Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, our major spring events have been postponed. We are likely unable to host this non-credit course at this time. Stay tuned for updates as we explore our options concrning web-enabled communications.
Tuesdays, April 7 – May 26, 2020
This weekly non-credit course is open to current students and faculty. Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject. Dinner is provided.
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians both undertook great rational enterprises—including the sharp logic of Abelard and the grand system of Thomas Aquinas—as well as practiced experiential and contemplative modes of knowing—as did Bernard of Clairvaux. This course will examine how different preeminent medieval Christian thinkers saw the relationship between reason and wisdom, how to arrive at them, and so how to seek the face of God. Included are presentations from Professor Bernard McGinn on Gregory the Great on Reading Scripture for Wisdom, from Professor Aaron Canty on Anselm of Canterbury’s approach to knowing God, and from Professor Brian Patrick McGuire on Bernard of Clairvaux and the affective search for wisdom.