The Thomistic Institute

This lecture was held at St. Gretrude's parish on October 9th, 2018. It was cosponsored by the Aquinas Society of Cincinnati and the Thomistic Institute. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/About the event:What is the liturgy? Why is liturgy so important? Why would would you reform the liturgy and how would you do it? - These are some of the fascinating questions that Dr. Ruddy (CUA) undertakes in his sweeping lecture.Speaker Bio:Christopher Ruddy is associate professor of systematic theology at The Catholic University of America. He was formerly associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and also taught at St. John’s University and the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Divinity School, he received his doctorate in systematic theology from the University of Notre Dame.His two books are titled The Local Church: Tillard and the Future of Catholic Ecclesiology and Tested in Every Way: The Catholic Priesthood in Today’s Church (both Herder & Herder). His articles and reviews have appeared in America, Christian Century, Commonweal, Ecclesiology, Heythrop Journal, Horizons, Irish Theological Quarterly, Josephinium Journal of Theology, Logos, Nova et Vetera, Origins, Theological Studies, The Thomist, and Worship. His theological interests include ecclesiology, Vatican II, the nouvelle théologie and ressourcement movements, and the relationship of Christianity and culture. New York natives, he and his wife, Deborah, have four sons.

This lecture was held at St. Gretrude's parish on October 30th, 2018. It was cosponsored by the Aquinas Society of Cincinnati and the Thomistic Institute. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/About the event:The 1960s were a time of anti-establishment rebellion, and the rejection of existing authorities and structures. This turbulent time left its mark on the Church, for priests and religious and for the lay faithful alike. How have the structures of the Church responded to the demands of a skeptical time?Speaker bio:Fr. Joseph Fox, a member of the Order of Preachers in vows since 1969, was ordained a priest in 1974. He has a licentiate degree in theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, a licentiate degree in canon law from the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in canon law from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome.Fr. Fox served in a variety of positions during his 22 years in Rome including that of staff official of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, bureau chief of the personnel office of the Holy See, teaching in the faculties of theology and canon law at the Angelicum, economic administrator of the Convitto San Tommaso and of the Dominican priory at the Angelicum, and as the director of pastoral formation at the Pontifical North American College.He is currently serving as Vicar of Canonical Services for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles

This event was hosted by the Aquinas Society of Cincinnati and cosponsored by the Thomistic Institute on October 23rd, 2018. It includes performances by Fr. William Goldin, a trained opera singer and theologian, of pieces by John Cage ("Aria" with "Fontana Mix") and Tchaikovsky.About the event:This revolution had a soundtrack. The 1960s saw a tremendous change in music, from the highest forms of opera to the popular songs on the radio. What we hear and sing in church and on our radios has been marked by that revolutionary decade. Fr. Goldin’s presentation will both explain and illustrate how the standards of musical beauty and excellence have changed.For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This talk was offered on November 30th, 2018 at Brown University. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio: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 by Dr. Daniel De Haan at Stanford University on November 12th, 2018.For more information on upcoming lectures, visit thomisticinstitute.orgAbout the speaker:Daniel De Haan is a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at the University of Cambridge working on the neuroscience strand of the Templeton World Charity Foundation’s Theology, Philosophy of Religion, and the Sciences Project, directed by Professor Sarah Coakley. He is conducting research on the intersections of theology, philosophy, and neuroscience in the Faculty of Divinity and in Lisa Saksida’s Translational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Psychology

This talk was given at Harvard University on November 15th, 2018. For move information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Fr. Romanus Cessario, O.P. is professor of systematic theology at St. John's Seminary, associate editor of The Thomist, senior editor of Magnificat, and general editor of the Catholic Moral Thought series at the Catholic University of America Press.

