Lumen Christi Institute

Master Class on "The Writings of Meister Eckhart"
2019-09-14 09:30 - 13:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
You can view photos of the event HERE.
In this one-off seminar, participants will read and discuss the writings of late medieval German mystic and theologian Meister Eckhart (c. 1260-1327) with Bernard McGinn, Professor Emeritus at the University of Chicago Divinity School and leading expert on the history of Christian spirituality and mysticism.
Session 1. An Introduction to Eckhart

“Introductions” in The Essential Sermons, pp. 5-61
German Sermon 52 in The Essential Sermons, pp. 199-203
The Sequence “Granum sinapis” (Handout)

Session 2. Eckhart on Justice

German Sermon 6 in The Essential Sermons, pp. 185-189
Commentary on the Gospel of John, “Prologue” nn. 1-‐‑23 in The Essential Sermons, pp. 122-129

Session 3. Eckhart on Intellect

Latin Sermon XXIX, in Meister Eckhart, Teacher and Preacher, pp. 223-26
Question 1, in Meister Eckhart, Parisian Questions and Prologues, pp. 43-50

SCHEDULE
9:00am Coffee & Tea
9:30am Session 1
10:30am Break
10:45am Session 2
11:45pm Break
12:00pm Session 3
1:00pm End, optional lunch served

What St. Benedict Taught the Dark Ages: His and Ours
2019-10-09 17:00 | Classics 110, 1010 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
Free and open to the public. Cosponsored by the John U. Nef Commitee on Social Thought.
Cardinal Newman, who will be canonized on October 13, is well known for his philosophy of education, especially for his masterwork The Idea of University (1853). But his most profound reflections on education are in his minor work “The Mission of St. Benedict” (1858), in which Newman treats the question of how to teach a beginner, even a beginner under the most unfavorable circumstances. Not a novice in dialectic and rhetoric, or in the theoretical or practical sciences, but a beginner in the quotidian flow of life.

In the declining shadows of Roman order in the West, the fifth-century monk St. Benedict authored a “simple Rule for beginners.” How to divide a day, how to honor one’s fellows of different social classes, how to bury the dead, how to distinguish tools and persons, and many other things that bewilder us today. Newman claimed that St. Benedict was the genius of “poetical” education, which directs the first and maybe even final steps of living ordinary life as an integrated whole.

Professor Hittinger will also lead a master class for students and faculty on Yves Simon’s A General Theory of Authority on Friday, October 11.

Master Class on Yves Simon's "A General Theory of Authority"
2019-10-11 14:00 - 17:15 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty. Copies of the book A General Theory of Authority (University of Notre Dame Press, 1980) will be provided for those who register. Professor Hittinger will also give a lecture on October 9 on “What St. Benedict Taught the Dark Ages: His and Ours.”
Yves Simon (1903-1961) was a neo-scholastic philosopher who distinguished himself chiefly for his work in moral and political philosophy. A student of Jacques Maritain in Paris, in 1938 he accepted a visiting position at the University of Notre Dame where he was stranded after the outbreak of WWII. In 1948 he became a member of the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Today he is perhaps best remembered and referenced for his work on the nature and functions of authority, a topic that he traversed three times: The Nature and Function of Authority (1940), Philosophy of Democratic Government (1951) based on his Walgreen Lectures at the University of Chicago (1948), and A General Theory of Authority (1962), published a year after his death. Why three times? The simple answer is that he was a meticulous philosopher and therefore he endeavored to get his account just right. Think for example of John Rawls’s multiple revisions of his theory of justice.
But it was also an imperative of his time and place. A neo-scholastic philosopher in the mid-20th century had to account for rapidly changing social and political conditions that made it awkward to defend such basic terms of art as authority and common good. The scholastic tradition had to reckon with the fact that the Catholic appropriation of the perennial philosophy seemed to side with the claims of authority against claims for liberty on a spectrum of social issues – from politics to family and religion. After the rise of totalitarianism and the disaster of two world wars, the claims for liberty were quite insistent and culturally ascendant. The year of Simon’s Walgreen Lectures witnessed the U.N. Declaration on Human Rights and the global process of decolonization, both of which underscored the principle of self-determination over and against more traditional kinds of authority. Standard liberal accounts of authority for the most part were content to ground authority in theories of consent, based on contractual understandings of consent to a utility – a resource-saving device for enhancement of individual choice. This was a one-dimensional account of the function of authority, but it had the advantage of comporting with the expectation that public powers serve and enhance individual liberty. This was the challenge Simon faced in putting forward a more robust account of authority.
SCHEDULE
1:30 welcome, coffee and tea
2:00 first session
3:30 break
3:45 second session
5:15 reception
SYLLABUS
FIRST SESSION (2:00-3:30)
Initial Presentation (30 minutes)

The issue of authority as Simon found it after WWII.
Neo-scholastic problems.
General Theory: Preview of the Main Question, the Main Definition.

Readings, GTA: Chs. 1 (and 5), 2; Thomas Aquinas, S.t. I, 96.4.
Discussion:
The “bad name of authority,” not altogether mistaken? Is the bad name due to philosophical misunderstandings, or to the frame and behavior of institutions, or to the lived experience of modern peoples?
Distinction between law and authority (20, 48 n.11). Does it work in favor of his general theory?
Look carefully at four points that appear constitute the main chassis for his position:

Essential and accidental functions of authority (20-22).
Partnership vs common action (29-33, and the coach-driver 135).
The essential function and the scenario of a multitude without deficiencies (37-47, handout S.t. I, 96.4).
The distinction between formal and material intention of a common good (57-65) – is he grappling with the issue of subsidiarity?

SECOND SESSION (3.45-5.15)
Initial Presentation (15 minutes).

Recapitulation and a few remarks on authority and theoretical knowledge.

Readings, GTA, Chs. 3 and 4.
Discussion:
An authoritative “witness” does not, all else being equal, require the power to give orders and demand obedience (84-87). The authority of a witness presupposes some kind of deficiency in the knower, for it is substitutional (remedial) (93). In the practical domain, both essential and accidental functions of authority have as their end a (social) common good. Does he now suggest a function of authority in theoretical matters that does not have a common good, or “essential” function as its end?
Perhaps the key to that question is his discussion of liberalism – freedom of thought as a “sociological agnosticism” that’s normative rather than merely prudential. (102-109, especially at 110-111). Perhaps his anticipation of Rawls’s Political Liberalism (1993)?
Simon regards philosophy as corrupted once it deliberately aims at winning social consensus (113-115). This is a point that deserves some reflection. Yet in “Truth and Community” (115-131) he wants to affirm that the search for truth is related to what is “fundamental in human sociability.” That would be communion. But social communion depends upon some kind of intellectual and spiritual consensus that serves common action (127).
Is Chapter 3 somehow the core of Simon’s effort in GTA? This is the material that he didn’t treat quite so explicitly in previous treatises on authority.
Chapter 4 reworks the preceding chapters. What difference does Chapter 3 make to this restatement of the functions of authority?

Genome Editing with CRISPR: Dignity and Other Faith-Based Considerations
2019-10-17 17:00 | BSLC 109, 924 E 57th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
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Cosponsored by the Program on Religion and Medicine at the University of Chicago, McCormick Theological Seminary, and the Society of Catholic Scientists. This program is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
The discovery of CRISPR/Cas9 has revolutionized our ability to edit genomes, the human genome included. How do faith-based ethicists maneuver the landscape of human genetic engineering? What challenges do biotechnological advances pose to the dignity of the human person? Should genetic editing be celebrated? Cautiously advanced? Ruled out? In this lecture, biologist and Dominican Priest Nicanor Austriaco considered the prospects and challenges of CRISPR for the promotion of human dignity.

The Making of a Modern Saint: John Henry Newman on Faith and Education in a Secular Age
2019-10-19 09:00 - 16:30 | Swift Hall, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Cosponsored by Mundelein Seminary, the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office, and the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. This program is made possible in part by a gift from the Paluch Family Foundation and a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
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Have you ever wondered why you go to school? Or what the point of it all is? What goes into making a big decision? And how do you fit together everything you know–or even the past with the future?
John Henry Newman will be canonized on October 13th. On October 19th, we’ll celebrate his life and thought.

In the morning, Dwight Lindley from Hillsdale College will talk about, “Conversion, the Key to Newman’s Life and Thought.” Newman understood his own conversion to be a gradual realization of what his most-deeply held principles required of him–it wasn’t some shallow “emotional” feeling. And Newman’s understanding of conversion helped him to give an account of the Church’s development over time (and how that development is both similar to and different from Darwinian evolution!).

In the afternoon, Dave Deavel from University of St. Thomas will tell us about Newman’s idea of education. He will help us ask what a true education is. What does it mean to seek “knowledge for its own sake”? What does it mean when Newman describes the whole of knowledge as a “circle”? How do all the “subjects”—biology, history, philosophy, theology, and the rest—in the circle fit together? What unites them? Does theology have to be part of true education? How does “being educated” relate to my career? We’ll talk about all this and more in this lecture.

There will also be food, games, outdoor competitions, and a prize for the winners.

SCHEDULE
9:00am Registration and Breakfast
10:00am Welcome & Introductions
10:15am Opening Prayer
10:30am Prof. Lindley lecture on Newman’s life and times
11:45am Lunchtime discussion group
1:00pm Outdoor activity
2:15pm Prof. Deavel lecture on Science, University, and Liberal Education
3:30pm Discussion Groups
4:30pm Mass (optional)
5:45pm Pizza Party (optional)

Waiting for Jesus in Havana
2019-10-23 18:30 | IL
The family is traditionally held to be the first church. Yet, the Latino Catholic home bears diverse local religious and cultural influences. How does one better understand the tapestry of one’s own religious experience and its relation to the Catholic tradition?
Join us in this workshop as Carlos Eire, historian and expert in popular piety, draws from his memoirs “Waiting for Snow in Havana” and “Learning to Die in Miami” to discuss the diversity of religious strands that made up his own Cuban household and analyze the challenges and opportunities it presents to the Hispanic Catholic experience. Participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of the local peculiarities of Catholic culture, as well as of the perilous task of wrestling with one’s own religious beliefs while writing for a broad reading public.
Cosponsored by Cristo Rey Jesuit High School. This event is made possible in part by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila
2019-10-24 12:00 - 13:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
This program was made possible in part by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
A luncheon talk with Professor Carlos Eire (Yale) on the recent book on the life and many afterlives of one of the most enduring mystical testaments ever written: The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila.
Saint Teresa of Avila’s Life is among the most remarkable accounts ever written of the human encounter with the divine. The Life is not really an autobiography at all, but rather a confession written for inquisitors by a nun whose raptures and mystical claims had aroused suspicion. Despite its troubled origins, the book has had a profound impact on Christian spirituality for five centuries, attracting admiration from readers as diverse as mystics, philosophers, artists, psychoanalysts, and neurologists. How did a manuscript once kept under lock and key by the Spanish Inquisition become one of the most inspiring religious books of all time?
In The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2019) National Book Award winner Carlos Eire tells the story of this incomparable spiritual masterpiece, examining its composition and reception in the sixteenth century, the various ways its mystical teachings have been interpreted and reinterpreted across time, and its enduring influence in our own secular age.
Prof. Eire also participated in a panel discussion of his book later that afternoon at the University of Chicago.

Symposium on "The Life of Teresa of Avila: A Biography"
2019-10-24 17:15 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Free and open to the public. Cosponsored by Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion at the Divinity School, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the Medieval Studies Workshop. This program was made possible in part by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
Copies of The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2019) are available for sale by the Seminary Coop Bookstore.
Saint Teresa of Avila’s Life is among the most remarkable accounts ever written of the human encounter with the divine. The Life is not really an autobiography at all, but rather a confession written for inquisitors by a nun whose raptures and mystical claims had aroused suspicion. Despite its troubled origins, the book has had a profound impact on Christian spirituality for five centuries, attracting admiration from readers as diverse as mystics, philosophers, artists, psychoanalysts, and neurologists. How did a manuscript once kept under lock and key by the Spanish Inquisition become one of the most inspiring religious books of all time?
In The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2019) National Book Award winner Carlos Eire tells the story of this incomparable spiritual masterpiece, examining its composition and reception in the sixteenth century, the various ways its mystical teachings have been interpreted and reinterpreted across time, and its enduring influence in our own secular age.
Professor Eire also gave a luncheon talk that day at noon at the University of Chicago of Chicago. He also taught a three-hour master class for students and faculty on The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila on Friday, October 25.

Master Class on "The Life of Teresa of Avila"
2019-10-25 14:00 - 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This program was made possible in part by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila is one of the most remarkable accounts ever written of the human encounter with the divine. This text is not really an autobiography at all, despite the fact that it is widely regarded as such, but rather a confession written for inquisitors by a nun whose raptures and mystical claims had aroused suspicion. Despite its troubled origins, and despite the fact that some clergy continued to condemn it after it was published, the book has had a profound impact on Christian spirituality for five centuries, attracting admiration from readers as diverse as mystics, philosophers, artists, psychoanalysts, and neurologists. How and why did a manuscript once kept under lock and key by the Spanish Inquisition become an iconic text of the Counter-Reformation and an enduring influence on Western culture?
This master class will examine the historical and theological content of Saint Teresa’s audacious mystical theology.
REQUIRED READING

The Life of Teresa of Avila (Penguin Classics, 1988) Chs. 1-2, 7-14, 20-22, 28-40.

RECOMMENDED READING

Eire, Carlos, The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography (Princeton University Press, 2019).

SCHEDULE
1:30pm Coffee, tea, and pastries
2:00pm Introduction, Session I
3:20pm Break
3:40pm Session II
5:00pm End, wine and cheese reception
Professor Eire will also participate in a symposium on his new book The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography on October 24.

John Henry Newman's Path to Sainthood
2019-10-30 17:30 - 19:00 | Holy Name Cathedral Auditorium, 730 North Wabash Avenue Chicago, Illinois 60611, River North, IL
This event was cosponsored by Mundelein Seminary, the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University, the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago, the Department of Catholic Studies at DePaul University, the Calvert House Catholic Center at the University of Chicago, and the John Paul II Newman Center at UIC.

