From Apathy to Agape: Christian Encounters with Stoic Philosophy I Prof. Thomas Ward

The Thomistic Institute

Christianity, Society & Culture, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic, Philosophy, Religion & Spirituality, Thomism, Catholicism

4.8 • 729 Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2025

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Prof. Thomas Ward explores the resurgence of Stoicism in modern culture and critically contrasts it with Christian philosophy, especially through the lens of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy, advocating for divine providence and the Christian virtues of hope and charity in place of Stoic apathy.

This lecture was given on May 4th, 2025, at Stanford University.

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

About the Speaker:

Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He specializes in the history of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages and has contributed over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters to these fields of study. Ward is the author of After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher (Word on Fire, 2024), Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus (Angelico, 2022), Divine Ideas (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and has translated, with commentary, John Duns Scotus’s Treatise on the First Principle (Hackett, 2024). He has been a NEH Fellow (2022) and Harvey Fellow (2009-2011), and is a past winner of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Founder's Award (2013) and the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Rising Scholar Essay Contest (2018). Before taking up his current post at Baylor, Ward taught in California at Azusa Pacific University (2011-2012) and Loyola Marymount University (2012-2017). He studied philosophy at Biola University (BA 2004) and theology at Oxford University (M.Phil 2006), where he was Head Resident at the Kilns, the former residence of C.S. Lewis. His PhD in philosophy is from UCLA (2011). Ward is married with six children and is a member of St. Peter Catholic Student Center in Waco.

Keywords: Apathy, Boethius, Christian Philosophy, Divine Providence, Fatalism, Hope, The Consolation of Philosophy, Stoicism, Tranquility, Virtue

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	As of July 1st, 2025, applications are open for the Thomistic Institute's Rome Study Abroad program for spring
0:07.6	26. Emmerse yourself in the Catholic intellectual tradition and experience profound opportunities
0:14.2	for spiritual formation in the heart of the church. Applications close August 15th. Learn more and apply at www.comsticinstitute.org
0:24.4	forward slash Rome. Welcome to the Tomistic Institute podcast. Our mission is to promote the Catholic
0:33.5	intellectual tradition in the university, the church, and the wider public square.
0:38.0	The lectures on this podcast are organized by university students at Temistic Institute
0:42.6	chapters around the world. To learn more and to attend these events, visit us at
0:47.4	to mystic institute.org.
0:50.1	But we're not talking about that today, nor even my mustache, but instead this theme of
0:58.5	stoicism and its encounter with Christian philosophy.
1:02.5	And the specific context in which I want to do this is by introducing to you a thinker
1:09.3	whom probably at least some, maybe most of you have heard of before,
1:14.2	but probably few of you have actually read.
1:17.0	And that is Boethius and his famous consolation of philosophy.
1:21.4	I saw some jazz hands there.
1:24.3	So just to help me out, could I get with a show of hands how many have read the consolation of philosophy before?
1:33.2	Not helpful.
1:34.1	Good. Okay. That's helpful. That's helpful.
1:37.9	Boethius was not a stoic philosopher, though he admired stoicism much and incorporated Stoic themes into his own Christian philosophy.
1:49.3	And that's what we'll be talking about in the second half of the talk tonight.
1:53.9	In the first half, I would like to say a little bit about Stoicism and why it's worth thinking about now, what I think is valuable about it, and what I think is not so good about it.
2:09.6	And then I want to introduce Boethius and suggest that Boethius retains everything that is worth retaining about stoicism, but then improves on the things that need improving.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 11 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Thomistic Institute, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of The Thomistic Institute and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.