This lecture was given by Fr. Thomas Davenport, OP (Providence College) to the Yale undergraduate chapter on 11/14/18.For more information on upcoming events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org

This talk was given at Yale Law School on November 13th, 2018 by the Honorable John Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:John Durham became the US Attorney for the District of Connecticut in February of 2018Prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney, Mr. Durham served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in various positions in the District of Connecticut for 35 years, prosecuting complex organized crime, violent crime, public corruption and financial fraud matters.From 2008 to 2017, Mr. Durham served as Counsel to the U.S. Attorney; from 1994 to 2008, he served as the Deputy U.S. Attorney, and served as the U.S. Attorney in an acting and interim capacity in 1997 and 1998; from 1989 to 1994, he served as Chief of the Office’s Criminal Division, and from 1982 to 1989, he served as an attorney and then supervisor in the New Haven Field Office of the Boston Strike Force in the Justice Department’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section.From 2008 to 2012, Mr. Durham also served as the Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he investigated matters relating to the destruction of certain videotapes by the CIA and the treatment of detainees by the CIA. From 1998 to 2008, Mr. Durham served as a Special Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and Head of the Justice Task Force, where he reviewed alleged criminal conduct by FBI personnel and other law enforcement corruption in Boston, led the prosecution of a former FBI Supervisory Special Agent and a former Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant, and handled direct appeals and related proceedings following convictions after trial.From 1978 to 1982, Mr. Durham served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in the New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office headed by Arnold Markle, and from 1977 to 1978, he served as a Deputy Assistant State’s Attorney in the Office of the Chief State’s Attorney.From 1975 to 1977, Mr. Durham worked as a Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA) on the Crow Indian Reservation in Montana.Mr. Durham graduated, with honors, from Colgate University in 1972 and the University of Connecticut School of Law in 1975.

This lecture was offered at the University of Oklahoma on November 13th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Dr. Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John's College where she teaches across the liberal arts. She is interested in defending intellectual activity for its own sake, as against its use for economic or political goals. Her forthcoming book, Intellectual Life, is rooted in essays that have appeared in First Things, Modern Age, and The Washington Post. Her scholarly work has focused on the political thought of Plato and Aristotle, especially the question of how law cultivates or fails to cultivate human excellence. She received an MPhil in Classics from Cambridge and studied Social Thought and Philosophy at the University of Chicago before finishing her PhD in Philosophy at Princeton.

This lecture was given by Fr. Gregory Pine, OP for the campus chapter at the University of Maryland on November 13th, 2018.Check out upcoming events on our website: thomisticinstitute.org

This lecture was offered at Baylor on November 14th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was offered at NYU on November 10th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/The hand out for this lecture is available at: tinyurl.com/yclptrzp

This lecture was offered at Stanford on October 16th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was offered at NYU on November 10th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was offered at NYU on November 10th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was offered at the University of Arizona on November 7th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Daniel De Haan is a Research Fellow in Natural Theology at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Oxford he was a postdoctoral fellow working on the neuroscience strand of the Templeton World Charity Foundation’s 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 and the sciences, natural theology, and the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

This lecture was offered at NYU on November 10th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/The hand out for this lecture is available at: tinyurl.com/ycx2596r

This lecture was given on November 5th, 2018 at UC Berkeley. For more information about upcoming TI events, check out: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/About the speaker:Michael J. Dodds, O.P., is Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California. After undergraduate studies at Seattle University, he entered the Order of Preachers in 1970 and was ordained in 1977. He then taught for three years at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California, before doing his doctoral studies at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1986. He has served as Academic Dean of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Convener of the Theology Area at the Graduate Theological Union, and Regent of Studies and Vicar Provincial of the Western Dominican Province. He is the author of The Unchanging God of Love: Thomas Aquinas and Contemporary Theology on Divine Immutability (2008), and Unlocking Divine Action: Contemporary Science and Thomas Aquinas (2012), both from The Catholic University of America Press.

This talk was offered as the second of a 2 part series at NYU on the "Wisdom of Aquinas." The first talk on "Love, Passion and Affection" is also available on SoundCloud: Thomisticinstitute – St-thomas-the-meaning-of-love-love-passion-affection-fr-gregory-pine-opFor more info about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. serves presently as Assistant Director of Campus Outreach for the Thomistic Institute. He served previously as an associate pastor at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught as an adjunct professor at Bellarmine University. Born and raised near Philadelphia, PA, he attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, studying mathematics and humanities. Upon graduating, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2010. He was ordained a priest in 2016 and holds an STL from the Dominican House of Studies.

