Featuring some recent talks on science and its relationship to the faith.

Faith and Science | Featured Tracks

Featuring some recent talks exploring philosophical topics.

Philosophy | Featured Tracks

Featuring some recent talks on the arts and their relationship to the faith.

Faith and the Arts | Featured Tracks

Featuring some recent talks on topics in systematic and dogmatic theology.

Systematic/Dogmatic Theology | Featured Tracks

Featuring our all–time most–listened talks.

Most Popular Talks

This lecture was given to the UVA chapter on March 15, 2021. Fr. Brent's lecture concludes at 1:05:15. The remainder of the lecture is a Q&A session with Fr. Brent. 

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. 

About the Speaker:
Fr. James Dominic Brent, O.P. was born and raised in Michigan. He pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in Philosophy, and completed his doctorate in Philosophy at Saint Louis University on the epistemic status of Christian beliefs according to Saint Thomas Aquinas. He has articles in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Natural Theology, in the Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas on “God’s Knowledge and Will”, and an article forthcoming on “Thomas Aquinas” in the Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology. He earned his STL from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, and was ordained a priest in the same year. He taught in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America from 2010- 2014, and spent the year of 2014-2015 doing full time itinerant preaching on college campuses across the United States.

The Indwelling of the Holy Trinity | Fr. James Brent, O.P.

This talk was given to the Rutgers University Thomistic Institute on March 25, 2021. 

The slides for this talk can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/wb6s9zyh

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

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.

Is the Doctrine of the Trinity Compatible with Divine Simplicity? | Fr. Michael Dodds, O.P.

This lecture was delivered to the University of Kansas chapter on March 25, 2021. 

View Prof. Pakaluk's slides here: https://tinyurl.com/8hkx7vmr

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. 

About the Speaker:
Catherine Ruth Pakaluk (Ph.D, 2010) joined the faculty at the Busch School in the summer of 2016, and is the founder of the Social Research academic area, where she is an Assistant Professor of Social Research and  Economic Thought. Formerly, she was Assistant Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Ave Maria University. Her primary areas of research include economics of education and religion, family studies and demography, Catholic social thought and political economy.

Edith Stein and the Gestalt of the Feminine Soul | Prof. Catherine Pakaluk

This lecture was delivered for the Vanderbilt University chapter on 4/20/2021.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:

Karin Öberg is Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. Her specialty is astrochemistry and her research aims to uncover how chemical processes affect the outcome of planet formation, especially the chemical habitability of nascent planets. Dr. Öberg obtained her B.Sc. in chemistry at Caltech in 2005, and her Ph.D. in astronomy, with a thesis focused on laboratory astrochemistry, from Leiden University in 2009. She did postdoctoral work at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as a NASA Hubble fellow, focusing on millimeter observations of planet-forming disks around young stars. In 2013 she joined the Harvard astronomy faculty as an assistant professor. She was promoted and named the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor in Astronomy in 2016, and promoted to full professor with tenure in 2017. Dr. Öberg’s research in astrochemistry has been recognized with a Sloan fellowship, a Packard fellowship, the Newton Lacy Pierce Award from the American Astronomical Society, and a Simons fellowship. Her recent TED talk explaining some of her research can be found here:

https://www.ted.com/talks/karin_oberg_the_galactic_recipe_for_a_living_planet

Science And the Theology Of Extraterrestrial Life | Prof. Karin Öberg

This talk was given on June 25, 2021 as part of the 10th Annual Aquinas Philosophy Workshop, "Knowledge, Truth, and Wisdom in Aquinas." The handout for the talk can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/phksp393

For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the Speaker:
Edward Feser is Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California.  He has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio.  He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an M.A. in religion from the Claremont Graduate School, and a B.A. in philosophy and religious studies from the California State University at Fullerton.

Called by National Review “one of the best contemporary writers on philosophy,” Feser is the author of On Nozick, Philosophy of Mind, Locke, The Last Superstition: A Refutation of the New Atheism, Aquinas, Scholastic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Introduction, Neo-Scholastic Essays, Five Proofs of the Existence of God, and Aristotle's Revenge, the co-author of By Man Shall His Blood Be Shed: A Catholic Defense of Capital Punishment, and the editor of The Cambridge Companion to Hayek and Aristotle on Method and Metaphysics.  He is also the author of many academic articles.  His primary academic research interests are in metaphysics, natural theology, the philosophy of mind, and moral and political philosophy.