What makes a modern saint? On October 13th, Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890), English theologian, philosopher and cardinal, was officially canonized a saint of the Roman Catholic Church. This event at Holy Name Cathedral was a presentation on the life and sanctity of John Henry Newman by leading Newman scholar of our time Fr. Ian Ker (Oxford) and Melissa Villalobos, the woman whose miraculous cure led to Newman’s canonization. The event was moderated by Kenneth Woodward, former religion editor of Newsweek and author of Making Saints.

Newman’s Apologetics of the Imagination
2019-10-31 17:00 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This event was cosponsored by the Nicholson Center for British Studies.
John Henry Newman famously insisted that “the heart is commonly reached not through the reason, but through the imagination.” As a theologian, apologist, and the 19th century’s most famous convert, Newman was keenly attentive to the foundations of religious belief. His apologetic career is, in some sense, an appeal to the imagination in contradistinction to the prevailing empiricism of Locke and Hume. In his novels, sermons, lectures, and even his philosophical magnum opus, the Grammar of Assent, Newman defends an understanding of the imagination that harmonizes religious faith and rational inquiry.

Science and Faith: Non-Overlapping Magisteria?
2019-11-06 18:30 - 20:30 | Faculty House at Columbia University, 64 Morningside Drive, New York, NY
REGISTER HERE
5:30 Reception | 6:00pm Discussion
Co-sponsored by The Columbia University Seminar on Catholicism, Culture and Modernity, the Columbia Catholic Ministry, and the Society of Catholic Scientists. This programming is made possible by a grant from the Templeton Foundation.
A Discussion with Stephen Barr (University of Delaware), Jonathan Lunine (Cornell University), moderated by Carlo Lancellotti (CUNY Staten Island).
In reaction to Pope John Paul II’s 1996 address to the Pontifical Academy of the Sciences, “Truth Cannot Contradict Truth”, Stephen Jay Gould famously published his view on religion and science being non-overlapping magisteria (NOMA). He proposed that religion and science were distinct and separate domains of teaching authority, with no interference between–or influence upon–each other. Gould maintained that science documents the factual character of the natural world and seeks theoretical constructs to explain those facts, while religion operates on the “realm of human purposes, meanings, and values.”
This consensus position proved popular among scientists and people of faith for its diplomacy, but is such a model sufficient for understanding the relationship between faith and science? Can science inform faith? Does religious thinking shape our approach towards science and its application, and does that necessarily contradict NOMA? Come as two Catholic scientists weigh in on the chasms and connections of Science and Religion.

The Human Person in an Age of Biotechnology: A Symposium
2019-11-15 15:00 - 19:00 | BSLC 115, 924 E 57th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Click here to watch part 2.
We are at the very outset of the Age of Biotechnology. This presses anew questions regarding the limits of the human person. What is the human species from the point of view of evolutionary biology? How malleable is this definition? Is there such a thing as a species? How does this compare to philosophical perspectives on the person? The questions above are not new, but they have acquired new urgency with recent advances in biotechnology. In ths symposium, six distinguished scholars discuss these and other pressing questions in two panels–the first addressing these issues in the practice of science and application of biotechnology in the world, and the second addressing these issues from the point of theory.
Cosponsored by the Program on Religion and Medicine at the University of Chicago,the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion, the Theology and Ethics Workshop, the Society of Catholic Scientists, and McCormick Theological Seminary. This program is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation and the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
Schedule:
Panel 1 — Praxis
Gaymon Bennett (Arizona State University): “The Algorithm and the Spirit: Big Tech and the Enchantments of Biotechnology”
John Novembre (University of Chicago): “The expanding scope for genetic discrimination: New genetic predictors and their challenges”
Stephen Meredith (University of Chicago): “Brave New World: Revisited – Revisited.”
Moderator: Victoria Prince (University of Chicago)
Panel 2 — Theoria
Paul Scherz (Catholic University of America): “Being Human as Being at Risk: The Shift from Genetic Determinism to Precision Medicine”
Willemien Otten (University of Chicago): “The dynamics between nature and human nature on perpetration and victimhood”
Jeff Bishop (Saint Louis University): “On the Being of Humans and the Being of Technology”
Moderator: Hille Haker (Loyola University Chicago)

Master Class on "Heidegger & Aquinas on the Question Concerning Technology"
2019-11-16 11:00 - 14:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty. Copies of the readings will be provided for those who register.
SCHEDULE
9:30am Coffee & Pastries
10:00am Session I
11:25am Break
11:35am Session II
1:00pm End, lunch
REQUIRED READINGS

Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, Q.47, Art.1-2 (on creation); III, Q.60, Art.2-4 (on sacraments)
Martin Heidegger, The Question Concerning Technology

RECOMMENDED READINGS

Francisco Benzoni. “Thomas Aquinas and Environmental Ethics: A Reconsideration of Providence and Salvation.” The Journal of Religion, Vol. 85, No. 3 (July 2005), pp. 446-476.
Bernard Stiegler, Technics and Time, 1 (Stanford University Press, 1998) pp. 1-27.

Non-Credit Course on Modern Science and Christian Faith
2019-11-26 19:00 - 21:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture
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. This program is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation and The Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
People of faith have been deeply involved in the pursuit of science throughout the history of the discipline, from pioneering advances like the Big Bang and the building blocks of modern genetics, to the everyday, incremental toil of research. Yet, it is a commonly held belief that there has long been an irreconcilable conflict between science and faith. From where does this proposed conflict emerge? How can faith complement one’s approach towards, and interpretation of, science? How can science complement one’s understanding of the Christian faith? How does one respond to ever new challenges raised by modern science and technology? Through this Autumn non-credit course, visiting Scientists and Theologians will explore some of these questions from within their particular disciplines.
SCHEDULE
Oct. 8: “Science & Faith: Clash or Harmony?
Stephen Barr (University of Delaware)
Oct 15: “Science & Faith: Understanding and Correcting Models of Conflict”
Chris Baglow (McGrath Institute, University of Notre Dame)
Oct 22: “The Evolving Universe”
Dan Fabrycky (University of Chicago)
Oct 29: “How to Engage Mystery: Advice from a Scientist for Nones, Nuns, and All”
Fr. John Kartje (University of Saint Mary of the Lake)
Nov 5: “Materialistic Reductionism and Science”
Stephen Barr (University of Delaware)
Nov 12: “Disease and the Problem of Evil”
Stephen Meredith (University of Chicago)
Nov 19: “Biological Evolution and Christian Faith”
Peter Tierney (Lumen Christ Institute)
Nov 26: “Fate in Science and Religion”
James Donovan (North Central College)

The Open Question of Church Polity and Governance: Trent, Vatican I, Vatican II
2019-12-04 18:15 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Free and open to the public. Cosponsored by the Theology and Ethics Workshop at the Divinity School and the Midwest Province of the Society of Jesus.
Sexual and financial scandals are prompting Catholics to ask hard and painful questions about church government. Who is in charge? How is responsibility and accountability for governance distributed in the Church? By no means is this the first time that the Catholic Church has reckoned with the letter and the spirit of its own governance. Drawing from his latest book, When Bishops Meet: An Essay Comparing Trent, Vatican I, and Vatican II (Harvard, 2019), Fr. John O’Malley, S.J. retraces how the three modern ecumenical councils grappled with church reform and highlight resources in that tradition that may help us today. A response from Russell Hittinger follows, leading to open discussion moderated by Jennifer Newsome Martin (University of Notre Dame).

Master Class on Yves Simon's "Philosophy of Democratic Government"
2019-12-07 11:00 - 14:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty. Copies of Philosophy of Democratic Government (University of Notre Dame Press, 1993) will be provided for registrants.
The Charles R. Walgreen Foundation for the Study of American Institutions was established in June 1937 to foster greater appreciation of American life and values among University of Chicago students. An important work of the Foundation was the Walgreen Lectures. After the Second World War these lectures were published with a Foreward from the Foundation.
Twice during the first half of the twentieth-century, totalitarian systems have challenged the concept of democracy…. Democracy has been on the defensive; it has been defended more and more often with the pragmatic argument. But this argument has proved no match for the competing systems. Democracy, works, it is true – but so did fascism, until it was destroyed from the outside. The need for a philosophy that show democracy to be grounded firmly on rational principles – this need is apparent.
Especially noteworthy is the fact that the need for philosophical reflection was met by four émigré scholars whose Walgreen lectures are still in print and widely read some seventy later. In 1948 Yves Simon (Philosophy of Democratic Government); in 1949 Leo Strauss (Natural Right and History); in 1950 Jacques Maritain (Man and the State); in 1951 Eric Voegelin (New Science of Politics). In a similar vein, Hannah Arendt would give the 1956 lectures (On the Human Condition).
This masterclass is made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
SCHEDULE
9:30am Coffee & Pastries
10:00am Session I
11:25am Break
11:35am Session II
1:00pm End, lunch
FIRST SESSION
Chap. 1. We can focus on pages 19-71, which cover the functions of authority in any society that has a political common good. For those who have read his two other books on authority, this material can be quickly read as a review of those themes, particularly his distinction between authority exercised to correct a deficiency in the governed and authority made necessary by a plenitude of the good.
Chap. 3. We will read the entire chapter. Here, Simon raises what he calls the “great difficulty”: “it seems to be impossible to account for social life without assuming that man can bind the conscience of his neighbor; on the other hand, it is not easy to see how a man can ever enjoy such power.” We need to discuss his understanding of three theories that account for the origin of legitimate command and obedience: Coach-Driver, Designation, and Transmission.
SECOND SESSION
Chap. 2. Democratic Freedom. We can pick up the conversation at pages 108-149. Is democratic freedom, more or less the same thing as Liberalism? Is democratic freedom, more or less, the same thing as a regime of human rights? (The 1948 U.N. Declaration of Human Rights was issued the year of his Walgreen lecture).
Chap. 4. Democratic Equality. I am eager to get our discussion into the final section, “Equality versus Exploitation” (pp. 230-259).

Becoming Human in Light of the Gospel of John
2020-01-16 18:15 | Breasted Hall, Oriental Institute, 1155 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This event was Cosponsored by the Theology and Ethics Workshop, the Orthodox Christian Fellowship, and St. Makarios the Great Orthodox Mission. Fr. Behr also led a master class for students and faculty on January 17 on Maximus the Confessor.
On his way to Rome, Ignatius of Antioch urges the Christians there not to interfere with his impending martyrdom: ‘hinder me not from living, do not wish me to die, allow me to receive the light, when I will have arrived here, I will be a human being’! In this lecture, Fr John Behr will explore how the Gospel of John alludes back to Genesis to show that Christ is the true human being, inviting us also to become human.

About Fr. Behr’s book John the Theologian and his Paschal Gospel: A Prologue to Theology (Oxford University Press, 2019)
This study brings three different kinds of readers of the Gospel of John together with the theological goal of understanding what is meant by Incarnation and how it relates to Pascha, the Passion of Christ, how this is conceived of as revelation, and how we speak of it. The first group of readers are the Christian writers from the early centuries, some of whom (such as Irenaeus of Lyons) stood in direct continuity, through Polycarp of Smyrna, with John himself. In exploring these writers, John Behr offers a glimpse of the figure of John and the celebration of Pascha, which held to have started with him.
The second group of readers are modern scriptural scholars, from whom we learn of the apocalyptic dimensions of John’s Gospel and the way in which it presents the life of Christ in terms of the Temple and its feasts. With Christ’s own body, finally erected on the Cross, being the true Temple in an offering of love rather than a sacrifice for sin. An offering in which Jesus becomes the flesh he offers for consumption, the bread which descends from heaven, so that ‘incarnation’ is not an event now in the past, but the embodiment of God in those who follow Christ in the present.
The third reader is Michel Henry, a French Phenomenologist, whose reading of John opens up further surprising dimensions of this Gospel, which yet align with those uncovered in the first parts of this work. This thought-provoking work brings these threads together to reflect on the nature and task of Christian theology.

Master Class on Maximus the Confessor
2020-01-17 15:00 - 18:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
St. Maximus the Confessor is rapidly becoming one of the most studied of all early Christian theologians; the depths and richness of his writings and theology are being ever more appreciated. This masterclass focused on one specific—and short—text, Ambiguum 41, perhaps the richest of them all and certainly the one for which is best known. It speaks of five fundamental differences or divisions within being, with the vocation of the human being to unite them: Uncreated and created; intelligible and sensible; heaven and earth; paradise and the inhabited world; male and female. We will work through the Greek text (with a parallel edition), and compare his treatment of the male/female distinction to that which we find in Gregory of Nyssa’s De Hominis Opificio.
Reading

Maximus the Confessor, Ambiguum 41 (PDF supplied) from Maximos the Confessor: On Difficulties in the Church Fathers: The Ambigua, ed. and trans. Nicholas Constas, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library, 2 volumes (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 2014)
Gregory of Nyssa, On the Making of Man (PDF supplied)

Suggested Background Reading:

Paul Blowers, Maximus the Confessor: Jesus Christ and the Transfiguration of the World (Oxford: OUP, 2016).
L. Thunberg, Microcosm and Mediator: The Theological Anthropology of Maximus the Confessor, 2nd edn. (Open Court Publishing Co. 1995).
Torstein Theodor Tollefsen, The Christocentric Cosmology of St. Maximus the Confessor, OECS (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
Melchisedec Törönen, Union and Distinction in the Thought of St. Maximus the Confessor, OECS (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007).

Schedule:
1:30pm Coffee, Tea, & Pastries
2:00pm Session I
3:25pm Break
3:35pm Session II
5:00pm End, Wine & Cheese reception
Fr. Behr also gave a lecture on January 16 on Becoming Human in the Light of the Gospel of John.

