Lumen Christi Institute

Civilization on the Brink? Modern Philosophy and the Abolition of Man
2024-10-30 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-13 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Open to current undergraduate students at the University of Chicago. Registration is capped at 25. Students who register after capacity has been reached will be put on a waitlist. All registrants will be provided with a free copy of the text.
This seminar and the Nicklin Fellows are cosponsored by the First Analysis Institute, and this event is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.
REGISTER HERE
In 1944, CS Lewis looked upon civilization and was amazed by what he saw:
In a sort of ghastly simplicity, we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
What was it about 20th century philosophy that horrified Lewis? Was the embrace of relativism a step towards greater social progress, or did it threaten the foundations of society? Did the conquest of nature result in “nature’s conquest over man”, a victory that made man less than human? Was there a source of universal values, such as natural law, that could prevent the abolition of man? How would one know if such a law existed with a seemingly infinite number of traditions and beliefs?
In The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis, from an intentionally non-Christian perspective, delivered a scathing critique of moral relativism and the limitless advancements of science. This seminar will delve into Lewis’s bold arguments and challenge participants to confront uncomfortable questions about the direction of our values, ethics, and what it means to be human.
Professor Erin Walsh, Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christian Literature, will join us for the conversation.

Schedule
6:00 PM Dinner | 6:15 PM Discussion | 7:30 PM Close
October 16th: “Men Without Chests” (27 pages)
October 30th: “The Way” (26 pages)
November 13th: “The Abolition of Man” (27 pages)

This event is part of Lumen Christi’s Fundamental Questions seminar, a quarterly reading group designed for undergraduate students at the University of Chicago. By fostering intellectually rigorous conversation around culturally resonant texts, we aim to allow students to experience the force of the deep existential concerns which animate our lives: “Where do my values come from? What is the good life? How can I become happy?” Our aim is not to answer such fundamental questions, but rather to equip students with the intellectual skills needed to recognize and articulate them for themselves. This group welcomes students from all religious and philosophical backgrounds because existential questions of being are of concern to all.
In addition, undergraduate students who participate in this seminar are eligible to become “Nicklin Fellows.” These fellows will have exclusive access to research and development grant funds to pursue their intellectual interests. Grants can be used to do things like the following:

Organize a reading group
Bring a speaker to campus
Organize a movie night
Develop and plan future fundamental questions seminars
Write a paper for a journal
And more!

Latin Vulgate Reading Group
2024-11-01 10:45 - 11:45, 2024-11-08 10:45 - 11:45, 2024-11-15 10:45 - 11:45 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Emily Barnum at ebarnum@uchicago.edu. Coffee, tea, and pastries will be provided.
St. Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible was used exclusively by the Western Church for centuries; its significance for the Roman Catholic tradition cannot be overstated. In this group, we will work through sections of the Vulgate in order to appreciate its beauty and practice our Latin. For the first session, no preparation is necessary; we will decide together which texts we will read. Please come with a desire to grow in Latin Bible knowledge with St. Jerome and friends!
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet every Friday (beginning Oct 18th) from 10:45am – 11:45am over coffee, tea, and pastries.

The University of Chicago is famous for its graduate student reading groups, in which students pursue their own intellectual interests among friends in an informal setting. The Lumen Christi Institute supports this endeavor by sponsoring a number of graduate student reading groups each quarter. LCI provides space, hospitality, and books.
Reading groups cover the whole spectrum of ideas. Texts do not need to be explicitly Catholic, though we follow St. Paul’s injunction to attend to whatever is true, noble, right, admirable, and lovely (Phil 4:8). Groups follow LCI’s guiding principles, which…

Affirm the intellectual life as good in itself

Ask questions animated by the principle that “all knowledge forms one whole”

Transcend the ideological / political divide (i.e., programs should not be partisan in nature)

Welcome religious perspectives as part of the intellectual life (i.e., programs need not be theological in nature but conversations should be open to religious insights)

Nurture friendships, to support the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness (i.e., programs should have a social component)

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group
2024-11-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-18 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-25 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-20 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-03 18:00 - 19:30 and 4 more dates | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This event is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Nicklin Fellows Program, which supports and encourages University of Chicago undergraduate students to develop their intellectual maturity. Jacob Neplokh, who designed this program, is a Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
REGISTER HERE
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s final masterpiece, explores the human questions of morality, freedom, reason, and belief, in the context of a captivating family drama.
Rather than merely writing a philosophical treatise, Dostoevsky produced a work of literature, thereby warranting a complete reading of the text.
This weekly dinnertime reading group spread out over two quarters seeks to accomplish that task, primarily focusing on the philosophical and theological themes above, in an enriching communal setting.
Copies of The Brothers Karamazov will be provided.
SCHEDULE:
This group will run over dinner on Mondays from 6 – 7:30pm, starting October 14th.
Winter Quarter:

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

Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages: Umberto Eco Graduate Reading Group
2024-11-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-11 18:00 - 19:30 | 5554 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Aidan Valente at valenteaidan@uchicago.edu. Books and drinks will be provided. This will be held at the LCI Residence (5554 S Wooodlawn Ave).
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” – This well-worn aphorism suggests that what we find “beautiful” relies only on subjective taste; and yet, many would agree in finding a Gothic cathedral obviously more beautiful than a brutalist library. Is there, then, an objective component to beauty, and if so, where and how can we locate it?
Philosophers and theologians of the Middle Ages argued for the objectivity of beauty, but they did so in diverse ways. This reading group will follow Umberto Eco’s introduction to medieval aesthetics (in the scholastic context and especially the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas) and will explore both Eco’s sources and his interpretation of medieval attitudes toward art and architecture.
An optional session at the end of the course will take place at the Art Institute of Chicago to examine and discuss medieval art first-hand.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Mondays (beginning Oct 7th) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner.
Oct 7: Preface, Introduction, and I: The Medieval Aesthetic Sensibility (19 pages)
Oct 14: II, Transcendental Beauty and III, The Aesthetics of Proportion (26 pages)
Oct 21: IV, The Aesthetics of Light and V, Symbol and Allegory (22 pages)
Oct 28: VI, Aesthetic Perception and VII, The Aesthetics of the Organism (19 pages)
Nov 4: VIII, Development and Decline of the Aesthetics of the Organism and IV, Theories of Art (21 pages)
Nov 11: X, Inspiration and the Status of Art and XI, Conlusion (19 pages)
A optional trip, free with a UCID, to the Art Institute of Chicago or Smart Museum will be planned to conclude the group.
A copy of Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during buisness hours at the start of the fall quarter.