Feser also writes on politics and culture, from a conservative point of view; and on religion, from a traditional Roman Catholic perspective.  In this connection, his work has appeared in such publications as The American, The American Conservative, The American Mind, Catholic Herald, Catholic World Report, City Journal, The Claremont Review of Books, Crisis, First Things, Liberty, National Review, New Oxford Review, Public Discourse, Reason, TCS Daily, and the Times Literary Supplement.

He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and six children.

Truth as Transcendental: Ontological Foundations | Dr. Edward Feser

This lecture was delivered at the University of Arizona on September 14, 2021. The handout can be found at https://tinyurl.com/4tj4vebb.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Gregory T. Doolan received his B.A. in political theory from Georgetown University in 1993 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2003. He taught philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. from 2004–05 and joined the faculty of the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in 2005. Dr. Doolan’s research interest is in the area of Aquinas’s metaphysics; in recent years, his focus has been on Aquinas’s account of the Aristotelian categories of being. A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Doolan currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children.

Why Should We Believe God Exists? | Prof. Gregory Doolan

This lecture was delivered at Auburn University on September 17, 2021.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Michael Dauphinais, Ph.D. is Professor and Chair of the Theology Department at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida. Professor Dauphinais holds a B.S.E. from Duke University, an M.T.S. from Duke Divinity School, and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame. He has co-authored Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Thomas Aquinas and Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible. He has co-edited multiple volumes as well as numerous articles and chapters in books dedicated to theology and exegesis in Aquinas and other topics relating to Catholic theology. Professor Dauphinais previously served as Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty. His favorite courses are C.S. Lewis, Triune God, and the Colloquium on Ancients and Moderns. He also enjoys riding horses and running.

An Introduction to Thomas Aquinas's Summa Theologiae | Prof. Michael Dauphinais

This talk was given on June 26th, 2021 at the 10th Annual Aquinas Philosophy Workshop, on Knowledge, Truth, and Wisdom in Aquinas. The handout can be found at https://tinyurl.com/m4dfm37a

For information on upcoming Thomistic Institute events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and Assistant Professor in Dogmatic 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 in Switzerland. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001, after having practiced constitutional law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at The Catholic University of America Law School and at Providence College. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2016).

The Search for Wisdom and the Light of Christ | Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.

This talk was given on June 26th, 2021 at the 10th Annual Aquinas Philosophy Workshop: Knowledge, Truth, and Wisdom in Aquinas. The handout can be found at https://tinyurl.com/yv5by7f5

For information on upcoming Thomistic Institute events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Robert C. (“Rob”) Koons is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has taught for 33 years. M. A. Oxford, Ph.D. UCLA. He is the author or co-author of four books, including: Realism Regained (Oxford University Press, 2000), and The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics, with Timothy H. Pickavance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). He is the co-editor (with George Bealer) of The Waning of Materialism (Oxford University Press, 2010), and co-editor (with Nicholas Teh and William Simpson) of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2018). He has been working recently on an Aristotelian interpretation of quantum theory, on defending and articulating Thomism in contemporary terms, and on arguments for classical theism.

On the Union of the Knower with the Known | Prof. Robert Koons

This talk was given on September 20, 2021 at Vanderbilt University.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Sister Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P., is a member of the Saint Cecilia Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Nashville, TN. Currently, she teaches Theology at Aquinas College in Nashville and assists with the theological formation of the newest members of the religious congregation. She studied theology at the Angelicum (The Pontifical University of St. Thomas) in Rome, Italy.

What Can an Adulteress Teach Us about Happiness? | Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P.

This talk was given online on September 21, 2021 to The Thomistic Institute at the University of California Berkeley.

For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

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.

Are Science and Faith Compatible? | Fr. Michael Dodds, O.P.

This talk was delivered on November 4, 2021 at Cornell University.