Are the Great Books Good for us? Liberal Education and the Christian Tradition
2020-01-18 12:30 - 14:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
What are the liberal arts? Is there more than one tradition of humanistic liberal learning, and what’s the connection between them the UChicago core curriculum? Professor Jared Ortiz (an undergrad alum of UChicago) hosted a lunchtime conversation about the tradition of liberal education, its reception in Catholic thought, and the question of what an education is for.
Part I of the Winter 2020 Great Books and the Christian Tradition seminar series.
—
Great Books and the Christian Tradition
From the School of Alexandria and the reading of Scripture in the Monasteries, through the re-formulation of the Liberal Arts in the medieval schools and universities, in the renewal of the tradition that included Petrarch, Erasmus, John Henry Newman, and Ressourcement, the development of the Liberal Arts Tradition has been intertwined with Christian thought. This series highlights the connection between the Liberal Arts and the Christian Intellectual Tradition and aims to recover the humanistic and contemplative spirit of a truly liberal education.
Other seminars in the series include:
II. Achievement and the Christian Life: What is Education For?
III. What is Wrong with Curiosity? Augustine on Curiosity and the Use and the Abuse of the Intellect in the Confessions
IV: Is it Rational to Believe in Miracles? A Discussion of David Hume’s Argument Against Believing in Miracles

How NOT To Get Away with Murder
2020-01-19 15:00 - 17:00 | St. John Cantius Church, 825 N Carpenter St Chicago, IL 60642, Chicago, IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students.
The book of Genesis is one of the most interesting and difficult books of the Bible. And there is so much more to it than meets the eye. For example:
When the snake approaches Eve for the first time, he asks her: “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat from any of the trees in the garden’?” But that isn’t what God said at all. He told Adam, “You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Already, the snake has changed God’s command in order to make God appear unjust. God says: all but one. The snake says: none at all, right? Eve is in trouble–she wasn’t there when God gave Adam the original command. She hadn’t been created yet. If she heard the command at all, she heard it second-hand from Adam. As you can see, the snake is very devious.

This 90-minute seminar will investigate this and other passages in the 3rd and 4th chapters of Genesis. By reading the text closely and paying attention to what is (and isn’t) there, we will discover a whole new complexity to the relationship between God, the first four humans, and the snake. Not only is God revealed as imminently just and merciful, but also as a very acute observer of human psychology!

Resources from the seminar are drawn from Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Bendict’s) In the Beginning…’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

On February 15, the Newman Forum will host a day-long conference for high school students on “Creation: Artistic & Divine.”
IMAGE: The First Mourning by William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1888 courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Achievement and the Christian Life: What is Education For?
2020-01-21 14:00 - 15:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
What is achievement? What is success? Does the human desire for achievement or success have a natural end, or is it restless and never-satisfied? In other words, what do we understand human fulfillment to be, and how does our university education contribute to that fulfillment?
In this lunch time discussion, Elizabeth Corey, professor of political philosophy and director of the Honors Program at Baylor University, will suggest two ways of being human in the world: the culture of achievement and the culture of love. Guided by insights drawn from sources as wide as the Odyssey, the Nichomachean Ethics, Dorothy Sayers, and Albert Camus, Prof. Corey will discuss the purpose of a liberal education and the possible means of reconciling achievement with love.
Open to Students. Undergraduates are particularly encouraged to attend. A brief reading will be sent to registrants beforehand
Part II of the Winter 2020 Great Books and the Christian Tradition seminar series.
—
Great Books and the Christian Tradition
From the School of Alexandria and the reading of Scripture in the Monasteries, through the re-formulation of the Liberal Arts in the medieval schools and universities, in the renewal of the tradition that included Petrarch, Erasmus, John Henry Newman, and Ressourcement, the development of the Liberal Arts Tradition has been intertwined with Christian thought. This series highlights the connection between the Liberal Arts and the Christian Intellectual Tradition and aims to recover the humanistic and contemplative spirit of a truly liberal education.
Other seminars in the series include:
I. Are the Great Books Good for us? Liberal Education and the Christian Tradition
III. What is Wrong with Curiosity? Augustine on Curiosity and the Use and the Abuse of the Intellect in the Confessions
IV: Is it Rational to Believe in Miracles? A Discussion of David Hume’s Argument Against Believing in Miracles

What is Wrong with Curiosity? Augustine on Curiosity and the Use and the Abuse of the Intellect in the Confessions
2020-02-08 19:00 - 21:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
What could be wrong with curiosity? “Long live curiosity,” proclaims the Museum of Science and Industry, and modernity unanimously praises it as the beginning of intellectual discovery. But, surprisingly, Augustine of Hippo criticizes “curiositas” in his Confessions. Is Augustine’s notion out-moded? Is the pursuit of knowledge adverse to Christian faith? Or could Augustine’s concern about the proper use and the abuse of intellectual pursuits inform ideas of liberal education?
Over dinner on Saturday evening, E. John Ellison (University of Chicago) will lead a discussion on the modern notion of curiosity and Augustine’s critique on curiositas especially in Confessions, Book 10.35.
Open to undergraduate students. No prior reading required. Dinner will be served
Part III of the Winter 2020 Great Books and the Christian Tradition seminar series.
—
Great Books and the Christian Tradition
From the School of Alexandria and the reading of Scripture in the Monasteries, through the re-formulation of the Liberal Arts in the medieval schools and universities, in the renewal of the tradition that included Petrarch, Erasmus, John Henry Newman, and Ressourcement, the development of the Liberal Arts Tradition has been intertwined with Christian thought. This series highlights the connection between the Liberal Arts and the Christian Intellectual Tradition and aims to recover the humanistic and contemplative spirit of a truly liberal education.
Other seminars in the series include:
I. Are the Great Books Good for us? Liberal Education and the Christian Tradition
II. Achievement and the Christian Life: What is Education For?
IV: Is it Rational to Believe in Miracles? A Discussion of David Hume’s Argument Against Believing in Miracles

What Good is Happiness? A Dialogue Between Economics & Philosophy
2020-02-12 20:00 - 22:00 | Ida Noyes, Third Floor Theatre, 1212 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Presented by the Veritas Forum at the University of Chicago, Cana, Cru, Graduate Christian Fellowship, Holy Trinity Church, InterVarsity, Living Hope Church, The Lumen Christi Institute, MakeNew, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Students Association, and the Saint Thomas More Society.
From pop psychology to legal annals, the pursuit of happiness individually and collectively remains a persistent concern of our culture. Yet, the very concept is fractured. What is happiness? Is it a good among many? A feeling? A commodity? Is it simply a matter of preference fulfillment or is caught up in the more arduous task of self-perfection and virtue? Is it tied to the good, perhaps even THE good? How might interdisciplinary engagement be possible when distinct disciplines like Philosophy and Economics maintain such divergent views on happiness? In this evening discussion, philosophy professor Jennifer Frey (University of South Carolina) and legal scholar Jonathan Masur (University of Chicago) enter into dialogue on the meaning and merits of happiness for the self and for society.
Prof. Frey also gave a downtown luncheon talk on “Flannery O’Connor and the Vision of Grace” on February 13, 2020, and led a lunch discussion for students and faculty on novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, on February 14, 2020.

Flannery O'Connor and the Vision of Grace
2020-02-13 13:00 - 14:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
Flannery O’Connor is one of the most celebrated American fiction writers. Yet she has often been misunderstood by the very critics who praise her. O’Connor was sometimes called a hillbilly nihilist, but she responded that she was simply “a hillbilly Thomist.” In this talk, Dr. Frey explores the action of divine grace in the short stories of O’Connor, and how her vision of grace is inspired by the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Prof. Frey also gave a talk on What Good is Happiness? at the University of Chicago on February 12, 2020, and led a lunch discussion for students and faculty on novelist and philosopher Iris Murdoch, on February 14, 2020.

Iris Murdoch on Philosophy and Literature
2020-02-14 13:00 - 14:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This luncheon seminar for students and faculty examined essays by Dame Iris Murdoch on literature, philosophy, morality, virtue, and the concept good. The focus of discussion centered on why Murdoch thinks truth, understood as a clear vision of reality, is the fundamental goal of literature, philosophy, and virtue.
Iris Murdoch studied at Oxford and Cambridge (where she studied with Wittgenstein) and was close friends with the philosophers Elizabeth Anscombe and Philippa Foot. Murdoch was for many years a fellow of St. Anne’s College, Oxford, where she taught philosophy. In addition to two substantial books of philosophical essays, she also wrote twenty-six novels. Her novel, The Sea, The Sea, won the Booker Prize in 1978. She died on February 8, 1999.
Readings
From Existentialists and Mystics: Writings on Philosophy and Literature, edited by Peter Conradi (Penguin, 1997):

“Literature and Philosophy” (required)
“The Sovereignty of Good Over Other Concepts” (secondary)
“Vision and Choice in Morality” (secondary)

Questions for Discussion

How does literature differ from philosophy according to Murdoch? How can they work together?
Why does she think that both literature and philosophy are truth seeking enterprises? What is the importance of reality and vision in both?
What is the contrast between differences of choice and differences of vision in morality?
What is Murdoch’s complaint against what she calls “the current view” of moral philosophy, whose remote ancestors are Hume, Kant, and Mill? Why does she want to resist the move to universalize in morality?
How should we think about the connection between art and morality?
What does Murdoch mean when she writes that “the enjoyment of art is a training in the love of virtue”?
Murdoch thinks that seeing the world as it is is a necessary task because the authority of morality is the authority of truth. Why does she afford reality such a central role in the moral life? And how does this relate to the concept ‘good’ as she understands it?
What role does mystery and mysteriousness play in Murdoch’s conception of art and morals?

Dr. Frey also presented talks on “Flannery O’Connor and the Vision of Grace“, at the University Club of Chicago on February 13, 2020, and “What Good is Happiness“, with Dr. Jonathan Masur, on February 12, 2020, at the University of Chicago.

Creation: Artistic & Divine
2020-02-15 10:00 - 15:00 | Swift Hall, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This event was open to high school students, parents, and teachers.
Co-sponsored by Mundelein Seminary, the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office, Relevant Radio, and the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. This program was made possible in part by a gift from the Paluch Family Foundation and a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
Follow us on Instagram for updates about the event.

Physics tells us how the universe is ordered, but can it tell us why? How are the laws of physics like a baseball rulebook? And why should we expect the universe to operate according to regular laws anyway?
If God created all things at the beginning of time, what are artists doing when they “create” a beautiful work of art? Can one thing be more beautiful than another? How are beauty and art related to God?
Join us on February 15, 2020 at the University of Chicago as Professors Stephen Barr (Physics, U of Delaware, President of Society of Catholic Scientists) and Jennifer Newsome Martin (Theological Aesthetics, Notre Dame’s Department of Liberal Studies) help high school students from throughout the region investigate the physics of creation and the theology of creativity.
Contact Austin Walker for more information or with questions.

Day Schedule
8:30 Breakfast and Registrations (Swift Hall Common Room)
9:00 Introductions and Prayers (Swift Hall 3rd Floor Lecture Hall)
9:15 Icebreaker
9:30 Lecture: Steve Barr with Q&A (35 min lecture, 15 min Q&A)
10:20 Break
10:30 Lecture: Jenny Martin with Q&A (35 min lecture, 15 min Q&A)
11:30 Lunch and Discussion Groups (2nd and 3rd Floor Swift Classrooms)
1:00 Adoration
1:30 Discussion/Q&A among Barr, Martin, and Students

Does Prayer Bring Happiness?
2020-02-22 17:30 - 21:00 | The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 3111 South Aberdeen St. Chicago, IL 60608, Chicago, IL
This event was open to university students and faculty, and was co-sponsored by Calvert House.
On the evening of February 22nd, students and faculty joined together for an edifying evening of prayer, dinner, and conversation with the Benedictine monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross on the south side of Chicago. Their evening program consisted of praying the Divine Office (Vespers and Compline), having dinner, and discussing practices of prayer and how these may grow into contemplation that crowns the happy life. Following monastic tradition of oral reading during meals, selections of a patristic text were read during dinner, before being opened with discussion.
More information about the monastery can be found here.
Schedule
4:15pm Meet at Gavin House (1220 E. 58th St.)
4:30pm Depart from Hyde Park
5:00pm Arrive at the Monastery, welcome by Prior Funk
5:15pm Office of Vespers
6:00pm Dinner & Discussion
7:15pm Office of Compline
8:00pm Arrive back in Hyde Park

Pope, Councils, Bishops, and Synods: Insights from St. Dominic and the Order of Preachers for Governance in the Church
2020-02-27 18:15 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
The malfeasance of bishops and priests has led to a call for reform of the institution of the Church. There is a peril in this: the Church is animated and governed by the Holy Spirit and an overemphasis upon the institutional structure of the Church runs the risk of stifling the Spirit. As a path for reform, Pope Francis is building on Paul VI and John Paul II and has emphasized synodality—a mode of consultative governance which emphasizes the communion of all of the members of the Church. In their polities, religious orders have institutionalized and structured themselves around particular gifts of the Holy Spirit. The model of governance in the Dominican Order—with a balance of authority, faithfulness to a charism, and the particular life of local communities—offers insights into how synodality might answer the call for reform.
Fr. Sweeney also led a master class on Saturday, February 29th on Yves Congar’s True and False Reform in the Church.