The University of Chicago is famous for its graduate student reading groups, in which students pursue their own intellectual interests among friends in an informal setting. The Lumen Christi Institute supports this endeavor by sponsoring a number of graduate student reading groups each quarter. LCI provides space, hospitality, and books.
Reading groups cover the whole spectrum of ideas. Texts do not need to be explicitly Catholic, though we follow St. Paul’s injunction to attend to whatever is true, noble, right, admirable, and lovely (Phil 4:8). Groups follow LCI’s guiding principles, which…

Affirm the intellectual life as good in itself

Ask questions animated by the principle that “all knowledge forms one whole”

Transcend the ideological / political divide (i.e., programs should not be partisan in nature)

Welcome religious perspectives as part of the intellectual life (i.e., programs need not be theological in nature but conversations should be open to religious insights)

Nurture friendships, to support the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness (i.e., programs should have a social component)

Greek New Testament Reading Group
2024-11-05 13:00 - 14:00, 2024-11-12 13:00 - 14:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Joe Haydt at jhaydt@uchicago.edu. Lunch will be provided.
We will work through the Greek text of chapters eight and nine of the Gospel of Luke. Particular attention will be paid to the narrative structure of these chapters. Participants with all levels of Greek are welcome to attend. Lunch will be provided by the Lumen Christi Institute.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet every Tuesday (beginning October 15th) from 1pm – 2pm.

The University of Chicago is famous for its graduate student reading groups, in which students pursue their own intellectual interests among friends in an informal setting. The Lumen Christi Institute supports this endeavor by sponsoring a number of graduate student reading groups each quarter. LCI provides space, hospitality, and books.
Reading groups cover the whole spectrum of ideas. Texts do not need to be explicitly Catholic, though we follow St. Paul’s injunction to attend to whatever is true, noble, right, admirable, and lovely (Phil 4:8). Groups follow LCI’s guiding principles, which…

Affirm the intellectual life as good in itself

Ask questions animated by the principle that “all knowledge forms one whole”

Transcend the ideological / political divide (i.e., programs should not be partisan in nature)

Welcome religious perspectives as part of the intellectual life (i.e., programs need not be theological in nature but conversations should be open to religious insights)

Nurture friendships, to support the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness (i.e., programs should have a social component)

Non-Credit Course | Reasonably Vicious
2024-11-05 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-12 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
This event is in-person only. Intended for university students, faculty, and staff. Others interested in attending please contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. This non-credit is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.
Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject.
Reasonably Vicious, originally published in 2002, has been praised by Alasdair MacIntyre as a “distinctive, well-argued, in some key respects original and beautifully written account of practical reason.”
Philosopher Candace Vogler explores the problem of evil, with Aquinas and Anscombe as her main interlocutors. She challenges contemporary moral psychology with a nuanced perspective that ties together practical reason, practical good, and the source of wrongdoing.
Vogler offers a complex understanding of moral agency by examining how moral actions are shaped by rationality, human desires, and motivations.
Reasonably Vicious has for twenty years remained a significant contribution to contemporary ethical discourse by making traditional philosophy relevant to modern moral challenges.
Join us as Prof. Vogler takes us through her work in a 3 session non-credit course. Participants will receive a copy of Reasonably Vicious.
FORMAT
Tuesdays, Nov 5-Nov 12
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Presentation

On the Dignity of Society: Catholic Social Teaching and Natural Law
2024-11-07 17:00 - 18:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
For more information, contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org.
Co-sponsored by the Catholic University of America Press.
Russell Hittinger has long been one of the world’s leading scholars of Catholic social teaching and natural law theory. His most recent book, On the Dignity of Society, presents the fruit of his mature thinking on fundamental issues in Catholic political thought. Rooted in Thomistic philosophy and natural law theory, but also animated by his study of St. Augustine and thus sensitive to historical contexts and arenas for moral and theological disputation, Hittinger articulates the deepest principles of the Church’s social teaching and sheds considerable light on their historical applications. At this event, Profs. Mary Hirschfeld and R. H. Helmholz will discuss Hittinger’s latest work, and the event will conclude with a response from Prof. Hittinger.
On Saturday, Russ Hittinger and Scott Roniger will lead a master class titled “What Is a Society? On the Coherence of Catholic Social Thought from Pope Leo XIII to Pope Francis.“

Dante's Divine Comedy Graduate Reading Group
2024-11-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-21 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Kristóf Oltvai at oltvai@uchicago.edu. Books and dinner will be provided.
In what is perhaps the literary triumph of the European imagination, Dante Alighieri’s Commedia offers a vision of unforgettable cosmic and spiritual grandeur. Join us on this journey from the horrors of Hell, along Mount Purgatory’s breathtaking vistas, all the way into the bosom of the eternal Church Triumphant as our poet-protagonist discovers the meaning of sin, love, virtue, and redemption in conversation with his guides, Virgil and Beatrice.
This reading group will focus on two themes:
(1) Dante as a moral pedagogue – as one who leads us from accepting the righteousness of God’s judgment; through pursuing virtue as a prerequisite for beatitude; to seeing, at last, even that ethical growth as a gift of grace
(2) The communion of saints as the fabric of the universe.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Thursdays (beginning October 10th) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner. We will read 10 cantos before each meeting.

Oct 10: Inferno 1-10

Oct 24: Inferno 11-20

Nov 7: Inferno 21-30

Nov 21: Inferno 31-34, Purgatorio 1-6

Dec 5th: Purgatorio 7-17

A copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during buisness hours at the start of the fall quarter.

The University of Chicago is famous for its graduate student reading groups, in which students pursue their own intellectual interests among friends in an informal setting. The Lumen Christi Institute supports this endeavor by sponsoring a number of graduate student reading groups each quarter. LCI provides space, hospitality, and books.
Reading groups cover the whole spectrum of ideas. Texts do not need to be explicitly Catholic, though we follow St. Paul’s injunction to attend to whatever is true, noble, right, admirable, and lovely (Phil 4:8). Groups follow LCI’s guiding principles, which…

Affirm the intellectual life as good in itself

Ask questions animated by the principle that “all knowledge forms one whole”

Transcend the ideological / political divide (i.e., programs should not be partisan in nature)

Welcome religious perspectives as part of the intellectual life (i.e., programs need not be theological in nature but conversations should be open to religious insights)

Nurture friendships, to support the pursuit of truth, beauty, and goodness (i.e., programs should have a social component)