For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the Speaker:
Fr. Andrew Jordan Schmidt, OP, grew up in North Dakota and received a Bachelor's degree in English and East Asian Studies from St. John's University in Collegeville, MN in May 2002.  After serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in rural China, he entered the seminary, studying for the diocese of Bismarck at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis, MO from 2004-2006.  He joined the St. Joseph province of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) in the summer of 2006, and moved to Washington, DC to study at the Pontifical Faculty Immaculate Conception where he earned an STB and MDiv in 2009.  In the Fall of 2009, he entered the STL program in Biblical Theology at The Catholic University of America.  Upon completing his Licentiate degree in 2012, he was ordained a priest at St. Dominic's parish in Washington, DC after which he was assigned as associate pastor to St. Mary's parish in New Haven, CT.  In the Fall of 2013, he returned to Washington to pursue a doctorate in Biblical Studies at The Catholic University of America. During his time at The Catholic University of America, Fr. Jordan has served as a teaching assistant and teaching fellow in addition to taking on various posts in the STRS student association.

The Bible as Revealed Truth and its Relationship To Rational Thought | Fr. Jordan Schmidt, O.P.

This talk was given on November 11, 2021 at Trinity College Dublin.

Click here for Prof. Carroll's slides: https://tinyurl.com/2p94tjtx

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org

About the speaker:
Dr. William E. Carroll is Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Philosophy at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (Wuhan, China) and Senior Research Fellow at the Collegium of Anton Neuwirth (Bratislava, Slovakia). His specialty is the relationship among the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology, with an emphasis on Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of the doctrine of creation. He is the author of works and articles including Creation and Science: Has Science Eliminated God?; Galileo: Science and Faith; and (with Steven Baldner) Aquinas on Creation. Beginning in 2013, he has spent several weeks each year giving lectures and seminars at various Chinese universities in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Wuhan.

Creation and the Origin of the Universe | Prof. William Carroll

This lecture was given on November 5, 2021 at Auburn University.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel is a member of the St. Cecilia Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Nashville, Tennessee. She received her Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. She has been active in her religious community's teaching apostolate for over fifteen years and has assisted with the theological formation of the newest members of her religious congregation. In addition to contributing articles to a number of journals and magazines, including the Vatican newspaper (L'Osservatore Romano), The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Linacre Quarterly, and the Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, Sister has served as editor-in-chief of her Congregation's book, Praying as a Family (also available in Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic versions). With EWTN, she directed a television series of the same title. She has also served as the creator and founding Director of the University of Dallas Studies in Catholic Faith & Culture Program.

Tolstoy's Anna Karenina and the Project of Literature | Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P.

This lecture was given on March 9, 2022 at Washington and Lee University.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. 

About the speaker:
Kevin Hart is the Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia where he also holds professorships in the Departments of English and French. His most recent scholarly books include Kingdoms of God (Indiana UP, 2014) and Poetry and Revelation (Bloomsbury, 2017). Among the books he has edited are Jean-Luc Marion: The Essential Writings (Fordham UP, 2013) and The Exorbitant: Emmanuel Levinas between Jews and Christians(Fordham UP, 2010). He is currently editing the fifth volume of a multivolume series The Bible and Literature, which will appear with Bloomsbury in 2020. His poetry is gathered in Wild Track: New and Selected Poems (Notre Dame UP, 2015) and Barefoot (Notre Dame UP, 2018). Among other honors, he holds an honorary doctoral degree in Philosophy from the Institut Catholique de Paris.

Poetry, Philosophy, and the Sacred: An Example from Gerard Manley Hopkins | Prof. Kevin Hart

This lecture was given on February 7, 2022 at St. Mary Mother of God Catholic Church in Washington, D.C.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Fr. John Baptist Ku, O.P., was born in Manhattan (1965) and grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. After graduating from the University of Virginia, he worked at AT&T for five years before entering the Dominican Order in 1992. After serving for three years in St. Pius Parish in Providence, R.I., he completed his doctoral studies at the University of Fribourg in 2009. He now teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., where he has also served as book review editor of The Thomist, chaplain to commuter students, and chaplain to the Immaculate Conception Chapter of Third Order Dominicans, and assistant student master. He served as student master and subprior at St. Dominic Priory from 2015-2018, and is currently the subprior.

