Fergus Gordon Thomson KerrOPFRSE (16 July 1931 – 23 November 2025) was a Scottish Roman Catholic priest of the EnglishDominican province. He published significantly on a wide range of subjects, but was famous particularly for his work onLudwig Wittgenstein andThomas Aquinas.

Following his education at Banff Academy and his service in theRAF (1953–1955), Kerr entered theOrder of Preachers in 1956. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1962. Kerr studied inAberdeen,Paris,Munich, andOxford. He was a student of Donald M. MacKinnon, John Holloway, and Cornelius Ernst. From 1966 to 1986, he taughtphilosophy andtheology at theUniversity of Oxford.

In service to the English Dominican province, Kerr wasPrior at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford from 1969 to 1978. From 1992 to 1998, he served as Prior at Blackfriars, Edinburgh. In 1998, he returned toBlackfriars, Oxford, where he served as Regent until 2004. Kerr served as the inaugural Director of the Aquinas Institute,Blackfriars, Oxford and was the editor ofNew Blackfriars, the bimonthly journal of the English Dominicans (1995–2020).^[1][2]

At the time of his death, Kerr was affiliated withBlackfriars, Edinburgh. He held an honorary fellowship in theSchool of Divinity,University of Edinburgh and had a role in the university's Catholic chaplaincy team.^[2][3] He was also an Honorary Professor ofSt. Andrews University, a distinction he held since 2005. Kerr belonged to theCatholic Theological Association of Great Britain, of which he was president from 1992 to 1994.^[4]

Afestschrift was prepared in Kerr's honor entitledFaithful Reading.^[5]

Kerr was awarded anHonorary degree ofDoctor of Divinity by the University of Edinburgh in December 2019.^[6][3]

Kerr died on 23 November 2025, at the age of 94.^[7]

• Cornelius Ernst

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(February 2023)

• — (1986).Theology After Wittgenstein. Oxford; New York: Blackwell.ISBN 978-0-631-14688-9.OCLC 13003858.
• — &David Nicholls, eds. (1991).John Henry Newman : reason, rhetoric, and romanticism. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.ISBN 978-0-8093-1758-5.OCLC 22909941.
• — (1997).Immortal Longings: versions of transcending humanity. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.ISBN 978-0-2680-1180-2.OCLC 36407666.
• — (2002).After Aquinas: versions of Thomism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.ISBN 978-0-631-21312-3.OCLC 49743625.
• — (2007).Twentieth-Century Catholic Theologians: from neoscholasticism to nuptial mysticism. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.ISBN 978-1-405-12083-8.OCLC 64098440.
• — (2007).Contemplating Aquinas: On the Varieties of Interpretation. London: SCM Press.ISBN 978-0-334-02922-9.OCLC 54715171.
• — (2008)."Work on Oneself": Wittgenstein's Philosophical Psychology. Institute for the Psychological Sciences Monograph Series. Vol. 1. Arlington, VA: Institute for the Psychological Sciences Press.ISBN 978-0-9773-1031-9.OCLC 174138810.
• — (2009).Thomas Aquinas: a very short introduction. Very Short Introductions; 214. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN 978-0-1995-5664-9.OCLC 430497008.
• — (2023).From Aberdeen to Oxford: Collected Essays. ATF Press.ISBN 9781923006355.

• Kerr, Fergus (2022). "Anscombe, Ernst And McCabe: Wittgenstein and Catholic Theology".Divus Thomas:42–70.
• Kerr, Fergus (2021). "The Gilby Summa".New Blackfriars.102 (1101):772–794.doi:10.1111/nbfr.12687.
• Kerr, Fergus (2019). "The Summa Theologiae as Itself Prayer? A Proposal by A.N. Williams".Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses.95 (2):219–233.
• Kerr, Fergus (2017). "John Webster and Catholic Theology".New Blackfriars.98 (1076):457–481.doi:10.1111/nbfr.12296.
• Kerr, Fergus (April 2006)."A Different World: Neoscholasticism and its Discontents".International Journal of Systematic Theology.8 (2):169–179.doi:10.1111/j.1468-2400.2006.00187.x. Retrieved25 November 2025.
• Kerr, Fergus (January 2004)."Tradition and Reason: Two Uses of Reason, Critical and Contemplative".International Journal of Systematic Theology.6 (1):37–49.doi:10.1111/j.1468-2400.2004.00118.x. Retrieved25 November 2025.
• Kerr, Fergus (May 1985)."Pohier's Apologia".New Blackfriars.66 (779):205–210.doi:10.1111/j.1741-2005.1985.tb02704.x. Retrieved25 November 2025.
• Kerr, Fergus (June 1984)."The Need for Philosophy in Theology Today".New Blackfriars.65 (768):248–260.doi:10.1111/j.1741-2005.1984.tb06776.x. Retrieved25 November 2025.
• Kerr, Fergus (September 1972)."Communes and Communities".New Blackfriars.53 (626):402–409.doi:10.1111/j.1741-2005.1972.tb05157.x. Retrieved25 November 2025.

• 1931 births
• 2025 deaths
• 20th-century British Roman Catholic theologians
• 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
• 20th-century Scottish Roman Catholic priests
• Academics of the University of Edinburgh
• Academics of the University of Oxford
• Academics of the University of St Andrews
• Catholic philosophers
• New Blackfriars people
• People educated at Banff Academy
• People from Banff, Aberdeenshire
• Regents of Blackfriars, Oxford
• Scottish Dominicans
• Scottish male non-fiction writers
• Scottish Roman Catholic writers
• Analytical Thomists
• Royal Air Force airmen
• Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

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