Integration Seminar
Daniel Wasserman-SolerLumen Christi Institute
Open to graduate students only. This is a private and closed event. This event may be attended by receiving an invitation or submitting a request. Those interested in participating should contact Fr. Peter Bernardi at bernardisj@gmail.com. Food and beverages will be provided.
The LCI integration seminars feature invited scholars, distinguished in a variety of disciplines, to share with University of Chicago students how they go about integrating Catholic faith with their specialized fields of scholarship & research. The scholar’s autobiographical presentation [20-30min.] is designed to animate a conversation with the students concerning the challenges and opportunities that characterize the vibrant Catholic intellectual tradition in dialogue with secular disciplines that are often skeptical or dismissive regarding revealed truths of Christian faith. In short, this seminar aims to promote reflection on the dialogue between faith and reason.
The 2022-23 seminars featured paleontologist Dr. Peter Tierney, Newman scholar Dr. Austin Walker, and a married couple: philosopher Dr. Richard Kim and Patristics scholar Xueling Wang.
The first seminar of the '23-24 academic year will convene on Saturday, October 14, 2023. Historian Dr. Danny Wasserman-Soler, director of Lumen Christi Institute, will animate the conversation.
The seminars meet quarterly on Saturdays, 10am-12pm, at the LCI Woodlawn Residence. Coffee and rolls are available at 9:30am and lunch is available at 12pm.
Daniel Wasserman-Soler serves as the Executive Director of the Lumen Christi Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia and a B.A. in history from the University of Chicago. He first became acquainted with Lumen Christi as an undergraduate.
As a Fulbright scholar in Spain, he conducted research on the Spanish Empire during the sixteenth-century. His book, Truth in Many Tongues: Religious Conversion and the Languages of the Early Spanish Empire (Penn State, 2020), explores how the Spanish Crown managed an empire of unprecedented linguistic diversity. He also has published articles in the Journal of Early Modern History, Church History, the Medieval History Journal, and History Compass. A native Spanish speaker, he grew up in Miami, where he attended Carmelite and Salesian schools. His wife and five children are members of St. Mary of the Angels Church in Chicago.
Before joining Lumen Christi, Danny was a history professor for ten years, first at Oberlin College and then at Alma College, where he was a tenured associate professor of history, department chair, and director of the first-year seminar program.
