Lumen Christi Institute

The Closing of the American Mind and the Death of Philosophy
2024-02-14 19:00 - 20:30 (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 20. 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.
REGISTER HERE
The American university is premised on being open to a wide range of people and ideas, the place “where community and friendship can exist in our times.”

But has the university perverted openness into a “surrender to whatever is most powerful”?
Is openness a virtue, “that invites us to the quest for knowledge and certitude?”
Or does openness “result in conformism”?
Is “what is advertised as a great opening …a great closing,” where indifference, ignorance, and relativism have closed the American mind to the pursuit of truth?

These questions animated Allan Bloom in his 1987 bestseller, The Closing of the American Mind. A longtime member of the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought with decades of experience teaching undergraduates, Bloom lambasted the intellectual and spiritual state of American higher education. From rock music to the sexual revolution, from Nietzsche and Max Weber to concepts like “my values” and “the self,” Bloom indicted the causes for the American undergraduate’s flat soul. The only solution was a return to a Great Books education guided by Plato’s Republic.
We will read selections from The Closing of the American Mind to debate some of Bloom’s most contentious claims. Was what he said of undergraduates true in 1987? Is it true now? Has the university been corrupted by relativism? Do the Great Books provide a way out?
John W. Boyer will join us for the first session. Boyer is the Senior Advisor to the President and the Martin A. Ryerson Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago. He served as Dean of the College from 1992 until 2023.
SCHEDULE:
6:00 PM Dinner | 6:15 PM Discussion | 7:30 PM Close
We encourage you to read the book in its entirety. Come ready to discuss at least the selections below. Books are provided.
January 17th:

Intro + Part I: The Clean Slate, Books, and Relationships (Self-Centeredness, Equality, Race, and Sex)

January 31st:

Part II: The German Connection, Values, The Nietzcheanization of the Left, and Our Ignorance

February 14th:

Part III: The Sixties and the Student & the University

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!

White Mass and Lecture for Medical Professionals
2024-02-17 17:00 - 19:30 | Bond Chapel & Swift Hall, 1025 E. 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This event is free and open to the public.
The Lumen Christi Institute, Calvert House, and St. Thomas the Apostle Parish are pleased to announce their first annual White Mass and Lecture.
Mass will be held at Bond Chapel at the University of Chicago. The celebrant will be Fr. Carlos Rodriguez.
What is a White Mass?
The tradition of the White Mass in the United States finds its origins in the development of the national Catholic Medical Association in the early 1930s. From its inception, the medical profession has been understood as a healing profession, a way in which Christ’s work continues upon the earth. Moreover, since the apparitions at Lourdes in the late 19th century, the plight of the infirmed- and those who care for them- have taken on renewed appreciation in participating in the mysteries of Christ’s own life. The White Mass, so named by the color worn by those in the healing profession of medicine, gathers healthcare professionals under the patronage of St. Luke to ask God’s blessing upon the patient, doctor, nurse, and caregiver alike.
Lecture by Sr. Teresa Mary Kozlovski, RSM, MD
“Catholic Health Care: Serving as Instruments of God’s Mercy”
During our training as health care practitioners, we learn about the body, what is broken, and how to fix it. Yet, in our day-to-day practice in medicine, we interact with human persons, not bodies. How does our Catholic faith enlighten this reality and the practice of medicine? This lecture will explore topics including the dignity of each person made in the image and likeness of God, the importance of the development of our own interior life, the mercy of God, and how incorporating these aspects of the faith lends to comprehensive health care and our service in medicine as instruments of God’s mercy.
Schedule
4:00 pm – Mass at Bond Chapel (1025 E. 58th St.)
5:00 pm – Reception and Networking at Swift Hall (1025 E. 58th St.)
5:45 pm – Lecture at Swift Hall (1025 E. 58th St.)
6:30 pm – End
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. The opinions expressed in this program are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Non-Credit Course | The Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church: Doors to the Sacred
2024-02-20 19:00 - 20:30 | 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.
The Catholic Faith is profoundly sacramental. The Church recognizes seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Marriage, and Holy Orders. These sacred actions contain and confer Christ’s healing, transformative Grace. This class will highlight the theological meaning, Biblical basis, historical development, and our own personal experiences of the sacraments.
The reality of the sacraments raises a number of complicated questions that this course will answer:

Why baptize infants? Can the unbaptized be saved?

Why confess one’s sins to a priest? Can a priest ‘forgive’ you?

What even is a ‘priest’? Why is Holy Orders conferred only on men?

Why should a sick person be anointed?

Is marriage really ‘indissoluble’? How does an annulment differ from divorce?

How can the Eucharist be more than bread and wine? What does the term ‘transubstantiation’ mean?

And more!

SCHEDULE
January 9: The Biblical basis of Sacramentality, Sacraments, and Sacramentals
January 16: The Sacraments of Initiation: Baptism, Confirmation and Eucharist
January 23: The Eucharist: “The Sacrament of Sacraments”
January 30: The Eucharist and the Eucharistic Liturgy: “Source and summit of the entire Christian life.”
February 6: Sacraments of Healing: Reconciliation [aka Penance] and the Anointing of the Sick
February 13: Sacrament of Marriage
February 20: Sacrament of Holy Orders
FORMAT
Tuesdays, January 9-February 20
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Presentation

Reconciling Justice: A Community Conversation on Criminal Justice Reform
2024-02-21 18:00 - 22:00
This event is by invitation only. For more information, contact ccjrn@lumenchristi.org.
An event for lawyers, legal scholars, judges, ministry leaders, social workers, clergy, and people who have been directly impacted by the criminal justice system to unite for dinner, plenary panel conversation, and round-table dialogue around criminal justice reform. The evening’s purpose is to inspire hope, healing, and ideas on how to improve the legal system informed by religious wisdom and the experience of those directly affected by our criminal justice system. A mass preceding the program will be celebrated by Cardinal Blase Cupich.
This event will begin with a plenary conversation featuring Cardinal Blase Cupich, Sherrif Tom Dart, Jeanne Bishop, Joseph Mapp, Eric Anderson, Lisa Davis, and Judge Erica Reddick
Co-sponsored by the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at Loyola University Chicago, the Hinda Institute, Kolbe House Jail Ministry of the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago, the Athenaeum, the Loyola University Chicago School of Law, and Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation.
Click for more details about the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network.
The Organizing Committee of “Reconciling Justice: A Community Conversation on Criminal Justice Reform” comprise of:

Judge Thomas More Donnelly, Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network
Fr. David Kelly, C.PP.S., Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
Mark McCombs, Kolbe House Jail Ministry
Pamela Rubeo, First Vice President, Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago
Joseph Mapp, Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
Emily Cortina, Kolbe House Jail Ministry
Justice Ramon Ocasio
Judge Sonia Gutierrez Antolec
Judge Erica L. Reddick
Rahmiel Hayyim, The Hinda Institute
Jeanne Bishop
Megan McGrath, Secretary, Catholic Lawyers Guild of Chicago
Kimberly Lymore, St. Sabina Catholic Church
Fr. David Jones, St. Benedict the African
Michael Le Chevallier, The Lumen Christi Institute

