The Thomistic Institute

Fr. Anselm Ramelow explores the philosophical and scientific debates surrounding free will, examining cultural attitudes, neuroscience experiments like Benjamin Libet's, and the necessity of free will for rational thought and moral responsibility. This lecture was given on September 14th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P., a native of Germany, teaches philosophy at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California, where he is also currently the chair of the philosophy department. He is also a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and the Academy of Catholic Theology. He obtained his doctorate under Robert Spaemann in Munich on Leibniz and the Spanish Jesuits (Gott, Freiheit, Weltenwahl, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997) and did theological work on George Lindbeck and the question of a Thomist philosophy and theology of language (Beyond Modernism? - George Lindbeck and the Linguistic Turn in Theology, Neuried: Ars Una 2005). Other works include Thomas Aquinas: De veritate Q. 21-24; Translation and Commentary (Hamburg: Meiner, 2013) and God: Reason and Reality (Basic Philosophical Concepts) (Munich: Philosophia Verlag, 2014), as editor and contributor. Articles appeared in Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie, Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, Nova et Vetera, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly and Angelicum. Areas of research and teaching include Free Will, the History of Philosophy and Philosophical Aesthetics. He has worked on a philosophical approach to Miracles and other topics of the philosophy of religion, and more recently the philosophy of technology.  Keywords: Aristotle, Augustine, Benjamin Libet, Brain Science, C.S. Lewis, Culture and Autonomy, Ethics and Moral Responsibility, Free Will Debate, Minority Report, Neuroscience Experiments

Transcribed - Published: 30 June 2025

Prof. Paul Gondreau explores whether God could truly experience human emotions and suffering by examining Christ’s full humanity, the Church’s response to heresies like docetism and monophysitism, and the Aristotelian-Thomistic understanding of human nature and passions. This lecture was given on March 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. 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. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Keywords: Animal Nature, Aristotelianism, Christology, Concupiscence, Council of Chalcedon, Council of Constantinople, Docetism, Gospel of John, Incarnation, Monophysitism

Transcribed - Published: 27 June 2025

Fr. Thomas Petri explores the profound meaning of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, emphasizing humanity’s original condition and ultimate end, the consequences of sin, and God’s redemptive plan culminating in the Incarnation. This lecture was given on April 10th, 2025, at University of Scranton. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. 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. Keywords: Abraham, Divine Providence, Ethics, Incarnation, Jeremiah, Original Sin, Pentecost, Philippians, Redemption, Suffering

Transcribed - Published: 26 June 2025

Prof. Steven Jensen analyzes the complexity of the human heart by distinguishing the interplay between emotions and will, drawing on Aquinas and Aristotle to explain how passions like love, desire, sorrow, anxiety, guilt, vainglory, and pride shape human behavior and moral decision-making. This lecture was given on September 6th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Steven J Jensen, who holds the Bishop Nold Chair in Graduate Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, teaches in The Center for Thomistic Studies. His fields of research include bioethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, human nature, and natural law. He is the author of several books, including Living the Good Life: A Beginner’s Thomistic Ethics and The Human Person: A Beginner’s Thomistic Psychology. Keywords: Aristotle, Emotions and Will, End-of-Life Ethics, Human Passions, Moral Psychology, Virtue Ethics

Transcribed - Published: 25 June 2025

This lecture was given on March 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Gina Maria Noia, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College. She received her PhD in Theology and Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University. She has served as a clinical ethicist for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL and St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis, MO, and she is published in Christian Bioethics and the Journal of Moral Theology. Outside of academia, you’ll find her spending time outdoors with her (philosopher) husband, Justin Noia, PhD, and their vivacious children. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 24 June 2025

Prof. Gina Noia explores Catholic teaching on end-of-life care, suffering, and medical treatment decision-making, highlighting the nuanced distinction between morally obligatory and optional treatments within the Catholic ethical tradition. This lecture was given on March 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Gina Maria Noia, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College. She received her PhD in Theology and Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University. She has served as a clinical ethicist for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL and St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis, MO, and she is published in Christian Bioethics and the Journal of Moral Theology. Outside of academia, you’ll find her spending time outdoors with her (philosopher) husband, Justin Noia, PhD, and their vivacious children. Keywords: Catholic Bioethics, Catholic Moral Teaching, End-of-Life Care, Ethical and Religious Directives, Euthanasia, Medical Decision-Making, Ordinary and Extraordinary Means, Palliative Care, Prudence, Samaritanus Bonus

Transcribed - Published: 23 June 2025

This lecture was given on April 25th, 2025, at University of North Texas. 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. 

