Name: Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s <i>Silmarillion</i>
Start: 2026-01-22T19:30:00-06:00
End: 2026-01-22T21:00:00-06:00
Location: Gavin House

List
Month

November 2025
Reading Groups

November 6th @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm The Silmarillion

The Silmarillion

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups. The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

InThe Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien spins out the cosmological and mythic stories that undergird The Lord of the Rings. In this group, we will discuss what Tolkien has to say about death, mortality, and suffering, along with his rich worldbuilding and epic tales.
Reading Groups

November 7th @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Greek New Testament

Greek New Testament

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups. The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

This quarter, the Greek New Testament reading group will take up the Letter to the Hebrews. All levels of Greek proficiency are encouraged to join. Advance preparation is recommended but not required.
Reading Groups

November 10th @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm The Vice of Curiosity

The Vice of Curiosity

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups. The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

In the Vice of Curiosity and Intellectual Appetite, esteemed theologian Paul J. Griffiths outlines an Augustinian critique of the modern academy’s ways of knowing, including the history of how modernity turned curiosity from vice into virtue, a theological criticism of patent law, and analysis of why plagiarism is not in fact theft.

Each week, a short essay from Vice of Curiosity will be read and discussed, with optional supplementary readings from Intellectual Appetite.
Reading Groups

November 13th @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Macintyre’s Dependent Rational Animals

MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animals

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Fr. Peter Bernardi, SJ, Lumen Christi Institute

Lumen Christi Institute reading courses are faculty-led explorations of an important text. The reading courses are held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

Fr. Peter Bernardi SJ, LCI’s scholar-in-residence, will lead an exploration of Alisdair MacIntyre’s important late-20th century work, Dependent Rational Animals. MacIntyre both draws from and critiques Aristotle in order to describe our biologically rooted condition and the need to cultivate the virtues that acknowledge our inescapable dependence and inter-dependency.
Reading Groups

November 13th @ 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm The Silmarillion

The Silmarillion

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups. The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

InThe Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien spins out the cosmological and mythic stories that undergird The Lord of the Rings. In this group, we will discuss what Tolkien has to say about death, mortality, and suffering, along with his rich worldbuilding and epic tales.
Reading Groups

November 14th @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Greek New Testament

Greek New Testament

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups. The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

This quarter, the Greek New Testament reading group will take up the Letter to the Hebrews. All levels of Greek proficiency are encouraged to join. Advance preparation is recommended but not required.
Reading Groups

November 20th @ 5:00 pm - 6:30 pm Macintyre’s Dependent Rational Animals

MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animals

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Fr. Peter Bernardi, SJ, Lumen Christi Institute

Lumen Christi Institute reading courses are faculty-led explorations of an important text. The reading courses are held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

Fr. Peter Bernardi SJ, LCI’s scholar-in-residence, will lead an exploration of Alisdair MacIntyre’s important late-20th century work, Dependent Rational Animals. MacIntyre both draws from and critiques Aristotle in order to describe our biologically rooted condition and the need to cultivate the virtues that acknowledge our inescapable dependence and inter-dependency.
Reading Groups

November 21st @ 10:00 am - 11:00 am Greek New Testament

Greek New Testament

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups. The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text.

This quarter, the Greek New Testament reading group will take up the Letter to the Hebrews. All levels of Greek proficiency are encouraged to join. Advance preparation is recommended but not required.
January 2026
Reading Groups

January 8th, 2026 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm [Title Needed] Silmarillion – NF

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

REGISTER BELOW Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 8, Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org). There are few figures as foundational to the epic fantasy genre as J.R.R. Tolkien, and few works as wide-ranging in that genre as The Silmarillion. Written over the course of nearly 60 years and inspired by the folk traditions of northern Europe, Greece, and the personal ethical and...
Reading Groups

January 14th, 2026 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Why Think? Hannah Arendt and the Life of the Mind

Why Think? Hannah Arendt and the Life of the Mind

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

REGISTER BELOW Meets Bi-Weekly on Wednesdays: Jan. 14, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 25 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org). The question of ‘thinking’ attracts Arendt’s attention in her later works. Though Arendt claims that thinking is utterly without purpose and leaves no trace behind, she also proposes that it can provide a protective effect against certain forms of evil-doing in our time. What is the practical relevance of thinking,...
Reading Groups

January 15th, 2026 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm [Title Needed] Silmarillion – NF

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

REGISTER BELOW Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 8, Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org). There are few figures as foundational to the epic fantasy genre as J.R.R. Tolkien, and few works as wide-ranging in that genre as The Silmarillion. Written over the course of nearly 60 years and inspired by the folk traditions of northern Europe, Greece, and the personal ethical and...
Reading Groups

January 22nd, 2026 @ 7:30 pm - 9:00 pm [Title Needed] Silmarillion – NF

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL

REGISTER BELOW Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 8, Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org). There are few figures as foundational to the epic fantasy genre as J.R.R. Tolkien, and few works as wide-ranging in that genre as The Silmarillion. Written over the course of nearly 60 years and inspired by the folk traditions of northern Europe, Greece, and the personal ethical and...

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The Vice of Curiosity

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MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animals

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The Silmarillion

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Greek New Testament

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MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animals

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Greek New Testament

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Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

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Why Think? Hannah Arendt and the Life of the Mind

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Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

Reading Groups

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien’s Silmarillion

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