Viewing of Martin Scorsese's Silence
2024-02-21 19:00 - 23:15 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This event is co-produced by the Critical Understanding of Liturgies & Traditions (CULT), a student RSO, and the Lumen Christi Institute, the home for the Catholic intellectual tradition at the University of Chicago. The movie will be screened at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St), directly across from the Booth School of Business.
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. Francesco Rahe, who designed this program, is a 2023-2024 Nicklin Fellow.
REGISTER HERE
The place is Japan. The year is 1670. Catholicism has been rendered illegal; the remaining faithful are in hiding. Nevertheless, Jesuit missionaries still travel there in secret from Europe–and one, the famously pious Father Ferreira, has just publicly given up his faith. Two Portuguese priests, students of Father Ferreira, set sail. They hope to sustain the Japanese Catholic community, to find the path to sainthood, and, perhaps most of all, to uncover why their beloved teacher apostatised.
Published in 1966, Shusaku Endo’s Silence quickly became considered one of the greatest Catholic novels of the 20th century. It received the Tanizaki Prize and won its author numerous comparisons to Graham Greene. It examines questions relating to colonization, self-sacrifice, and, the problem of evil.
On February 21st, members of the University of Chicago community will interact with this fascinating period of Catholic history through the 2016 Martin Scorsese film adaptation of Endo’s novel.
Dinner will be provided, as well as an introductory talk by Dr. Bruce Winkelman. The first 10 students to arrive will receive free copies of the Endo novel.
SCHEDULE:
6:00-6:30 pm: Dinner
6:30-7:00 pm: Introduction From Dr. Winkelman
7:00-9:50 pm: Screening of Martin Scorsese’s Silence
9:50-10:15 pm: Optional Post-Event Conversation Over Cookies
Dr. Bruce Winkelman, Divinity School Teaching Fellow at UChicago, is a historian of religions whose work spans theory and method in the study of religion, the history and historiography of Japanese religions, and the invention of Buddhist traditions across East Asia.

Dubliners Graduate Reading Group
2024-02-22 21:00 - 22:00 | 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. Others interested in participating should contact Rose Johnson at rodojo23@uchicago.edu. Books and drinks will be provided.
What do choice and responsibility look like for the modern person? How much are individuals determined by their families, their societies, and their religions? What freedom can be found within or outside these relationships? James Joyce addresses these questions and many others in his collection of short stories, Dubliners.
Though rich and nuanced like all of Joyce’s writing, these short stories present a straightforward introduction to Joyce’s writing style and to modern literary concepts of meaning. Join us at Gavin House on Thursdays at 8pm for drinks and conversation as we venture into the complicated and tragic world of one of the 20th century’s most brilliant authors!
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Thursdays (beginning January 18th) from 8:00pm – 9:00pm over drinks.

January 18: Introduction to Joyce and “Evaline” (5 pages)
January 25: “After the Race”” (6 pages)
February 1: “The Boarding House” (7 pages)
February 8: “A Mother” (12 pages)
February 15: “A little Cloud” (14 pages)
February 22: “Grace” (21 pages)

A copy of Dubliners 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 winter 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)

This quarter the reading groups will cover: The American Gothic, James Joyce’s Dubliners, Greek New Testament, and Latin Vulgate.

American Gothic Graduate Reading Group
2024-02-26 14:00 - 15:00 | 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. Others interested in participating should contact Sam Landon at snlandontn@gmail.com. Books, lunch, and beverages will be provided.
Fear. Rot. The inescapability of the past. These and more are the themes of Gothic literature. Join us Mondays from 1-2pm at Gavin House for a discussion of Edgar Allen Poe, Ambrose Bierce, and Flannery O’Connor. Lunch provided.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Mondays (beginning January 22nd) from 1:00pm – 2:00pm over lunch.

January 22: “The Raven,” Poe
January 29: “Tell-Tale Heart,” Poe
Feburary 5: “Moonlit Road,” Bierce
Feburary 12: “Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” Bierce
Feburary 19: “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” O’Connor
February 26: “Parker’s Back,” O’Connor

Copies of The Best of Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart, The Raven, The Cask of Amontillado, and 30 Others, Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce, and The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor will be provided. They may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during buisness hours at the start of the winter 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)

This quarter the reading groups will cover: The American Gothic, James Joyce’s Dubliners, Greek New Testament, and Latin Vulgate.

Catholic Women in the Arts and Sciences: An Underappreciated Tradition - Faith and Reason | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2024-03-20 18:30 - 20:30 | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series returns in 2024 to continue its series on
“Faith and Reason as the Two Wings:
The History and Enduring Importance of Catholic Philosophy“
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:
Catholic Women in the Arts and Sciences: An Underappreciated Tradition
Bronwen McShea (Professor of History, Augustine Institute)
While many people are aware of the important intellectual and literary contributions of modern Catholic women such as St. Edith Stein and Flannery O’Connor, it is not widely appreciated that there is a long line of Catholic women scholars, scientists, and writers stretching back to the Patristic era.
In this talk, Dr. McShea will draw from her forthcoming book, Women of the Church, and highlight a range of brilliant and faithful women from the monastic, humanistic, and university traditions who can inspire Catholic intellectual and life and culture today.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
In his 2006 Regensburg Address, Pope Benedict XVI argued that “it is necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian Faith.”
Christianity shared a sense of “reason” with Greek philosophy. Jesus himself was the Word (Logos), the Greek word for reason and speech. St. Paul himself reminded us that Christian worship is “reasonable worship” (logike latreia) (Rom. 12:1), and while love “transcends” knowledge and can perceive more than thought alone, it remains the love of the God who is Logos (Eph. 3:19).
Faith and reason support one another; however, many have tried to tear them asunder. The Reformation tried to get to a “pure” faith without reason; modern atheism has claimed that nothing can be “known” about God. When faith and reason are pulled apart, we lose sight of God and of ourselves, since we are made to know and love God.
In this year’s WSCCS, we will challenge the all-too-common assumption that the Church’s faith stands in opposition to reason. Join us as we examine the philosophical, monastic, and artistic geniuses who have borne the Church aloft through their engagement and enrichment of worldly wisdom.
Each month, we will gather at Ruth Lake Country Club. Over dinner, we will listen to a sophisticated yet accessible lecture offered by accomplished academics. The lectures will introduce insights from the treasure house of the Church’s intellectual tradition and their bearing on contemporary themes and issues, presenting faithful Catholic teaching in a way that avoids the acrimony of the culture wars.
CALENDAR
September 13: Golden Calf: Philosophy and Theology in the Early Church
Kenneth Calvert (Professor of History, Director of the Oxford Program, Hillsdale College)
October 4: The One Thing Necessary: Monasticism and Philosophy
Prior Peter Funk, OSB (Monastery of the Holy Cross)
November 9: Integrity, Creation, and a Restless Heart: Augustine’s Contribution to Philosophy
Jared Ortiz (Professor of Theology, Founder and Executive Director of the St. Benedict Institute, Hope College)
March 20: Catholic Women in the Arts and Sciences: An Underappreciated Tradition
Bronwen McShea (Professor of History, Augustine Institute)
April 10: Is Free Will an Illusion? St. Thomas Aquinas and Human Action
Fr. Stephen Brock (Professor of Medieval Philosophy, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross)
May 15: The Bond of All Creation: Renaissance Humanism and the Incarnate Word
Matthew Gaetano (Professor of History, Hillsdale College)
MARCH SPEAKER
Bronwen McShea