Master Class on Yves Congar's "True and False Reform in the Church"
2020-02-29 11:00 - 14:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This program was open to students, faculty, and staff.
Is a reform of the church really possible? Yves Congar’s True and False Reform (1950), although initially restricted by the Holy See, became an instrumental text in setting the stage for the Second Vatican Council, and remained one of the most important theological works of the 20th century. Pope John XXIII initially described the goals of the council in terms that reflected Congar’s description of authentic reform: reform that penetrates to the heart of doctrine as a message of salvation for the whole of humanity, that retrieves the meaning of prophecy in a living church, and that is deeply rooted in history rather than superficially related to the apostolic tradition.
Yves Congar, OP (1904-1995) was a French Dominican friar and theologian, and one of the most important ecclesiologists of the 20th century. His work pioneered a new style of theological research that linked the tradition of Scripture and the Fathers to contemporary pastoral questions. His work helped to revive theological interest in the Holy Spirit for the life of individuals and for the Church. He was made a cardinal of the Catholic Church in 1994.
Schedule:
9:30am Coffee & Pastries
10:00am Session I
11:25am Break
11:35am Session II
1:00pm End, lunch

Fr. Sweeney also gave an evening lecture on Thursday, February 27, entitled Pope, Councils, Bishops, and Synods: Insights from St. Dominic and the Order of Preachers for Governance in the Church

Is it Rational to Believe in Miracles? A Discussion of David Hume's Argument Against Believing in Miracles
2020-02-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Can one be rational and also believe in miracles? The philosophers of the Enlightenment held that it was impossible for the laws of nature to allow such ruptures: to believe in miracles was to be de-facto irrational. Voltaire said that a miracle was a “contradiction in terms,” and Thomas Jefferson famously cut all the miracles out of his Gospels with a razor. David Hume presented a famous argument against the rationality of believing in miracles in his Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Chapter 10).
Over dinner on Saturday evening, Dr. Jason Cather (University of Chicago) will lead a discussion on Hume’s argument. Does it conclusively prove that no rational person can believe in the existence of miracles? Or does Hume promise more than he delivers? Students are encouraged to review Hume’s Enquiry, Chapter 10 in advance, but no prior reading is required. Dinner is provided.
Open to undergraduate students. Students are encouraged to review Hume’s Enquiry, Chapter 10 in advance, but no prior reading required. Dinner will be served
Part IV of the Winter 2020 Great Books and the Christian Tradition seminar series.
—
Great Books and the Christian Tradition
From the School of Alexandria and the reading of Scripture in the Monasteries, through the re-formulation of the Liberal Arts in the medieval schools and universities, in the renewal of the tradition that included Petrarch, Erasmus, John Henry Newman, and Ressourcement, the development of the Liberal Arts Tradition has been intertwined with Christian thought. This series highlights the connection between the Liberal Arts and the Christian Intellectual Tradition and aims to recover the humanistic and contemplative spirit of a truly liberal education.
Other seminars in the series include:
I. Are the Great Books Good for us? Liberal Education and the Christian Tradition
II. Achievement and the Christian Life: What is Education For?
III. What is Wrong with Curiosity? Augustine on Curiosity and the Use and the Abuse of the Intellect in the Confessions

Winter Non-Credit Course, "Saint Paul: The Life and Letters of the Apostle to the Nations"
2020-03-03 19:00 - 21:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture
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.

Who was Paul and what was his ‘good news’? What does he mean by faith or by “principalities and powers”? After Jesus himself, perhaps no Christian personality has evoked such admiration, so much controversy, and so many questions. This course will examine the life and thought of the Apostle Paul through focused presentations on several of his letters. The first presentation will introduce the study of Paul, and following presentations will examine his letters, including 1-2 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1-2 Corinthians, and Romans, from a variety of perspectives. No prior reading or knowledge is expected and Bibles will be on hand to read and discuss passages of Paul’s letters.
Introduction to Paul and his Study
Jan. 14 | Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ
First and Second Letters to the Thessalonians
Jan. 21 | Justin Howell, University of Chicago
Letter to the Galatians
Jan. 28 | Fr Donald Senior, CP, Catholic Theological Union
First Letter to the Corinthians
Feb. 4 | Cameron Ferguson, University of Chicago
Second Letter to the Corinthians
Feb. 11 | Cameron Ferguson, University of Chicago
Letter to the Romans (Chapters 1-8)
Feb. 18 | Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ
Letter to the Romans (Chapters 8-16)
Feb. 25 | Fr. Andew Liaugminas, Calvert House
Paul’s Legacy
March 3 | Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ
—

Synodality in the Era of Pope Francis: Principles and Possibilities for Ministry in an Increasingly Hispanic Church
2020-03-04 19:30 | IL
Pope Francis’ pontificate continues to signal a particular way of being church for our day, building upon the vision of the Second Vatican Council as well as the energy of Latin American Catholicism. Hispanic ministry in the United States for decades, in close dialogue with the Council and the richness of Latin American theological reflection, has embodied major elements of what today we would call a synodal outlook. This workshop explores key dynamics that identify Catholic Hispanic ministry while proposing models of ministerial action for the rest of the church in the U.S. rooted in the particularity of the Hispanic Catholic experience.
Open by Invitation Only. Dinner and readings will be provided. This event is made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

Sinodalidad en la era del Papa Francisco: Principios y posibilidades para el ministerio en una iglesia cada vez más hispana
El pontificado del Papa Francisco sigue apuntando a una manera particular de ser iglesia en nuestro día, la cual se fundamenta en la visión del Concilio Vaticano II y la energía del catolicismo latinoamericano. Por décadas, el ministerio hispano en los Estados Unidos, en diálogo cercano con el Concilio y la riqueza de la reflexión teológica latinoamericana, ha encarnado elementos esenciales de lo que pudiésemos llamar actualmente una perspectiva sinodal. Este taller explora algunas dinámicas claves que identifican el ministerio hispano católico y propone modelos de acción ministerial para el resto de la Iglesia en los Estados Unidos partiendo de la particularidad de la experiencia católica hispana. [Nota: el taller será en inglés, aunque se hará referencia a ciertas categorías y recursos en español].
Se requiere invitación. Cena y lecturas serán proporcionadas.

Questions concerning this event can be referred to Michael LeChevallier.

American Catholic Contours and Detours in a Fifty-Percent Hispanic/Latino Church
2020-03-05 20:00 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Free and Open to the Public
The familiar expression “American Catholicism” often evokes mainly the presence and heritage of Euro-American Catholics and how this group defines religion, culture and politics in our nation. Though narrow and de facto blind to the contributions of many other groups that have been central to defining the American Catholic experience, this perception finds its ultimate challenge in the fact that nearly 50 percent of Catholics in the U.S. today are Hispanic/Latino. In this lecture Ospino explores key implications for church and society of being American Catholic in a largely Hispanic/Latino church. The lecture proposes a vision for ecclesial and intellectual engagement, a roadmap for American Catholicism in the rest of the century.
Cosponsored by the Center for Latin American Studies, the Religion in the Americas Workshop, and the Theology and Ethics Workshop at the University of Chicago. This event is made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.

Dr. Ospino also gave a workshop on Wednesday, March 4th, open by invitation-only, entitled Synodality in the Era of Pope Francis: Principles and Possibilities for Ministry in an Increasingly Hispanic Church.

The Nature of Evil: Satan, Hell, and the Rite of Exorcism in the Catholic Church.
2020-03-11 12:00 - 13:30 | IL
Link to the event: https://zoom.us/j/393866028
The conversation will start promptly at 12 pm today.
The Lumen Christi Institute is sponsoring a moderated dialogue, organized by our partners at Catholics at Booth, on “The Nature of Evil: Satan, Hell, and the Rite of Exorcism in the Catholic Church,” with Msgr. Jeffrey S, Grob, J.C.D/Ph.D, an expert in the Rite of Exorcism for the Archdiocese of Chicago.
University policies surrounding COVID-19 precautions have required the cancellation of the in-person event. However, it will be live-streamed. You can access the live video through the link above (livestream is free; you may however be prompted to install zoom. It is advisable to click the link in advance of the event. If it doesn’t join automatically, the group ID is 393866028.

Grad Movie Night @ Doc Films: A Hidden Life
2020-03-14 18:00 - 21:30 | Ida Noyes Hall, Max Palevsky Cinema, 1212 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE, through CSA Grad
The Lumen Christi Institute and the Catholic Student Association for Graduate and Professional Students are hosting a trip to Doc Films to see Terrence Malick’s new film A Hidden Life. The film tells the story of Austrian farmer Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector who refused to fight for the Nazis in World War II. Jägerstätter was beatified and declared a martyr in 2007.
Open to graduate students and young professionals (generally defined as 21-39 years of age)
A limited number of free tickets are available for early registrants, and all registrants can take advantage of the $5 group rate (normally $7). We will follow up the film with a short discussion, supplemented by cookies from nearby Insomnia Cookies. The film’s runtime is 2 hours, 53 minutes.

WEBINAR: Young Catholic Professionals Great Books Seminar on Shakespeare
2020-03-25 18:00 - 19:00 | IL
REGISTER HERE
YCP membership is not required to register for the seminar.
The Lumen Christi Institute is proud to partner with the Chicago chapter of Young Catholic Professionals (YCP) for the second year in a row. The 2020 Lumen Christi Institute – Young Catholic Professionals Great Books Seminar is an adult educational initiative aimed at equipping Catholic professionals 40 and under with a deeper understanding of the Catholic intellectual and literary traditions. Participants will gather monthly downtown for guided discussions on excerpts from celebrated texts.
The cost of seminar registration covers course materials for the nine seminar meetings from February to October. Registration will close when 35 participants have signed up and is is available on a first-come, first-served basis; 20 seats will be reserved for members of YCP Chicago. Registrants need not attend every session in order to register; they must still pay the full cost of registration. Registrants may choose to purchase books on their own rather than via Lumen Christi (see pricing below).
In this year’s seminar we will read nine plays of Shakespeare with a specifically Catholic focus, concerning ourselves with problems of jealousy & personal blindness, social conventions vs personal freedom, betrayal & martyrdom, nobility & the ambiguities of holy war, self-emptying vs self-exaltation, the strength and limits of family loyalty, and the necessity to love the unlovable — among much else.

DATES
Feb 25: Richard II
Mar 25: Macbeth
Apr 30: The Tempest
May 26: Measure for Measure
Jun 24: Hamlet
Jul 21: King Lear
Aug 25: Richard III
Sep 30: Othello
Oct 29: The Merchant of Venice
PRICE
$350 with books (we provide you with all of the books)
$250 without books (you provide your own books)
If you have other questions, please contact Austin Walker.

CANCELED: The Economy of Pope Francis
2020-03-26 12:00 - 13:30 | IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Does this “economy kill?” Pope Francis denounces “throw-away cultures” and “economies of exclusion and inequality.” Does Pope Francis’s thought on the economy reduce to a Jeremiad? How does his economic vision align with or diverge from the teachings of recent other popes on the economy? How might his critiques be compatible with or improve upon a free-market economy and work towards greater human flourishing? Join for a discussion between international economists and a moral theologian on Pope Francis’s economic vision and what a response to his critique of our “throwaway culture” looks like in practice on an individual, communal, and global scale?

CANCELED: A Master Class on the Social and Political Thought of Pope Benedict XVI
2020-03-28 10:00 - 13:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Due to travel restrictions in light of the spread of COVID-19, Msgr. Schallenberg will not be traveling to the US and thus will not be available to lead a master class. This event has been canceled, and we look forward to rescheduling this event for a later date.
—
Open to current students, faculty, and staff. Copies of the reading will be provided to registrants.
Schedule:
9:30am Coffee & Pastries
10:00am Session I
11:25am Break
11:35am Session II
1:00pm End, lunch

CANCELED: A Report from the German Synod
2020-04-01 17:15 - 18:45 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.

WEBINAR: How NOT to Get Away with Murder
2020-04-02 11:00 | IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
We’ve run this event in-person, but now we’re bringing it to you online! When you register, you will be sent a Zoom link to follow at the appointed time. You have three sections to choose from:

11:00am-12:00pm

1:00pm-2:00pm

3:00pm-4:00pm
Are you already tired of being quarantined in your house? Feel a little bit like you might kill your siblings?
The book of Genesis is one of the most interesting and difficult books of the Bible. And there is so much more to it than meets the eye. For example:
How was a snake able to trick Eve? Why do Adam and Eve respond to God so suspiciously? And then there’s the Cain and Abel story…why on Earth does Cain jump to murdering his brother? What are we supposed to learn from this Scripture?
This hour-long seminar will investigate these passages in the 3rd and 4th chapters of Genesis. By reading the text closely and paying attention to what is (and isn’t) there, we will discover a whole new complexity to the relationship between God, the first four humans, and the snake. Not only is God revealed as imminently just and merciful, but also as a very acute observer of human psychology!

Come to whichever session fits your new online schedule the best! All you’ll need is access to a Bible (either a real-life book or just online!) We’ll read the text together, and discuss!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
Resources from this seminar are drawn from Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Bendict’s) In the Beginning…’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)

WEBINAR: Gregory the Great on Reading Scripture for Wisdom
2020-04-07 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
This event is free and open to the public. Online registration is required. Registrants will receive an email witha link to join the webinar on Zoom.
How can scripture guide our search for wisdom? Bernard McGinn, professor emeritus in the Divinity School of the University of Chicago, begins our webinar series on Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought by presenting on Gregory the Great and reading scripture for wisdom.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great lived in an age of tumult–war, waves of disease, economic depression, and civil deterioration. Alongside his administrative reforms and leadership, Gregory described a spirituality that centered around meditative and contemplative reading of sacred scripture. Gregory’s practice of reading scripture, particularly the Book of Job, and his description of the practice had great influence upon medieval meditative and contemplative practices of reading the Word of God.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars
Thursday, April 16, 7PM
“Anselm of Canterbury on the Rationality of Faith” | Aaron Canty (Saint Xavier University)
Thursday, April 23, 7PM
“Thomas Aquinas on Ways to Know God” | Brian Carl (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, April 30, 7PM
Hildegard of Bingen (Title TBD) | Barbara Newman (Northwestern University)
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux (Title TBD) | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich (Title TBD) | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Answering Your Atheist Philosophy Professor
2020-04-16 13:00 | IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
You have two sections to choose from:

1:00pm-2:00pm
(The previously listed 11:00-12:00 session has been combined with this later session.)

