same time, I am very mindful of its pitfalls. 

Philosophical Counselling is perhaps not so much about religion and spirituality, but about soul and soulfulness. I work with art and music, as these are soulful: at least they are so according to my definition of soulful, and they are so in the forms in which I employ them. 

My own teaching on soulfulness can be found in my 'soul trilogy': The Valley Way of Soul (2008); The Work of Enchantment (2011), and The Power of Listening (Forthcoming).

Dr Matthew Del Nevo

Sydney 2011