The Quandaries of Biotechnology: Theory and Practice
2024-03-22 13:00 - 18:00 | BSLC 115, 924 E 57th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This event is free and open to the public. This event is cosponsored by The Program on Medicine and Religion at the University of Chicago, and The Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics at Saint Louis University. For more information, contact info@lumenchristi.org.
How are new developments between biotechnology and big data including gene editing, brain-computer interfacing, and artificial intelligence changing our vision of what it means to be human? How does this bear in the ethical practices of medicine and research at the lab bench and at the bedside? How might an integrative vision of ethics contribute to this conversation? Are there alternative social imaginaries in which we can think about different technologies?
In this day-long spring symposium, scholars from the University of Chicago and the Chicagoland area are invited to discuss how biotechnology is shaping anthropology and whether the application of new biomedical technologies reflects an adequate understanding of human personhood.
This event is open to the public and seeks to engage particularly with current students, faculty, and medical practitioners interested in the intersection between science, medicine, technology, and theology. Publication of this program’s proceedings is a possibility. Participants are invited to return for a second symposium in fall 2024 on biotechnology and artificial intelligence.
Schedule
1:00 – 2:30 PM CT – Session 1
“Medicine Within the Technological Enframing” – Kyle Karches (Saint Louis University)
“The Grand Inquisitor, Mustapha Mond, and the Attack on the Transcendentals” – Stephen Meredith (University of Chicago)
Q&A, Moderated by Jeffrey Bishop (Saint Louis University)
3:00 – 4:30 PM CT – Session 2
“Our Biotechnologies, Ourselves: Reflections on Innovation, Identity, and Culture” – Lesley Rice (Pontifical John Paul II Institute)
“Beyond Ethics: A Humanities Perspective on (Bio)technology” – Silvianne Aspray (Cambridge University)
Q&A, Moderated by Jeffrey Bishop (Saint Louis University)
5:00 – 6:00 PM CT – Keynote Lecture
“Populations, Persons, and Precision Medicine: The Ethics of Emerging Information Technologies in Genetics and Medicine” – Paul Scherz (University of Virginia)
You can view abstracts and presenter details here

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.

Grief, Suffering, and "The Art of Dying" in a Plague: Cyprian’s De Mortalitate
2024-03-23 12:00 - 15:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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. Reception will follow.
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.
The ancient Stoics rejected grief as a passion. Was it inhuman to grieve? Or was it inhuman to suppress this natural human affect? What about longing for lost loved ones or the fear of death? To what extent did early Christian teaching modify or reject the Stoics? And how does one approach the possibility of loss and death today, in a contemporary medical context that has prioritized statistical analysis and abstraction in lieu of concern for the concrete ‘other’?
Cyprian of Carthage’s sermon Mortality, delivered in the middle of a devastating plague in the third century, provides an early Christian vision of how to face death, which both takes up and transforms ancient Stoic approaches to death. This seminar-style discussion will explore these themes as well as its call to care for others despite risk. It will explore these insights in relation to today’s dramatically changed medical context in which care for the human person risks being occluded by statistical abstraction.
Readings:
Cyprian’s “Mortality” from Treatises in CUA’s Fathers of the Church Series (pp. 193-221).
Secondary:
Scherz “Grief, Death, and Longing in Stoic and Christian Ethics” Journal of Religious Ethics 45: 1 (2017), 7–28.
Scherz, “Chapter 10: Caring for the Statistical Other” in The Ethics of Precision Medicine: The Problems of Prevention in Healthcare (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, Forthcoming).
Both the required and recommended readings will be distributed to participants via Dropbox. 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.
Discussion Questions:
According to Cyprian, how should Christians approach death? How is this similar and/or different from contemporary stances toward death?
For Cyprian, how does a proper attitude toward death affect our actions and feelings toward others? How does it affect our emotions for loved ones who have died?
Schedule:
11:30-12:00 | Optional pre-event lunch
12:00-1:20 | Session 1
1:20-1:40 | Coffee break
1:40-3:00 | Session 2
3:00-3:30 | Reception

Magis Lecture | Do We Know More than the Apostles? Or, Do Doctrines Develop?
2024-04-04 17:00 - 19:15 | Loyola Academy McGrath Family Performing Arts Center, 3455 Illinois Rd, Wilmette, IL, 60091
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.
Everyone realizes that some aspects of the Church have changed in the half-century since the Second Vatican Council. But has Catholic teaching actually changed? Moreover, can Catholics say that our understanding of the faith grows and deepens over time, that it develops? If we say “yes”, a simple but vital question follows: Can we say that we know more than the Apostles?
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.

Brideshead Revisited Graduate Reading Group
2024-04-04 20:00 - 2024-05-09 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. Others interested in participating should contact Jack Drury at jackdrury@uchicago.edu. Books and drinks will be provided.
What do choice and responsibility look like for the modern person? How much are individuals determined by their families, their societies, and their religions? What freedom can be found within or outside these relationships? James Joyce addresses these questions and many others in his collection of short stories, Dubliners.
Though rich and nuanced like all of Joyce’s writing, these short stories present a straightforward introduction to Joyce’s writing style and to modern literary concepts of meaning. Join us at Gavin House on Thursdays at 8pm for drinks and conversation as we venture into the complicated and tragic world of one of the 20th century’s most brilliant authors!
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Thursdays (beginning January 18th) from 8:00pm – 9:00pm over drinks.

January 18: Introduction to Joyce and “Evaline” (5 pages)
January 25: “After the Race”” (6 pages)
February 1: “The Boarding House” (7 pages)
February 8: “A Mother” (12 pages)
February 15: “A little Cloud” (14 pages)
February 22: “Grace” (21 pages)

A copy of Dubliners 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 winter 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)

This quarter the reading groups will cover: The American Gothic, James Joyce’s Dubliners, Greek New Testament, and Latin Vulgate.

Dante the Theologian: Ken Woodward Interviews Denys Turner
2024-04-10 12:00 - 13:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
12:00 Welcome, Blessing, Lunch is Served | 12:30 Interview | 1:30 End
REGISTRATION OPENS ON MARCH 1
The dress code for the University Club can be consulted here, and parking information here.
For questions, please email Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org.
All agree: Dante Alighieri was a great poet. But Denys Turner insists that he was also a great theologian—and that what makes his theology great is his poetry. Moreover, Turner argues, Dante was able to write his masterpiece only after he had personally journeyed through Hell and Purgatory like Dante, the pilgrim character in The Divine Comedy. Is this the case?
Ken Woodward, former Newsweek religion editor and Lumen Christi’s Writer-in-Residence, will press these questions during a luncheon interview with Denys Turner, to help us learn about Dante’s pilgrimage in hope, and appreciate his poetry as an entry point into theological discovery.