3:30pm-4:30pm

Could God make something that He couldn’t move? If God is perfect, why are humanity and the world so imperfect?
In March of 2019, a San Diego State University professor of philosophy submitted an Opinion piece to the New York Times in which he claimed that God is an incoherent concept. The above are just some of the questions you will undoubtedly hear when you go off to college and encounter passionate, athiest philosophy professors like him for the first time. In fact, you might hear these questions already from peers or family members! What do we do about these arguments that seem so insurmountable?
The way to counter these arguments is much easier than you think. During this hour-long webinar, we will read together the NYT article and discover how, just using our own common sense and the powers of close reading, what seem to be complex, undeniable proofs for the absurdity of God’s existence are actually easily toppled through the logic they themselves utilize.
You won’t need a Bible, you won’t need a philosophy textbook, you won’t need a college degree: You’ll just need the mind you already have.
How does that sound? Want to be able to outsmart a college philosophy professor with your own high school brain?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

You can read the NYT article ahead of time here: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/opinion/-philosophy-god-omniscience.html

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)
Photo by Alex Block on Unsplash

WEBINAR: Anselm of Canterbury on the Rationality of Faith
2020-04-16 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
This event is free and open to the public. Online registration is required. Registrants will receive a link to the webinar via email.
You can also watch the live stream of the lecture on our YouTube Channel.
Join us for the second installment of our Spring Webinar Series. Professor Aaron Canty, who teaches theology and medieval thought at Saint Xavier University, will present on the thought of Saint Anselm of Canterbury (d. 1106).
Anselm was a startlingly original monastic writer and thinker who drank deeply of Augustinian and patristic theology but formulated his own theological and philosophical writings in spare and compelling chains of reasoning. His Why God Became Man, Monologion, and Proslogion each chart new ways to practice ‘believing in order to understand (credo ut intelligam).’

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars
Thursday, April 23, 7PM
“Thomas Aquinas on Ways to Know God” | Brian Carl (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, April 30, 7PM
Hildegard of Bingen (Title TBD) | Barbara Newman (Northwestern University)
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux (Title TBD) | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich (Title TBD) | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Cardinal Francis George, the American Contribution to Catholic Social Thought, and Our Current Moment
2020-04-17 16:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Collegium Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, and Mundelein Seminary
You can read Thomas Levergood’s essay on Cardinal George’s legacy at America Magazine.
A Memorial on the 5th Anniversary of the Death of Cardinal Francis George, O.M.I.
On April 17—the 5th anniversary of the death of Cardinal Francis George O.M.I.—the Lumen Christi Institute will host a major web event that takes stock of the American contribution to Catholic Social Thought and how it applies in our current situation.
After his appointment as archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal George emerged as an intellectual leader within the Church, nationally and world-wide, and served as president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. His thought on American culture and society—expressed in numerous lectures and in three major books—provides a challenging, critical view of the American experiment from the perspective of post-Vatican II Catholic thought. Revisiting his book on social questions and public life—God in Action: How Faith in God Can Address the Challenges of the World—allows us to reflect on the American contribution to Catholic Social Thought and to apply it to consider our situation today as we confront a great global crisis.
The panel will include Russell Hittinger, Senior Fellow of the Lumen Christi Institute and Visiting Professor at the University of Chicago Law School (Fall, 2020); Stephen Schneck, emeritus Professor at the Catholic University of America and Executive Director of the Franciscan Action Network; and Theresa Smart, assistant professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought at Arizona State University. Each will draw from their own expertise and entertain the question of what distinctly American contributions have been made to Catholic Social Thought and how Cardinal George’s work fits within this tradition.

WEBINAR: Thomas Aquinas on Ways to Know God
2020-04-23 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Join us for the third installment of our Spring Webinar Series. Professor Brian Carl, who teaches philosophy at the University of St Thomas in Houston, will present on the thought of Saint Thomas of Aquinas, O.P. (d. 1274) on the ways to know God. Thomas was a friar of the Order of Preachers whose capacious mind bequeathed many treasures for the Christian tradition, including scriptural commentaries, philosophical treatises and commentary, his Summa theologiae, and devotional and liturgical texts. Thomas’ approach to the knowledge of God is complex, acknowledging dialectical, rational, as well as revelatory, gracious, and mystical modes.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, and the St. Paul’s University Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, April 30, 7PM
Hildegard of Bingen (Title TBD) | Barbara Newman (Northwestern University)
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux (Title TBD) | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich (Title TBD) | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

Schola Antiqua - Music in Secret
2020-04-24 19:30 | St. Clement Parish, 642 W Deming Pl. Chicago, IL 60614, Downtown, IL
The sounds flowing from pre-modern convents constitute one of the better kept secrets of music history. This spring, the women of Schola Antiqua, long-time Artists-in-Residence at the Lumen Christi Institute, return to the convent repertoire with a revamped “Music in Secret” program in Chicago. Under the direction of British organist and harpsichordist Naomi Gregory, this special concert of nuns’ music has brought the group around the country in the last two years with appearances from New York to St. Louis. The lone performance of “Music in Secret” in the Chicago area will take place on Friday, April 24 at St. Clement Church. Plainchant of the convent mingles with sonorous sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century northern Italian music for nuns.
Tickets can be purchased here.

WEBINAR: Disease and the Problem of Evil
2020-04-28 17:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, the Society of Catholic Scientists, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, and the Program on Religion and Medicine at the University of Chicago. This program is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Whether caused by pathogens, environmental exposure, or genetics, disease is typically understood to be an unwarranted and unwanted removal from one’s normal condition of good health. While a natural phenomenon, disease raises classic questions of theodicy. If illness is a privation of the good of health, should we also understand disease to be an evil? How can science, theology, philosophy, and literature help us to account for the occurrence of deadly diseases and the suffering that results from them?
In this moderated conversation, Stephen Meredith, professor of pathology and molecular biology at the University of Chicago, and Jeffrey Bishop, healthcare ethicist and professor in philosophy and theology at Saint Louis University, will engage these questions and others surrounding disease and the problem of evil.

WEBINAR: Another Unexpected Journey with JRR Tolkien
2020-04-30 13:00 | IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
You have two sections to choose from:

1:00pm-2:00pm

3:30pm-4:30pm

Hobbits and elves, humans and dwarves, trees with personality and the most famous ring of all time…. through his stories, JRR Tolkien has taken generation after generation on countless fantastical journeys to far-off places, full of magic and mystery. What’s more, Tolkien has imbued his stories with the beauty of the Christian faith, through careful allegory and metaphor.
In this hour-long session together, we’ll read and discuss one of Tolkien’s lesser-known stories, “Leaf by Niggle.” You thought there was nothing more humble than Hobbiton, but through this brief tale of a regular man’s begrudging kindness and yes, another unexpected journey, we’ll see how even the most humble of human endeavors can leave an enormous, magical impact.
Like all of his works, Tolkien guides us into the mysteries of Christian faith through allegory and imagistic suggestion. These are the most enjoyable of stories, the ones that surprise us and leave us asking “what could that symbol mean?” During our time together, we’ll unpack the layers of symbols in this short little story and wade into the picture of Christian faith Tolkien paints for us: How are we to spend our lives? How are we to treat our neighbors? What does it mean to prepare for a journey?
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

You will receive a copy of the story, “Leaf by Niggle” when you register! Please read through the story prior to the start time of the session!

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)
Photo titled “Leaf by Niggle,” by Emily Austin Design, LLC

WEBINAR: Hildegard of Bingen
2020-04-30 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Join us for our fourth Spring Webinar Series lecture with renowned medievalist Barbara Newman, who will introduce us to the life of Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1169). A German Benedictine Abbess, Hildegard produced works of visionary theology drawn from her mystical vision and one of the largest surviving collections of medieval musical compositions.
As a female religious in the 12th century, she held a remarkable influence in the Church through preaching tours across Germany and correspondence with popes, emperors, and other monastic reformers. In 2012, she was named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Beatrice Institute, and the Saint Benedict Institute,
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 7, 7PM
Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux | Willemien Otten (University of Chicago)
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: The Economic Costs of the Pandemic: Catholic Social Teaching and Economics in Dialogue
2020-05-05 17:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, CREDO, the Beatrice Institute, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, and the Saint Paul’s Catholic Center.

COVID-19 has put much of the world on standstill for the sake of reducing the risk to some of its citizens. What has been the cost of this in terms of economic recession, unemployment, human suffering, and even mortality? When the pandemic subsides, will government action be justified or will it have aggravated human suffering in an “economy that kills”? How do we measure or place values on the tradeoffs in terms of lives saved versus economic costs and human suffering? Join us for a dialogue between Economists Jesus Fernandez-Villaverde (Penn), Joseph Kaboski (Notre Dame) and Casey Mulligan (University of Chicago) on Economics, Catholic Social Thought, and the cost of the pandemic.

CANCELED: Panel on Joseph Singer’s "Persuasion"
2020-05-07 17:15 - 18:45 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Lawyers have techniques to persuade decision-makers about what the law should be, using arguments based on common values, storytelling, and framing to help us see our own values in a new light. These tools of reasoned argument enable us to engage in civil debate about divisive issues and to justify decisions in hard cases. Joseph Singer’s book, Persuasion: Getting to the Other Side, categorizes the arguments that lawyers use in debates about ambiguous or contested legal questions. It also explains how judges justify their decisions about what the law should be when the case involves competing values and there are plausible arguments on both sides. This panel will bring together judges, lawyers and legal scholars to engage in discussion over Singer’s Persuasion, and explore how the tools of persuasion can mitigate polarization in contemporary legal and political discourse.

WEBINAR: On Peter Abelard and Bernard of Clairvaux
2020-05-07 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Peter Abelard (d. 1142) and Bernard of Clairvaux (d. 1153) were contemporaries who both emerged from the new twelfth-century schools. But their dispositions, personalities, and eventual conflict have come to represent a conflict between the rising scholastic and the traditional monastic cultures of learning. Professor Willemien Otten will introduce these iconic twelfth-century personalities, the direction of their work, and the theological controversy that put them on opposing sides.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and the Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 14, 7PM
Julian of Norwich | Katie Bugyis (University of Notre Dame)
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

CANCELED: Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, & Aquinas on the Soul
2020-05-08 00:00 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Further details TBA

Issues and Challenges in Economics, Catholic Social Thought, and Public Policy: A conversation with Joseph Kaboski
2020-05-08 16:00 - 17:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
REGISTER HERE
Can Economics and Catholic Social Thought be set in dialogue? Is there a place for Catholic Social Teaching in Public Policy? How does the scholar bridge one’s academic discipline and one’s religious faith? Harris School students and faculty are invited to join us in conversation with economist and consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), Joseph Kaboski, on Economics, Catholic Social Thought, and Public Policy.
This event is closed to the public and open to Harris School students, faculty, and staff only

CANCELED: Brian Patrick McGuire on St. Bernard of Clairvaux
2020-05-12 19:00 | University of Chicago–TBA, N/A, Hyde Park, IL
Due to restrictions put in place in response to the spread of COVID-19, this event has been postponed. We look forward to scheduling similar programming in the future.
Details for this event TBA

Faith and Science at Notre Dame: Fr. John Zahm, Evolution, and the Catholic Church
2020-05-14 12:00 - 13:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
The Reverend John Augustine Zahm, CSC, (1851–1921) was a Holy Cross priest, an author, a South American explorer, and a science professor and vice president at the University of Notre Dame, the latter at the age of twenty-five. Through his scientific writings, Zahm argued that Roman Catholicism was fully compatible with an evolutionary view of biological systems, an argument that would get him (but not his book) censured in 1897 by the Vatican. In his talk Faith and Science at Notre Dame: John Zahm, Evolution, and the Catholic Church, John Slattery will chart the rise and fall of Zahm, examining his ascension to international fame in bridging evolution and Catholicism and shedding new light on his ultimate downfall via censure by the Congregation of the Index of Prohibited Books. Slattery draws on previously unknown archival letters and reports that allow Zahm’s censure to be fully understood in the light of broader scientific, theological, and philosophical movements—including Neo-Scholasticism–within the Catholic Church and around the world.

WEBINAR: Is Hell Real? Is it Crowded? Accounts of the Afterlife in the Christian Tradition
2020-05-14 13:00 | IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This event was made possible by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.
You have two sections to choose from:

1:00pm-2:00pm

3:30pm-4:30pm

Is Hitler in Hell? Is Judas? Is everyone saved? Why would a merciful God allow humans to suffer eternal damnation?

In this Thursday session, we’re going to lean on the wisdom of one of our favorites: Bishop Robert Barron. Relying on his piece, “Is Hell Crowded or Empty?” we’ll come together for an hour to discuss the three accounts of Hell that he traces through history, as well as other common representations of Hell in literature. From Augustine and Aquinas, to Barth and Balthasar, the reality of Hell is rooted in Scripture and the words of Christ Himself, and yet is still hotly debated (pun intended). By the end of our time together, students will be able to respond to the most common dialogues around what Hell is like, and have a working familiarity with the most salient representations of Hell in the media we consume.

Students should come to the session having watched Bishop Barron’s 9 minute video on Hell, which you can find here: https://www.wordonfire.org/resources/video/is-hell-crowded-or-empty/183/

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)

WEBINAR: The Wisdom of Enclosure in Julian of Norwich's Showings
2020-05-14 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Julian of Norwich (d. ca. 1416) was a widely respected and sought-out English thinker and spiritual counsellor. She lived as an anchorite, enclosed in a cell attached to a church in Norwich, Julian’s Showings are a book of spiritual visions that emerged from her life of prayer and that wrestle with the profound theological mysteries of fitting evil and suffering with God’s mercy and love. Professor Katie Bugyis will examine Julian’s thought in the context of her vocation of enclosed prayer.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, and the Calvert House Catholic Center.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 21, 7PM
Bonaventure (Title TBD) | Kevin Hughes (Villanova University)
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Apocalypticism in Times of Crisis
2020-05-19 17:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Nova Forum, the Collegium Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Institute for Faith and Culture, the Harvard Catholic Center, Saint Paul’s University Catholic Center, and the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Plague, political turmoil, famine—throughout Christian history, local catastrophes spurred on a sense of cosmic crisis, judgement, and prophetic fulfillment. What role has this apocalyptic imagination played for Christian communities? How does it continue to shape Christian responses to today’s global pandemic? Join for a conversation with scholars of medieval Christianity Bernard McGinn and Willemien Otten on Apocalypticism in Times of Crisis.

