Our Events

Rémi Brague (Sorbonne, University of Munich) Cosponsored by the France Chicago Center If the contrary of civilization is barbarism, we have to take seriously the etymology of the latter word, i.e. the inability to engage in a conversation. Conversation presupposes some continuity. First, with the past that may have something to teach us (which is the meaning of “conservatism”), then with nature that is not a mere quarry or pantry, but has something to tell us as well, and finally with God as creator in the Logos.

Rémi Brague (Sorbonne; University of Munich) REGISTER HERE This master class is open to all graduate and undergraduate students, including non-University of Chicago students. Copies of the readings will be provided. Space is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Franzen. The thin pamphlet (1963) summarizes Hans Urs von Bathasar’s (1905-1988) masterpiece The Glory of the Lord: A Theological Aesthetics (1961-1969). The booklet is compact, but rich. As a consequence, the reading is arduous, but extremely rewarding. After a sketch of the evolution of Christian theology in its two main epochs, von Balthasar brings...

Saturday, October 24: 8:00PM St. James Chapel, Quigley Center 103 E. Chestnut, Chicago, IL $25 General/$10 Student TICKETS Friday, October 30, 7:30PM St. Joseph Chapel, University of St. Francis 500 Wilcox St., Joliet, IL $10 General/$7 Student TICKETS For more information visit the Schola Antiqua website.

Burcht Pranger (University of Amsterdam) REGISTER HERE Open to current University of Chicago students. Dinner will be served. Readings will be provided for all participants. Others interested in attending, please contact us. This master class seminar will cover three major works by Anselm of Canterbury: Proslogion, Cur deus homo and theFirst Meditation. The discussion will revolve around the question: how to read Anselm properly and comprehensively? Most often Anselm’s discourse in his various works is compartmentalized into either rational, theological or meditative text blocks. By focusing on texts that differ as to their outlook, we will try at once to honor the differences...

cosponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop The meaning of Anselm’s famous ‘sola ratione’ or ‘by reason alone’ has been the subject of much debate. Is it a principle of reason or a principle of faith? This lecture will argue that the sola ratione instead operates as a poetical principle in Anselm’s work at large, steering his various writings –treatises, meditations, prayers, and letters – into a comprehensive oeuvre. As a result of this poetic use of sola ratione, his work is characterized by a certain playfulness. However lofty questions of divine absence and presence may be, the sola ratione guarantees...

REGISTER HERE Cosponsored by Calvert House. Open to current university students. Others interested in attending please contact info@lumenchristi.org. Join us for an evening of prayer with Benedictine Monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross. Students will participate in the prayer of the Divine Office (Vespers and Compline), and have dinner and discussion with Fr. Peter Funk, O.S.B., prior of the monastery and alumnus of the University of Chicago. To find out more about liturgy at the monastery, go HERE. SCHEDULE 4:00pm   Meet at Gavin House (1220 E. 58th St.) 4:30pm   Depart from Hyde Park 5:00pm   Arrive at the Monastery, welcome by Fr....

Reinhard Hütter (Duke University) REGISTER HERE This master class is open to all graduate and undergraduate students, including non-University of Chicago students. Space is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. If you have any questions, please contact Mark Franzen. This three-hour seminar will focus on the one of Newman’s works, which he himself called “the best, not the most perfect, book I have done.” The Oxford University Sermons are the Anglican precursor and still the best introduction to the Catholic Newman’s masterwork, The Grammar of Assent. Sermons 10-15 constitute a precis of Newman’s mature theory of religious belief. In these sermons he...

Cosponsored by the Christian Legal Society Recent controversy over the HHS contraceptive mandate and the participation of faith-based organizations in federal grant programs has raised questions about religious freedom in the American legal and political systems. This discussion will consider the perceived conflict between civil rights and religious freedom and the roles of Congress, the judiciary, and administrative agencies for how religious freedom will be understood, applied, and protected in the future.

CLICK HERE for a recent article and photos from this event. Timothy Cardinal Dolan (Archbishop of New York) Robert Louis Wilken (University of Virginia) Join us for a reception in celebration of the newly released book A Godly Humanism: Clarifying the Hope that Lies Within (CUA Press, 2015) by the late Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.  This occasion will include a reception and remarks by His Eminence, Timothy Cardinal Dolan (Archbishop of New York) and Robert Louis Wilken (Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia). Finished by Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I. nine days before his death, A Godly Humanismoffers an account of the Catholic intellectual...