Lumen Christi Institute

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group
2025-02-03 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-10 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-17 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-24 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-03-03 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This event is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Nicklin Fellows Program, which supports and encourages University of Chicago undergraduate students to develop their intellectual maturity. Jacob Neplokh, who designed this program, is a Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
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The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s final masterpiece, explores the human questions of morality, freedom, reason, and belief, in the context of a captivating family drama.
Rather than merely writing a philosophical treatise, Dostoevsky produced a work of literature, thereby warranting a complete reading of the text.
This weekly dinnertime reading group spread out over two quarters seeks to accomplish that task, primarily focusing on the philosophical and theological themes above, in an enriching communal setting.
Copies of The Brothers Karamazov will be provided.
SCHEDULE:
This group will run over dinner on Mondays from 6 – 7:30pm, starting October 14th.
Winter Quarter:

Week 2: Book Eight (pp. 386-472)
Week 3: NO MEETING (MLK Day)
Week 4: Book Nine (pp. 472-545)
Week 5: Book Ten (pp. 545-596)
Week 6: Book Eleven, chs. 1-5 (pp. 596-639)
Week 7: Book Eleven, chs. 6-10 (pp. 639-696)
Week 8: Book Twelve, chs. 1-9 (pp. 696-769)
Week 9: Book Twelve, chs. 9-14 (pp. 769-803) + Epilogue (803-825)

Why Think? Hannah Arendt and the Life of the Mind
2026-01-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-25 18:00 - 19:30
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Meets Bi-Weekly on Wednesdays: Jan. 14, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 25
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
This seminar and the Nicklin Fellows are made possible by the First Analysis Institute, the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation, and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
What is “thinking”? This question attracts Hannah Arendt’s attention in her later works. Though Arendt claims that thinking is utterly without purpose and leaves no trace behind, she also proposes that it can provide a protective effect against certain forms of evil-doing in our time.
With that said, what is the practical relevance of thinking, today? Given the destructive, resultless nature of this activity, why bother? In short: Why think? In this seminar led by Prof. Magnus Ferguson, we will investigate what it means to ‘think’ in an Arendtian sense through close readings of key excerpts from Hannah Arendt’s final work, The Life of the Mind, as well as several short essays.
Copies of The Life of the Mind will be provided to all participants. Bi-weekly meetings are held on Wednesday evenings over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Schedule:

Jan. 14: “Thinking and Moral Considerations”
Jan. 28: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 69–98)
Feb. 11: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 141–151, 166–182, 187–193)
Feb. 25: Life of the Mind Vol. I (p. 197–216), and “Karl Jaspers: A Laudatio”

Series Description:
Reading Course
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a student-centered reading course at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading course is usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

Image Credit: Samuel Bak, “In Search of a Roof of One’s Own” (2017)

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien's Silmarillion
2026-01-15 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-22 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-29 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-05 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-12 19:30 - 21:00
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Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, Feb 12
*Note: Start Date has Been Moved Back a Week from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15
7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
There are few figures as foundational to the epic fantasy genre as J.R.R. Tolkien, and few works as wide-ranging in that genre as The Silmarillion. Written over the course of nearly 60 years and inspired by the folk traditions of northern Europe, Greece, and the personal ethical and historical philosophies of Tolkien himself, The Silmarillion is a story of morality, greed, bliss, and tragedy. We invite you to join us in a discussion of The Silmarillion’s most dramatic tales, from the creation of the world to the forging of the One Ring.
Copies of The Silmarillion will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Schedule:

Jan. 15: Ainulindalë and Valaquenta (p. 15-32)
Jan. 22: The story of Fëanor and the Silmarils (p. 63-90, 106-107)
Jan. 29: The story of Beren and Lúthien (p. 162-187)
Feb. 5: The story of Túrin Turambar and Nienor Níniel (p. 198-226)
Feb. 12: Akallabêth

Series Description:
Graduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation (or prior knowledge of Tolkien!) is necessary.

The Master and Margarita
2026-04-02 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-04-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-04-16 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-04-23 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-04-30 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-05-07 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-05-14 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-05-21 19:00 - 20:30
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Meets Weekly on Thursdays: April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, May 7, 14, 21
7:00 – 8:30 (the time has changed) | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. You may pick up your copy any time during business hours from Gavin House. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
A city whose citizens refused to believe in the existence of Jesus, God or Satan. A certain Satan who arrived in this city—Moscow—with his retinue, on a hot spring day. A nameless writer pilloried by his novel on Pontius Pilate and his fiery lover who was willing to do anything to save him, including going to literal hell. A mental facility. A talking black cat who cheated in chess and loved kerosene. The cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the knight Pontius Pilate.
A culmination of religious and political satire, warm humor, and surreal imagination, Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece was at the same time ardent and deeply philosophical.
Our weekly dinnertime reading group will freely discuss the text in an enriching and inclusive communal setting. In our final session on Week 9, Professor Caryl Emerson from Princeton University will join us to answer questions and wrap up important themes of the book.
For each week, there will be 30-40 pages of required reading, and 10-20 pages of optional reading. Our conversation will focus on the required readings. At the end of each session, I will briefly go over the plot in the optional chapters so that we are on the same page. With that said, Bulgakov should be a light and delightful read, and I encourage everyone to do the optional chapters too. The questions and fragmented bullet points, as seen below, are guidelines that may prompt conversation but we definitely don’t have to adhere to them. Note that although they are generalized and willfully opaque, they still contain mild spoilers.
Copies of The Master and Margarita will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.
Schedule:

April 2

Book One, Ch. 1-3 (p. 3-41)
Optional: Ch. 4-6 (p. 42-67)

April 9

Book One, Ch. 7-9 (p. 68-94)
Optional: Ch. 10 (p. 95-104)

April 16

Book One, Ch. 11-13 (p. 105-139)
Optional: Ch. 14 (p. 140-147)

April 23

Book One, Ch. 15-16 (p. 148-170)
Book One, Ch. 18 (p. 183-201)
Optional: Ch. 17 (p. 171-182)

April 30

Book Two, Ch. 19-22 (p. 205-246)

May 7

Book Two, Ch. 23-24 (p. 247-282)
Optional: Ch. 25 (p. 283-292)

May 14

Book Two, Ch. 26-27 (p. 293-326)
Optional: Ch. 28 (p. 327-337)

May 21

Book Two, Ch. 29-30 (p. 338-353)
Book Two, Ch. 32-Epilogue (p. 363-373)
Optional: Ch. 31 (p. 354-356)

Series Description:
Undergraduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

What Does Empathy Require? Maximilian Kolbe and Triumph of the Heart
2026-04-17 18:00 - 21:00
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Served
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. Please contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org with any questions.
Description:
Triumph of the Heart tells the story of St. Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan priest who volunteered to take the place of another prisoner in the starvation bunker at Auschwitz. Set in one of the darkest moments of the twentieth century, the film invites viewers to reflect on how compassion and solidarity can appear even in extreme suffering. This screening will explore the idea of empathy not as a simple feeling, but as a difficult and sometimes demanding choice in how we relate to others. Before the film, there will be a brief introduction, and afterward we will gather for dessert and refreshments to discuss several scenes and the themes they raise about empathy, solidarity, and human dignity. Pizza dinner will be provided beforehand, and all are welcome to join the conversation.
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts student-led events at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). These events are usually held over a shared meal. Any undergraduate interested in a shared discussion of an interesting film is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.
Schedule:

6:00 – 6:30 | Dinner
6:30 – 8:30 | Film Showing
8:30 – 9:00 | Post Film Discussion