This talk was offered as the first of a 2 part series at NYU on the "Wisdom of Aquinas." The second talk on "Human and Divine Friendship" is also available on SoundCloud.For more info about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. serves presently as Assistant Director of Campus Outreach for the Thomistic Institute. He served previously as an associate pastor at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught as an adjunct professor at Bellarmine University. Born and raised near Philadelphia, PA, he attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, studying mathematics and humanities. Upon graduating, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2010. He was ordained a priest in 2016 and holds an STL from the Dominican House of Studies.

This lecture was offered at MIT on October 25th as the 2nd part of a series of lectures on "The Distinctiveness of Human Intelligence."For more information about upcoming TI events, check out: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Marie George has been a member of the Philosophy Department of St. John's University since 1988. Professor George is an Aristotelian-Thomist whose interests lie primarily in the areas of philosophy of nature and philosophy of science. She has received several awards from the John Templeton foundation for her work in science and religion, and in 2007 she received a grant from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) for an interdisciplinary project entitled: “The Evolution of Sympathy and Morality.” Professor George has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and two books: Christianity and Extraterrestrials? A Catholic Perspective(2005) and Stewardship of Creation (2009). She is currently working on Aquinas’s “Fifth Way,” and also on a variety of questions concerning living things (self-motion, consciousness, evolution, etc.). Professor George is a member of ten philosophical societies, including the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, and the Society for Aristotelian Studies.

This lecture was given to a small student seminar at Duke University on October 5th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Dr. Reinhard Huetter is Ordinary Professor of Fundamental Theology at the School of Theology and Religious Studies of The Catholic University.Professor Huetter is a native of Lichtenfels, Germany. He received his Dr. theol. (summa cum laude) in 1990, and his Habilitation in 1995, both from the University of Erlangen. He taught for nine years theological ethics and systematic theology at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and for seventeen years systematic theology at Duke University Divinity School. In 2004, he and his wife entered into the full communion of the Catholic Church.His teaching and research focuses on fundamental theological questions of the relationship between faith and reason, nature and grace, revelation and faith, theology and philosophy, dogma and history, on questions of theological anthropology (grace and freedom), and the theology and epistemology of faith. He has an abiding interest in the thought of Thomas Aquinas and has, in more recent years, developed also an intense interest in the thought of John Henry Newman.Huetter is the author of numerous books, most recently Dust Bound for Heaven: Explorations in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas (2012) and Divine Happiness: Aquinas on the Journey to Beatitude, the Ultimate Human End (forthcoming 2018) and has contributed numerous chapters to handbooks and edited collections. He is presently working on a theological commentary on Psalm 119, a small book on John Henry Newman, and a theological treatise on Doctrine: Its Nature and Development.

This lecture was given at Duke by Fr. Andrew Hofer OP (Dominican House of Studies) on October 25th, 2018.For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., grew up as the youngest of ten children on a farm in Kansas, and studied history, philosophy, and classics at Benedictine College. He then went to St Andrews, Scotland for a Master of Letters in medieval history. He entered the Order of Preachers as a son of the Province of St. Joseph, and was ordained a priest in 2002. After finishing his S.T.L. and serving as an associate pastor for a brief time, he was sent to Kenya as a missionary for two years. He taught at the Tangaza College of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa and other institutions in Nairobi. He returned to the U.S. and completed the Ph.D. in theology at the University of Notre Dame, with the primary area of history of Christianity (specializing in patristic theology with additional studies in medieval theology) and the secondary area of systematic theology. His research appears in such journals as Vigiliae Christianae, Augustinianum, International Journal of Systematic Theology, New Blackfriars, Nova et Vetera, Pro Ecclesia, The Thomist, Communio, and Angelicum and in books published by Catholic University America Press and Ignatius Press. He is the author of Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford Early Christian Studies), Oxford University Press, 2013, and the editor of Divinization: Becoming Icons of Christ through the Liturgy, Hillenbrand Books, 2015.