What Is a Society? On the Coherence of Catholic Social Thought from Pope Leo XIII to Pope Francis
2024-11-08 14:00 - 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students and faculty. Advanced undergraduates and others interested in participating should contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. This event is in-person only. All registrants will receive copies of the selected readings, which should be read in advance of the class. An optional wine and cheese reception will follow.
In this masterclass, we will discuss one of the most fundamental questions in Catholic social teaching: What is a society? We will track the various ways this question has been raised and answered in papal teaching from Leo XIII through the current pontificate of Pope Francis. We will see that tracing the magisterium’s treatment of the nature of society allows us to assess the coherence of modern Catholic social doctrine, and it also enables us to explore other pressing issues. Are there societies necessary for human flourishing? If so, which ones? Can we truthfully speak of an international or global society? If so, what are our obligations to such a society?
Readings:
The readings will consist of an essay by Russell Hittinger and selections from papal documents from Leo XIII to Francis.
Both the required and recommended readings will be distributed to participants via Dropbox and PDFs. If you prefer, you can pick up a printout of the readings at Gavin House (1220 E. 58th Street) Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm once they are ready. Please email David Strobach at dstrobach@lumenchristi.org to let us know you are coming.
Schedule:
1:30-2:00 | Pre-event pastries and coffee
2:00-3:20 | Session 1
3:20-3:40 | Coffee break
3:40-5:00 | Session 2
5:00-5:30 | Reception

Magis Lecture | Technology, Liturgy, and the Work of Human Hands
2024-11-14 17:00 - 19:15 | Loyola Academy McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 3455 Illinois Rd, Wilmette, IL, 60091
REGISTER HERE
5:00 Mass | 5:45 Drinks & Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:30 Lecture | 7:15 End
Co-presented by Loyola Academy.
Free and open to the public. Registration required. For questions, please contact Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org.
Technology always pushes the limits of our thinking and challenges us morally. In this presentation, we will see that our difficulty with evaluating the morality of technology is because technology sits very close to human identity. Human culture just is technology. Technology/culture is produced by us, but it in turn comes to produce human identity. If this is true, what do we make of the work of human hands as Christians?
About the Magis Series
The Magis Series on Faith and Reason is a partnership between the Lumen Christi Institute, St. Ignatius College Prep, and Loyola Academy to bring accessible yet sophisticated lectures on the Church’s intellectual tradition to the broad lay public. The event is open to everyone from high school students to retirees. Anyone who desires a lively entree into the mind of the Church is welcome and encouraged to attend; no affiliation with either high school is needed.

The Story of Catholic Education: Renewing our Schools, Renewing our Culture - A Catholic Vision of Culture in the 21st Century | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2024-11-20 18:30 - 20:30 | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series Fall 2024
A Catholic Vision of Culture in the 21st Century
REGISTRATION
(Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, please email Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org).
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
November 20th:
The Story of Catholic Education: Renewing our Schools, Renewing our Culture
Michael Naughton (University of St. Thomas)
If we do not know where we come from, it is hard to know what role we play. Dr. Michael Naughton provides a compelling narrative of Catholic education that draws upon our personal, institutional, and cosmic stories. This narrative gives us a vision both to see our current educational challenges more clearly, and to act with confidence and creativity to renew the mission and culture of our Catholic schools.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Western culture owes a great deal to Christianity, but Christianity does not require any culture, as a culture, to be built with Christian materials. This does not reflect a weakness or defect in Christianity. It is a consequence of its genius. Christianity can and should inform every human undertaking. In this series, we’ll explore various arenas where human existence is played out and discover how Christianity can transform them. Our point of departure is Remi Brague’s reflection “From What is Left Over,” which takes as its inspiration Pope Benedict’s “The Roots of European Culture.”

CALENDAR
September 25: What is Catholic Culture?
Jennifer Newsome Martin (University of Notre Dame)
October 16: Literary Traditions and the Pursuit of Truth: A Culture of Humility
Emily Austin (University of Chicago)
November 20: The Story of Catholic Education: Renewing Our Schools, Renewing Our Culture
Michael Naughton (University of St. Thomas)
February 27: Journalism and Catholic Culture – CANCELLED
JD Flynn (The Pillar)
March 20: On Work
Paul Blaschko (University of Notre Dame)
April 24: A Catholic Vision of Sports
Clark Power (University of Notre Dame)

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group
2024-11-25 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
There will be no group on 11/25.
This event is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Nicklin Fellows Program, which supports and encourages University of Chicago undergraduate students to develop their intellectual maturity. Jacob Neplokh, who designed this program, is a Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
REGISTER HERE
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky’s final masterpiece, explores the human questions of morality, freedom, reason, and belief, in the context of a captivating family drama.
Rather than merely writing a philosophical treatise, Dostoevsky produced a work of literature, thereby warranting a complete reading of the text.
This weekly dinnertime reading group spread out over two quarters seeks to accomplish that task, primarily focusing on the philosophical and theological themes above, in an enriching communal setting.
Copies of The Brothers Karamazov will be provided.
SCHEDULE:
This group will run over dinner on Mondays from 6 – 7:30pm, starting October 14th.
Winter Quarter:

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

Visit to the Monastery of the Holy Cross
2024-12-07 16:00 - 20:00 | The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 3111 South Aberdeen St. Chicago, IL 60608, Chicago, IL
REGISTER HERE
Open to current university students and faculty. Others interested in attending please contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. Transportation will be provided.
Join us 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. We will pray the Divine Office (Vespers and Compline), have dinner, and discuss a spiritual topic with prior of the monastery and University of Chicago alum Fr. Peter Funk, OSB. Following monastic tradition of oral reading during meals, selections of a text will be read during dinner and discussion will follow.
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

Winter Student Social
2025-01-09 17:00 - 19:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students at the University of Chicago. Advanced registration is encouraged. Dinner and drinks will be provided.
Come join us over pizza and drinks to kick off the start of the winter quarter. Learn more about the Lumen Christi Institute and enjoy an evening of fellowship!
The social will run from 5:00pm – 7:00pm on Thursday, January 9th at Gavin House (1220 East 58th Street).

This event is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.

Non-Credit Course | The Bible and the Big Bang
2025-01-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-21 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-18 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-25 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
This event is in-person only. Intended for university students, faculty, and staff. Others interested in attending please contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. This non-credit is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.
Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject.
What is the relation between the Bible and the Big Bang? To many, it seems natural to connect the physical beginning of the cosmos with the Abrahamic doctrine of creation, but this association of science with philosophy and theology bears critical investigation. In this course, we will take a deep dive into both the science of the early Universe and the Biblically-rooted doctrine of creation from nothing, and explore what, if any, is the relation between them. Along the way we will engage with thinkers spanning from Philo of Alexandria in the first century to Stephen Hawking in the twenty-first century, and will explore topics such as the beginning of time, something coming from ‘nothing’, fine-tuning and design.
FORMAT
Tuesdays, Jan 14-Feb 25
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Presentation
On February 11th, in lieu of the non-credit course, Fr. Adam Hincks will give our Magis Lecture, “Faith, Belief, and Knowledge” at St. Ignatius College Prep. All NCC registrants are invited to attend the reception and lecture. Transportation will be provided.

