The Thomistic Institute

Professor Michael Root explores the question of who has the authority to make binding decisions on matters of faith within Christianity. It traces the historical development of this issue from the early Church through the Reformation, highlighting Luther's principle of sola scriptura and the concept of private judgment in Protestantism. The speaker contrasts this with the Catholic understanding of authoritative decision-making through councils, papal declarations, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, emphasizing the ability to close questions definitively in Catholicism versus the potentially "fissiparous" nature of Protestantism.This lecture was given on February 3rd, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Prof. Michael Root (Catholic University of America) is formerly Ordinary Professor of Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Root is a native of Norfolk, Virginia and studied at Dartmouth College (B.A.) and Yale University (Ph.D. in theology). He was received into the Catholic Church in August, 2010. His particular theological interests are ecumenical relations, eschatology/last things, and grace and justification. Root has been a member of the US and international LutheranCatholic dialogues, the US LutheranUnited Methodist dialogue, the AnglicanLutheran International Working Group, and the Anglican Lutheran International Commission. He served on the drafting teams that produced the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

This lecture was given on February 3rd, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Prof. Bruce Marshall (Southern Methodist University) is the Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University. He holds a masters from Yale Divinity School and a doctorate from Yale University. His teaching interests include medieval and reformation theology and systematic theology. His research interests include doctrine of the Trinity, christology, philosophical issues in theology, sacramental theology, and Judaism and Christian theology.

This lecture was given on February 3rd, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Prof. Michael Root (Catholic University of America) is formerly Ordinary Professor of Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Root is a native of Norfolk, Virginia and studied at Dartmouth College (B.A.) and Yale University (Ph.D. in theology). He was received into the Catholic Church in August, 2010. His particular theological interests are ecumenical relations, eschatology/last things, and grace and justification. Root has been a member of the US and international LutheranCatholic dialogues, the US LutheranUnited Methodist dialogue, the AnglicanLutheran International Working Group, and the Anglican Lutheran International Commission. He served on the drafting teams that produced the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification.

This lecture was given on February 3rd, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Prof. Bruce Marshall (Southern Methodist University) is the Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University. He holds a masters from Yale Divinity School and a doctorate from Yale University. His teaching interests include medieval and reformation theology and systematic theology. His research interests include doctrine of the Trinity, christology, philosophical issues in theology, sacramental theology, and Judaism and Christian theology.

This lecture was given on February 9th, 2024, at St. Joseph's in Greenwich Village.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Brad S. Gregory is Professor of History and Dorothy G. Griffin Collegiate Chair at the University of Notre Dame, where he has taught since 2003, and where he is also the Director of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study. From 1996-2003 he taught at Stanford University, where he received early tenure in 2001. He specializes in the history of Christianity in Europe during the Reformation era and on the long-term influence of the Reformation era on the modern world. He has given invited lectures at many of the most prestigious universities in North America, as well as in England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Israel, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand. Before teaching at Stanford, he earned his Ph.D. in history at Princeton University and was a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows; he also has two degrees in philosophy from the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium. His first book, Salvation at Stake: Christian Martyrdom in Early Modern Europe (Harvard, 1999) received six book awards. Professor Gregory was the recipient of two teaching awards at Stanford and has received three more at Notre Dame. In 2005, he was named the inaugural winner of the first annual Hiett Prize in the Humanities, a $50,000 award from the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture given to the outstanding midcareer humanities scholar in the United States. His most recent book is entitled The Unintended Reformation: How a Religious Revolution Secularized Society (Belknap, 2012), which received two book awards. His forthcoming book is entitled Rebel in the Ranks: Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the Conflicts that Continue to Shape Our World (Harper, 2017).

This lecture was given on February 17th, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. (Thomistic Institute) is originally from Ohio, received his master's in architecture from Virginia Tech, and after working for a religious architecture firm, he entered the Dominicans of the Province of St. Joseph in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the height of the pandemic. He previously served as associate pastor of St. Pius V Catholic Church in Providence Rhode Island and instructor at Providence College. Additionally, he served as an Assistant Chaplain for Campus Ministry and Chaplain for the Men's Lacrosse team. He currently serves the Thomistic Institute as the Coordinator for Campus Outreach, organizing retreats and leading Summa seminars with students across the country. You can find his writing in Sacred Architecture Journal, Word on Fire, and The Catholic Exchange.