Personal Relationship with the Persons of the Trinity | Fr. John Baptist Ku, O.P.

This lecture was given on March 3, 2022 at Trinity College Dublin.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
John M. Rist was educated in classics at Trinity College, Cambridge. He taught Greek at University College in the University of Toronto from 1959 to 1969 and from 1969 to 1980 was a professor of classics at the University of Toronto. He taught from 1980 to 1983 as Regius Professor of Classics at the University of Aberdeen, and returned to the University of Toronto, where he was professor of classics and philosophy from 1983 to 1996, with a cross-appointment to St. Michael's College from 1983 to 1990. In 1997, Rist became professor emeritus of the University of Toronto in 1997. He has been part-time visiting professor at the Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum in Rome since 1998. In 1976 Rist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and in 1991 he was elected a life member of Clare Hall, Cambridge. In 1995 he was the Lady Davis Visiting Professor in Philosophy at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Professor Rist has written more than 100 scholarly works, including the following books: Man, Soul and Body: Essays in Ancient Thought from Plato to Dionysius (1996), Augustine: Ancient Thought Baptized (1994), The Mind of Aristotle (1989), Platonism and Its Christian Heritage (1985), Human Value: A Study of Ancient Philosophical Ethics (1982), On the Independence of Matthew and Mark (1978), The Stoics (1978), Epicurus: An Introduction (1972), Stoic Philosophy (1969), Plotinus: The Road to Reality (1967), and Eros and Psyche: Studies in Plato, Plotinus and Origen (1964). He is the author of more than 80 articles on ancient Greek philosophy, Hellenistic philosophy, Plotinus and Neoplatonism, Patristics, and medieval philosophy.

The Perennial Importance of Plato | Prof. John Rist

View Prof. Bogardus' slides here: https://tinyurl.com/yer9hxmu

This lecture was given on February 22, 2022 at the University of Arizona.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Tomás Bogardus is associate professor of philosophy at Pepperdine University. He was born in Long Beach, California, and earned his BS in biology at UC San Diego, his MA in philosophy at Biola University, and his PhD in philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. He works mainly in metaphysics and epistemology and is most interested in the mind-body problem and the rationality of religious belief.

Are We Just Accidents? Evolution in the Light of Faith | Prof. Tomás Bogardus

This lecture was given on March 3, 2022 at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Gregory T. Doolan received his B.A. in political theory from Georgetown University in 1993 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 2003. He taught philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. from 2004–05 and joined the faculty of the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America in 2005. Dr. Doolan’s research interest is in the area of Aquinas’s metaphysics; in recent years, his focus has been on Aquinas’s account of the Aristotelian categories of being. A native of Philadelphia, Dr. Doolan currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and three children.

This lecture was given on March 3, 2022 at the College of William and Mary.

The handout for this lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/4dbe7m5r. 

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Timothy J. Pawl is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and holds a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in philosophy, with specialization in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, Thomistic philosophy, analytic theology, and moral psychology. His books include In Defense of Conciliar Christology (Oxford, 2016), In Defense of Extended Conciliar Christology (Oxford, 2019), and The Incarnation (Cambridge, 2020). In addition, he has published more than thirty-five academic articles in his areas of expertise, and given almost 100 academic or popular-level talks or interviews about his work, including a series of interviews for the PBS show Closer to Truth. He is the husband of another philosopher, Faith Glavey Pawl, and the proud father of one son and four daughters.

A Thomistic Account of Truth | Prof. Timothy Pawl

This lecture was given on March 16, 2022 at the University of South Carolina.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Father Thomas Petri, O.P. is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, where he also serves as an assistant professor of moral theology and pastoral studies. Ordained a priest in 2009, he holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America.

St. Thomas Aquinas on Suffering and Evil | Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P.

This lecture was given on March 25, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies as part of the Thomistic Institute's Annual Spring Thomistic Circles Conference: "Our Father: Prayer and Theology."