Reading Course on The Drama of Atheist Humanism
2025-01-15 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-29 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-12 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-26 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Books, dinner, and beverages will be provided.
Is dependency on God an obstacle to human freedom? Is authentic human autonomy compromised by religious faith? Nietzsche and Dostoevsky epitomize the fundamental option that confronts anyone seeking truth and the meaning of life. Henri de Lubac’s The Drama of Atheist Humanism sets out their worldviews, the consequences of which continue to reverberate in our post-modern, post-truth culture. You are invited to engage with this classic text that casts light on contemporary nihilism at odds with the persistence of religious faith.
Copies of The Drama of Atheist Humanism will be provided. They may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during business hours at the start of the spring quarter.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Wednesdays (beginning January 15th) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner.

Jan 15: Intro and Part One [Feuerbach, Nietzsche, and Kierkegaard]
Jan 29: Carry over from 1st Class and selections from Part Two [Comte]
Feb 12: Part Three [Dostoevsky as prophet; comparison with Nietzsche…]
Feb 26: Mystical Confrontations

Dante's Divine Comedy Graduate Reading Group
2025-01-16 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-01-30 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-03-13 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Kristóf Oltvai at oltvai@uchicago.edu. Books and dinner will be provided.
This winter quarter, become our traveling companion as we continue a pilgrimage of unforgettable cosmic and spiritual grandeur through Dante Alighieri’s Commedia. Having passed through the horrors of hell, our poet-protagonist turns to pondering questions of love, virtue, grace, and divine providence as he journeys along Mount Purgatory’s breathtaking vistas, through the otherworldly astral spheres, into the bosom of the eternal Church Triumphant with his trusted guides: Virgil, Beatrice, and the “last of the fathers,” Bernard of Clairvaux – who, in the mystical climax of this crowning achievement of European literature, brings Dante before the throne of the living God.
Even if you did not have the chance to participate in the fall quarter, we warmly invite you to join as we focus on two themes:
(1) Dante as a moral pedagogue – as one who leads us from accepting the righteousness of God’s judgment; through pursuing virtue as a prerequisite for beatitude; to seeing, at last, even that ethical growth as a gift of grace.
(2) The communion of saints as the fabric of the universe.

SCHEDULE:
This group will meet again bi-weekly on Thursdays (beginning January 16th) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner. We will read 10 cantos before each meeting.
A copy of Dante’s Divine Comedy will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during business hours at the start of the fall quarter.

Week 2 (Thursday, Jan. 16): Purgatorio 17-26
Week 4 (Thursday, Jan. 30): Purgatorio 27-33, Paradiso 1-3
Week 6 (Thursday, Feb. 13): Paradiso 4-13
Week 8 (Thursday, Feb. 27): Paradiso 14-23
Week 10 (Thursday, March 13): Paradiso 24-33

Eros, Order, and the Human Person: Dostoevsky and Plato on the Soul
2025-01-17 14:00 - 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students and faculty. Advanced undergraduates and others interested in participating should contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. This event is in-person only. All registrants will receive copies of the selected readings, which should be read in advance of the class. An optional wine and cheese reception will follow.
Perhaps the most fundamental themes in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov are the struggle to disclose the truth of human nature and the way in which social life must be rooted in the truth of what it is to be a person. In this master class, we will show that the members of the Karamazov family can be understood as incarnations of the various “parts” of the human soul. Thus, their family drama represents the struggle to unify the desires of the soul in pursuit of truth and the social consequences of succeeding or failing to achieve this unity. By structuring the novel around the mystery of the human person as fundamental for political life, Dostoevsky gives a Christian recapitulation of the deepest themes in Plato’s Gorgias, where Socrates and his triad of interlocutors similarly present the dimensions of human nature and show the individual and social drama inherent in the education of the soul’s eros. Further, by presenting the truth of the human person as the foundation of a healthy society, Dostoevsky anticipates one of the most important themes in the work of Pope St. John Paul II.
Readings:
The readings will consist of selections of the Brothers Karamazov and the Gorgias.
Brothers Karamazov (Picador Edition): 3-26, 71-81, 258-261, 337-339, 349, 361, 383-385, 536-538, 585-591, 623-630, 660-665, 670-673, 675-678, 681-683, 688-690, 719-720, 737-740, 766-767, 821-823

Gorgias: 447d-449a, 452d-453a, 454b-455a, 456b-457c, 459a-459c, 461b-462b, 464b-466e, 469b-d, 470d-e, 472c-473e, 481b-484d, 491a-493a, 503d-504e, 505e, 507a-508b, 510d-511a, 521d-522a
Both the required and recommended readings will be distributed to participants via Dropbox and PDFs. If you prefer, you can pick up a printout of the readings at Gavin House (1220 E. 58th Street) Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm once they are ready. Please email David Strobach at dstrobach@lumenchristi.org to let us know you are coming.
Schedule:
1:30-2:00 | pre-event pastries and coffee
2:00-3:20 | Session 1
3:20-3:40 | Coffee break
3:40-5:00 | Session 2
5:00-5:30 | Reception

Greek New Testament Reading Group
2025-01-22 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-01-29 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-02-05 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-02-12 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-02-19 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-02-26 13:00 - 14:00, 2025-03-05 13:00 - 14:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Joe Haydt at jhaydt@uchicago.edu. Lunch will be provided.
We will work through the Greek text of chapters eight and nine of the Gospel of Luke. Particular attention will be paid to the narrative structure of these chapters. Participants with all levels of Greek are welcome to attend. Lunch will be provided by the Lumen Christi Institute.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet every Wednesday (beginning January 22nd) from 1pm – 2pm.

How to Find Yourself on a Deserted Island: Ibn Tufayl's Philosophical Tale
2025-01-22 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-05 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-19 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Open to current undergraduate students at the University of Chicago. Registration is capped at 25. Students who register after capacity has been reached will be put on a waitlist. All registrants will be provided with a free copy of the text.
The Fundamental Questions Seminar and the Nicklin Fellows are made possible by the First Analysis Institute. “How to Find Yourself on a Deserted Island: Ibn Tufayl’s Philosophical Tale” is presented in partnership with the Seldon Institute.
REGISTER HERE
In the winter quarter, we will discuss Hayy Ibn Yaqzan by Ibn Tufayl (d. 1185). This philosophical tale from medieval Spain tells the story of a child who comes of age on an island, without the influence of any human society. The text explores what a thoughtful human being — with no religious or cultural tradition — might think about God, the world, and the place of humanity in it.
SCHEDULE
6:00 PM Dinner | 6:15 PM Discussion | 7:30 PM Close
The seminar will meet on Wednesday evenings from 6 to 7:30 on Jan. 22, Feb. 5, and Feb. 19 (Wednesday evenings in weeks 3, 5, and 7) at Gavin House, the home of the Lumen Christi Institute (1220 E 58th St).