This lecture was offered at UVA on October 19th, 2018. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Jennifer A. Frey (University of South Carolina) received her BA from Indiana University in Bloomington Indiana in 2000, and her PhD at the University of Pittsburgh in 2012. In 2013 she was Collegiate Assistant Professor and Harper Schmidt Fellow at the University of Chicago prior to taking up her current appointment as Assistant Professor in the Philosophy department at the University of South Carolina. Jennifer's research interests lie at the intersection of virtue ethics and action theory. She has publications in The Journal of the History of Philosophy, The Journal of Analytic Philosophy, and in several edited volumes. She is the recipient of several grants, including a 2.1 million dollar project awarded by the John Templeton Foundation, titled "Virtue, Happiness, and Meaning in Life." She is currently at work on three separate book projects.

This talk was offered on October 17th, 2018 at Brown University. For more info about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio:Tim Pawl is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, MN, where he works on metaphysics and philosophical theology. In metaphysics he works on "truthmaker theory, modality, and free will. In philosophical theology, he has published on transubstantiation, Christology, and divine immutability. Publications where his work has appeared include: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Faith and Philosophy, and Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion. A listing of his publications is available on his PhilPapers Profile. Additionally, Prof. Pawl published a monograph in the Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology series, entitled In Defense of Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay. In this book he argues that the philosophical objections to the traditional Christian doctrine of the incarnation fail.Prof. Pawl currently leads a grant with Gloria Frost called The Classical Theism Project, and recently finished a grant in collaboration with Kevin Timpe called Exploring the Interim State Writing Workshop. He is the husband of another philosopher, Faith Glavey Pawl, and the proud father of one son and four daughters.

This lecture was held on October 17th, 2018 at the Catholic Information Center, Washington DC. For more info about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Lecture Description:More than any other work of high modernist literature, Eliot's The Waste Land (1922) captures the loss of meaning and purpose that has overwhelmed an entire civilization. Surrounded by fragments of past knowledge that now seem barely intelligible in the wake of World War I, modern society appears mired in an unprecedented spiritual crisis. Yet unlike his modernist peers (e.g., Virginia Woolf, Bertrand Russell, Ezra Pound, et al.), Eliot's critique of modern life is not confined to the conceptual resources and secular axioms that have shaped modern life. Though it predates Eliot's “conversion” to Christianity by five years, The Waste Land's forceful summation of spiritual, ecological, psycho-sexual, and moral devastation already contains the seeds for the spiritual awakening that will be at the center of Eliot's "Ash Wednesday" (1927) and his Four Quartets (1936-1943).This lecture is the second of a three-part series titled "Tales That Tell: Moral Devastation and Original Sin in Literature," co-sponsored by the CIC and the Thomistic Institute.Speaker BioThomas Pfau (PhD 1989, SUNY Buffalo) is the Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of English, with secondary appointments in Germanic Language & Literatures and the Divinity School at Duke University. He has published forty-five essays on literary and philosophical subjects ranging from the 18th through the early 20th century, translations of Hölderlin and Schelling (SUNY Press, 1987 and 1994). Having edited seven essay collections and special journal issues, he is also the author of three monographs: Wordsworth’s Profession (Stanford UP 1997), Romantic Moods: Paranoia, Trauma, Melancholy, 1790-1840 (Johns Hopkins UP 2005), and Minding the Modern: Intellectual Traditions, Human Agency, and Responsible Knowledge (Notre Dame UP, 2013). His current book project focuses on phenomenology of image-consciousness in literature, theology, and philosophy.

On October 9th, 2018, Rusty Reno, the editor of "First Things" offered this talk at Blackfriars, Oxford elaborating on his May 2017 article in First Things of the same name. This lecture was presented in collaboration with the Aquinas Institute, Blackfriars Hall.For more about the TI's upcoming events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was given for the Harvard Medical School Chapter on November 6th, 2018.Speaker Bio:Daniel De Haan is a Research Fellow in Natural Theology at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Oxford he was a postdoctoral fellow working on the neuroscience strand of the Templeton World Charity Foundation’s 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 and the sciences, natural theology, and the thought of Thomas Aquinas.More information on upcoming events can be found on our website: thomisticinstitute.org

In this lecture, Prof. Christopher Kaczor draws from the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and research in contemporary psychology to discuss the final end to which human beings are ordered.This lecture was delivered by Prof. Christopher Kaczor(LoyolaMarymount University) to the University of Arizona chapter of the Thomistic Institute on October 17, 2018.