WEBINAR: St. Bonaventure
2020-05-21 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Bonaventure (d. 1274) was a pivotal figure whose complex responded effectively to the challenges of his day and inspired both theological and philosophical thought up to the present day. As a contemporary of fellow mendicant St Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventure also taught at the University of Paris and formulated an original approach to the new Aristotelian thought. Later known as the Seraphic Doctor, Bonaventure fused profound theological thought with heart-felt spirituality and set out a vision of the life and charism of the recent St Francis of Assisi to provide peace-making leadership for the new Franciscan order. Professor Kevin Hughes will introduce the complex and multifaceted thought of Bonaventure.
This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, and the Institute for Faith and Culture.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, May 28, 7PM
Meister Eckhart | Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago)
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Q&A Session on An Inside Look in Times of Crisis: The 2008 Financial Collapse and the 2020 Pandemic
2020-05-26 12:00 | IL
You can view Scott’s presentation here. A link to the Zoom Q&A session will be sent via email to those who register.
Cosponsored by Catholics at Booth and Catholics at Kellogg. Open to students, faculty, and alumni of Booth School of Business and the Kellogg School of Management. Registration is required.
Scott Freidheim spoke in November 2018 for Catholics at Booth and the Lumen Christi Institute on “The Collapse of Lehman Brothers: An Inside Story” sharing his insights on what it was like to experience the 2008 crisis as Executive Vice President of Lehman Brothers. As we face the coronavirus pandemic and a recession as great or greater than that of 2008, he will draw on his earlier experience and reflect on facing this challenge at the corporate, governmental, personal, and spiritual levels.

Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought
2020-05-26 18:00 - 20:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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.

REGISTER HERE

6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture

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.

WEBINAR: On Meister Eckhart
2020-05-28 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Meister Eckhart (d. ca. 1328) was a famous and popular German mystical writer and preacher. After formal theological training in the University of Paris, following the footsteps of Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, Eckhart charted a distinctive mystical dialectical theological in his writings and sermons and drew theological controversy. His thought became an inspiration for a tradition of mystical thought after him and remains a wellspring of religious and theological thought today. Professor Bernard McGinn will introduce the life and some of the principal themes of Eckhart’s enigmatic thought.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, and the Institute for Faith and Culture.
Upcoming Seminars:
Thursday, June 4, 7PM
Nicholas of Cusa | David Albertson (University of Southern California)

WEBINAR: Lessons after the Lockdown: Public Health, Economics, and the Common Good
2020-06-02 17:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, CREDO, the Beatrice Institute, the Collegium Institute‘s Program on the Philosophy of Finance, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Institute for Faith and Culture, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America
After two months of lockdown, nations across Europe and parts of the US are relaxing restrictions and facing new challenges. Where do we stand economically and socially? How might we have better protected the medically and economically vulnerable? How should we view the lockdown with its costs and benefits ethically? Our earlier event on “The Economic Costs of the Pandemic: Catholic Social Teaching and Economics in Dialogue,” provoked lively reactions. This event will consider what the principles of the common good, human dignity, justice, and solidarity mean in our present circumstances and how they ought to inform our prudential judgement going forward. Join as a panel of economists, theologians, and ethicists discuss lessons learned in the pandemic.

WEBINAR: Nicholas of Cusa
2020-06-04 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
For the final installment of our Spring 2020 lecture series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought,” Professor David Albertson leads us in exploring the work of German philosopher, theologian, astronomer, and mystic, Nicholas of Cusa.
Nicholas of Cusa (d. 1464) was a great late medieval, early modern thinker and polymath who digested the medieval theological and contemplative traditions and pressed these in new directions. Living in tumultuous times, his career in the Church as a cardinal was occupied by his work as a reformer and his efforts to re-unify the Eastern and Western Churches. Professor David Albertson will offer an introduction to the lesser-known but rich life and thought of this great German personality.

This lecture is part of our Spring Webinar Series on “Reason and Wisdom in Medieval Christian Thought”
What can reason discover about God? Are there other possible ways to know God? Medieval Christians 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.
This series is cosponsored by the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, and the Institute for Faith and Culture.

WEBINAR: Christians in Times of Catastrophe: Augustine's "City of God"
2020-06-09 13:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, the Collegium Institute, the Saint Benedict Institute, the Beatrice Institute, the Nova Forum, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Institute for Faith and Culture, and the Sacred and Profane Love podcast.
Augustine of Hippo’s City of God is one of the great theological books of the Christian tradition, laying out a vision of the Church and the Earthly City in parallel and of Christ’s work of salvation in history in the context of the sack of Rome (410) and other calamities. Augustine’s reflections on how Christians can understand and respond to catastrophes has become a wellspring in the Christian intellectual tradition and for us responding to todays troubles for the Church and for the world. In this web event, Professor Jennifer Frey (Philosophy, University of South Carolina) will lead a moderated conversation between Professor emeritus Russell Hittinger (Senior Fellow LCI) and Fr Michael Sherwin, O.P. (Theology, University of Fribourg) on Augustine’s context and the continued relevance of his wisdom for Christians in the time of pandemic, economic turmoil, and political and social tumult.

WEBINAR: Becoming Human: Evolution, Science, and the Soul
2020-06-11 14:30 - 16:00 | IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum, in cooperation with the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocations Office. Open to current high school students.
High school teachers and youth ministers are welcome to attend, and are encouraged to bring groups. Group leaders are now able to register themselves and their students together! This is especially encouraged for groups coming from outside of Chicagoland, to ensure groups remain together during the breakout sessions (see below).
What can the science of evolution know? How is it related to religion, especially Catholic doctrine? Are they complementary or mutually exclusive?
Questions like these have guided much of the scientific and religious investigation of the 20th and 21st centuries. In recent decades, discoveries of humanoid fossils have revealed new links between human ancestors and animals. Archaeologists and evolutionary biologists have called these discoveries “humans,” but what does that mean for what it means to be human? How are you different or distinct from your pre-human ancestors?

The scientific evolutionary model is inherently limited in its understanding of the human person. It leaves us with as many questions as it answers: Where does the human soul come in? How are humans different from animals? What makes us human?

Answers to these questions can only be gained by recognizing the value –and the limits– of the evolutionary model. Philosophy and theology can provide us a guide when the science falls short.

Join us Thursday, June 11th at 2:30pm CDT for an online lecture with Chris Baglow, Director of the Science and Religion Initiative at Notre Dame’s McGrath Institute for Church Life. Dr. Baglow is also the author of the premier science and religion textbook used by numerous Catholic schools in its science and theology curricula, Faith, Science, and Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge.

During our time together, we’ll listen to a short lecture, hold a brief Q&A, and then break into discussion groups to further dialogue about the questions that arise at the intersection of Christianity and evolution. The event should run until approx. 4pm.

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

We are expecting a high volume of attendees for this event! We encourage you to register by Tuesday, June 9th to ensure your spot, and to assist in our creation of discussion groups.

This event is made possible by a generous gift from the John Templeton Foundation, as well as by a grant from The Our Sunday Visitor Institute, as a part of their “Re-Captivating Millennials” initiative, and by our many institutional and high school cosponsors:

INSTITUTIONAL COSPONSORS:
University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, The Archdiocese of Chicago Vocations Office, The McGrath Institute for Church Life, The Society of Catholic Scientists

HIGH SCHOOL COSPONSORS:
Benet Academy, Fenwick High School, Northridge Preparatory School, St. Ignatius College Prep, Willows Academy

If you have questions regarding the Newman Forum, registration, or any of our programs, feel free to reach out to the Newman Forum team:

Austin Walker
Director of the Newman Forum
awalker@lumenchristi.org

Madison Chastain
Program Coordinator of the Newman Forum
mchastain@lumenchristi.org

WEBINAR: Dante as Poet and Philosopher
2020-06-16 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A conversation with Professors Jason Aleksander (San Jose State University) and Arielle Saiber (Bowdoin College). Part of our Summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was a Florentine writer and poet, whose long poetic work, The Divine Comedy, has received recognition as one of the greatest artistic achievements in the West. Dante’s poetic artistry stands alongside his intellectual and philosophical thought throughout his writings and in his Comedy. In this webinar, Professor Jason Aleksander (San José State U) and Professor Arielle Saiber (Bowdoin College) will discuss Dante’s interlocking poetic and philosophical production.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by Calvert House, the Collegium Institute, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

WEBINAR: How NOT to Get Away with Murder (Again!)
2020-06-17 15:00 - 16:00 | IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students.
We’ve run this event in-person, but now we’re bringing it to you online! When you register, you will be sent a Zoom link to follow. The event will run from 3:00pm-4:00pm
Are you already tired of being quarantined in your house? Feel a little bit like you might kill your siblings?
The book of Genesis is one of the most interesting and difficult books of the Bible. And there is so much more to it than meets the eye. For example:
How was a snake able to trick Eve? Why do Adam and Eve respond to God so suspiciously? And then there’s the Cain and Abel story…why on Earth does Cain jump to murdering his brother? What are we supposed to learn from this Scripture?
This hour-long seminar will investigate these passages in the 3rd and 4th chapters of Genesis. By reading the text closely and paying attention to what is (and isn’t) there, we will discover a whole new complexity to the relationship between God, the first four humans, and the snake. Not only is God revealed as imminently just and merciful, but also as a very acute observer of human psychology!

Come to whichever session fits your new online schedule the best! All you’ll need is access to a Bible (either a real-life book or just online!) We’ll read the text together, and discuss!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
Resources from this seminar are drawn from Joseph Ratzinger’s (Pope Bendict’s) In the Beginning…’: A Catholic Understanding of the Story of Creation and the Fall.

There is no charge for the seminar, but a good-will donation of $10 is encouraged.

(Teachers and Youth Ministers may sit in, if interested. Please register as “Other,” and log in to the provided Zoom link 15 minutes prior to your session’s start time to ensure you are properly muted.)

Race, Justice, and Catholicism
2020-06-22 17:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, Boston College Law School, the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage, and the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago.
The cry in the streets of “no justice, no peace” echoes the teaching of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI. The recent crises have again brought to the fore the reality that interracial justice has eluded America, despite the promise of the civil rights movement. Slavery, its original sin, has dogged it from its founding. Segregation and mass incarceration continue this shameful legacy. Efforts to call Americans to take responsibility for this often find resistance in an individualistic ideology counter to the Catholic vision. Catholics find themselves on both sides of this history.
The Gospel and Catholic social teaching clearly reject racism. Yet up to this moment, Catholic clergy and laity have often not lived up to this teaching, helping to sustain racism, rather than dismantle or reject it. If, as Pope Francis reminds us, we are all connected, then injustice anywhere is not only a threat to justice everywhere—it is injustice everywhere.
Join us as a panel of distinguished legal scholars comes together to discuss our current moment and whether Catholicism can move from being part of the problem to becoming part of the solution.

Alberti and Renaissance Architecture
2020-06-23 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar with Professor of Architecture Il Kim (Auburn University). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472) was a humanist and polymath. His On Painting (1435/36) and On Architecture (1440s-1472) theorized the arts of painting and architecture, elevating them to the level of the Liberal Arts. The legacy of these works cast a long shadow in the Renaissance. In this webinar, Professor Kim will discuss Alberti’s architectural theory and practice as an all-encompassing pursuit of artistry in Italian Renaissance.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by Calvert House, the Beatrice Institute, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

What Evolution Does and Does Not Tell Us about Humans
2020-06-24 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Cosponsored by the Society of Catholic Scientists. This event is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.
Does evolution fully explain the human? Recent paleontological and archeological work trace the deep lineages underlying many of our physical traits, and reveals our complicated history as one of many hominid species. It is abundantly clear that modern humans are subject to the same evolutionary pressures as the rest of the biological world and that evolution continues to shape our species. However, the developing story of our evolutionary history is frequently framed as a challenge to the claim of human uniqueness, fundamental to the Judeo-Christian understanding of the creation of man. Does evolution truly undercut the assumption of human uniqueness? Is our understanding of biological evolution sufficient to explain what makes us human? Join us for an online lecture with evolutionary paleobiologist, Simon Conway Morris, as he examines “What Evolution Does and Does not Tell Us about Humans.”

Marsilio Ficino and the Philosophy of Plato
2020-06-30 19:00 | IL
A webinar with Professor Denis Robichaud (University of Notre Dame). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
In the humanist recovery and study of Platonic thought and texts, Marsilio Ficino (1433-99) was a brilliant luminary. He produced the first translation into Latin of all of Plato’s texts and of Plotinus’s Enneads, and he translated and commented on numerous other Platonic works. Ficino was also more than a scholar, he was also a philosopher and theologian whose network of students, friends, and correspondents extended far beyond his Florentine home. His philosophical thought fed early modern philosophy for generations but also raised questions of Ficino’s orthodoxy. In this webinar, Professor Denis Robichaud (Notre Dame) will discuss Marsilio Ficino’s humanist, philosophical, and theological thought.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This series is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

God and Morality: Francisco Suarez's Reading of Thomas Aquinas
2020-07-02 10:00 - 13:00 | IL
Registration is full. Please contact us if you would like to be put on the waitlist.
This master class is open to current graduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Others interested in participating should contact us.
Are wrong actions wrong only because the law of God forbids them, or does it forbid (at least some of) them because they are wrong in themselves? Francisco Suárez famously answers this Euthyphro-like question in a way that steers between rationalism and divine voluntarism. He takes it to be Saint Thomas Aquinas’s way, and so do many after him.
In this master class, Fr. Brock will challenge this reading of Aquinas and argue that, on his view, the very question is misleading. A crucial and neglected factor in Thomas’s position is his conception of the common good of the universe.
ASSIGNED READINGS (TO BE PROVIDED)

Suarez, Francisco, De Legibus bk. 2, ch. 6.
Brock, Stephen L., The Light That Binds: A Study in Thomas Aquinas’s Metaphysics of Natural Law (2020, Pickwick Publication), selections.