Transcribed - Published: 20 June 2025

This lecture was given on October 25th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P. entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2015. From 2015 to 2018, Fr. Innocent served as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena in New York City. From 2018 to 2021, he lived in Munich while completing a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg. From 2021 to 2023, Fr. Innocent served as Assistant Professor of Homiletics at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. In 2023, he joined the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Innocent’s teaching and research interests include liturgy, homiletics, sacramental theology, ecclesiology, and sacred music. His S.T.L. thesis, “In Collecta Dicitur: The Oration as a Theological Authority for Thomas Aquinas,” explored the importance of the liturgy as a source for scholastic theology. His monograph Bible Missals and the Medieval Dominican Liturgy focuses on medieval manuscripts of the Bible that also contain liturgical texts for the celebration of Mass. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 19 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 11th, 2025, at Cornell University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P. entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2015. From 2015 to 2018, Fr. Innocent served as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena in New York City. From 2018 to 2021, he lived in Munich while completing a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg. From 2021 to 2023, Fr. Innocent served as Assistant Professor of Homiletics at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. In 2023, he joined the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Innocent’s teaching and research interests include liturgy, homiletics, sacramental theology, ecclesiology, and sacred music. His S.T.L. thesis, “In Collecta Dicitur: The Oration as a Theological Authority for Thomas Aquinas,” explored the importance of the liturgy as a source for scholastic theology. His monograph Bible Missals and the Medieval Dominican Liturgy focuses on medieval manuscripts of the Bible that also contain liturgical texts for the celebration of Mass.

Transcribed - Published: 18 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Professor Gary Anderson is the Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Theology at Notre Dame University. Prof. Anderson has won numerous awards including most recently grants from the American Philosophical Society, Lilly Endowment and the Institute for Advanced Study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Prof Anderson’s is well known for his books Sin: A History and Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition (Yale University Press, 2009 and 2013). His newest book, That I May Dwell among Them: Incarnation and Atonement in the Tabernacle Narrative appeared in 2023. Some recent articles include: “To See Where God Dwells: The Tabernacle, Temple, and the Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition;” “The Roman Church as Casta Meretrix;” and “God Doesn’t Break Bad in the Old Testament.” 

Transcribed - Published: 17 June 2025

This lecture was given on April 7th, 2025, at University of Tulsa. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Bruce D. Marshall is Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University, and in 2023 he held the Aquinas Chair in the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum in Rome.  He is the author of Trinity and Truth and Christology in Conflict, and at present he is completing a book entitled The Primacy of Christ: Faith, Reason, and the Cross.  Marshall has written extensively on the doctrines of the Trinity, the person and redemptive work of Christ, the Eucharist, the Catholic Church and non-Christian religions, and the relationship between faith and reason.  He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. from Yale University, and is a past President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 16 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 22nd, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. 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. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 13 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 21st, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Timothy Bellamah, O.P. (Commissio Leonina) was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He entered the Order of Preachers in 1991 and was ordained a priest in 1998. He studied at Wake Forest University (B.S., 1982), the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (M.Div. and S.T.B., 1997; S.T.L, 1999) and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, (Ph.D., Section des sciences Religieuses, 2008). He has previously taught at Providence College in the Department of Theology and the Department of the Development of Western Civilization. From 2010 to 2018 he served as editor of The Thomist and is a member of the Leonine Commission, a team of Dominican scholars responsible for the production of critical Latin editions of the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. He is also currently preparing a critical Latin edition of the Commentary on John’s Gospel by one of St. Thomas’ Dominican contemporaries, William of Alton.

Transcribed - Published: 12 June 2025

This lecture was given on November 15th, 2024, at University of Illinois. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Candace Vogler is the David B. and Clare E. Stern Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary area of research is moral philosophy, with special emphasis on virtue and practical reason. She draws extensively from work by G. E. M. ('Elizabeth') Anscombe, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant, and sometimes she teaches work by John Stuart Mill. She also works on psychoanalysis (primarily Freudian work and the work of Jacques Lacan), and at the intersections of philosophy and literature and philosophy and film. Vogler is interested in questions about the highest good, about sin, and about moral self-improvement.  This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 11 June 2025

This lecture was given on March 12th, 2025, at University of Georgia. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Stephen Meredith is a professor at the University of Chicago’s Departments of Pathology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Neurology. He is also an associate faculty member in the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has published more than 100 journal articles, focusing on the biophysics of protein structure. Much of his work has been the application of solution and solid-state NMR to the study of amyloid proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease. He has also published articles on literature and philosophy in diverse aspects of medical humanities and bioethics. His teaching includes courses to graduate students in biochemistry and biophysics, medical students, and undergraduates and graduate students in the humanities, including courses on James Joyce’s Ulysses, St. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Dostoevsky (focusing on Brothers Karamazov), Thomas Mann and David Foster Wallace. He is currently working on a book examining disease and the theological problem of evil. Other current writing projects include a study of James Joyce and the problem of evil.