This talk was given by Dr. Pakaluk on October 16th, 2018 at the United States Naval Academy and was co-sponsored by the Catholic Midshipmen's Club.For more details about upcoming TI events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/About the Speaker:Michael Pakaluk studied philosophy at Harvard College and the University of Edinburgh on a Marshall Scholarship before getting his Ph.D. at Harvard writing a dissertation under John Rawls. He is a recognized authority on classical philosophy, especially Aristotle’s ethics. Pakaluk has held academic appointments at Clark University, Brown University, Ave Maria University, and The Catholic University of America, among others.

This lecture was given on October 27, 2018 in Philadelphia, PA as part of the "Emerging Leaders Conference" cosponsored with World Youth Alliance.

This talk was offered on October 4th, 2018 at Harvard University.For more information on the Thomistic Institute's upcoming events, visit: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/Speaker Bio: Sr. Mary Madeline Todd is a Dominican Sister of Saint Cecilia Congregation, serving as Assistant Professor of Theology at Aquinas College in Nashville. She studied theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville and earned her doctorate from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome. She writes and speaks on spiritual and moral theology, especially on the dignity of the human person in Christ.

This talk was given at Yale University on October 15th, 2018.For more information on upcoming events, visit our website: www.thomisticinstitute.orgSpeaker bio:Michael Gorman is professor of philosophy at The Catholic University of America, and has doctorates in philosophy and theology. He has authored over thirty academic papers and a book entitled Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Hypostatic Union (Cambridge University Press, 2017). His main interests are metaphysics, human nature, and ethics.

The handout for this lecture is available here: tinyurl.com/yc56e2g6A lecture given during "Desire and the Good Life: Reflections on the Aristotelian Tradition," a conference cosponsored by the Thomistic Institute, the Morningside Institute, and the Philosophy Department of Columbia University at Columbia University in New York City. October 12-13, 2018.For more information on other Thomistic Institute events, check out our website: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

The handout for this lecture is available here: tinyurl.com/y7b4m4rzA lecture given during "Desire and the Good Life: Reflections on the Aristotelian Tradition," a conference cosponsored by the Thomistic Institute, the Morningside Institute, and the Philosophy Department of Columbia University at Columbia University in New York City. October 12-13, 2018.For more information on other Thomistic Institute events, check out our website: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

A lecture given during "Desire and the Good Life: Reflections on the Aristotelian Tradition," a conference cosponsored by the Thomistic Institute, the Morningside Institute, and the Philosophy Department of Columbia University at Columbia University in New York City. October 12-13, 2018.For more information on other Thomistic Institute events, check out our website: thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was offered on October 9th, 2018 at the University of Oklahoma.“If I ever become a saint—I will surely be one of ‘darkness.’ I will continually be absent from Heaven — to light the light of those in darkness on earth.” With these words, Mother Teresa—now Saint Teresa of Calcutta—summed up the decades long trial of faith that marked her inner life from the early years of the Missionaries of Charity until her death in 1997. A similar trial was endured by her namesake, Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, and it bore fruit in a similar resolve. What can we learn about faith, doubt, perseverance, and holiness from the “dark night” experience of the two Teresas?Speaker BioCarol Zaleski is the Professor of World Religions at Smith College in Northampton Massachusetts, where she has been teaching philosophy of religion, world religions, religion and literature, and Catholic thought since 1989. She is the author of Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of NearDeath Experience in Medieval and Modern Times (Oxford University Press) and The Life of the World to Come: NearDeath Experience and Christian Hope (Oxford University Press); and she is coauthor with Philip Zaleski of Prayer: A History (Houghton Mifflin), The Book of Heaven (Oxford University Press), and The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

This lecture was delivered on October 5, 2018. It was part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."

This lecture was delivered on October 5, 2018. It was part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."

This lecture was delivered on October 5, 2018. It was part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."

This lecture was delivered on October 6, 2018. It was part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."