Session 1: Introduction (pp. 95-103, paragraphs 1-20)
Session 2: pp. 103-134, paragraphs 21-90
Session 3: pp. 134-166, paragraphs 91-156

FUNDAMENTAL QUESTION SEMINAR
This event is part of Lumen Christi’s Fundamental Questions program, a quarterly seminar designed for undergraduate students at the University of Chicago. By fostering intellectually rigorous conversation around culturally resonant texts, we aim to allow students to experience the force of the deep existential concerns which animate our lives: “Where do my values come from? What is the good life? How can I become happy?” Our aim is not to answer such fundamental questions, but rather to equip students with the intellectual skills needed to recognize and articulate them for themselves. This group welcomes students from all religious and philosophical backgrounds because existential questions of being are of concern to all.
In addition, undergraduate students who participate in this seminar are eligible to become “Nicklin Fellows.” These fellows will have exclusive access to research and development grant funds to pursue their intellectual interests. Grants can be used to do things like the following:

Organize a reading group
Bring a speaker to campus
Organize a movie night
Develop and plan future fundamental questions seminars
Write a paper for a journal
And more!

On the Nature of Angels: Thomas Aquinas Reading Course
2025-01-23 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-06 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-20 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-03-06 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty. Food, beverages, and readings will be provided.
One of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s very last projects was a treatise On Angels. He did not finish it, but the part that he did carry out is exceptionally brilliant, even by his standards. It is a work of theology, but the title under which it came to circulate reflects how philosophical it also is: On Separate Substances. With a more historical approach than that of either Summa on the subject, it addresses such topics the immateriality of angels, their origin, their knowledge, and the distinctions among them, including the distinction between the good ones and the bad ones. Along the way, it offers some of Thomas’s most sophisticated discussions of the metaphysics of creation, hylomorphism, and participation. We will work through it at a leisurely pace.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet bi-weekly on Thursdays (beginning January 23rd) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner.
The text can be accessed online HERE in a Latin and English side-by-side. Participants who prefer a bound copy of the English text can request one from dstrobach@lumenchristi.org.

On the Consolation of Philosophy Graduate Reading Group
2025-01-23 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-01-30 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-02-06 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-02-13 20:30 - 21:30, 2025-02-20 20:30 - 21:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Drinks and Snacks will be provided.
The Consolation of Philosophy, written by Boethius while awaiting his execution at the hands of the Roman Emperor Theodoric for treason in the AD 523, concerns a man confronted with his own unjust death. Mixing poetry and prose, Greek philosophy and Christian doctrine, the goddess Philosophy appears to the despairing poet in his jail cell and consoles him, reminding him of the teaching he has forgotten in his dire situation. Boethius, one of most learned men of his generation, discusses happiness, fortune, Divine Providence, and the ascent of the soul to God. This work, one of the most influential of the Middle Ages, remains a seminal treatise on the purpose of philosophy and how we ought to live in a world which we have but very limited control over.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet weekly on Thursdays (beginning January 23rd) from 8:30pm – 9:30pm over dinner.
A copy of On the Consolation of Philosophy will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during business hours at the start of the fall quarter.

Latin Vulgate Reading Group
2025-01-24 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-01-31 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-07 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-14 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-21 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-02-28 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-03-07 10:30 - 11:30, 2025-04-11 10:30 - 11:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Emily Barnum at ebarnum@uchicago.edu. Coffee, tea, and pastries will be provided.
St. Jerome’s Latin translation of the Bible was used exclusively by the Western Church for centuries; its significance for the Roman Catholic tradition cannot be overstated. In this group, we will work through sections of the Vulgate in order to appreciate its beauty and practice our Latin. For the first session, no preparation is necessary; we will decide together which texts we will read. Please come with a desire to grow in Latin Bible knowledge with St. Jerome and friends!
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet every Friday (beginning January 24th) from 10:45am – 11:45am over coffee, tea, and pastries.

The Letters of St. Ignatius of Antioch Reading Group
2025-01-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-03 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-10 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-17 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-02-24 18:00 - 19:30 | 5554 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Garrett Ashlock at gashlock@uchicago.edu. Books and drinks will be provided. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during business hours at the start of the fall quarter. This will be held at the LCI Residence (5554 S Wooodlawn Ave).
Saint Ignatius, the second-century Bishop of Antioch, is known as a martyr, an “Apostolic Father,” and the first writer to call the church “catholic.” However, much like Saint Paul, who served as his literary model, Ignatius did not compose theological treatises, summas, or tractates but seven epistles sent to the churches in Rome and Asia Minor. They represent some of the earliest Christian writings apart from the New Testament itself and are an invaluable resource for theologians and historians alike. This reading group will journey with Ignatius to his eventual martyrdom in Rome, encountering along the way his sophisticated musings and instructions on topics like the nature of Christ, the role of the bishop, the canon of scripture, and the meaning of martyrdom. We will find in him an author who, in addition to being a portal into the early church, is remarkably personal and prescient and an expert guide to thinking about Christianity today.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Mondays (beginning January 27th) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner.
Jan 27: Letter to the Ephesians
Feb 3: Letter to the Magnesians, Letter to the Trallians
Feb 10: Letter to the Romans
Feb 17: Letter to the Philadelphians, Letter to the Smyrneans
Feb 24: Letter to Polycarp, “On Pseudo-Ignatius”

The Human Person and Biotechnology: Artificial Intelligence and its Limitations
2025-01-30 16:00 - 17:30 | Knapp Center for Biological Discovery Room 1103, 900 E 57th street, Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE for IN PERSON
REGISTER HERE for ONLINE
Artificial intelligence is increasingly interfacing with all aspects of human life, raising particular ethical challenges in medicine and biotechnology. The ethical challenges of AI must be grounded in the limits of the discipline it is applied to. Medicine has seen amazing advances in the last few decades, but these advances also raise questions about limits, especially in living patients. We must ask: What are the limits of medicine and biotech – and how does this translate into limits on the use of AI in these fields? This public panel will serve to explore what the limits in medicine and biotech are and what role the wisdom of the Christian tradition can play in forming them.
Students and faculty are also invited to join us on Friday, January 31, for a master class on Technology, Culture, and Virtue, with Professors Jeffrey Bishop. Readings will be provided to registrants

For more information, contact gzokal@lumenchristi.org
This event is cosponsored by the Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago, and the Albert Gnaegi Center at Saint Louis University. This event is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.