Women Humanists in the Renaissance: Paradise and Free Speech in Moderata Fonte
2020-07-07 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Tamara Albertini (University of Hawai’i at Manoa). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society

After a brief review of women humanists like Laura Cerata, Cassandra Fedele, Lucrezia Marinella, and Isotta Nogarola, the presentation will focus on Moderata Fonte’s dialogue The Merit of Women Where One Clearly Discovers How Dignified and Perfect They Are (1600). In that dialogue, Fonte creates a locus amoenus characterized by a centered garden visited by seven female interlocutors to discuss what options women have to take charge of their lives. The presentation will end by comparing and contrasting Fonte’s garden with Giovanni Pico della Mirandola’s paradise in his Oration on the Dignity of Man (1486)

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Master Class on "Newman's Critique of Liberalism: Faith, Reason, and Antecedent Probability"
2020-07-09 10:00 - 13:00 | IL
This master class is open to current graduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Others interested in participating should contact us.
In his intellectual autobiography, John Henry Newman makes a bold claim that may confound our contemporary sensibility. In matters of religion, the human mind has only two consistent options: either atheism or Catholicism. Any position in-between is but a logical half-way house. Our master class will explore the relation in Newman between faith and reason that endeavors to justify this claim. In the process, we will deal with the role of probability, which would seem to be the antithesis of faith. We will also probe into liberalism which, although much admired in the west, is for Newman inimical to an authentic revelation from the Divine.
READINGS

Apologia pro Vita Sua, Chapter 1: “History of My Religious Opinions up to 1833”; Chapter 5: “Position of My Mind since 1845.”
Plain and Parochial Sermons, vol. 8, number 13: “Truth Hidden When Not Sought After”

2020 Newman Forum Summer Institute
2020-07-13 11:00 - 2020-07-30 12:30 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
The Newman Forum aims to run a week-long Summer Institute for high school students at Mundelein Seminary every year. Due to COVID-19 concerns, this year’s Institute will run ONLINE, Mondays and Thursdays, from July 13th-30th.
This year’s Summer Institute will be centered on the three transcendentals: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty!
Feelings of wonder point us to transcendental truths and drive some of the most important philosophical and theological pursuits: How do we describe the feeling of seeing a radiant sunset to someone who didn’t see it? How do we explain that feeling of resonance when we learn a lesson in school that really speaks to our lives? Why are we moved when we see someone perform an act of kindness for someone else in need? This is beauty, truth, and goodness. Sometimes they seem quite simple! But they are also deep mysteries, and they relate to some of the biggest mysteries of our Catholic faith. Click here for more about the curriculum!
Monday classes will consist of lectures and brief fundamentals Q&A. Thursdays will consist of discussions of the lectures and short weekly assigned texts. All class meetings will run from 11am-12:30pm.
Mondays (July 13th, 20th, and 27th)
11:00-11:25 Philosophy lecture
11:25-11:35 Philosophy Q&A
11:35-11:45 Break
11:45-12:10 Theology lecture
12:10-12:30 Theology Q&A
Thursdays (July 16th, 23rd, and 30th)
11:00-11:15 Introduction and overview
11:15-11:45 Discussion Groups
11:45-12:30 Large Group Discussion
The program cost is $50 for local, Chicagoland participants (including our broader Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan neighbors!) $125 for non-local participants.
Applications for the 2020 Summer Institute are rolling, and have been extended until July 6th.
All high school students–including incoming freshmen and outgoing seniors–are welcome to apply!
Applicants will be notified within two weeks of submitting their applications whether or not they have been accepted.
CLICK HERE TO APPLY!

Measure and Mathematics in Renaissance Philosophy
2020-07-14 12:00 - 13:00 | IL
A webinar lecture with Richard Oosterhoff (University of Edinburgh). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Perspective drawing, map-making, musical harmonics, astronomy, and number theory—these were all mathematical disciplines in the Renaissance. We tend to link measuring sounds, sights, and sensations with outstanding philosophers, from Nicholas of Cusa to Galileo and Descartes. But every university student met these topics, in their first textbooks. This webinar will focus on the hugely popular Paris master and humanist Jacques Lefèvre d’Étaples (c. 1455–1536), who wove a programme of university reform out of authorities from Church Fathers and mystics, the Victorines, Ramon Llull, and Cusanus. Out of such sources, Lefèvre bequeathed European universities a shared philosophical culture in which mathematics offered an archetype of reason and beauty.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Titian's Icons: Logos and Kairos in Renaissance Devotion
2020-07-21 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Christoper Nygren (University of Pittsburgh). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Titian is one of the most famous painters of the Italian Renaissance. He is mostly known for his amazing mythological paintings and depictions of the female nude, which became a staple of the tradition of European painting. It is less well known that Titian was credited by his contemporaries with painting a miracle-working image. Looking at his paintings in light of this fact, it becomes clear that Titian dedicated a great deal of energy to painting small-format pictures depicting biblical subjects, which can rightly be called icons. This presentation will outline Titian’s engagement with icons and show how the artist frequently deviated from received subjects and iconographies to develop new kinds of icons that were directed at inciting conversion in the beholder.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

A Sort of Bazaar or Pantechnicon: Newman's Challenge to the Modern University
2020-07-23 10:00 - 13:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
REGISTER HERE
This master class is open to current graduate students and advanced University of Chicago undergraduate students. It will take place online on Zoom. Others interested in participating should contact us.
In 1854, John Henry Newman worried that the contemporary university was losing its ability to teach its students to see and recognize the truth. Instead of integrated learning, the university had instead become “a kind of bazaar, or pantechnicon,” where various facts or theories were offered up without any attempt to make sense of the whole. This master class will investigate to what extent Newman’s concerns have been realized and whether his proposed solutions can still be obtained.
This masterclass will be composed of three parts. In the first, Fr. Fields will sketch out the general argument of the Idea. In the second, he will offer some suggestions about how Newman’s insights can diagnose the contemporary ills of the university. The third will be a wide-ranging discussion grounded in two short lectures Newman gave at his Catholic University of Ireland, “A Form of Infidelity of the Day” and “Christianity and Scientific Investigation”
Assigned Readings: (all from The Idea of a University)

Preface;
Discourse 5 – Knowledge Its Own End;
“A Form of Infidelity of the Day,”
“Christianity and Scientific Investigation”

Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice
2020-07-23 12:30 - 13:30 | IL
Free and open to the public. This event will be held online through Zoom. Registrants will be sent a link to the Zoom event or to a secondary livestream. Co-sponsored by the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago the Department of Catholic Studies at DePaul University, Calvert House Catholic Center, the Sheil Catholic Center at Northwestern University and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore,
With parish boundaries often mapping onto segregation lines, it might appear that the possibilities of Catholic efforts towards racial justice were eliminated from the start. This picture, however, is incomplete. Karen Johnson’s book, One in Christ: Chicago Catholics and the Quest for Interracial Justice (Oxford University Press, 2018) uncovers the story of lay white and Black Catholics working on the ground towards interracial justice from the 1930’s to the late 1960’s, driven by a radical vision of the mystical body of Christ. Join for a conversation between historian of race and religion, Karen Johnson (Wheaton College), and Black Catholic historian Cecilia Moore (University of Dayton) on Chicago Catholics and the quest for interracial justice.

Giordano Bruno and the Poetry of the Cosmos
2020-07-28 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A webinar lecture with Valentina Zaffino (Pontifical Lateran University; Rome Global Gateway, University of Notre Dame). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician, and cosmologist. Bruno’s notoriety is due both to his adventurous life and to his original reinterpretation of ancient thought in light of the new philosophical scenario. Valentina Zaffino will analyze Bruno’s image of the cosmos, focusing on his remodeled Neoplatonic background. In this context, as will be shown, the notions of harmony and beauty are closely related with Bruno’s fascinating claim of the infinity of the cosmos.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

On the Eternity of the World: Aristotle, Bonaventure, Aquinas, Kant
2020-07-29 10:00 - 2020-07-30 15:30 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
This master class is open to current graduate students and uper-level University of Chicago undergraduates. It will take place online via Zoom, in four sessions, over two days.
Toward the end of his Physics, Aristotle argued that the motion in the physical world, and with it the world itself, never began and will never cease. Medieval Christian thinkers agreed that this position conflicted with revelation, but they assessed it in a wide variety of ways. In modernity, Kant used the problem of the world’s duration as evidence of the boundaries of mere reason.
In this master class, we will go through Aristotle’s arguments, Bonaventure’s rejection of them and insistence that the world’s having begun can be proved, Aquinas’s denial of any possible proof on either side, and Kant’s antinomous “proofs” for both sides. The readings invite discussion of such topics as the relation between reason and faith, how to understand creation ex nihilo, the relation between physics and metaphysics, and the limits of human knowledge.
SCHEDULE

Wednesday, July 29, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Thursday, July 30, 10:00 AM – 11:30 AM; 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM

READINGS

Aristotle, Physics, VIII.1-2, 250b10-253a21
Bonaventure, In II Sent., d. 1, p. 1, a. 1, q. 2
Thomas Aquinas, Summa theologiae I, q. 45, aa. 1-2; Summa theologiae I, q. 46; Compendium theologiae ch. 98-99; Summa contra gentiles, II, caps. 31-37; On the Eternity of the World
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason, Transcendental Dialectic, II.2.2, First Antinomy

COVID and the Color Line: Race, Religion, and Public Health
2020-07-30 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A conversation with Yolonda Wilson (Howard University), Shawnee Daniels-Sykes (Mount Mary University), and Utibe Essein (University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine), moderated by Vincent Lloyd (Villanova University). Co-organized with the International Academy for Bioethical Inquiry.
Cosponsored by America Media and the Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube.
COVID-19 has been described as a great equalizer, affecting all Americans alike. Yet, data collected throughout the pandemic has revealed startling disparities, particularly with communities of color being disproportionately impacted by the virus, suffering from both higher infection rates and higher death rates. What are the roots of these asymmetries? How do economics, politics, and issues of healthcare—including how racial preconceptions have historically impacted medical treatment and public health policy—contribute? What resources do we have within our communities and within our religious traditions to respond? Join for an interdisciplinary panel of philosophers, public health experts, and theological ethicists as we seek to understand and respond to COVID and the color line.

ONLINE SEMINAR on Dominican Theological Anthropology: Albert the Great and Meister Eckhart
2020-08-03 09:00 - 2020-08-11 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED FOR THIS SEMINAR
On consecutive Mondays and Tuesdays in August (August 3, 4, 10, 11) Bernard McGinn and Fr. Bernhard Blankenhorn will lead a set of young scholars through questions relating to the theological anthropologies of Albertus Magnus and Meister Eckhart. Topics of special interest will include contemplation, Albert on the imago dei, and Eckhart on the ground of the soul.
Applicants should have some background in medieval philosophy and theology. More specifically, they should have a basic familiarity with Aristotelian anthropology, as well as general grasp of the Augustinian theology of the image of God and medieval theories of contemplation.
Intermediate knowledge of Latin is preferred, but not required. Applications who can read German and/or French secondary literature should be given preference.
Required Reading Before Seminar
Simon Tugwell, “Introduction,” Albert and Thomas: Select Writings (Paulist Press, 1988), 3-129.
Edmund Colledge and Bernard McGinn, “Introduction,” Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, etc. (Paulist Press, 1981), 5-81.
Required Reading During Seminar
Texts
Albert the Great, Commentary on Dionysius’s Mystical Theology, in Albert and Thomas, 133-98
Albert the Great, De Intellectu et intelligibili, Book II, chaps. 8-9 (Borgnet ed., IX:514-17)
Albert the Great, Selections from Summa theologica, Pars I (Cologne Edition XXXIV.1), q. 13, chapter 1 (pp. 38-41); q. 13, chapter 4 (pp. 44-48); q. 15, chapter 2, a. 2 (pp. 65-75).
Meister Eckhart: The Essential Sermons, etc.
Meister Eckhart: Teacher and Preacher (Paulist Press, 1986)
Studies
Henryk Anzulewicc, “Anthropology: The Concept of Man in Albert the Great,” in A Companion to Albert the Great, 325-46
Bernard Blankenhorn, “The Mystery of Union with God, 52-90, and 131-48
Bernard McGinn, “Chapter 4. Meister Eckhart: Mystical Teacher and Preacher,” in McGinn, The Harvest of Mysticism, 94-194
Rupert J. Mayer, “The Term ‘Ground of the Soul’ and ‘Sparkle of Reason’ in Eckhart and Aquinas,” Medieval Mystical Theology 22 (2013): 120-38.
Schedule
Mornings will contain two hour-long lecture/discussions of key texts.
Afternoons will have two sessions of 45-minute guided discussion.
The final day (Tuesday, August 11) will be devoted to short student presentations.

Reason and Beauty in Cambridge Platonism
2020-08-04 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
A webinar lecture with Douglas Hedley (University of Cambridge). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
The Cambridge Platonists are the first modern Platonists. They are a group of English philosophers around the University of Cambridge in the seventeenth-century, in the context of reformed theology and the English Civil War. Yet while accepting the New Science of Copernicus and Galileo, they offer a fierce protest against mechanism and naturalism. Their notion of aesthetics and beauty–as historian Ernst Cassirer correctly saw–was one of the sources of the later Romantic movement. Their aesthetics has a theological foundation. As one of the Cambridge Platonists, Benjamin Whichcote (d. 1683) wrote: “There is that in God that is more beautiful than power, than will and Sovereignty, viz. His righteousness, His good-will, His justice, wisdom and the like’. In this webinar, Professor Douglas Hedley will discuss the Cambridge Platonists’ thought on beauty and its theological dimension that is tied to a distinctly Platonic theory of enthusiasm or inspiration and that came to be a shaping force in 18th century thought.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Pondering Hiroshima
2020-08-06 12:00 | IL
Cosponsored by America Media, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, and the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America.
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube. Registrants will also get a specially created booklet drawing on the archives of America Magazine’s coverage of Hiroshima from the past 75 years.
On August 6th and 9th, 1945, the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombs destroyed the cities in a flash, and ultimately killed approximately 200,000 people. The Second World War came to a close days later. 1945 was the first and last time a nuclear bomb was used in armed conflict. This technology has influenced international relations ever since and has raised questions about the appropriate use of force in a way that the firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo did not. The site of the bomb’s genesis was not a military base, however, but at the University of Chicago, where the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction took place three years earlier, opening the nuclear age and giving rise to a new source of energy, life-saving technologies, and unparalleled destruction. Join as we reflect upon the legacy and tension caught up in the event that was Hiroshima.
This event is dedicated to the memory of John P. Langan, S.J., noted professor, theologian and peace activist.
Image © AP Photo/Stanley Troutman

Richard Hooker’s Sapiential Theology: Reformed Platonism?
2020-08-11 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Torrance Kirby (McGill University). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Richard Hooker (1554-1600) was a preeminent theologian and philosopher of the Elizabethan Church. His seminal book, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity (1593), set out a path for Anglican theology that was distinct from both Puritan and Roman Catholic thought. In Book I, Hooker identifies Law with Holy Wisdom and his treatment echoes the sapiential books of Scripture, viz. Proverbs, Job, and the Wisdom of Solomon. Hooker also appeals to a hierarchical disposition of the species of law in the medieval scholastic conception of the ‘lex divinitatis’, especially as formulated by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite and later by Thomas Aquinas. For Hooker, the First Eternal Law concealed in the ‘Bosome of God’ is unutterable, while its external emanation, the Second Eternal Law, is a ‘Voyce’ whose utterance constitutes the beautiful ‘Harmony of the Worlde’. This distinction between two species of Eternal Law owes much to the ancient Neoplatonic metaphysics of Proclus. Both Hooker’s sapiential theology and his invocation of the law of the ‘great chain’ stand in creative tension with his professed adherence to doctrine expressed by the Elizabethan Articles of Religion (1571). In this webinar, Professor Torrance Kirby will examine the tension between Hooker’s sources and his theology and will ask whether Hooker is successful in reconciling his legal metaphysics with his Reformed soteriology.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

The Global Economic Effects of COVID-19: Perspectives from Economics and Catholic Social Thought
2020-08-13 17:00 | IL
Free and open to the public. The event will be held online over Zoom and will be livestreamed on YouTube.
Cosponsored by America Media and the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization.
The adverse impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on the lives and livelihoods of people is hard to fully appreciate in real time. Moreover, it is not equally distributed across socio-economic groups within countries or across countries. This panel sets economics and Catholic Social Thought in dialogue, discussing the socio-economic consequences of the pandemic, the policies to mitigate it, and the values that ought inform our judgements.