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Raymond Hain about the evolution of Catholic education, the role of the teacher in humanities education, how to cultivate a love for the liberal arts in students, and more!You can watch this interview on YouTube here: https://tinyurl.com/3cfn3639About the speaker:Raymond Hain is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Humanities Program at Providence College in Providence, RI. Educated at Christendom College, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oxford, he is the founder of the PC Humanities Forum and Humanities Reading Seminars and is responsible for the strategic development of the Humanities Program into a vibrant, world class center of teaching, research, and cultural life dedicated to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His scholarly interests include the history of ethics (especially St. Thomas Aquinas), applied ethics (especially medical ethics and the ethics of architecture), Alexis de Tocqueville, and philosophy and literature (especially Catholic aesthetics). His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Charles Koch Foundation. His essays have appeared in various journals and collections including The Thomist, International Journal of Applied Philosophy, and The Anthem Companion to Tocqueville. He is the editor of Beyond the Self: Virtue Ethics and the Problem of Culture and is currently working on a monograph titled The Lover and the Prophet: An Essay in Catholic Aesthetics. He joined Providence College in 2011 and lives just across the street with his wife Dominique and their five children.

This lecture was given on January 22nd, 2024, at Yale University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Andrew Abela is the founding dean of the Busch School of Business and Ordinary Professor of Marketing at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. His research on the integrity of the marketing process, including marketing ethics, Catholic Social Doctrine, and internal communication, has been published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Markets & Morality, and in two books. He is the co-editor of A Catechism for Business, from Catholic University Press, and winner of the 2009 Novak Award, a $10,000 prize given by the Acton Institute for “significant contributions to the study of the relationship between religion and economic liberty.”Dr. Abela also provides consulting and training in internal communications; recent clients of his include Microsoft Corporation, JPMorganChase, and the Corporate Executive Board. Prior to his academic career, he spent several years in industry as brand manager at Procter & Gamble, management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and Managing Director of the Marketing Leadership Council of the Corporate Executive Board. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Marketing and Ethics from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Kathleen, live in Great Falls, Virginia with their six children.

This lecture was given on February 23rd, 2024, at Trinity College Dublin.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Fr. Ezra Sullivan is a Dominican friar of the Province of St. Joseph. He currently serves as professor of theology and psychology at the Angelicum in Rome. He has published numerous articles and contributed to many books on subjects related to Thomistic ethics.

This lecture was given on February 26th, 2024, at Georgetown University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Andrew Abela is the founding dean of the Busch School of Business and Ordinary Professor of Marketing at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. His research on the integrity of the marketing process, including marketing ethics, Catholic Social Doctrine, and internal communication, has been published in several academic journals, including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Business Ethics, and the Journal of Markets & Morality, and in two books. He is the co-editor of A Catechism for Business, from Catholic University Press, and winner of the 2009 Novak Award, a $10,000 prize given by the Acton Institute for “significant contributions to the study of the relationship between religion and economic liberty.”Dr. Abela also provides consulting and training in internal communications; recent clients of his include Microsoft Corporation, JPMorganChase, and the Corporate Executive Board. Prior to his academic career, he spent several years in industry as brand manager at Procter & Gamble, management consultant with McKinsey & Company, and Managing Director of the Marketing Leadership Council of the Corporate Executive Board. He holds a B.Sc. from the University of Toronto, an MBA from the Institute for Management Development (IMD) in Switzerland, and a Ph.D. in Marketing and Ethics from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Kathleen, live in Great Falls, Virginia with their six children.

This lecture was given on November 30th, 2023, at Vanderbilt University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Francis J. Beckwith is Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies at Baylor University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy. Among his over one dozen books are Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Politics For Christians: Statecraft As Soulcraft (IVP, 2010), and Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (Cambridge University Press, 2015), winner of the American Academy of Religion's prestigious 2016 Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Constructive-Reflective Studies. He is a graduate of the Washington University School of Law, St. Louis (MJS) as well as Fordham University (PhD, MA, philosophy).

This lecture was given on January 26th, 2024, at the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Fr. Wojciech Giertych, O.P. was born in 1951 in London, UK. He studied history in Poznań, Poland, entered the Polish Province of the Dominican Order in 1975, and was ordained in 1981. He then worked in Kraków, Poland as formator and professor of moral theology, and has been an invited professor of the PUST since 1994. He has been a member of the General Council of the Dominican Order since 1998. He has served the Order as Socius for Central and Eastern Europe and then Socius for Intellectual Life. Since 2005 he has been the Theologian of the Papal Household and lives in the Vatican.

This lecture was given on January 14th, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies | Washington, DC.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speakers:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. (Thomistic Institute) from Pennsylvania, graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He previously served as the Assistant Director of Campus Outreach for the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC, and associate pastor of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught at Bellarmine University. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is a contributor on the Pints with Aquinas show and a co-host of the Catholic Classics podcast.Fr. Gregory is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly (Our Sunday Visitor, 2022) and co-author with Matt Fradd of Marian Consecration With Aquinas: A Nine Day Path for Growing Closer to the Mother of God (TAN Books, 2020).Sr. Anna Wray, O.P. (Catholic University of America) a native of New Canaan, Connecticut, received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2002 and subsequently entered the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. After completing her initial religious formation at her community’s motherhouse in Nashville, Sister Anna taught for five years at the high school level in Knoxville and Chattanooga. She also spent a year in Australia, preparing for World Youth Day. She then returned to Catholic University, and in 2019 completed a doctorate in philosophy. Her dissertation was on "Noetic Thinking in Aristotle's De Anima III.6." Sister previously taught as a First Year Experience fellow at the university and as an adjunct professor at Aquinas College.