Transcribed - Published: 10 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 22nd, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. 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.

Transcribed - Published: 9 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 8th, 2025, at 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.

Transcribed - Published: 6 June 2025

This lecture was given on January 18th, 2025, at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Cassian Derbes, O.P. is a priest of the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in the Mendoza College of Business. Father Cassian served recently as vice dean and professor of theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. His previous teaching positions include as adjunct professor of theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. Father Cassian earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the Angelicum. He has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from New York University (N.Y.U.), and he is a graduate of Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. From 2014-2020, Father Cassian served as director of an initiative at the Vatican under Pope Francis to design, implement, and teach an executive leadership development program for the Cardinals, Bishops, and senior lay officials of the Roman Curia. Father Cassian is a Missionary of Mercy, having been appointed by Pope Francis in 2015. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 5 June 2025

Dr. Nathaniel Peters and Prof. Jane Sloan Peters explore the vocation of parenthood, highlighting the distinct yet complementary roles of fatherhood and motherhood as a participation in God’s creative and priestly work, grounded in Catholic theology and enriched by personal experience. This lecture was given on Jan 24th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Nathaniel Peters is the Director of the Morningside Institute. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College in linguistics, with a focus on French and Latin, his M.T.S. from the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. in theology from Boston College. He has published articles and reviews on many topics in historical theology and ethics and serves as a contributing editor at Public Discourse. Jane Sloan Peters is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, NY. Her dissertation explored Thomas Aquinas's reception of Greek patristic and Byzantine biblical interpretation for his four-volume commentary on the Gospels, the Catena Aurea. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons. Keywords: Catholic Theology, Complementarity, Familiaris Consortio, Fatherhood, Motherhood, Parenthood, Priesthood of the Laity, Saint John Paul II

Transcribed - Published: 4 June 2025

This lecture was given on March 10th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Stephen Ryan was born and raised in Boston and entered the Order of Preachers in 1987. He was ordained a priest in 1993 and, on completion of doctoral studies in Scripture, was assigned to the Dominican House of Studies in 2000. He teaches Scripture and the biblical languages.

Transcribed - Published: 3 June 2025

This lecture was given on February 14th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is the author of a few books including Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly. His writing also appears in Ascension’s Catholic Classics, Magnificat, and Aleteia. He is a regular contributor to the podcasts Pints with Aquinas, Catholic Classics, The Thomistic Institute, and Godsplaining. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 2 June 2025

Prof. Jeffrey Brower defends Aquinas’s hylomorphic account of human nature, arguing that the soul, as the body’s substantial form, ensures metaphysical unity while allowing for postmortem survival, offering a coherent alternative to materialism and substance dualism This lecture was given on February 25th, 2025, at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Jeffrey E. Brower is Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University, where he serves as the faculty advisor for the Thomistic Institute. He specializes in medieval philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophical theology and especially enjoys working at the intersection of all three areas. He is the author of Aquinas’s Ontology of the Material World: Change, Hylomorphism, and Material Objects (Oxford University Press, 2014) and a contributor to The Oxford Handbook on Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2012). His recent articles include “Aquinas on the Individuation of Substances,” Oxford Studies in Medieval Philosophy (2017) and “Aquinas on the Problem of Universals,” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2016). This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Keywords: Aquinas’s Hylomorphism, Body-Soul Unity, Cartesian Dualism, Immaterial Soul, Interim State, Materialism, Metaphysical Unity, Postmortem Survival, Substantial Form, Thomistic Anthropology

Transcribed - Published: 30 May 2025

Fr. Andrew Hofer explores the earliest Christological debates of the first centuries, showing how heresies like Arianism, Nestorianism, and Pelagianism threatened the Church’s understanding of Jesus’ true identity, and why defending orthodox Christology remains vital for Christian faith and unity today. This lecture was given on February 16th, 2024, at St. Joseph's in Greenwich Village. 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. Keywords: Arianism, Christological Debates, Early Church Heresies, Nestorianism, Orthodox Christology, Pelagianism, Thomas Aquinas, Unity of the Church, Fides et Ratio