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Dr. Heereman was born and raised in a devout Catholic family in Germany. Originally trained to become a lawyer, she experienced a deep encounter with the Lord which led her to discern a vocation as a lay woman celibate for the sake of the kingdom. She received two years of spiritual formation and attended the ICPE school of Evangelization in India, Banglore, which eventually led her to theological studies so as to consecrate her life to the study and teaching of the Word of God.  She received an STB from the Pontifical Gregorian University, an SSL from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and the SSD from the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem on and the Université de Fribourg. During and after her doctoral studies she lectured at the Collège des Bernhardins, Paris, and the Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome as a visiting professor. Explaining her discernment to join St. Patrick’s faculty, Dr. Heereman writes: “In particular, I desire to open up the treasures of the Scriptures to future priests so that their ministry might be rooted in the Word of God as the living source of their life and preaching.  I am deeply committed to the Church’s desire to make ‘the study of the sacred page the very soul of theology’ (DV 24).”

Thy Kingdom Come | Prof. Nina Heereman

This lecture was given on March 16, 2022 at Duke University.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Fr. Jonah Teller, O.P., is a friar of the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Dallas in 2011, entered the Order of Preachers in 2013, and was ordained a priest in May of 2020. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

St. Thomas Aquinas and Josef Pieper on Creation | Fr. Jonah Teller, O.P.

This lecture was given on March 17, 2022 at the University of Maryland, College Park. 

The handout for this lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/4nh6uavk.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Patrick Callahan is director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as Assistant Professor of English & Humanities at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Dallas and his graduate work at Fordham University in Classical Philology. While his doctoral work focused on ancient Greek commentaries to the lyric poet Pindar, his recent work focuses on early Jesuit Latin texts.

The Crass and the Sublime in Dante and Chaucer | Dr. Patrick Callahan

This talk was given on May 27th, 2022 at the 11th Annual Aquinas Philosophy Workshop on Aquinas on the Soul.

The handout for the talk can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mr224yuv

For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Fr. James Dominic Brent, O.P. was born and raised in Michigan. He pursued his undergraduate and graduate studies in Philosophy, and completed his doctorate in Philosophy at Saint Louis University on the epistemic status of Christian beliefs according to Saint Thomas Aquinas. He has articles in the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Natural Theology, in the Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas on “God’s Knowledge and Will”, and an article forthcoming on “Thomas Aquinas” in the Oxford Handbook of the Epistemology of Theology. He earned his STL from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, and was ordained a priest in the same year. He taught in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America from 2010- 2014, and spent the year of 2014-2015 doing full time itinerant preaching on college campuses across the United States.

The Powers Of The Soul | Fr. James Brent, O.P.

This lecture was given on May 29, 2022 at the 11th Annual Aquinas Philosophy Workshop on Aquinas on the Soul.

The handout for this lecture can be found here:  https://tinyurl.com/yckbsbs3.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
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.

Neuroscience and the Soul | Dr. Daniel De Haan

View Prof. Pezzini's handout here: https://tinyurl.com/342z96ec

This lecture was given on April 21, 2022 at The Christian Heritage Centre at Stonyhurst as part of "Catholicism and the Arts: An Intellectual Retreat."

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Prof. Pezzini returned to Oxford in 2021, after five beautiful years in St Andrews (2016–2021). He studied at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (2003–2008) and the University of Oxford (D.Phil. 2012). He held research fellowships at Magdalen College Oxford (2013–2015) and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2016). From 2010 to 2013 he worked as Assistant Editor for the Oxford Dictionary of Medieval Latin.

Tolkien on the Nature and Purpose of Christian Art | Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini

This lecture was given on April 21, 2022 at The Christian Heritage Centre at Stonyhurst as part of "Catholicism and the Arts: An Intellectual Retreat."

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.

About the speaker:
Fr Uwe Michael Lang, a native of Nuremberg, Germany, is a priest of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London. He holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford and teaches Church History at Mater Ecclesiae College, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and at Allen Hall Seminary, London. He is an Associate Staff Member at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, and on the Visiting Faculty of the Liturgical Institute in Mundelein, Illinois. He is the Editor of Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal.

