Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017, post-publication supplement:
Cowburn, John

Philosophy professor; born Goulburn, NSW, 1 April 1927; died Melbourne, 6 September 2016, aged 89.

John Cowburn's secondary education was at St Ignatius' College, Riverview, NSW, 1936-44, and he entered the Jesuit noviciate, Loyola College, Watsonia, 2 February 1945. After philosophy studies at the same place, 1947-1949, he studied at The University of Melbourne, residing at St. Patrick's College, East Melbourne, 1950-53, gaining a B.Sc. degree. Regency was at St Ignatius' College, Norwood, SA, 1954-1955, where he taught middle school mathematics, physics, and chemistry as well as English.

Theology studies followed, 1955-1959, at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, while residing at the Jesuitenkolleg. He was ordained, 26 July 1959, at the University Trinity Church, Innsbruck, by Bishop Bruno Wechner, the Weihbischof of the VorArlberg. His tertianship was at Paray-le-Monial, France, 1959-60, directed by Father P Goussault.

Post graduate studies in philosophy followed, first at Louvain Belgium, 1960-61, and then at Innsbruck, Austria, 1961-62. He was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy degree from the Innsbruck Institute of Philosophy, January 1963. He had been professed at Innsbruck, 2 February 1962.

His ministry from that time was as a philosophy lecturer in houses of formation and seminaries. Living at Loyola College, Watsonia, he lectured the Jesuit scholastics in natural theology, history of philosophy and biology, 1963-69. During those years he taught at Xavier College (1965), was acting chaplain at The University of Melbourne (1966), and chaplain at La Trobe University (1967).

One of his Jesuit students during that time, Desmond Dwyer, reflected that Cowburn introduced the scholastics to existentialism, personalism and the phenomenologist philosophers. He encouraged further research on topics of interest and fed them with books on those subjects. Furthermore, he educated the scholastics with reports from Vatican II, which reshaped their understanding of Church, liturgy, and the Church's relationship with the world.

After a sabbatical at Fordham University, NY, 1970, living at Mount Vernon NY, he returned to Melbourne teaching Jesuit scholastics philosophy until 1976. For two years, 1977-78 he was the last Jesuit rector of the Holy Name Seminary, Christchurch NZ, also teaching philosophy, when the NZ bishops closed the seminary. A sabbatical in Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and Fordham University NY, followed, 1979-80. He returned to NZ at Mosgiel and St Patrick's College, Manly, NSW, during 1981, and alternated regularly, together with scholastics at the Jesuit Theological College, Melbourne, 1982-2008, with various sabbaticals to the United States in between. He retired to Campion House in 2009, with the title Professor Emeritus of Philosophy until his death at Mary MacKillop residence, Hawthorn East, Victoria, 2016.

In an appreciation of Cowburn, Father Christopher Horvat wrote that Cowburn was

very tall, distinguished in appearance, gentle, and blessed with a magnificent smile. He was an eminent philosopher, scholar and writer, and a man of notable enthusiasms (which included skiing). Fluent in French and German and exceptionally erudite, he had a great knowledge and appreciation of the arts, especially literature, music, and film, and was acquainted with artists and intellectuals worldwide. Steeped in continental European philosophy, he was a breath of fresh air when he returned to Australia in 1963 to teach Jesuit scholastics. He was intellectually free and brought an enquiring, critical mind to everything he did.

In 1967 he published Love and the Person: a philosophical theory and a theological essay, a major work and the first genuinely original publication by an Australian Jesuit. It exemplified the clarity and precision of expression that he tried to inculcate in others. He went on to publish a further four books, the last two in his mid-eighties. Four of his titles are in the Marquette Studies in Philosophy series. The problem of suffering and evil engaged him over many years, as did Teilhard de Chardin. All told, he made a remarkable contribution to the intellectual apostolate of the Australian Province and the international Society.

Ever keen to broaden the horizons of seminarians and enrich their formation through an experience of the humanities, he had no time for stuffiness or unthinking pieties. He was the least clerical of priests and one of the most pastorally sensitive. Whether on sabbatical at Fordham University in New York or taking annual summer holidays in Sydney, he would often base himself in a parish. His pastoral experience informed his philosophy. Many lay people found his intelligent preaching liberating and felt supported in their vocation by his encouragement and pastoral care. He was thoroughly committed to working in an ecumenical context, especially at the United Faculty of Theology in Melbourne. He helped pioneer a Team of Our Lady in Australia and did valuable work in establishing a database of all members of the Province and all Jesuits who had worked in Australia, analysing statistics, and mapping the changes in Jesuit formation since Vatican II, which coincided with the start of his teaching career.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)