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2025

Prof. Boyd Taylor Coolman examines the thirteenth-century scholastic doctrine of “capital grace,” showing how Alexander of Hales, Hugh of Saint Victor, and the Summa Halensis developed a pneumatologically-centered account of Christ as the head of the Church, which Aquinas later systematized, emphasizing the Holy Spirit’s role in uniting believers to Christ. This lecture was given on February 23rd, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Boyd Taylor Coolman is an associate professor in the Theology Department in the Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences at Boston College. An historical theologian of medieval Catholicism, Coolman's research interests lie in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, with a focus on the Victorine and early Franciscan traditions, on the emergence of scholastic theology, and on medieval mystical theologies. Keywords: Alexander of Hales, Aquinas, Bonaventure, Capital Grace, Christ as Head, Hugh of Saint Victor, Mystical Body of Christ, Pneumatology, Scholastic Theology, Summa Halensis

Transcribed - Published: 28 May 2025

Prof. Ross McCullough systematically explores the major models of the atonement-including Christus Victor, ransom theory, and divinization-showing how each interprets Christ’s saving work and how Aquinas’s distinctions can help organize these diverse approaches into a coherent theological architecture. This lecture was given on October 16th, 2023, at University of Texas, Austin. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Ross McCullough is an assistant professor of theology at George Fox University and faculty fellow in the George Fox University Honors Program. He has academic publications on the doctrine of hell, the Eucharist, the hermeneutics of Scripture, and liberation theology. Dr. McCullough's first book, Freedom and Sin: Evil in a World Created by God reconciles traditional Christian commitments to, on the one hand, God causing all that is and, on the other, God in no way being responsible for sin. Dr. McCullough lives with his wife and four children in Newberg, Oregon. Keywords: Atonement Models, Christus Victor, Divinization, Historical Theology, Passover Typology, Ransom Theory, Salvation in Christianity, Systematic Theology

Transcribed - Published: 27 May 2025

This lecture was given on November 23rd, 2023, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Timothy Bellamah, O.P. was born and raised in Washington, D.C. He entered the Order of Preachers in 1991 and was ordained a priest in 1998. He studied at Wake Forest University (B.S., 1982), the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (M.Div. and S.T.B., 1997; S.T.L, 1999) and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, (Ph.D., Section des sciences Religieuses, 2008). He has previously taught at Providence College in the Department of Theology and the Department of the Development of Western Civilization. From 2010 to 2018 he served as editor of the speculative review The Thomist and is a member of the Leonine Commission, a team of Dominican scholars responsible for the production of critical Latin editions of the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. He is also currently preparing a critical Latin edition of the Commentary on John’s Gospel by one of St. Thomas’ Dominican contemporaries, William of Alton.

Transcribed - Published: 26 May 2025

Prof. Joshua Hochschild analyzes how smartphones and digital technologies reshape our brains, habits, and sense of self by leveraging neuroscience and AI-driven behavioral design, warning that these tools commodify our attention, erode agency, and pose deep spiritual and ethical challenges that demand more than technocratic solutions. This lecture was given on September 19th, 2024, at East Carolina University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he served as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Keywords: AI-Driven Behavioral Design, Agency and Attention, Digital Media Ethics, Neuroscience and Technology, Philosophical Psychology, The Shallows, Smartphone Addiction, Spiritual and Ethical Challenges, The Social Dilemma

Transcribed - Published: 23 May 2025

Prof. Steven Jensen critically examines transhumanism as a new form of eugenics, arguing that the pursuit of human enhancement through technologies like genetic engineering and brain-computer interfaces repeats the ethical pitfalls of historical eugenics by neglecting the importance of human nature and the distinction between treatment and enhancement. This lecture was given on February 13th, 2025, at Texas A&M University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Steven J Jensen, who holds the Bishop Nold Chair in Graduate Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, teaches in The Center for Thomistic Studies. His fields of research include bioethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, human nature, and natural law. He is the author of several books, including Living the Good Life: A Beginner’s Thomistic Ethics and The Human Person: A Beginner’s Thomistic Psychology. Keywords: Bioethics, Brain-Computer Interfaces, CRISPR Technology, Enhancement vs. Treatment, Eugenics, Genetic Engineering, Human Nature, Liberal Eugenics, Steven Jensen, Transhumanism