This lecture was delivered on October 6, 2018 as part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."Drawing from Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas maintained that the least knowledge of the highest things brings the greatest joy. What exactly are the highest things? God and the things of God. To contemplate and savor the truth of the highest reality-this delights our minds, this is the bold challenge undertaken by would-be scholar-saints.Yet today, a clear thinker is hard to find. The space to have rational discussions and the common ground on which to have them are shrinking. Many people experience difficulty in contemplating and speaking about the highest things-even the least bit.And so before one can propose freely contemplating the ultimate reality, time must be spent on realism. This retreat is designed to clear the way for rational discourse, to tease out and purify some popular worldviews. What are the underlying presuppositions that stunt our conversations? How does one begin to speak of God and the things of God? How does one contemplate the highest things and find joy?

This lecture was delivered on October 6, 2018 as part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."

This lecture was delivered on October 5, 2018. It was part of an intellectual retreat entitled "Philosophical Realism and the Existence of God."

This Panel Discussion was presented at Harvard Law School at the conclusion of a 2-day Conference on "Christianity and the Common Good." Speakers included Prof. Gerard Wegemer (University of Dallas), Prof. J. Budziszewski (University of Texas, Austin), Prof. Gladden Pappin (University of Dallas) Prof. Sarah Byers (Boston College) Fr. Dominic Legge, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute), Prof. Jacqueline Rivers (Harvard University) and Prof. Adrian Vermeule (Harvard Law School) with the Keynote offered by Justice Neil Gorsuch (United States Supreme Court)For more information about upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit:thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was presented at Harvard Law School as part of a 2-day Conference on "Christianity and the Common Good." Speakers included Prof. Gerard Wegemer (University of Dallas), Prof. J. Budziszewski (University of Texas, Austin), Prof. Gladden Pappin (University of Dallas) Prof. Sarah Byers (Boston College) Fr. Dominic Legge, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute), Prof. Jacqueline Rivers (Harvard University) and Prof. Adrian Vermeule (Harvard Law School) with the Keynote offered by Justice Neil Gorsuch (United States Supreme Court)Dr. Byers's powerpoint that accompanies this lecture can be found at: thomisticinstitute.org/byers-presentationFor more information about upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit:thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was presented at Harvard Law School as part of a 2-day Conference on "Christianity and the Common Good." Speakers included Prof. Gerard Wegemer (University of Dallas), Prof. J. Budziszewski (University of Texas, Austin), Prof. Gladden Pappin (University of Dallas) Prof. Sarah Byers (Boston College) Fr. Dominic Legge, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute), Prof. Jacqueline Rivers (Harvard University) and Prof. Adrian Vermeule (Harvard Law School) with the Keynote offered by Justice Neil Gorsuch (United States Supreme Court)For more information about upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit:thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

This lecture was given as a part of our conference at Harvard Law School, "Christianity and the Common Good," October 19th-20th, 2018.For more information on other upcoming events, visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org.

This lecture was delivered at Harvard Law School on October 20, 2018. It was part of a conferenced entitled "Christianity and the Common Good."

This talk was offered on October 2nd, 2018 at George Mason University by Dr. Michael Root (CUA)Speaker Bio:Michael Root is a native of Norfolk, Virginia. He studied at Dartmouth College (BA, summa cum laude) and Yale University (PhD. in theology). He has taught at Davidson College, Trinity Lutheran Seminary, and Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary. For ten years, he was Research Professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France.Ecumenical dialogues have been at the center of Root’s service. He was on the drafting team for the Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, and served on the Catholic-Lutheran dialogue both nationally and internationally, the international Lutheran-Anglican dialogue, and the US Lutheran-Methodist dialogue. He was a staff consultant to the 1993 World Conference on Faith and Order (Spain) and the 1998 Lambeth Conference (England). He has been the executive director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.Root is the author (With Gabriel Fackre) of Affirmations and Admonitions (1998) and editor of Justification by Faith (with Karl Lehmann and William Rusch, 1997), Baptism and the Unity of the Church (with Risto Saarinen, 1998), and, with James Buckley, Sharper than a Two-Edged Sword: Preaching, Teaching and Living the Bible (2008), The Morally Divided Body: Ethical Disagreement and the Divided Church (2012), and Christian Theology and Islam (2013). In addition, he is the author of many scholarly articles and an associate editor of the journal Pro Ecclesia.