Technology, Culture, and Virtue
2025-01-31 14:00 - 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty. This event is in-person only. All registrants will receive copies of the selected readings via Dropbox and PDFs which should be read in advance of the class. An optional wine and cheese reception will follow.
Technology is part of our everyday lives. Despite its everydayness, there remains something mysterious about it. In this master class, we will demystify technology, engaging it as a product of culture that both challenges and enhances culture.
Readings:
Martin Heidegger – “The Question Concerning Technology”
Levis, Duganzic, and Scheirer – “Organoids are Multi-Cellular Engineered Living Systems: What is the Path Forward for Their Use in the Laboratory and Beyond?”
Bishop – What is Man that AI is Mindful of Him? and Toward a Liturgical Cosmotechnics
Conwill, Levis, and Scheirer – Chapter 1 and Chapter 6 in Virtues in Virtual Spaces
Schedule:
1:30 PM | pre-event pastries and coffee
2:00 PM | Part 1: Technology as a way of thinking
2:40 PM | Part 2: Technology as a way of doing: Engineering Living Systems
3:20 PM | BREAK
3:40 PM | Part 3: Cosmotechnics: Technology, Culture, and Human Identity
4:20 PM | Part 4: Goods, Virtues, and Virtual Spaces
Class concludes at 5 PM with a reception following.
For more information, contact gzokal@lumenchristi.org
This event is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.

Magis Lecture | Faith, Belief, and Knowledge
2025-02-11 17:00 - 19:15 | Saint Ignatius College Prep, 1076 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL
REGISTER HERE
5:00 Mass | 5:45 Drinks & Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:30 Lecture | 7:15 End
Co-presented by St. Ignatius College Prep.
Free and open to the public. Registration required. For questions, please contact Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org.
“Believers are also thinkers: in believing, they think and in thinking, they believe.” So said St. Augustine of Hippo, in contrast to our typical assumption that belief and knowledge are opposites, with belief associated with religious faith and knowledge with scientific thinking. In actual practice, though, there are many of instances of belief in science and many claims of knowledge in religion. In this talk Fr. Adam Hincks, S.J. (University of Toronto) will present knowledge and belief as interlocking rational activities and explore how they relate to religious faith.
About the Magis Series
The Magis Series on Faith and Reason is a partnership between the Lumen Christi Institute, St. Ignatius College Prep, and Loyola Academy to bring accessible yet sophisticated lectures on the Church’s intellectual tradition to the broad lay public. The event is open to everyone from high school students to retirees. Anyone who desires a lively entrée into the mind of the Church is welcome and encouraged to attend; no affiliation with either high school is needed.

Gender, The Body, and Holiness in the Middle Ages
2025-02-27 16:00 - 17:45 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Divinity School, Medieval Studies Workshop, and Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality. For more information, contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org.
This event will be a symposium on Rachel Smith’s (Villanova University) book, Excessive Saints: Gender, Narrative, and Theological Invention in Thomas of Cantimpré’s Mystical Hagiographies. Rachel Smith will outline the major themes of her work. Then, Willemien Otten (University of Chicago), Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago), and Barbara Newman (Northwestern University) will respond. Ryan Coyne (University of Chicago) will moderate the conversation.
How does the gendering of images work to render Thomas of Cantimpré’s portraits of holy women vivid, compelling, desirable? How is gender undone in his hagiographies, its expectations countered? How does gendering the saint work together with other elements of Thomas’s theology of sanctity? How is the hagiographer gendered in relation to the saint? In what ways might we see the limits of gender as a category of analysis in Thomas’s hagiographical works? How does gendering work in the context of vitae that use apophatic strategies to compose their saintly subjects?

Master Class on Augustine's City of God
2025-02-28 14:00 - 17:00 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students and faculty. Advanced undergraduates and others interested in participating should contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. This event is in-person only. All registrants will receive copies of the selected readings, which should be read in advance of the class. An optional wine and cheese reception will follow.
For the positivist political scientist, focused on polls, percentages, and prognostications, Augustine’s sprawling masterpiece—City of God (De civitate Dei)—is apt to seem a morass of mythology and otherworldly speculation. I propose, for the conduct of the master class, that we temporarily (and respectfully) shelve our inner positivist, link up with our collective political imagination, and entertain as best we can one of the great political theologies of all time. By great I do not mean unproblematic—there will be plenty of problems and perplexities—I mean greatly influential. For the first 90 minute session, we will focus on two stories of the fall, the dual invention of sin, and Augustine’s struggle not to have to concede to the impossibility of perfection, here or above. For the second session, we will turn more directly to political matters and especially to the “twilight” perspective that Augustine takes us all inescapably to have on true peace.
Jim Wetzel (Professor of Philosophy and Augustinian Endowed Chair in the Thought of St. Augustine at Villanova University) will lead this three hour master class.
Readings:
See the list of readings syllabus HERE.
Both the required and recommended readings will be distributed to participants via Dropbox and PDFs. If you prefer, you can pick up a printout of the readings at Gavin House (1220 E. 58th Street) Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm once they are ready. Please email David Strobach at dstrobach@lumenchristi.org to let us know you are coming.
Schedule:
Location: Swift Hall Common Room
1:30-2:00 | pre-event pastries and coffee
2:00-3:20 | Session 1
3:20-3:40 | Coffee break
3:40-5:00 | Session 2
5:00-5:30 | Reception

Winter Newman Forum Conference for High School Students: What Really Happens When...
2025-03-01 09:30 - 14:30 | University of Saint Mary of the Lake, 1000 East Maple Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060, Mundelein, IL
INDIVIDUAL REGISTRATION
GROUP (10+) REGISTRATION
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This seminar is cosponsored by the University of Saint Mary of the Lake at Mundelein Seminary, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office. Email newmanforum@lumenchristi.org for any questions.
What really happens when Chat-GPT does your homework? When you try to live forever? When a child is born with disabilities? When statues weep and paintings bleed? When the universe seems completely random?
On March 1, 2025, the Newman Forum’s “What Really Happens When…” conference will gather high school students at the University of St. Mary of the Lake to discover the fascinating realities of everyday and misunderstood scientific, historical, literary, and religious topics. Students will meet with presenters and discuss the wonders of science, the lessons of history, the beauty of literature, and the mysteries of faith.
The conference will have three sessions of “lightning-round” talks, where students can choose a talk based on their own interests. Then, after lunch, we will hold “Office Hours,” where students can bring their own questions to the presenters in an informal environment. We will close with Eucharistic Adoration.
To see all the talks and titles, click here.
PROGRAM

Registration
Welcome & Opening Prayer
Lightning Round Talks by invited professors and graduate students from the University of Chicago, Notre Dame, and other Universities
Lunch at the USML dining hall
Office Hours to engage with the faculty and learn about their interest, research, and school
Eucharistic Adoration

COST
$10 by Wednesday, February 5th | $20 after Wednesday, February 5th
Discounts available for groups over 10.