This lecture was given on January 13th, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies | Washington, DC.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. (Thomistic Institute) from Pennsylvania, graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He previously served as the Assistant Director of Campus Outreach for the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC, and associate pastor of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught at Bellarmine University. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is a contributor on the Pints with Aquinas show and a co-host of the Catholic Classics podcast.Fr. Gregory is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly (Our Sunday Visitor, 2022) and co-author with Matt Fradd of Marian Consecration With Aquinas: A Nine Day Path for Growing Closer to the Mother of God (TAN Books, 2020).

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Dr. Daniel De Haan about Alasdair MacIntyre and virtue.You can watch this interview on YouTube here: tinyurl.com/29pba85rAbout the speaker:Daniel D. De Haan is the Frederick Copleston Senior Research Fellow and Lecturer in Philosophy and Theology in the Catholic Tradition at Campion Hall and Blackfriars at the University of Oxford. Before to coming to Oxford, De Haan was a postdoctoral fellow on the neuroscience strand of the Theology, Philosophy of Religion, and the Sciences project at the University of Cambridge. He has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of Leuven and University of St Thomas in Texas. His research focuses on philosophical anthropology, hylomorphism and the sciences, moral psychology, philosophical theology, and the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

This lecture was given on January 13th, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies | Washington, DC.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speakers:Sr. Anna Wray, O.P. (Catholic University of America) a native of New Canaan, Connecticut, received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2002 and subsequently entered the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. After completing her initial religious formation at her community’s motherhouse in Nashville, Sister Anna taught for five years at the high school level in Knoxville and Chattanooga. She also spent a year in Australia, preparing for World Youth Day. She then returned to Catholic University, and in 2019 completed a doctorate in philosophy. Her dissertation was on "Noetic Thinking in Aristotle's De Anima III.6." Sister previously taught as a First Year Experience fellow at the university and as an adjunct professor at Aquinas College.Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. (Thomistic Institute) from Pennsylvania, graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He previously served as the Assistant Director of Campus Outreach for the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC, and associate pastor of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught at Bellarmine University. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is a contributor on the Pints with Aquinas show and a co-host of the Catholic Classics podcast.Fr. Gregory is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly (Our Sunday Visitor, 2022) and co-author with Matt Fradd of Marian Consecration With Aquinas: A Nine Day Path for Growing Closer to the Mother of God (TAN Books, 2020).

This lecture was given on January 13th, 2024, at the Dominican House of Studies | Washington, DC.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Sr. Anna Wray, O.P. (Catholic University of America) a native of New Canaan, Connecticut, received her bachelor’s degree in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2002 and subsequently entered the Congregation of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. After completing her initial religious formation at her community’s motherhouse in Nashville, Sister Anna taught for five years at the high school level in Knoxville and Chattanooga. She also spent a year in Australia, preparing for World Youth Day. She then returned to Catholic University, and in 2019 completed a doctorate in philosophy. Her dissertation was on "Noetic Thinking in Aristotle's De Anima III.6." Sister previously taught as a First Year Experience fellow at the university and as an adjunct professor at Aquinas College.

This lecture was given on June 20th, 2023, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the speaker:Fr. Conor McDonough, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies, Dublin) is a Dominican friar from Galway. He studied science and theology at the University of Cambridge and taught theology at secondary school before joining the Dominicans in 2009. He was ordained priest in 2016 and undertook further studies in theology at the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), focussing on the writings of St Thomas Aquinas and John Calvin. He is currently based in Dublin where he teaches theology to the students at the Dominican House of Studies in Dublin.

This lecture was given on October 10th, 2023, at the University of Dallas.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, O.P. is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. She is an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston where she also teaches at St. Mary's Seminary. Her main area of research is medieval sacramental theology with a focus on Albert the Great and Aquinas. She has published a translation of Albert the Great's work On the Body of the Lord in the CUA Fathers of the Church Medieval Continuation series as well as a translation of Aquinas's Commentary on the Psalms for the Aquinas Institute. She has published articles in various journals including Logos, Antiphon, Nova et Vetera and Franciscan Studies.

This lecture was given on November 4th, 2023, at the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and an Assistant Professor in systematic theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.L. from the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001 and was ordained a priest in 2007. He practiced law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice before becoming a Dominican.