Transcribed - Published: 22 May 2025

Prof. Gyula Klima uses Aquinas’ philosophy of mind to argue that human intelligence, rooted in immaterial universal concept formation, is metaphysically distinct from artificial general intelligence (AGI), though AGI can still serve as a powerful tool for enhancing human understanding and life. This lecture was given on February 19th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Gyula Klima is Professor of Philosophy at Fordham University, New York,  Doctor of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. He is the Founding Director of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics and of the Society for the European History of Ideas and Editor of their Proceedings. He is also an editor of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, and the Editor-in-Chief of a book series at Springer, Historical-Analytical Studies in Mind, Nature, and Action, and at Fordham, Medieval Philosophy, Texts and Studies. Before taking up his position at Fordham, he had taught philosophy in the US at Yale and Notre Dame, prior to which he had done research in Europe at the universities of Budapest, Helsinki, St. Andrews, and Copenhagen. His publications, besides more than a hundred scholarly papers, include The Metaphysics and Theology of the Eucharist (Springer, 2024), Questions on the Soul by John Buridan and Others: A Companion to John Buridan’s Philosophy of Mind (Springer, 2017), Intentionality, Cognition and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy (Fordham University Press, 2015), John Buridan (Oxford University Press, 2008), John Buridan: Summulae de Dialectica, an annotated translation with a philosophical introduction; (Yale University Press, 2001); ARS ARTIUM: Essays in Philosophical Semantics, Medieval and Modern (Institute of Philosophy of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1988). Keywords: Artificial General Intelligence, Human Intelligence, Immaterial Intellect, Metaphysical Limits, Philosophy of Intelligence, Philosophy of Mind, Sensory vs. Intellectual Representation, Thomistic Anthropology, Universal Concept Formation

Transcribed - Published: 21 May 2025

Fr. Ambrose Little examines the philosophical and ethical implications of AI-assisted writing by drawing on Plato’s myth of Thoth, Aristotle, and Aquinas, arguing that while new technologies like AI can threaten essential intellectual virtues, they can also be used wisely if we seek a balanced, virtue-oriented approach to knowledge and memory. This lecture was given on February 11th, 2025, at North Carolina State University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Ambrose Little is the assistant director of the Thomistic Institute.  He is originally from Connecticut and entered the Dominican Order in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2013. Before entering the Dominican Order, he graduated from The Catholic University of America with a BA in philosophy. After ordination, he completed a Licentiate in Philosophy at The Catholic University of America and then taught for two years at Providence College. After completing his Ph.D. in philosophy in the summer of 2021, he started teaching at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception. He specializes in the philosophies of Aristotle and St. Thomas Aquinas, with an emphasis on their study of nature and the soul. He also studies topics at the intersection between philosophy and science. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Keywords: AI-Assisted Writing, Aquinas, Aristotle, Intellectual Virtue, Is-Ought Distinction, Memory and Recollection, Myth of Thoth, Plato’s Phaedrus, Technological Ethics, Thomistic Philosophy

Transcribed - Published: 20 May 2025

Sr. Anna Wray explains that technocratic tools, while designed for efficiency and ease, undermine wisdom by weakening essential cognitive activities and social bonds, but we can preserve wisdom by using technology more reflectively and fostering communal engagement. This lecture was given on February 20th, 2025, at University of Pittsburgh. 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 rhetoric, 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. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation. Keywords: Agency and Passivity, Artificial Images and Words, Cognitive Atrophy, Contemplation and Prayer, Efficiency, Social Isolation, Technocratic Tools, Technocratic Use, Wisdom and Prudence

Transcribed - Published: 19 May 2025

Prof. Adam Eitel explores the nature of friendship and the common good through the lens of Aquinas and Aristotle, emphasizing that true friendship is a mutual, habitual disposition to will and pursue the good of another through concrete sharing and fellowship. This lecture was given on December 4th, 2024, at Saint Louis University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Professor Eitel is an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Dallas. Before joining the UD faculty in 2023, he taught for eight years at Yale University, holding appointments in the Divinity School, the Program in Medieval Studies, and the Humanities Program. A specialist in medieval scholasticism, his research interests include doctrinal and moral theology, with a particular focus on the works of Thomas Aquinas and his contemporaries. His teaching and research bring historical Christian theology into dialogue with contemporary moral and political issues. Keywords: Aristotle, Charity as Friendship, Communicatio, Common Good, Friendship and Love, Habitual Disposition, Mutual Well-Wishing, Thomas Aquinas, Virtue Ethics

Transcribed - Published: 16 May 2025

Fr. Cassian Derbes explores why friendship is a difficult but essential good, drawing on Aquinas, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and Dante to show how hope, fortitude, and magnanimity help us overcome sloth and despair in pursuit of true friendship as a common good. This lecture was given on January 18th, 2025, at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Cassian Derbes, O.P. is a priest of the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in the Mendoza College of Business. Father Cassian served recently as vice dean and professor of theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. His previous teaching positions include as adjunct professor of theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. Father Cassian earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the Angelicum. He has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from New York University (N.Y.U.), and he is a graduate of Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. From 2014-2020, Father Cassian served as director of an initiative at the Vatican under Pope Francis to design, implement, and teach an executive leadership development program for the Cardinals, Bishops, and senior lay officials of the Roman Curia. Father Cassian is a Missionary of Mercy, having been appointed by Pope Francis in 2015. Keywords: Aquinas on Virtue, Aristotle, Augustine, Cicero’s De Amicitia, Common Good, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Fortitude and Magnanimity, Friendship and Hope, Sloth and Despair, Thomistic Philosophy