A Philosophy of Work, Leisure, and Catholic Culture - A Catholic Vision of Culture in the 21st Century | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2025-03-20 18:30 - 20:30 | Butterfield Country Club, 2800 Midwest Rd, Oak Brook, IL, 60523, United States
REGISTER HERE
(Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, please email Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org).
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
March 20: A Philosophy of Work, Leisure, and Catholic Culture
Paul Blaschko (University of Notre Dame)
In his well-known and influential essay, Leisure: The Basis of Culture, Josef Pieper claims that we in modern western society have come to inhabit a “world of total work,” and that an essential precondition for escape is recapturing a more ancient notion of “leisure” (in Greek: scholê, in Latin: otium).
While much has been said in support of this claim, especially in Catholic intellectual circles, the focus has typically centered on the nature of leisure, which much of this dialogue takes as the starting point. In this lecture, Prof. Blaschko, who studies the philosophy of work at Notre Dame, will proceed in a different direction, asking “What kind of culture, and what kind of work culture, would we create if we wanted to incorporate genuine leisure into our lives?”
SERIES DESCRIPTION
Western culture owes a great deal to Christianity, but Christianity does not require any culture, as a culture, to be built with Christian materials. This does not reflect a weakness or defect in Christianity. It is a consequence of its genius. Christianity can and should inform every human undertaking. In this series, we’ll explore various arenas where human existence is played out and discover how Christianity can transform them. Our point of departure is Remi Brague’s reflection “From What is Left Over,” which takes as its inspiration Pope Benedict’s “The Roots of European Culture.”
SPRING SCHEDULE
March 20: On Work
Paul Blaschko (University of Notre Dame)
April 24: A Catholic Vision of Sports
Clark Power (University of Notre Dame)
May TBD

Polarization, Social Cohesion, and the Economy
2025-03-27 17:00 - 18:30 | International House at the University of Chicago, 1414 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE for IN PERSON
REGISTER HERE for ONLINE

For more information, contact gzokal@lumenchristi.org
With polarization on the rise around the globe, scholars have pointed to a broader fragmentation of social cohesion. Economics, sociology, theology and philosophy offer different entry points for exploring these problems. How might we better understand this global moment? This marks the 5th anniversary of Pope Francis’s social encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, which sought not only to diagnose these problems, but to also offer moral responses for all people of good will. How might principles derived from Catholic social teaching, such as solidarity, human dignity, and “the preferential option for the poor” operate within local and national economies to contribute towards a greater common good?
This event is on Thursday March 27th, 2025, from 5:00 to 6:30 PM and is free and open to the public. Attendees should enter via the South Dorchester Avenue doors.
This event is cosponsored by the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO), the International House Global Voices Program,, the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago, and the Alliance for the Social Market Economy.
Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact International House in advance of the program at (773) 753-2274 or email i-house-programs@uchicago.edu

10th Conference in Economics and Catholic Social Thought: Polarization, Social Cohesion, and the Economy
2025-03-28
This conference will bring together leading thinkers in economics, theology, and ethics to explore how principles derived from Catholic social teaching, such as solidarity, human dignity, and “the preferential option for the poor”, might operate within local and national economies to contribute towards a greater common good.
Session I: 5 years after Fratelli Tutti
· David Cloutier (University of Notre Dame)
· Ursula Nothelle-Wildfeuer (University of Freiburg)
· Moderator: Fr. Martin Schlag (University of St Thomas)
Session II: The impact of the economy on social cohesion
· Nils Goldschmidt (University of Siegen and Weltethos Institute, Tübingen)
· Luigi Zingales (University of Chicago)
· Moderator: Tom Kohler (Boston College)
Session III: Global solidarity, migration, and the economy
· George Borjas (Havard Kennedy School)
· Christopher Gohl (Weltethos Institute at the University of Tübingen)
· Moderator: Kirk Doran (Notre Dame)
Session IV: Importance of solidarity within economies
· Paola Sapienza (Stanford University)
· Holger Zaborowski (University of Erfurt)
· Moderator: Andrew Yuengert (Pepperdine)
This event is cosponsored by the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization, the Becker Friedman Institute for Economics at the University of Chicago, and the Alliance for the Social Market Economy.
This event is by invitation only. For more information contact gzokal@lumenchristi.org

Non-Credit Course | Experience of Grace
2025-04-01 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-04-08 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-04-15 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
This event is in-person only. Intended for university students, faculty, and staff. Others interested in attending please contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject.
Christian faith proclaims that we are saved by divine grace. What is “grace” and how do we experience it? What is special about the Catholic understanding of grace? What major controversies have clarified the understanding of grace? This class will draw on Scripture, short autobiographical accounts, and film to show the transformative power of grace in the lives of men and women such as Paul of Tarsus, Augustine of Hippo, Ignatius of Loyola, Edith Stein, Dorothy Day, and Bernard Nathanson who were enabled by grace to flourish beyond what they could “ask or imagine” [Ephesians 3:20].

Tuesdays, April 1-May 14
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Presentation

April 1: “Immortal Longings”: The Exigence for Transcendence and the Gift of Grace.
April 8: Paul of Tarsus’s Encounter with the Risen Christ.
April 15: Do We Earn Grace? The Pelagian Controversy
April 22: Reformation Grace Controversies: Martin Luther and Ignatius of Loyola
April 29: The Sacramentality of Grace: Jesus Christ, the Church, and the Seven Sacraments
May 6: Autobiographical Testimonies to the Experience of Grace
May 13: “Don’t Call Me a Saint”: “The Long Loneliness” of Dorothy Day.