From 2008 to 2012 he was a staff member of Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and from 2008 to 2013 he was a Consultor to the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff. In the academic year 2011/2012, he taught as Professore incaricato for history of Christian worship and hagiography at the Pontifical Institute for Christian Archaeology in Rome

The Way of Beauty: Sacred Art and Architecture | Fr. Michael Lang

This lecture was given on March 17th, 2023, at "The Passion & the Sacred Wounds: An Intellectual Retreat" at the Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

Speaker Bio:

Fr. Michael O'Connor, O.P.(Dominican House of Studies) was raised in Illinois and did his undergraduate studies at St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minnesota, where he earned a B.A. in music performance and philosophy. He worked as a church musician and as an editor of the St. Michael Hymnal for a few years before entering the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2006. He was ordained a priest in 2012 and completed the S.T.L. at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in 2013. Fr. O’Connor was then assigned to Providence College, where he taught courses in Theology and the Development of Western Civilization for three years. In 2016, he moved to Rome to begin doctoral studies (S.T.D.) in moral theology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome, where he completed a dissertation on a Thomistic understanding of the orientation of human sexuality.

By His Wounds We Are Healed | Father Michael O'Connor

A lecture on October 4, 2014 at Fall Thomistic Circles.

The Church in the Post-Modern World: Gaudium et Spes on Nature and Grace | Fr. Thomas Joseph White

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Michael Pakaluk about what we can learn from Aristotle about friendship and virtue in the classical tradition, how the family helps children grow in virtue, why it's important to bear with others patiently, the healing power of sacrifice and forgiveness, and the role of natural law in social unions.

You can watch this interview on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/fQB-78wUnow

About the speaker:
Michael Pakaluk is an internationally recognized Aristotelian scholar who studied under Quine and Putnam at Harvard while writing a dissertation on the philosophy of friendship under John Rawls.  Besides several books and many articles in philosophy, he is at work on a series of interpretations of the gospels (The Memoirs of St. Peter, Mary's Voice in the Gospel According to John, and, forthcoming, "Be Good Bankers": The Divine Economy in the Gospel of Matthew). He is currently writing an intellectual autobiography and books on John Henry Newman and Natural Law.  He has made important contributions to the professional ethics of accountants.  Pakaluk is a regular contributor to The Catholic Thing, and his essays may be found in Crisis, Our Sunday Visitor, First Things, and other venues.  He lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, with his wife, Catherine, a professor of economics, and their children.  In 2011 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Pope Benedict.

Friendship and Virtue: Seeing the Good in Others w/ Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. & Prof. Michael Pakaluk

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-events

About the Speaker:

Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.

The Saints Interpreting 'I have called you friends' (Jn 15:15) | Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.

This lecture was given on November 3rd, 2023, at The Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After several years of pastoral work in New York City, Fr. Guilbeau began doctoral studies in moral theology at the University of Fribourg, where he completed a dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the common good. Currently, Fr. Guilbeau serves as the University Chaplain and Vice President for Ministry and Mission at The Catholic University of America.

Friendship And The Common Good | Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P.

This lecture was given on May 13th, 2024, at Oxford University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Professor Marianne Schlosser works as a professor of spiritual theology at the University of Vienna. She was a member of the International Theological Commission from 2014-2019, and in 2018 received the Ratzinger prize in recognition of her work. Her main fields of research are theology, patrology, and the spirituality of the High Middle Ages, with particular emphasis on mendicant orders, the Eucharist, and the discovery of classical texts with a Christian ethos.

St. Bonaventure's Influence On The Theology Of Joseph Ratzinger | Prof. Marianne Schlosser

This lecture was given on April 25th, 2024, at University of Oregon.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Paul Gondreau is professor of theology at Providence College, where he has taught for 26 years. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, doing his dissertation on Christ's full humanity (Christ's human passions/emotions) under the renowned Thomist scholar Jean-Pierre Torrell. He specializes in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and has published widely in the areas of Christology (focusing on Christ’s full humanity and his maleness), Christian anthropology, the moral meaning and purpose of human sexuality and sexual difference, the biblical vision of Aquinas' theology, the theology of disability, the sacrament of the Eucharist and the priesthood, and the Catholic vision of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

