Meet Faculty Member, Andy O’Neill

Andy’s association with AST began even before he started teaching sessionally, serving the Pine Hill Board for six years. The first course he was invited to teach was United Church Worship, in the Fall of 2010. Since then, Andy has been teaching one or two courses a year, including courses in worship, theology, pastoral ministry and ethics.

Andy’s interest in Theology began at an early age. His mother was raised United Church and his father in the Roman Catholic Church, and all were actively involved in their United Church while growing up. Having mentors he could trust such as parent figures, ministers, priests and teachers, helped Andy reflect on what it means to have a vocation.

When Andy entered the Foundation Year Programme at King’s College (Halifax, NS), he discovered philosophy’s articulation of the human condition fascinating, and was struck by how theology and philosophy are such good conversation partners. Toward the end of his economics undergraduate degree, he began exploring his call to pastoral ministry. It was at seminary that Andy started to explore the possibility of being called to a ministry that would include writing and teaching.

Finally, at New College (U of Edinburgh), in his PhD supervisor he found a kindred spirit: someone who also loves the interaction of philosophy and theology. Since then, even while in full-time ministry, Andy continued to write, publish, present at conferences, teach and supervise students, quite simply because he loves learning and sharing that with others.

When asked what about teaching at AST excites him the most, Andy replied “What excites me most about teaching at AST is that it is a leader in offering multiple learning possibilities for many different outcomes. AST invites lay leaders, candidates for ministry, community organizers and partners, not only to an educational experience, but to a conversation that is responsive to the experiences, needs and opportunities arising within the church. There is no more exciting a place to be than where critical reflection and faithful action meet. Places like AST are essential for our time.

Fifty years ago, it would have been common to ask your neighbour, “Where do you go to church?” Twenty-five years ago, a generation was asking itself “(Why) should I go to church?” According to one study, two-thirds of the most recent Canadian generation have never set foot in a temple, mosque, synagogue or church. So, the question has changed again to become, “What is church?” Even within the decline of the historically privileged church, however, I believe there are profound opportunities to share in God’s mission in new ways. The future into which God invites us is one for which God is also preparing us.

Of course, I realize that, even as fortunate as we’ve been in the Maritimes during this pandemic, this has been a mentally, emotionally and spiritually exhausting year. One externality of that, however, is that this has also been a year during which people of all faiths and none have reflected on and voiced the need for deeper relationship; not just time together, or connection, but our essential human need for peace, justice, and dignity for all.

As people who seek to serve God’s mission through leadership in the church, we have a lot of experience building community. We have also, as a church, made a lot of mistakes in trying to do so, and our honesty about this is essential to building trusting relationship in the pursuit of God’s healing, reconciling and restoring vision of abundant life and love.”

When asked what piece of advice he would give to AST students, Andy shared “The advice I would share concerns things I’ve learned the hard way and am still working on. As a student and as a teacher: giving myself time to think, and time to revise, improves everything I do. As a father and partner: being with those I love is not a reward for finishing my work, it’s what makes my work rewarding. And as a follower of Jesus: compassion, humility and curiosity are our best responses to anxiety and fear.

Outside of his work at AST, Andy enjoys spending time with his wife and children doing activities they enjoy, such as: cycling and basketball; singing, piano, drums and guitar; reading and writing; carpentry and LEGO; learning about space exploration, and star-gazing.

Andy also enjoys brewing beer and is an advocate for practical research in the field of scotch whisky tasting. “And at the risk of sounding like a dating profile, I actually do like long walks on the beach. Though, nowadays, they are frequently punctuated by, “Look what I found, Daddy!” and that’s just fine with me.”