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2025

Prof. Thomas Hibbs analyzes Aquinas’ account of friendship and human excellence, drawing on Aristotle and Tocqueville to show how friendship is a necessary, intrinsically valuable common good that addresses contemporary crises of loneliness, civic animosity, and the loss of meaningful community. This lecture was given on January 17th, 2025, at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Thomas Hibbs is currently J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy at Baylor where he is also Dean Emeritus, having served for 16 years as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College.  At Baylor he was also the inaugural director of Baylor in Washington, D.C. where he currently runs a summer program on Religion and Social Life.   He has served as department chair at Boston College and as president of the University of Dallas. Hibbs has published more than thirty scholarly articles, the most recent of which is “Aquinas and Black Natural Law.” He has published eight books, the most recent of which is Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023).  He has also published two books on film and philosophy and one book on art. He has published more than 100 reviews and discussion articles on film, theater, art, and higher education in a variety of venues including First Things, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, and National Review.  He writes regularly for The Dallas Morning News. Hibbs’ lectures have been protested by nihilists at Boston University and by communists in Palermo, Sicily. Keywords: Alexis de Tocqueville, American Culture, Aristotle, Aquinas on Friendship, Civic Animosity, Common Good, Human Flourishing, Loneliness and Isolation, Virtue and Vice

Transcribed - Published: 14 May 2025

This lecture was given on February 21st, 2025, at University of Michigan. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Professor Scott Cleveland received his PhD in philosophy (Baylor University) and is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Studies at the University of Mary (Bismarck, ND). His research interests are in ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion. He is especially interested in the study of virtues and emotions, the relation between the two, and the role of each in the moral and intellectual life. His thought is deeply influenced by Aristotle and Aquinas and his work has appeared in journals such as American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Res Philosophica, Religious Studies, Religions, and the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. He is the co-editor with Adam Pelser of Faith and Virtue Formation: Essays in Aid of Becoming Good with Oxford University Press. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Transcribed - Published: 13 May 2025

This lecture was given on February 18th, 2025, at The Basilica of Saint Mary’s Lyceum. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he served as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2025

This lecture was given on February 7th, 2025, at Duke University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Stephen L. Brock is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei (ordained 1992). He is Ordinary Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where he began teaching in 1990.  Since 2008 he has been an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas.  Since 2017 he has been a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Chicago. He is the author of Action & Conduct: Thomas Aquinas and the Theory of Action (T&T Clark, 1998); The Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Sketch (Wipf & Stock, 2015); The Light that Binds: a Study in Thomas Aquinas's Metaphysics of Natural Law (Wipf & Stock, 2020); and numerous articles on various aspects of Aquinas’s thought.

Transcribed - Published: 9 May 2025

This lecture was given on February 5th, 2024, at Yale University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Thomas Joseph White is the Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. Originally a native of southeastern Georgia in the US, Fr. White studied at Brown University, where he converted to Catholicism. He did his doctoral studies in theology at Oxford University, and is the author of various books and articles including Wisdom in the Face of Modernity, A Thomistic Study in Natural Theology (Sapientia Press, 2016), The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (The Catholic University of America Press, 2015), The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Catholic University of America Press, 2022), Principles of Catholic Theology Book III: On God, Trinity, Creation, and Christ (Catholic University of America Press, 2024) and Contemplation and the Cross (The Catholic University of America Press, 2025). With Matthew Levering he is the co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera. In 2011 he was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and in 2019 was named a Distinguished Scholar of the McDonald Agape Foundation. He held the 2018-2019 McInnes Chair for theological inquiry at the Angelicum. In 2022, he was granted an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of America, and in 2023 he was elected President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. In 2023, Fr. White was also awarded the title Master of Sacred Theology, one of the highest academic awards in the Dominican Order.

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2025

This lecture was given on June 1st, 2024, at Mount Saint Mary College. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Michael Gorman is Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  He has doctorates in philosophy and theology, and his work covers both areas, with a special emphasis on metaphysical themes. He is the author of over thirty-five scholarly articles, a book entitled Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Hypostatic Union (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and a book that will appear in the spring of 2024 entitled A Contemporary Introduction to Thomistic Metaphysics (The Catholic University of America Press, 2024). 