Is Free Will an Illusion? St. Thomas Aquinas and Human Action - Faith and Reason | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2024-04-10 18:30 - 20:30 | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series returns in 2024 to continue its series on
“Faith and Reason as the Two Wings:
The History and Enduring Importance of Catholic Philosophy“
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
April 10:
Is Free Will an Illusion? St. Thomas Aquinas and Human Action
Fr. Stephen Brock (Professor of Medieval Philosophy, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross)
Americans prize freedom, of all kinds. Yet many today are being persuaded that there is no such thing as free will. It is a serious issue. If you are Christian, then you believe in free will. But can you answer the arguments against it? Can you even say with precision what it is? Saint Thomas Aquinas can. He can also help greatly to answer those arguments and to do so in a way that believers and nonbelievers alike can understand.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
In his 2006 Regensburg Address, Pope Benedict XVI argued that “it is necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian Faith.”
Christianity shared a sense of “reason” with Greek philosophy. Jesus himself was the Word (Logos), the Greek word for reason and speech. St. Paul himself reminded us that Christian worship is “reasonable worship” (logike latreia) (Rom. 12:1), and while love “transcends” knowledge and can perceive more than thought alone, it remains the love of the God who is Logos (Eph. 3:19).
Faith and reason support one another; however, many have tried to tear them asunder. The Reformation tried to get to a “pure” faith without reason; modern atheism has claimed that nothing can be “known” about God. When faith and reason are pulled apart, we lose sight of God and of ourselves, since we are made to know and love God.
In this year’s WSCCS, we will challenge the all-too-common assumption that the Church’s faith stands in opposition to reason. Join us as we examine the philosophical, monastic, and artistic geniuses who have borne the Church aloft through their engagement and enrichment of worldly wisdom.
Each month, we will gather at Ruth Lake Country Club. Over dinner, we will listen to a sophisticated yet accessible lecture offered by accomplished academics. The lectures will introduce insights from the treasure house of the Church’s intellectual tradition and their bearing on contemporary themes and issues, presenting faithful Catholic teaching in a way that avoids the acrimony of the culture wars.
CALENDAR
September 13: Golden Calf: Philosophy and Theology in the Early Church
Kenneth Calvert (Professor of History, Director of the Oxford Program, Hillsdale College)
October 4: The One Thing Necessary: Monasticism and Philosophy
Prior Peter Funk, OSB (Monastery of the Holy Cross)
November 9: Integrity, Creation, and a Restless Heart: Augustine’s Contribution to Philosophy
Jared Ortiz (Professor of Theology, Founder and Executive Director of the St. Benedict Institute, Hope College)
March 20: Catholic Women in the Arts and Sciences: An Underappreciated Tradition
Bronwen McShea (Professor of History, Augustine Institute)
April 10: Is Free Will an Illusion? St. Thomas Aquinas and Human Action
Fr. Stephen Brock (Professor of Medieval Philosophy, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross)
May 15: The Bond of All Creation: Renaissance Humanism and the Incarnate Word
Matthew Gaetano (Professor of History, Hillsdale College)
APRIL SPEAKER
Fr. Stephen Brock

Dante and a Poet’s Journey in Hope
2024-04-11 18:00 - 19:30 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE
This event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org. A wine and cheese reception will follow.
This event is cosponsored by the University of Chicago Committee on Social Thought, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, and the Medieval Studies Workshop.
Often praised for its evocative treatment of heaven and hell, Dante’s Commedia is a significant work of theology. Denys Turner will explain how Dante accomplishes by means of poetry what the formal theological treatises of the Middle Ages demonstrate through prosaic inference and proof. Poetry, Turner argues, is the most natural language to articulate the “journey of the soul into God,” and a point of entry into the mystery of the divine. Dante’s poetry discloses the theological significance of hope in the pilgrim’s journey towards the “abiding city.”
On the following day, Prof. Turner will lead a master class for students and faculty titled, “Poetry Being The Body: Theology in Dante.”

Poetry Being the Body: Theology in Dante
2024-04-12 14:00 - 17:30 | 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 pdfs of the selected readings, which should be read in advance of the class. An optional wine and cheese reception will follow.
The poet plays a crucial role in the development of a language of the “mystical” that paradoxically gives voice to the insufficiency of human speech in the face of the reality of the divine. The revelation of this insufficiency speaks effectively to theology’s positive, affirming, role. Poetry is a pre-theological anticipation of theology.
Prof. Turner will build this argument with the three parts of Dante’s Commedia. Alongside this great text, Prof. Turner will reference a chapter from God, Mystery, and Mystification, which sets out formally a theological epistemology to which Dante gives a poetic voice.
Readings:
Selections will be from Dante’s Commedia and Turner’s book, Dante the Theologian.
Both the required and recommended readings will be distributed to participants via Dropbox. 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 coffee and cookies
2:00-3:20 | Session 1
3:20-3:40 | Break
3:40-5:00 | Session 2
5:00-5:30 | Reception

Can We Be Good On Our Own? Ancient Pagans and Modern Scientists on Thomistic Moral Virtue
2024-04-26 15:00 - 16:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Open to students and faculty. For more information, contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org.
This event is cosponsored by the University of Notre Dame Press and made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.
Thomas Aquinas, like a good Aristotelian, holds that the moral virtues can be cultivated in human beings by habitual moral action. And like a good Christian, he also holds that God can gift (or ‘infuse’) the moral virtues into a human being. Can humans become good on their own? Or do they require external assistance? This symposium will consider the question of infused moral virtue: how does Aquinas describe the bestowal of moral virtues on an individual by God? How is his description related to the classical account of virtues acquired by virtuous action? How does modern science make sense of these insights? Essentially, the question is the following: What would pagan philosophers and modern psychologists (or ‘scientists-of-mind’) make of what Thomas Aquinas says about the work of grace in the moral life?
In this symposium, Angela Knobel (Associate Professor of Philosophy, University of Dallas) will present a Thomistic perspective of the interplay between grace and virtuous action in the moral life. Then, Candace Vogler will respond on the inadequacies of Aristotle. Daniel Lapsley (Professor of Psychology, University of Notre Dame) will offer an opinion on what modern psychology might say to Aristotle and Aquinas. Emily Austin (Assistant Professor of Classics, University of Chicago) will moderate as the conversation develops.
On Saturday, Prof. Knobel will lead a Master Class titled Aquinas on Virtue and Grace in the Moral Life.