The Two Become One Flesh: The Catholic View Of The Sacrament Of Marriage | Prof. Paul Gondreau

This lecture was given on April 19th, 2024, at St. Albert's Priory.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His seventeen books include The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

Four Levels Of Happiness | Prof. Chris Kaczor

This lecture was given on April 20th, 2024, at St. Albert's Priory.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His seventeen books include The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

Happiness and the Limits of Psychology | Prof. Christopher Kaczor

This lecture was given on April 20th, 2024, at St. Albert's Priory.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, O.P. is a Dominican friar of the Western Province. Originally from Oregon, he converted to the Catholic faith in high school. He went on to study applied physics for seven years before joining the Dominican Order. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2009, and was then sent by the Order to study philosophy at the University of Notre Dame. In 2019 he moved to Houston and now teaches philosophy at the University of St. Thomas.

A Roadmap to Happiness: From Aristotle to Christ | Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, O.P.

This lecture was given on February 23rd, 2024, at Claremont Colleges.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His seventeen books include The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

The Philosophy, Theology, and Psychology of Happiness | Prof. Christopher Kaczor

This lecture was given on February 23rd, 2024, at Ave Maria University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia of Nashville, TN.  Sister received her phD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, having written her dissertation on Aristotle’s account of the activity of contemplation.  Sister is an assistant professor on the faculty of CUA's School of Philosophy in Washington, DC, where she regularly teaches courses in the history of philosophy, logic, rhetoric, ethics, philosophy of religion, and philosophical psychology.  She is also an adjunct professor for Aquinas College, where she teaches metaphysics and epistemology to her sisters in formation.  When time permits, sister enjoys the occasional trip that allows her to speak to (and with) others who share her loves.

Accessing Aquinas' Account of Acedia: Can We Choose Joy? | Sr. Anna Wray, O.P.

What is Truth? | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP

A lecture on April 1, 2016 at Spring Thomistic Circles.

The Medieval Dominicans and the Magisterium | Prof. M. Michéle Mulchahey

Aquinas on Original Sin: The Promise of an Interdisciplinary Approach | Abp. Augustine DiNoia, OP

Introduction to Metaphysics Part One: Form and Matter; Substance and Accidents | Fr. T.J. White

A lecture on April 25, 2017 at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Arlington, VA.

Is Man Naturally Religious? Religion, Superstition, and the Healing Power of Grace | Fr. White OP

On the Other Side of the Confessional | Fr. Thomas Joseph White O.P.

June 30, 2017 at Aquinas Philosophy Workshop.

Form-Matter Composition | Prof. Jeffrey Brower

September 29, 2017 at Fall Thomistic Circles.

The Holy Spirit as Gift and the Communion of the Trinity | Fr. Gilles Emery, OP

September 30, 2017 at Fall Thomistic Circles.

Thomas Aquinas & the Gifts of the Holy Spirit | Fr. Joseph d'Amécourt OP

A lecture offered on October 6, 2017 at an Intellectual Retreat in Connecticut.

The Last Supper & the Fulfillment of the Covenant | Fr. Dominic Legge OP

This lecture was offered on October 8, 2017 at an Intellectual Retreat in Connecticut.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us online.

Aquinas's Foundation for a Spiritual Life Centered in the Eucharist | Prof. Reinhard Huetter

October 19, 2017 at University of California, Berkeley.

Blinded by Scientism? The Proper Role—And Limits—Of Science in the Quest for Truth | Edward Feser

This lecture was given during a conference on Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers at Ave Maria University, that was held January 26-27, 2018, entitled: "What is Beauty? Is God Beautiful?" This event was hosted by the Aquinas Center and the Thomistic Institute.

What Is Beauty? Is God Beautiful? | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, OP

This lecture was given during a conference on Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers at Ave Maria University, that was held January 26-27, 2018, entitled: "Christ and the Trinity at the Transfiguration" This event was hosted by the Aquinas Center and the Thomistic Institute.

Christ and the Trinity at the Transfiguration | Fr. Dominic Legge OP

This talk was offered at our Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship program on July 19th, 2018.

