Lectures

This talk, "Deus adorans, Homo adorans: Joseph Ratzinger's Liturgical Christology & Anthropology" was offered on September 15th, 2018 during a day long conference on "Jesus of Nazareth and the Church's Tradition: The Enduring Legacy of Benedict XVI" held at Georgetown University.

Deus adorans, Homo adorans: Ratzinger's Liturgical Christology & Anthropology | Dr. Chris Ruddy

This lecture by Dr. Chad Pecknold with a response by Fr. Stephen Fields SJ was given on September 15th, 2018 during a day long conference on "Jesus of Nazareth and the Church's Tradition: The Enduring Legacy of Benedict XVI" held at Georgetown University.

In the Eye of the Storm: Benedict XVI on Our Present Crisis - Dr. Chad Pecknold

This lecture by Dr. Kevin Doak with a response by Fr. Joseph Koterski SJ was given on September 15th, 2018 during a day long conference on "Jesus of Nazareth and the Church's Tradition: The Enduring Legacy of Benedict XVI" held at Georgetown University.

"Globalism in Natural Law Theory: Pope Benedict and Kotaro Paul Francis Tanaka" - Dr. Kevin Doak

What is happiness, and what is the best and happiest life a human being can live? Or even more directly and personally, what kind of life ought I to be living or ought I to be aiming for? In this lecture, Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute) draws on wisdom from St. Thomas Aquinas and the classical tradition to answer these fundamental and perennial questions.

This lecture was given to the Cornell University chapter of the Thomistic Institute on September 10, 2018.

For further reading on this topic, consider downloading or ordering the booklet referenced in this talk, "On Happiness: Selections from Summa Theologiae by Thomas Aquinas" at https://www.ttf.org/product/happiness-thomas-aquinas. This reading was compiled by the Trinity Forum and features an original introduction by Fr. Dominic Legge. 

View upcoming Thomistic Institute events at: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events.

The Search For Happiness | Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., completed his Bachelor’s Degree (B.S.E.) in Bioengineering, summa cum laude, at the University of Pennsylvania, and then earned his Ph.D. in Biology from M.I.T. in the laboratory of Professor Leonard Guarente, where he was a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). He was ordained a priest in the Order of Preachers in May of 2004. He completed his Pontifical License in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) in Moral Theology, summa cum laude, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, in 2005, and a Pontifical Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.), magna cum laude, at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, in 2015.

Fr. Austriaco currently serves as Professor of Biology and of Theology at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. His NIH-funded laboratory at Providence College is investigating the genetics of programmed cell death using the yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans, as model organisms. Papers describing his research have been published in PLoS ONE, FEMS Yeast Research, Microbial Cell, Cell, the Journal of Cell Biology, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, among others. In philosophy and theology, his essays have been published in the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Theological Studies, Nova et Vetera, The Thomist, Science and Theology, and the Linacre Quarterly. His first book, Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics, was published by the Catholic University of America Press in 2011. It was recognized as a 2012 Choice outstanding academic title by the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Defending Adam After Darwin | Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, OP

This lecture was delivered by Chad Pecknold (Catholic University of America) to the MIT chapter of the Thomistic Institute on September 18, 2018. 

To learn about upcoming Thomistic Institute events visit https://thomisticinstitute.org/events/

Augustine's City of God and the Nature of Politics | Chad Pecknold

A lecture given during "Friendly Rivals: Franciscan and Dominican Intellectual Traditions" a Thomistic Circles conference at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. Sept. 28-29, 2018.

The hand out for this lecture is available here: https://tinyurl.com/ybo2qjxb

On the Speculative, Practical, or Affective Nature of Theology | Gregory LaNave

This talk was offered on Sept. 28,2018 to begin the Thomistic Circle "Friendly Rivals: Franciscan and Dominican Intellectual Traditions. "

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Bonaventure, Thomas Aquinas & Duns Scotus on the Real Distinction | Msgr. Wippel

In this lecture, Francis Beckwith discusses the question, "is belief in God rational?" 