Thomas Aquinas on Virtue and Grace in the Moral Life
2024-04-27 12:00 - 15:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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.
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.
Thomas Aquinas distinguishes between two kinds of moral virtue: acquired moral virtues, which are cultivated though one’s power and via one’s own repeated good acts, and infused moral virtues, which are bestowed on man directly by God in the moment of baptism. The distinction between these two types of virtue is the focus of this master class. The goal will be to understand how Aquinas understands the difference between the two types of virtue: the sources from which each spring, the ways in which the acts of each differ, and whether and to what extent he believes the two different types of virtue interact.
The first 15 registrants will receive a copy of Knobel’s book, Aquinas and the Infused Moral Virtues.
Readings:
Disputed Questions on the Virtues (Preferably the Atkins translation):
◊ Disputed Question on the Virtues in General a.8-11; (48 pages)
Summa Theologiae (Preferably Alfred Freddoso’s translation, available online at https://www3.nd.edu/~afreddos/summa-translation/TOC.htm)
◊ Prima Secundae q.61 a.5, 62, 63, 68 (22 pages total)
Aquinas and the Infused Moral Virtues
◊ Chapter 6 (30 pages)
Both the required and recommended readings will be distributed to participants via Dropbox. 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.
Discussion Questions:
◊ Conceptually, what seem to be the most important differences between the infused and acquired virtues? Aquinas repeatedly speaks of virtues as “proceeding from principles,” and of the different “seeds” of infused and acquired virtue, respectively. What is meant by the language of “principle” and “seed,” and how are those notions important in Aquinas’s understanding of infused and/or acquired virtue? What is meant by the claim that the two types of virtue differ in “species”? What role does the difference in the “end” that each virtue is ordered to play, and how important is it?
◊ a.10 ad.4 of the Disputed Question on the Virtues in General and q.61 a.5 of the Prima Secundae are two of the very few texts where Aquinas says anything at all about the relationship between the infused and acquired virtues. What do these texts imply, and is what each text implies the same or different?
◊ Given Aquinas’s insistence that only the infused virtues order us to supernatural beatitude, can it ever make sense on his account to pursue only acquired virtue?
Schedule:
11:30-12:00 | Optional pre-event lunch
12:00-1:20 | Session 1
1:20-1:40 | Coffee break
1:40-3:00 | Session 2
3:00-3:30 | Reception

Texts of Existence: The Interplay of Religion, Individualism, and the Cosmos in Borges and Nietzsche.
2024-05-01 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. Arjun Mazumdar, who designed this program, is a 2023-2024 Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
REGISTER HERE
In “Texts of Existence,” we will explore the depths of existentialism, religion, and the meaning of life through the lens of literary and philosophical classics. Our reading group will study the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Friedrich Nietzsche. Expect to read and analyze passages together, form a collaborative understanding of texts, and tackle crucial questions regarding purpose, “the good life,” and the implications of religion (or its absence) in our lives. Books and dinner will be provided. We will read the short stories together before we begin our discussion.
Themes: existentialism and individualism, the search for authenticity amidst the absurd, and the role of religion and spirituality.
SCHEDULE:
Pilot Session: Borges, “The Approach to Al-Mu’tasim,” Discussion
February 22nd, Thursday, 6-7:30 PM, Gavin House
Session 1: Introduction to Nietzsche’s The Gay Science
April 3rd, Wednesday, 6 – 7:30 PM, Gavin House
Session 2: The Gay Science Discussion
April 24th, Wednesday, 6-7:30 PM, Gavin House
Session 3: Borges, “The Library of Babel,” Discussion
May 1st, Wednesday, 6 – 7:30 PM, Gavin House

What is Ideology? A Conversation with Mark Shiffman and James Matthew Wilson
2024-05-02 17:30 - 19:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
5:30 Cocktail and Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:30 Opening Remarks | 6:45 Dialogue and Q&A | 7:30 End
Co-presented by Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute, dedicated to renewing the culture through thoughtful reflections on education, family, and religion. Supported by Wiseblood Books.
Discounted student tickets are available. Please contact Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org for more information on this or any other matter.
“Ideology” is a word in near-ubiquitous use: it is deployed to describe everything from religious identity (‘radical Islamic ideology’) and political principle (‘the contest between woke and MAGA ideology’) to gastronomic preferences (‘the ideology of meat in US culture’).
Does a word used so widely and vaguely still possess concrete meaning? In his new book, What is Ideology?, political theorist Mark Shiffman has studied the history of the concept and identified it as a distinctly modern phenomenon. Shiffman argues that ideological thinking attempts to subject all reality to a narrow and reductive schema in order to produce a redemptive social-political order and engineer a new type of human being. Moreover, he explains how our own imprecise use of the term makes us even more susceptible to ideological control.
To point towards an escape from ideological thinking, Shiffman engages a diverse array of thinkers, from Thomas Hobbes and Karl Marx, to John Adams and Antonio Gramsci, to Ralph Ellison and Hannah Arendt.
On the evening of May 2nd, Mark Shiffman will discuss these topics with the esteemed poet and cultural critic James Matthew Wilson. They will trace the history of the term ideology, discuss its deforming effects on political life and the soul, and suggest how “non-ideological thinking” can be restored by drawing on resources from the classical and Christian traditions of philosophy, theology, art, and literature.

The Managerial Revolution: What Went Wrong?
2024-05-02 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. Max Baumeister, who designed this program, is a 2023-2024 Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
REGISTER HERE
“[James Burnham] has real intellectual courage, and writes about real issues,” wrote George Orwell. Chicago native, prominent Trotskyist early in his intellectual life, student of J. R. R. Tolkien at Oxford, and recommended by George Kennan during WWII to work at the Office of Strategic Services (predecessor of the CIA), to say James Burnham was an interesting man would be an understatement. Burnham is best known for his book The Managerial Revolution (1941) in which he claimed that (1) capitalism would be displaced not by communism or socialism but by “managerialism” and (2) FDR’s The New Deal, the Soviet Union, and Fascism in Europe were all part of the same centralizing, bureaucratic trend that was—and perhaps still is—happening all over the globe. Was he right? How applicable is his theory in the 21st century?
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Thursdays (April 4-May 2) from 6:00pm – 730pm over dinner.

Wendell Berry's World-Ending Fire Graduate Reading Group
2024-05-02 20:00 - 21:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Others interested in participating should contact Franklin Joyce at jfjoyce@uchicago.edu. Books and drinks will be provided.
Wendell Berry is America’s foremost contemporary advocate for a community-centered form of life he calls “agrarianism,” which focuses on the American relationship to the land and local circumstances. Berry’s articulation of agrarian life reveals the inadequacies of both crass industrialism and the popular “movements” of environmentalism. Furthermore, Berry seriously implements a Christian understanding of a world created by love and entrusted into the care of human stewards. For readers searching to avoid the party slogans or who want a fresh perspective on what it means to be an “American,” Berry is a vital thinker to engage.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Thursdays (beginning April 4th) from 8:00pm – 9:00pm over drinks.

April 4: “Native Hill” (Intro to Berry as a thinker)
Arpil 11: “Two Minds”/”Quantity versus Form” (Alternative [agrarian] modes of thinking about self, land, death)
April 18: “The Work of Local Culture”/”Some Thoughts on Citizenship and Conscience in Honor of Don Pratt” (Agrarian conception of a moral community)
April 25: “Faustian Economics”/”Economy and Pleasure” (Critique of economic systems and proposed alternatives)
May 2: “The Way of Ignorance”/”In Defense of Literacy” (Popular attitudes on writing/knowledge/specialization with a proposed shift toward literacy)

A copy of World-Ending Fire 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 winter quarter.
This reading group is made possible through the support of the grant ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation.