Aquinas on Eternal Law, Natural Inclinations, and Natural Law (Pt. 3) | Fr. Dominic Legge, OP

This lecture was offered at University College Dublin on February 6th, 2019. For more information about upcoming TI events in North America visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1/
For Europe, visit: https://angelicum.it/thomistic-institute/thomistic-events/


Speaker Bio:

Fr. Thomas Joseph White is the Director of the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum. He did his doctoral studies at Oxford University, and has research interests in metaphysics, Christology, Trinitarian theology, and the theology of grace. His books include The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (2015) and The Light of Christ: An Introduction to Catholicism (2017). He is co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera and in 2011 was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.

When is Religious Belief Irrational? On the Harmony of Faith and Reason | Fr. Thomas Joseph White OP

This talk was offered on April 3rd, 2019 at the Angelicum in preparation for Holy Week.
For more information about upcoming TI events visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

Did Jesus Know Us On the Cross? The Knowledge of Christ Crucified | Fr. Thomas Joseph White OP

This was the fifth lecture of our 2019 Summer Philosophy Workshop, "Aquinas on Human Action and Virtue." The annual four day conference was cosponsored by the Catholic and Dominican Institute and the Center for Ethics and Culture. The Conference ran from June 19th-23rd at Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/events

Speakers included: 
Fr. James Brent (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception), Fr. Steve Brock (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross), Edward Feser (Pasadena City College), Candace Vogler (University of Chicago) and Fr. Michael Sherwin (University of Fribourg)

What is the Nature of the Will? | Prof. Edward Feser

This was one of the lectures from our 2019 Summer Science Conference, "Novelty in Nature: Scientific and Philosophical Understanding of Flux and Chance in the Natural World."

Conference Theme:
Modern science consistently presents us with new and surprising truths about the natural world, particularly about how new things come to be, whether stars and galaxies, plants and animals, or chemical and physical structures. In many ways this creativity and flux in nature might seem antithetical to the classical picture of nature that Aquinas inherited from Aristotle. The theme for the second annual Thomistic Institute symposium on modern science and Thomistic philosophy, “Novelty in Nature: Scientific and Philosophical Understanding of Flux and Change in the Natural World,” touches on this question. Expert scientists and philosophers will discuss whether Thomistic philosophy is compatible with our modern scientific view of nature and how the two might enrich one another. The symposium is primarily intended for graduate students in the sciences and the philosophy of science and will include introductory sessions on basic of Thomistic philosophy of nature in its own day and in the history of science.

2019 Featured Speakers:

Karin Oberg (Harvard University), Robert Koons,  (University of Texas), Fr. Nicanor Austriaco,  (Providence College), Marissa March (University of Pennsylvania), Fr. James Brent, OP, (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception), Thomas McLaughlin (St. John Vianny Theological Seminary), Matthew Gaetano (Hillsdale College), Dr. Brian Carl (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception).

The Novelty of Transubstantiation: The Presence of Christ in the Eucharist | Fr. James Brent, O.P.

On July 10th- 14th the Thomistic Institute held our first annual "Student Leadership Conference" at the Dominican House of Studies
on the theme "Faith, Reason, & the Mind’s Ascent to God"

Aquinas offers a robust account of faith and reason, and the way that human beings can come to real knowledge of the divine. Understanding these truths is central not only to the Catholic faith, but to all knowledge of reality because God is the transcendent cause of all being, the source of intelligibility, and truth itself.

PRESENTERS INCLUDED:
Fr. Dominic Legge, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute)
Prof. Ed Feser (Pasadena City College)
Fr. James Brent, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception)
and a keynote address by R.R. Reno (First Things)

For more info about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/events

Responding To Contemporary Atheism  | Fr. James Brent, O.P.

This talk was given for the University Edinburgh on September 24, 2020.

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

About the speaker:
Fr. White is the Director of the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum. He did his doctoral studies at Oxford University, and has research interests in metaphysics, Christology, Trinitarian theology, and the theology of grace. His books include The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (2015) and The Light of Christ: An Introduction to Catholicism (2017). He is co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera and in 2011 was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 2019 Fr. White was named a McDonald Agape Foundation Distinguished Scholar.

Is the Human Person Naturally Religious? Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

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