Scott Randall Paine

Faculty Fellow

Scott Randall Paine, PhD

I am a priest of the archdiocese of Brasilia and tenured professor of medieval philosophy and Eastern thought at the city’s federal university. A native of the United States, since 1974 I have lived, studied, and taught in Europe, Asia and South America. In 1983 I was ordained by Pope St. John Paul II in Rome, where, in 1988, I also took my doctorate in philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas.

My research has long been dominated by the links between the humanities, philosophy, and religion (especially East-West conceptual confrontations, and what is sometimes called comparative religion). I also teach courses in Medieval philosophy, Indian and Chinese philosophy, metaphysics and philosophical anthropology (focus on the notion of person). Outside of the classical authors (and among them I include Newman and Chesterton), the writers who have most impacted me have been: Thomas Gilby, Josef Pieper, Cornelio Fabro, John Deely, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Louis Dupré, Richard De Smet, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Rémi Brague and Roy Wilson Organ.

My recent works include an edition of the essays of Bernard Kelly, A Catholic Mind Awake (2017); a study of the thought of G.K. Chesterton, The Universe and Mr. Chesterton (2nd ed., 2019); most recently, The Other World We Live In: A Catholic Vision of Angelic Reality (2021), my philosophical travelogue, Seven Islands: A Philosopher Island-Hops Through the World (2021, now available on Amazon), and my forthcoming book on philosophy’s interfaces, Face to Face with Everything: How Philosophy Looks at the World and What It Sees. My CV (in Portuguese), my current writing, some podcasts, and other resources can be found on the website: 3wisdoms.com, and some videos on youtube.com/c/3wisdoms.

Curriculum vitae