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 Ontology of Beauty
2024-05-03 14:00 - 17:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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.
The theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar once claimed that if modern man denies the reality of beauty, he will lose the capacity for love and prayer, and indeed truth, goodness, and being itself will be lost to him. This seminar will explore von Balthasar’s less than obvious claims by returning to Plato and exploring the way in which beauty was “lost” in western thought before it was recovered by the provocative manifesto of French philosopher, Jacques Maritain. Beauty, Maritain proposed, could save the world from unintelligibility and prepare it for salvation.
Readings:
The readings consist of selections from Plato, Jacques Maritain, and Hans Urs von Balthasar.
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
2024-05-07 13:00 - 14:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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.
This winter the Greek New Testament Reading Group will work through parables from the Gospel of Luke. We will pay particular attention to chapters sixteen and seventeen. Fr. Peter Bernardi will be on hand for theological questions. All levels of Greek are welcome, and lunch will be provided.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet every Tuesday (beginning April 2nd) 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 | Approaches to Virtue: Secular and Religious, Ancient and Modern
2024-05-07 18:00 - 19:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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 course is cosponsored by the Hyde Park Institute and 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.
How is a human being made better? By an increase in knowledge? Through a discipline of habit? By a gift from the gods? Through the reformation of unjust social structures? By a better understanding of the human mind’s rational and irrational impulses?
In this non-credit course, esteemed scholars from the University of Chicago will consider a variety of answers to the question of how one can grow in virtue. They will investigate multiple philosophical and theological perspectives in the intellectual history of the moral life.
Each session will be devoted to the thought of an individual thinker or perspective.
SCHEDULE
April 9th: Aristotle

with Gabriel Lear (Chair of the Committee on Social Thought, Professor of Philosophy and in the Committee on Social Thought)

April 16th: Thomas Aquinas

with Fr. Stephen Brock (Visiting Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago; Ordinary Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross)

April 23rd: Machiavelli

with Hanna Gray (Professor of History Emerita at the University of Chicago; former President of the University of Chicago)

April 30th: Medicine and Virtue

with Kathryn Rowland (Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery, Section of Pediatric Surgery, at the University of Chicago)

May 7th: Wisdom

with Howard Nusbaum (Director and Founder of the Chicago Center for Practical Wisdom and Stella M. Rowley Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago)

FORMAT
Tuesdays, April 9-May 7
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Presentation

Latin Vulgate Reading Group
2024-05-10 10:45 - 11:45 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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 April 5th) 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)

Visit to the Monastery of the Holy Cross
2024-05-11 16:00 - 20:00 | The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 3111 South Aberdeen St. Chicago, IL 60608, Chicago, IL
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

G.K. Chesterton's Orthodoxy: Reading Course
2024-05-15 13:00 - 14:15 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Open to current students at the University of Chicago. Participants can come to whichever sessions they choose. Books, lunch, and beverages will be provided.
Author of the Father Brown detective stories, journalist, poet and literary critic, social philosopher, hagiographer, and popular Christian apologist, the multi-faceted genius of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) eludes easy classification! You are invited to engage with Chesterton’s insights into the ‘suicide of thought’, his defense of the common man over against Nietzsche’s ‘superman,’ and his extraordinary appreciation of ‘the romance of orthodoxy’ as set out in his classic work Orthodoxy. There are no pre-requisites, only an openness for savoring paradoxes and skewering ideologies.
Copies of Chesterton’s Orthodoxy will be provided. They may be picked up at Gavin House (1220 E 58th street) during buisness hours at the start of the spring quarter.
SCHEDULE:
This group will meet on Wednesdays (beginning March 27th) from 1:00pm – 2:15pm over lunch.

The Bond of All Creation: Renaissance Humanism and the Incarnate Word - Faith and Reason | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2024-05-15 18:30 - 20:30 | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series returns in 2024 to continue its series on
“Faith and Reason as the Two Wings:
The History and Enduring Importance of Catholic Philosophy“
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
May 15:
The Bond of All Creation: Renaissance Humanism and the Incarnate Word
Matthew Gaetano (Hillsdale College)
The Italian Renaissance rarely plays a central role in our understanding of the story of Catholic theology, even though many of us love Renaissance art and literature. In this talk, Dr. Gaetano will show how philosophers, poets, and painters of this era saw faith and reason as “two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.” Key figures of the Italian Renaissance such as Petrarch, Marsilio Ficino, Giovanni Pico, and Raphael went back to the sources in Greek antiquity and found in Plato a yearning for the divine Logos or Word, a Word only fully revealed in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
In his 2006 Regensburg Address, Pope Benedict XVI argued that “it is necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian Faith.”
Christianity shared a sense of “reason” with Greek philosophy. Jesus himself was the Word (Logos), the Greek word for reason and speech. St. Paul himself reminded us that Christian worship is “reasonable worship” (logike latreia) (Rom. 12:1), and while love “transcends” knowledge and can perceive more than thought alone, it remains the love of the God who is Logos (Eph. 3:19).
Faith and reason support one another; however, many have tried to tear them asunder. The Reformation tried to get to a “pure” faith without reason; modern atheism has claimed that nothing can be “known” about God. When faith and reason are pulled apart, we lose sight of God and of ourselves, since we are made to know and love God.
In this year’s WSCCS, we will challenge the all-too-common assumption that the Church’s faith stands in opposition to reason. Join us as we examine the philosophical, monastic, and artistic geniuses who have borne the Church aloft through their engagement and enrichment of worldly wisdom.
Each month, we will gather at Ruth Lake Country Club. Over dinner, we will listen to a sophisticated yet accessible lecture offered by accomplished academics. The lectures will introduce insights from the treasure house of the Church’s intellectual tradition and their bearing on contemporary themes and issues, presenting faithful Catholic teaching in a way that avoids the acrimony of the culture wars.
CALENDAR
September 13: Golden Calf: Philosophy and Theology in the Early Church
Kenneth Calvert (Professor of History, Director of the Oxford Program, Hillsdale College)
October 4: The One Thing Necessary: Monasticism and Philosophy
Prior Peter Funk, OSB (Monastery of the Holy Cross)
November 9: Integrity, Creation, and a Restless Heart: Augustine’s Contribution to Philosophy
Jared Ortiz (Professor of Theology, Founder and Executive Director of the St. Benedict Institute, Hope College)
March 20: Catholic Women in the Arts and Sciences: An Underappreciated Tradition
Bronwen McShea (Professor of History, Augustine Institute)
April 10: Is Free Will an Illusion? St. Thomas Aquinas and Human Action
Fr. Stephen Brock (Professor of Medieval Philosophy, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross)
May 15: The Bond of All Creation: Renaissance Humanism and the Incarnate Word
Matthew Gaetano (Professor of History, Hillsdale College)
MAY SPEAKER
Matthew Gaetano

The Humanity of the Saints We Study: 2nd Annual Forum on the Vocation of the Patristic Theologian
2024-05-25 16:00 - 18:00 | Beane Hall, Lewis Towers, Loyola University of Chicago Water Tower Campus, 111 East Pearson St, Chicago, IL, 60611
Register Here
This reception and forum, following the annual meeting of the North American Patristics Society, is co-sponsored by the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage at the Loyola University of Chicago.
“Grace, as we are out to believe, should preserve the pastors of the church and even more their most important actions, but it does not suppress their failures—that would be to suppress their humanity.”
–Émile Mersch, The Theology of the Mystical Body
This forum invites graduate students and scholars of patristics to reflect on the nature of the craft and its relationship to contemporary theological studies, the academy, and church today. A panel of scholars, featuring Lewis Ayres, Paul Blowers, and Morwenna Ludlow, will speak on the nature of the vocation of the patristic theologian through an exploration of the intersection between the humanity within Christian history and the theology we derive from our study.