Transcribed - Published: 7 May 2025

This lecture was given on March 3rd, 2025, at College of William and Mary. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Edmund Lazzari is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Catholic Studies at Duquesne University. Dr. Lazzari is also a member of the Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group and affiliated faculty of the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law. A former Basselin Fellow, he earned an ecclesiastical licentiate degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, as well as a doctorate in systematic theology and ethics from Marquette University. He has previously taught philosophy and theology at Mount St. Mary's University, Marquette University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other universities not starting with the letter "M." Dr. Lazzari has published on a wide variety of topics in theology, such as theology and science, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, Catholic-Muslim dialogue, liturgical theology, machine learning/AI, Catholic ethics, and extraterrestrial intelligence. He is the author of two books: Why Nature Matters: Unlocking Catholic Doctrine through Commonsense Philosophy (2022) and Miracles in Said Nursi and Thomas Aquinas (Routledge, 2024).

Transcribed - Published: 6 May 2025

This lecture was given on February 22nd, 2025, at University of Rochester. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Michael Gorman is Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  He has doctorates in philosophy and theology, and his work covers both areas, with a special emphasis on metaphysical themes. He is the author of over thirty-five scholarly articles, a book entitled Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Hypostatic Union (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and a book that will appear in the spring of 2024 entitled A Contemporary Introduction to Thomistic Metaphysics (The Catholic University of America Press, 2024).

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2025

Prof. Patrick Callahan analyzes the poetic genius of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the hymns and sequence of Corpus Christi, highlighting Aquinas’ understanding of beauty, proportion, clarity, and sublimity as essential to both art and spiritual contemplation. This lecture was given on October 26th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Prof. Patrick Callahan is director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture as well as Assistant Professor of English and Humanities at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. There he directs and teaches in a Great Books Catholic program for students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other regional colleges. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Dallas and his graduate work at Fordham University in Classics. He lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife and 5 children. Keywords: Aesthetic Criticism, Beauty, Corpus Christi, Contemplation, Joseph Pieper, Poetry, Saint Thomas Aquinas, Spiritual Formation, Sublimity, The Four Causes

Transcribed - Published: 2 May 2025

Prof. Patrick Callahan reveals how poetry, as the most Christ-like form of speech and a reflection of human mimesis, plays a vital role in the Christian life by fostering conformity to Christ and deepening the contemplative experience. This lecture was given on October 26th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Prof. Patrick Callahan is director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture as well as Assistant Professor of English and Humanities at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. There he directs and teaches in a Great Books Catholic program for students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other regional colleges. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Dallas and his graduate work at Fordham University in Classics. He lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife and 5 children. Keywords: Aristotelianism, Christian Life, Contemplation, Joseph Pieper, Mimesis, Poetry, Saint Augustine, Spiritual Formation, Only the Lover Sings, W. H. Auden

Transcribed - Published: 1 May 2025

This lecture was given on November 19th, 2024, at East Carolina University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Patrick Callahan is director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture as well as Assistant Professor of English and Humanities at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. There he directs and teaches in a Great Books Catholic program for students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other regional colleges. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Dallas and his graduate work at Fordham University in Classics. He lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife and 5 children.

Transcribed - Published: 29 April 2025

This lecture was given on November 6th, 2023, at Oxford University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Philip-Neri Reese is a Dominican friar of the Province of St Joseph and a Professor of Philosophy at the Pontifical University of St.Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. He is also the principal investigator for the Angelicum Thomistic Institute’s new Project on Philosophy and the Thomistic Tradition. He received his Licentiate in Philosophy from the Catholic University of America in 2015 and his Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2022. From 2015-2017 he taught philosophy at Providence College in Providence, RI. His main area of research is metaphysics and anything adjacent to it, with a special emphasis on the metaphysical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and its subsequent reception and interpretation. His publications, however, range widely, including articles on philosophical anthropology, ethics, and economics. He is also an enthusiast of classical Indian philosophy. Fr Philip-Neri is a member of the American Philosophical Association, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, the Aquinas and the Arabs International Working Group, the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Thomism, and is currently serving on the executive committee of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2025