The Tragic Sense of Life in Men and Nations
2025-04-02 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-04-16 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This event is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Nicklin Fellows Program, which supports and encourages University of Chicago undergraduate students to develop their intellectual maturity. Jordan Gabriel, who designed this program, is a 2023-2024 Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
REGISTER HERE
“Wherefore my destiny? Why do I possess such a thirst for eternity?” For Spanish existentialist philosopher, Miguel de Unamuno, awareness of these two fundamentally human questions is to possess a “tragic sense of life.” By understanding it, we find the answers to our lives, navigating the conflict between faith and reason, our longing for immortality, and the interplay of faith, hope, and love in the tragicomic nature of life itself.
SCHEDULE:
SESSION 1, April 2nd
Chapter I: “The Man of Flesh and Bone” (Pages 4-23) – This chapter sets the stage for Unamuno’s exploration of the human condition, focusing on the conflict between faith and reason.’
(Optional) Chapter 2: “The Point of Departure” (Pages 24-42) – This chapter delves deeper into Unamuno’s exploration of the human condition and sets a strong foundation for understanding his tragic sense of life.
SESSION II, April 16th
Chapter V: “The Hunger for Immortality” (Pages 43-64) – In this chapter, Unamuno discusses the human desire for immortality and the existential anguish that arises from our awareness of mortality.
(Optional) Chapter VII: “Love, Pain, Compassion, and Personality” (Pages 146-71) – This chapter further explores Unamuno’s existential themes, focusing on the interplay between love, suffering, and the development of personal identity.
SESSION III, April 30th
Chapter IX: “Faith, Hope, and Charity” (Pages 204-235) – This chapter explores Unamuno’s views on religion and the role of faith, hope, and love in the human experience.
SESSION IV, May 7th
Chapter XI: “Don Quixote in the Contemporary European Tragi-Comedy” (Pages 322-360) – Unamuno uses the figure of Don Quixote to illustrate his existentialist ideas and the tragicomic nature of life.
Viewing of While at War (Mientras dure la guerra)

On the Nature of Angels: Thomas Aquinas Reading Course
2025-04-03 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students and faculty. Food, beverages, and readings will be provided.
One of Saint Thomas Aquinas’s very last projects was a treatise On Angels. He did not finish it, but the part that he did carry out is exceptionally brilliant, even by his standards. It is a work of theology, but the title under which it came to circulate reflects how philosophical it also is: On Separate Substances. With a more historical approach than that of either Summa on the subject, it addresses such topics the immateriality of angels, their origin, their knowledge, and the distinctions among them, including the distinction between the good ones and the bad ones. Along the way, it offers some of Thomas’s most sophisticated discussions of the metaphysics of creation, hylomorphism, and participation. We will work through it at a leisurely pace.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet bi-weekly on Thursdays (beginning April 3rd) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner.
The text can be accessed online HERE in a Latin and English side-by-side. Participants who prefer a bound copy of the English text can request one from dstrobach@lumenchristi.org.

Faculty Colloquium on The Uses of Idolatry
2025-04-04 09:00 - 12:30
This event is a colloquium on William T. Cavanaugh’s (DePaul University) book The Uses of Idolatry, which offers a sustained and interdisciplinary argument that worship has not waned in our supposedly “secular” world. Rather, the target of worship has changed, migrating from the explicit worship of God to the implicit worship of things. Cavanaugh examines modern idolatries and the ways in which humans become dominated by our own creations.
J. Michelle Molina (Northwestern University) and Fr. Patrick Gilger, S.J. (Loyola University Chicago) will offer remarks on the book followed by responses from William Cavanaugh. The event will be moderated by Scott Moringiello (DePaul University).
This event is by invitation only. If you would like more information or would like to request to attend, please contact Geoffrey Zokal at gzokal@lumenchristi.org.

The Prince and Father of Music: Palestrina at 500
2025-04-04 17:00 - 19:20 | Loyola Academy McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 3455 Illinois Rd, Wilmette, IL, 60091
REGISTER HERE
The quincentennial of the birth of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina is an occasion to recognize the outstanding legacy of this talented musician not only in realm of sacred music but also in the history of composition more broadly. In an 80-minute concert presentation without intermission, Schola Antiqua explores an array of Palestrina’s sacred choral works, ranging from hymn and psalm settings to motets and spiritual madrigals. In-concert commentary illuminates Palestrina’s central role as conservator of Catholic plainchant and the ‘perfect art’ of imitative counterpoint.
Schedule:
5:00-5:30pm Reception
5:45-7:15pm Concert
7:15-7:20pm Compline
7:20pm End

God-Talk: The Heart of Judaism Reading Course
2025-04-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-04-14 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Dinner will be provided.
David Novak, one of the most distinguished Jewish theologians in the world, offers a new interpretation of how the Jewish people and the Jewish tradition talk about God. What does the Torah say about God? How does the God of the Torah talk about Himself? And how does the God of the Torah talk about human beings? The book traces the history and theology of God-talk in Judaism, and how it remains relevant, now more than ever, and speaks directly to contemporary issues such as human rights.
In this reading course over dinner, Fr. Andrew Summerson (University of Toronto) will lead a group through Novak’s book at a leisurely pace. Syllabus forthcoming
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet weekly on Mondays (beginning April 7th) from 6:00pm – 7:30pm over dinner.
A copy of God-Talk: The Heart of Judaism will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during business hours at the start of the fall quarter.

April 7th:

Chapter 1: “Introduction: Speaking on Strange Ground”

April 14th:

Chapter 2: “What is Jewish Theology?: Two Views of Jewish Theology?

April 21st:

Chapter 3: “The Inner Life of God: God’s Thoughts”

April 28th:

Chapter 4 and 5: “Seeing God: Desiring the Vision of God” and “Natural Law and Natural Theology: Two Approaches to Natural Law”

Confederacy of Dunces Graduate Reading Group
2025-04-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Drinks and Snacks will be provided.
Take a journey with us through the vibrant streets of New Orleans’ French Quarter as we read A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole’s masterpiece of humor and a character study of one of the giants of literature, Ignatius J. Reilly. In this group, we will explore the book’s cadre of distinctive characters and Toole’s synthesis of New Orleans’ contradictory gumbo of vice, race, and French Catholicism. We hope we’ll be able to balance the belly laughs with the thoughtful insights the book offers into the absurdity of the modern world, the struggle to live an authentic life, and whether a Medieval tome works better as a guide to living a good life or a doorstop.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet weekly on Thursdays (beginning April 10th) from 8:00pm – 9:00pm over drinks and snacks.
A copy of the book will be provided to all participants. The reading may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during business hours at the start of the fall quarter.

4/10: Chapter 1: pp. 1-27
4/15: Chapters 2-3: pp. 28-81
4/24: Chapters 4-6: pp. 82-151
5/1: Chapters 7-9: pp. 152-234
5/8: Chapters 10-11: pp. 235-302
5/15: Chapters 12-14: pp. 303-394