Economics and Catholic Social Thought: A Primer
2024-06-02 00:00 - 2024-06-05 00:00 | University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, Notre Dame, IN
Now in its seventh year, this seminar is designed as an introduction and immersion into Catholic social thought for graduate students and junior faculty in economics, finance, or related fields. Participants will cover foundational principles in Catholic social thought, starting with the human person, dignity, freedom, subsidiarity, solidarity, and the common good, and moving toward applications of these principles to conceptual understandings and ethical considerations involving economic topics such as utility theory, firm and business ethics, wages, markets, globalization, poverty, and development. Participants will delve into social encyclicals, secondary sources, and relevant economics texts.
This seminar is sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute; the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization; the De Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies; and the the Institute for the Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, College of Arts and Letters, University of Notre Dame.

LOCATION AND FORMAT
Format: There will be two sessions each day for three days, each featuring a different instructor. Each instructor will open with a lecture, and then we will turn to a seminar-style discussion of the texts and issues at hand. In the final sessions, we will discuss how the material can be applied to each student’s particular area of interest.
Location: The seminar will take place at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. Travel stipends are available on a need basis. All participants will be provided with accommodations and most meals (some on their own).
Application Information: This seminar will be open to PhD students and faculty in economics, finance and related fields.
Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application form, including:

An updated CV.
A brief statement of research interest no longer than 750 words.
One academic writing sample.

All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Fifteen students will be admitted to this seminar.
The application deadline is February 25, 2024.
Please direct any further questions to contact@credo-economists.org.

What is Social Science? Charles Taylor’s Catholic Vision of Human Behavior
2024-06-02 00:00 - 2024-06-08 00:00 | University of Southern California, University Park Campus 3551 Trousdale Pkwy, Los Angeles, CA, 90007
Are the social sciences properly scientific? Will we one day discover a social physics—perhaps a blend of psychology, economics, and algorithms—that allows us to predict and engineer our common life? No one has done more intellectual work to cast doubt on these techno-utopian claims than Catholic philosopher Charles Taylor. In this seminar we will explore Taylor’s argument that the study of human behavior should be closer to history and literature than biology and statistics. Is the human mind no more than a wet computer, or does selfhood possess moral and artistic dimensions? Can we understand politics by calculating large-scale voter behavior, or must we study cultural traditions like the “ethic of authenticity”? Taylor’s paradigm shift promises to transform 21st century social theory much as Max Weber or Emile Durkheim shaped theirs. For Taylor, secular modernity is not only a story of disenchantment and fading values, but an opportunity for increased spiritual intensity—what he calls a “Catholic modernity.”s
This seminar is organized by the Nova Forum for Catholic Thought and will be held at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. There will be two 2.5-hour sessions on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. On Wednesday and Friday, the morning session will be followed by a post-lunch excursion. Each session will be a seminar-style discussion of the text and the issues at hand. Students will be expected to carefully prepare the readings, submit study questions in advance, and participate actively in each session.
Application Information
This seminar is open to all undergraduate students (including 2024 graduates) interested in understanding the thought of one of the greatest Catholic thinkers of our century. The seminar will be of interest to a wide variety of students regardless of major.
Applicants will be required to submit an online application form including:

A list of completed coursework.
At least one and as many as two letter(s) of recommendation from a professor at the school in which the student is currently enrolled.
A statement of interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current intellectual interests.
All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Fifteen applicants will be admitted to this seminar.

Admitted students will receive lodging and meals for the duration of the seminar and a $350 travel stipend.
Application materials are due February 25.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Early Christian Old Testament Exegesis
2024-06-09 00:00 - 2024-06-14 00:00 | University of St. Michael’s College, 81 St. Mary's Street Toronto, ON M5S 1J4, Toronto, ON
Co-presented with the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College
Scripture is the soul, shape, and content of early Christian theology. This week-long seminar will offer an intensive exploration of the foundational texts, concepts, and movements in Early Christian Old Testament exegesis from 100-700 AD.
LOCATION AND FORMAT
· The seminar will be held at Windle House, hosted by the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at the University of St. Michael’s College in the University of Toronto.
· Most Meals (some on their own) and lodging will be provided to participants.
· Participants will receive a stipend of up to $350 to offset travel expenses.
· Participants will arrive on Sunday, June 9 and depart on Friday, June 14.
· Participants will be provided with the relevant books.
· Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.
Working knowledge of relevant ancient languages will be helpful, but not essential. Preference will be given to Ph.D. students in theology, philosophy, classics, and other relevant fields of study, though advanced M.A. students will be considered.
There will be two sessions each day in the morning and in the afternoon. Each session will include lectures and seminar-style discussions. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully and participate in the discussions of the material.
The application deadline is February 2, 2024.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Catholic Social Thought in Business Education
2024-06-11 00:00 - 2024-06-14 00:00 | University of Saint Thomas, Minnesota, St. Paul Campus 2115 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN, 55105
Apply here
We are pleased to announce the fourth annual seminar on “Business and Catholic Social Thought: A Primer.” During the seminar, graduate students and faculty members in business schools will cover foundational principles in Catholic social thought and apply them to their own field of research and teaching. This seminar aims at widening epistemological preconceptions and showing practical implications of Catholic social thought for business in a way that affirms the goodness of business directed toward the common good. Participants will delve into social encyclicals, secondary sources, and relevant business texts that show the path for principled entrepreneurship in order to gain knowledge, exchange experiences, receive help with their syllabi and consider how best to integrate Catholic social thought into business education.
LOCATION
The seminar will take place at the University of Saint Thomas in Minnesota between Tuesday, June 11 and Friday, June 14.
A limited number of travel stipends for students are available on a per need basis. All participants will be provided with accommodations and most meals (some on their own).

APPLICATION INFORMATION
This seminar will be open to graduate students and faculty of any specialization in business schools. Applicants will be required to submit a completed online application, including:

An updated CV/resume.
A brief statement of research interest related to Catholic social thought no longer than 750 words.
One academic writing sample.
All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Fifteen students will be admitted to this seminar.

Application materials are due February 25, 2024.
This seminar is cosponsored by the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas (MN); the Mendoza College of Business at the University of Notre Dame; the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship at the Catholic University of America; the Lumen Christi Institute; and the Markets, Culture and Ethics Research Centre at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome.