This lecture was given on April 25th, 2024, at Hillsdale College. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Dr. Chad C. Pecknold earned his PhD in Systematic Theology at the University of Cambridge in England. He is a Catholic theologian and for the last 16 years he has been a professor of theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington DC, teaching in the areas of fundamental theology, Christian anthropology and political theology. Since 2022, he has been named by The Catholic Herald as one of the most influential Catholic thought leaders and authors in the United States. An internationally recognized scholar of Augustine’s theological and political thought, Pecknold has authored or edited five books — including Christianity and Politics: A Brief Guide to the History and The T&T Clark Companion to Augustine and Modern Theology —and authored dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles. He edits the Sacra Doctrina series for CUA Press with Fr. Thomas Joseph White O.P. He has served the public by educating thousands of students at the Institute of Catholic Culture, and also through his many columns at First Things, National Review, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and The Catholic Herald. He has been an invited guest on NPR's "All Things Considered," Fox News, ABC News, and has been a frequent guest on EWTN News Nightly, World Over Live with Raymond Arroyo, and various other EWTN programs, such as the celebrated series on Heresies. Pecknold has also led institutions, serving as Chair of the American Academy of Catholic Theology from 2015-2020, expanding and professionalizing a guild of theologians faithful to the Magisterium. He also serves in non-profit board leadership as Board Director for Americans United for Life, Board Member for Pro-Life Partners, Board Member for the Classical Learning Test, Fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology, and as Resident Theologian at the Institute for Faith and Public Culture at the Basilica of Saint Mary — the oldest Catholic Church in the Commonwealth of Virginia. While currently finishing a short book on the Catholic understanding of Augustine’s Confessions, Pecknold continues to work on a long term project on Augustine’s City of God and the Christian order of things.He and his wife Dr Sara Pecknold (who teaches Music History at Christendom College) have five children, including adorably identical twin toddler girls whose names they frequently confuse!

Transcribed - Published: 25 April 2025

This lecture was given on April 25th, 2024, at Trinity College Dublin. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is the author of a few books including Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly. His writing also appears in Ascension’s Catholic Classics, Magnificat, and Aleteia. He is a regular contributor to the podcasts Pints with Aquinas, Catholic Classics, The Thomistic Institute, and Godsplaining.

Transcribed - Published: 24 April 2025

Prof. Lewis Ayres examines how the Nicene Creed functions as a generative and interpretive “cipher” within Christian tradition, tracing its roots to the adaptation of Second Temple Jewish imaginative worlds and the development of early rules of faith to highlight the creed’s ongoing role in shaping theological reflection. This lecture was given on February 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He specializes in the study of early Christian theology, especially the history of Trinitarian theology and early Christian exegesis. He is also deeply interested in the relationship between the shape of early Christian modes of discourse and reflection and the manner in which renewals of Catholic theology during the last hundred years have attempted to engage forms of modern historical consciousness and sought to negotiate the shape of appropriate scriptural interpretation in modernity, even as they remain faithful to the practices of classical Catholic discourse and contemplation. His publications include Augustine and the Trinity (2010) and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Trinitarian Theology (2004). Professor Ayres has co-edited the Blackwell Challenges in Contemporary Theology series (since 1997), the Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity series (since 2007), and has just co-founded with Fortress Press the Renewal: Conversations in Catholic Theology series. He serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Augustinian Studies. He has also served on the board of the North American Patristics Society. Keywords: Arius, Christological Doctrine, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gnosticism, Imaginative World, Irenaeus of Lyon, Nicene Creed, Origen of Alexandria, Rule of Faith, Trinitarian Theology

Transcribed - Published: 23 April 2025

Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, O.P., explores how creation sacramentally reflects God’s glory, particularly investigating how metaphysics, scripture, poetry, and ultimately every aspect of existence—from cosmic order to human relationships—reveals divine truths. This lecture was given on November 18th, 2024, at University of Michigan. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Sr. Albert Marie Surmanski, OP is member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. She is an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Houston where she also teaches at St. Mary's Seminary. Her main area of research is medieval sacramental theology with a focus on Albert the Great and Aquinas. She has published a translation of Albert the Great's work On the Body of the Lord, in the CUA Fathers of the Church Medieval Continuation series as well as a translation of Aquinas's Commentary on the Psalms for the Aquinas Institute. She has published articles in various journals including Logos, Antiphon, Nova et Vetera, and Franciscan Studies. Keywords: Aristotelian Causality, Canticle of Creation, Country Music, Divine Reflection, Exemplary Cause, Gift of Knowledge, Natural Theology, Sacramentality of Creation, Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Thomas Aquinas

Transcribed - Published: 22 April 2025

This lecture was given on February 29th, 2024, at Cornell University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Dr. Michael Wahl is Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College in Providence, RI, where he teaches in the Theology Department, the Development of Western Civilization Program, and the Liberal Arts Honors Program. His research centers on Catholic moral theology, with a particular focus on virtue ethics, moral development, and the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. His scholarly work has been published in The Thomist, Nova et Vetera, and Philosophy, Theology, and the Sciences.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2025