This lecture was delivered by Francis Beckwith (Baylor University) on September 19, 2018 to the Thomistic Institute's University of Arizona chapter.

To learn about upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit thomisticinstitute.org/events/

Is Belief In God Rational? | Francis Beckwith

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s last and greatest novel, The Brothers Karamazov, explores the question of God’s existence against the backdrop of suffering and betrayal within a troubled family. The genius of Dostoevsky is to have grasped that there can be no love for human beings without a love for God — and conversely, there can be no belief in God without a deep and profound love for mankind. In this lecture, Professor Healy presents a brief overview of the structure and characters of the novel, focusing on the themes of solidarity and forgiveness.

This lecture is the first of a three-part series titled "Tales That Tell: Moral Devastation and Original Sin in Literature," co-sponsored by the Catholic Information Center and the Thomistic Institute. It was delivered on September 19, 2018 to the DC Young Adults chapter of the Thomistic Institute.

To learn about upcoming Thomistic Institute events visit thomisticinstitute.org/events/

Forgiveness and Solidarity in Dostoevsky's 'The Brother's Karamzov' | Nicholas Healy

This lecture was the first one given for our conference on "Christianity and Freedom." It was held on Sept. 22nd, 2018 at Yale and brought together academics from diverse disciplines to discuss the meaning and evolution of the Christian idea of freedom. Lecturers considered the theme from the perspective of Augustine, Origen, Ambrose, Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Nicolas of Cusa, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Servais Pinckaers, and John Paul II.

To find out about more upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

Freedom Under the Law - Early Christian Views | Sarah Byers

Aquinas On Human Freedom and Free Will | Fr. James Brent OP

This lecture was given for our conference on "Christianity and Freedom." It was held on Sept. 22nd, 2018 at Yale and brought together academics from diverse disciplines to discuss the meaning and evolution of the Christian idea of freedom. Lecturers considered the theme from the perspective of Augustine, Origen, Ambrose, Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Nicolas of Cusa, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Servais Pinckaers, and John Paul II.

To find out about more upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

Liberty and Grace According to Dante and St. Augustine | Giuseppe Mazzotta

This lecture was offered at Williams College on September 19th, 2018 by Professor Gloria Frost.

About the speaker: 
Gloria Frost is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Her areas of research are medieval philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and the history of science. She is an assistant editor for the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly and on the executive councils for the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy. She is married to Jake Frost, author of "Catholic Dad" and the "Happy Jar," and they have four children.

Evil and the Goodness of God | Gloria Frost

This lecture was given on Oct. 10th, 2018, for the Leonine Forum at the CIC in Washington, D.C. 

For more information on other upcoming events, visit our website: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events

Wisdom in the Face of Modernity: Is Faith Reasonable? | Fr. Dominic Legge, OP

There is an abundance of literature discussing the validity of St. Thomas Aquinas' arguments for God's existence. Using a different approach, this lecture takes these arguments as a springboard for interrogating the atheist position(s): What are the problems in asserting the world to be uncaused, or in denying the existence of a necessary being?

This lecture was delivered by Fr. Conor McDonough, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies, Dublin) to the University College Dublin chapter of the Thomistic Institute on September 18, 2018.

How To Be An Atheist (According to St. Thomas Aquinas) | Fr. Conor McDonough, O.P.

This talk was offered at Yale on Oct. 1st, 2018 and was present by Professor Paige Hochschild. Dr. Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary's University (MD), specializing in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and the early Church. She also teaches philosophy courses at the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's. She has written a book on the place of memory in Augustine's theological anthropology, and publishes on the Church, education, tradition, 20th c. theological debates within the Church (Scripture, history; marriage).

For more information about upcoming Thomistic Institute events, visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

Hobbits & Humility: Catholicism, Christology and the Lord of the Rings | Paige Hochschild

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

From the Common Good to Public Order (and Back)| Gladden Pappin

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.

Purgatory - Good News for Most of Us | Prof. Michael Root

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:https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/

Lectures

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