Passage to Modernity: Renaissance Christianity Today
2020-08-18 19:00 - 20:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
An evening webinar lecture with Peter Casarella (Duke University). Part of our summer webinar series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture,” presented in collaboration with the American Cusanus Society
Historian Jacob Burckhardt (d. 1897) famously argued that Italian humanism of the fourteenth and fifteenth century paved the way inevitably to modern individualism and secularism, but more recently Burckhardt’s view has been largely discredited. Contemporary thinkers, Louis Dupré and Karsten Harries, each with very distinctive accents, made decisive contributions to overcoming of Burkhardtian forerunner mentality. In this concluding webinar, Professor Casarella will explore Dupré’s and Harries’ contributions to a post-Burckhardtian reading of the relationship of Italian humanism to modernity and also some of the limitations of the interpretations they proposed in the light of more recent ideas regarding post-structuralism and decolonial theory.

2020 Summer Webinar Series on “Reason and Beauty in Renaissance Christian Thought and Culture”
What do reason and beauty have to do with each other? Since the modern Enlightenment and Romantic movements, it has been tempting to see reason and beauty as separate or even opposed. In the Renaissance, however, rational and artistic pursuits bloomed together and even fed each other. Renaissance culture, including fine art, poetry, architecture, astronomy, and humanistic thought, both drew upon and extended ancient and medieval Christian intellectual traditions. This webinar course will examine different aspects of renaissance Christian thought and culture to explore how pursuits of reason interwove with the love of beauty.
This event is cosponsored by the Beatrice Institute, Calvert House, the Collegium Institute, the Genealogies of Modernity Project, the Harvard Catholic Center, the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought, and St. Paul’s Catholic Center.

Healing the Wounds of Racism: A Discussion with Members of Chicago’s “Back of the Yards” Community
2020-08-26 17:00 | IL
Free and open to the public. Online registration required. This event is organized by the Catholic Lawyer’s Guild of Chicago, and co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute
“Compassion isn’t just about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased.”
– Father Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart (2010)
“I have never seen – even in Mississippi and Alabama – mobs as hostile and as hate-filled as I’ve seen here in Chicago.”
– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1966)
Our country is in a moment of reckoning. For too long, black people have been marginalized and denied equal justice under the law. We have created, in the words of Pope Francis, “an economy of exclusion and inequality.” Evangelium Gaudium, ¶ 53. Chicago, sadly, is no exception. At this critical juncture, many of us find ourselves asking: What can we do to combat racism and bring about healing in our communities?
To move forward, we must first seek to listen to and understand those who have suffered from the evils of racism. We must stand with those whose dignity has been denied and learn to “find Jesus in [their] faces, in their voices, in their pleas.” Evangelium Gaudium, ¶ 91. Only once our hearts are changed can we hope to bring about change in our community and justice system.
On August 26 at 5:00 pm, the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation will introduce us to several residents of the Back of the Yards community in a discussion moderated by Father Dave Kelly, C.P.P.S. These men and women will share their experiences with racial prejudice and their views on how we as a city might find reconciliation. An opportunity for questions and discussion will follow.

Introduction to Liturgical Mystagogy
2020-09-03 19:00 | IL
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
From the fourth to eighth centuries, liturgical commentaries flourished to explain the meaning of the sacramental life of the Church. Notably after the fourth century, the tradition of Jerusalem developed another genre for mystagogy, namely hymnography. As part of the structure of the liturgical services, they explain to the faithful what is happening during the services, rather than before or after the celebration. In this way, hymnography has an exegetical function, commenting on scripture and the mystery of salvation in Christ. Dr. Galadza will explore this hymnographic tradition and its relation to the formation of liturgical theology.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, September 10, 7 p.m. CDT
A Theology of Wonder: An Introduction to the Poetry of Ephrem the Syrian | Andrew Hayes (University of St. Thomas, Houston)
Thursday, September 17, 7 p.m. CDT
Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity | Robin Darling Young (Catholic University of America)
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
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Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

A Theology of Wonder: An Introduction to the Poetry of Ephrem the Syrian
2020-09-10 19:00 | IL
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
St. Ephrem is the common teacher of the Syriac theological tradition whose preferred medium is poetry. Named a doctor of the Church by Benedict XV, Ephrem emphasizes that the ascetical and mystical experience of wonder is the criterion for authentic theologizing. Dr. Hayes will discuss how Ephrem’s notion of wonder purifies our freedom and rendering the whole person a clear and luminous receptacle for the experience of God.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, September 17, 7 p.m. CDT
Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity | Robin Darling Young (Catholic University of America)
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
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Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Christ the Lover of Mankind: Philanthropia, Mystery, and Martyria in Eastern Christianity
2020-09-17 19:00 | IL
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
Three features are common to all Eastern Christian traditions—philanthropia, mystery, and martyria. They appear repeatedly in Eastern Christian writing, ritual, and personal practice from the preaching of Jesus to the present. Philanthropia, God’s love for humanity, prompts the mission of the Logos to provide for humanity’s return to the divine. Mystery, which paradoxically reveals and conceals, both in ceremony and in “ordinary” time, the Logos’ saving events. Martyria is the sign and demonstration of God’s beckoning love and the replication of the “priesthood of all believers.” Dr. Young will explore these themes through examples, not only from the Greek and Slavic traditions, but also from those of the Christian traditions of the East, the Caucasus and Ethiopian Christianity.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, September 24, 7 p.m. CDT
Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora | Alexander Laschuk (Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at University of St. Michael’s College)
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century| Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Eastern Churches, Latin Territories: Ecclesial Catholicity and the Notion of Diaspora
2020-09-24 19:00 | IL
Free and open to the public. This event will be presented on Zoom (registration required), as well as through live-stream on YouTube. This event is presented in collaboration with the Godbearer Institute as part of a Fall webinar lecture series on “Eastern Catholic Theology in Action.”
According to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, all Eastern Catholic Churches have same rights and obligations as the Latin Church and are equal in dignity. They also share the obligation to preach the Gospel to the whole world. At the same time, the jurisdiction of the Eastern Churches is circumscribed to the notion of canonical territory. Inside this territory, the hierarchy has certain rights, while outside this territory there are numerous limitations. The talk will first discuss the notion of the Church sui iuris and the understanding of the Catholic Church as a communion of Churches. Second, it will then examine the idea of canonical territory in the Catholic Church. Historical roots of the juridical concept will be examined before looking at the current theological and canonical expression. Finally, the notion of canonical territory as currently existing will be critically examined, with special attention to the conciliar teachings as well as ecumenical implications.

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, October 1, 7.p.m. CDT
Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today | Erin Walsh (University of Chicago)
Monday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: The Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Expanding the Archive: Syriac Literature and the Study of Early Christianity Today
2020-10-01 19:00 | IL
Through the work of editing and translating Syriac manuscripts, scholars continue to enrich our historiography of the formative centuries of Christianity. This research has been particularly fruitful in the areas of biblical interpretation, asceticism, the history of doctrine, and the role of women within the church. Dr. Walsh will provide a brief overview of these developments before focusing on the importance of poetry for biblical storytelling and spiritual formation. Using examples from the poetry of Narsai and Jacob of Serugh, Dr. Walsh will explore the ways poets inherited the legacy of Ephrem and applied their own artistic brilliance to articulate a Christian worldview, exhorting believers to live with fervent faith both in their own time and today.

Professor Walsh has generously assembled a bibliography of additional resources and introductory readings for Syriac Studies:
Books/Articles

Brock, Sebastian P. The Luminous Eye: The Spiritual World Vision of Saint Ephrem the Syrian. Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1985.
Brock, Sebastian P. An Introduction to Syriac Studies. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press, 2006.
Brock, Sebastian P. and Susan Ashbrook Harvey. Holy Women of the Syrian Orient. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987. o Also see the Gorgias Press website for the published translations of mēmrē by Jacob of Serugh and Narsai!
Harvey, Susan Ashbrook. “Spoken Words, Voiced Silence: Biblical Women in Syriac Tradition.” Journal of Early Christian Studies 9, no. 1 (2001): 105-131.
Harvey, Susan Ashbrook. “Revisiting the Daughters of the Covenant: Women’s Choirs and Sacred Song in Ancient Syriac Christianity.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 8, no. 2 (2005): 125-149.
Van Rompay, Lucas. “Past and Present Perceptions of Syriac Literary Tradition.” Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies 3, no. 1 (2000): 71-103.
Van Rompay, Lucas. “Society and Community in the Christian East.” In The Cambridge Companion to Justinian, edited by Michael Maas, 239-266. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Wickes, Jeffrey. Bible and Poetry in Late Antique Mesopotamia: Ephrem’s Hymns on Faith (University of California Press, 2019). o UC Press is an important publisher for research on early Christianity and Syriac literature

Websites and Online Resources – many of these organizations are on social media!

Gorgias Press and Beth Mardutho o They also publish Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of Syriac Heritage – edited by Sebastian P. Brock, Aaron M. Butts, George A. Kiraz, and Lucas Van Rompay
Hill Museum and Manuscript Library o Follow the Syriac Manuscript Cataloger, Dr. James Walters on Twitter
Syriaca.org – The Syriac Reference Portal
Syri.ac – The Annotated Bibliography of Syriac Resources Online
Hebrew University’s Comprehensive Bibliography of Syriac Christianity
To learn more about the contemporary study of ancient Judaism and Christianity, read and follow the web journal, Ancient Jew Review

Eastern Catholic Theology in Action
Distinct in their liturgy, theology, spirituality, and discipline of Church life, 23 Eastern Churches are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Second Vatican Council urged the Eastern Catholic Churches to cultivate and promote their unique share of the tradition. This series responds to that mandate and features leading scholars in the field to offer their theological perspectives drawn from the wisdom of Christian East. In view of broadening our understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this series draws attention to the vantage points of Christians who worship, think, and pray in continuity with the first 1,000 years of the undivided Church.
This series is co-presented with the Godbearer Institute and co-sponsored by the Beatrice Institute, the Calvert House Catholic Center, the Catholic Theological Union, the Institute for Faith and Culture, God With Us Online, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, the Nova Forum, the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, the Saint Benedict Institute, the St. Paul University Catholic Center, St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church, and the Tabor Life Institute.
Upcoming Series Lectures:
Thursday, November 12, 7 p.m. CDT
Quo Vadis: the Direction of Eastern Catholic Theology, a Pastoral Perspective for the 21st Century | Archbishop Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia and Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the USA)

Fearful Symmetry: Cosmic Order and a Divine Creator
2020-10-15 18:30 | IL
Free and open to the public. This event is organized by the Harvard Catholic Forum and is co-presented with the Lumen Christi Institute. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed to the Harvard Catholic Forum’s YouTube page.
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For thousands of years, some philosophers and scientists have argued that order in the universe points to a creator God. How does this argument hold up against the scientific discoveries of recent decades? Join us as theoretical particle physicist Stephen Barr examines the cosmic order and its relationship to a Divine Creator.

Integral Bioethics in the Anthropocene
2020-10-16 12:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
Free and open to the public. This event is being co-presented with the International Academy for Bioethical Inquiry, and co-sponsored by the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics. This event will be held on Zoom (registration required) and live-streamed on YouTube.
In 2000, scientists argued that human impact on the Earth reached levels meriting the creation of a new geological epoch, naming it the Anthropocene. The challenge of the Anthropocene is more than just an acknowledgement of changes to our planet, but also a challenge to humanity, pressing us to reconsider human health, action, and ethics. Can theological insights, ranging from early Christian thinkers to Pope Francis’s Laudato si’, help orient us in the Anthropocene, or do they fall short of the challenge? Join as this interdisciplinary panel brings scientific, theological, and ethical perspectives to bear on integral bioethics in the Anthropocene.

Christ, the True Origin of Humanity
2020-10-20 12:00 | IL
This event is co-presented by the Society of Catholic Scientists and the Science and Religion Initiative at the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and is co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute.
“Its beginnings are no measure of its capabilities, nor of its scope.” These words of St. John Henry Newman describing the character of great ideas works equally well in describing the human species. For many, what we were in prehistory is what defines us now. But the Christian faith has a much different, and more exciting, perspective. In this presentation, Chris Baglow will connect the beginning and the end of humanity, relying on Scripture, Tradition and the insights of modern science as well as modern theologians.