St. Thomas Aquinas on Free Choice
2024-06-16 00:00 - 2024-06-23 00:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
This seminar will be a five-day, intensive discussion aimed at understanding and evaluating St. Thomas Aquinas’ account of liberum arbitrium and of the psychological and metaphysical principles that underlie it. The sessions will center on passages from the Summa Theologiae, but we will also refer to other works of Aquinas, such as the De Malo and the Commentary on Aristotle’s Metaphysics, and to pertinent texts from other philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Anscombe. We will want to address some of the more controversial questions about Thomas’ views, such as the following: Does he differ from Aristotle on the will, and if so, how? Did he change his own mind about the will? To what extent, in Aquinas’ account, does the freedom of the will depend upon the distinction between the will and the intellect? Does St. Thomas’ apparent intellectualism commit him to some kind of determinism with regard to choice? Does he offer an adequate account of the choice of evil? In comparison with modern thinkers, does he sufficiently appreciate the value of freedom?
LOCATION AND FORMAT
Format: There will be two 2 ½ hour sessions each day. Each session will include an opening lecture and seminar-style discussion of the text and the issues at hand. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully and participate in the discussions of the material.
Location: The seminar will take place at the Gavin House. Students will be provided with lodging, most meals (some on their own), and a travel stipend of up to $350.
Application Information: This seminar will be open to PhD students in the humanities and relevant fields (such as philosophy, theology, english, classics, & history).
Applicants will be required to submit:

A completed online application form.
An updated CV.
At least one and as many as two letter(s) of recommendation from a member of the program in which the student is currently enrolled.
A statement of research interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current or future research plans.
One academic writing sample (30 pages maximum).

All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Fiften students will be admitted to this seminar.
THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 25, 2024.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

The Thought of John Henry Newman
2024-06-22 00:00 - 2024-06-29 00:00 | Linacre College, St. Cross Road, Oxford, OX1 3JA, United Kingdom
Now in its eleventh year, this intensive seminar will examine the achievements of Saint John Henry Newman as a theologian, philosopher, educator, preacher, and writer. Remarkably, in each of these areas Newman produced works that have come to be recognized as classics: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, The Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a University, The Parochial and Plain Sermons, and the Apologia Pro Vita Sua. This seminar will approach Newman’s thought through a critical engagement with these texts.
LOCATION AND FORMAT

The seminar will be held at Linacre College at the University of Oxford.
Most Meals (some on their own) and lodging will be provided for the participants.
Participants will receive a stipend of up to $700 to offset travel expenses.
Participants will arrive on Saturday, June 22 and depart on Saturday, June 29.
Participants will be required to read the assigned texts in preparation for the seminar.
Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

QUALIFICATIONS AND APPLICATION
This seminar is open to PhD students in theology, philosophy, classics, and other relevant fields of study.

A completed online application form.
An updated CV.
At least one and no more than two letter(s) of recommendation.
A statement of research interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current or future research plans.
One academic writing sample (30 pages maximum).
All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered

Application materials are due February 2, 2024
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Artificial Intelligence, Ethics and Catholic Thought
2024-06-23 00:00 - 2024-06-29 00:00 | Duke University, Chapel Drive Durham , NC 27708, Durham, NC
The last few years have seen the rapid advance of artificial intelligence (AI), bearing potentially great benefits for the common good but also many dangers. AI applications are shaping society and individual life, leaving governments, businesses, and individuals struggling to address the effects of this powerful technology. This five-day seminar will explore how the Catholic intellectual tradition can help contemporary society develop an ethics for AI. Possible topics that will be addressed include: virtue ethics and AI-driven applications’ effects on character; arguments over the personhood of AI; the resources of Catholic Social Thought for confronting dangerous social effects of AI on society, such as those emanating from algorithmic bias; AI’s influence on work, especially in the caring professions; potential tools for AI governance. Participants will engage a range of theological and secular sources on the questions of AI.
LOCATION AND FORMAT

The seminar will take place at Duke University in Durham, NC. Admitted students will be required to arrange their own travel to and from the seminar.

Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs

Lodging and most meals (some on their own) will be provided for the students for the duration of the seminar.

Participants will arrive in Durham, NC on Sunday, June 23 and depart on Saturday, June 29. The seminar will take place from Monday to Friday, with a lecture and discussion session each morning and afternoon.

Participants will be required to read the assigned materials in preparation for the seminar.

In order to receive the $350 stipend, students must participate fully in all seminar activities and complete a survey at the end of the seminar.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Open to Ph.D. students in theology, philosophy, computer science, and other relevant fields of study. Limited spots open to professionals within the field.

Applicants must submit an online application, including details on their course of study, a statement of interest, and a letter of recommendation (strongly encouraged).

Applications Deadline is February 2.

15 applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.
This seminar is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide.” This program is copresented by the Lumen Christi Institute at University of Chicago and Fons Vitae at Duke Divinity School. This program is cosponsored by institutes of the In Lumine Network: the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Forum, COLLIS, and the Saint Anselm Institute.

AI Ethics, Human Flourishing, and Trust in Health Care
2024-06-26 17:15 - 19:00 | ONLINE, World Wide Web, INTERNET
How are our imaginations deepened when the humanities and the sciences enter into a conversation? Join us for a lecture and panel discussion among scholars, including theologians, ethicists, and data scientists. This event is co-sponsored by Duke Health, Fons Vitae at Duke Divinity, and the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago. The evening is inspired by themes and topics related to Fons Vitae’s Summer 2024 Seminar “Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Catholic Thought.”
Lecture at 5:15 pm CT / 6:15 pm ET
Panel discussion at 6 pm CT / 7 pm ET

Faith on the Frontiers: Origins, Cosmos, and Extraterrestrial Life
2024-07-07 00:00 - 2024-07-13 00:00 | Cornell University, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Apply here
COLLIS Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture at Cornell University, the In Lumine Network, and the Lumen Christi Institute partner to organize
“Faith on the Frontiers: Origins, Cosmos, and Extraterrestrial Life”
a weeklong intensive summer seminar for undergraduates exploring questions at the frontiers of science and theology.
Where do we come from? Are humans a unique form of life? Is there life beyond our planet, and what would that mean for us? In this weeklong intensive seminar at Cornell University, we will explore scientific, philosophical, and theological approaches to these questions in an attempt to forge a holistic perspective in which the three disciplines are treated as distinct but mutually enriching paths to truth. Possible topics to be explored include: the material origins of the cosmos, evolution and the origin of human beings, the structure of the cosmos, and theological implications for the possibility of extraterrestrial life. Outside of the classroom, we will explore the night sky at Cornell’s Fuertes Observatory, chat with Catholic astronaut and scientist, Thomas Jones; tour Cornell Space Sciences Labs; and sing the Office of Compline under the stars.
LOCATION AND FORMAT

The seminar will take place at Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY. Admitted students will be required to arrange their own travel to and from the seminar.
Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs
Lodging and most meals (some on their own) will be provided for the duration of the seminar.
Participants will arrive on Sunday, July 7 and depart on Saturday, July 13. The seminar will take place from Monday to Friday, with lecture, discussion, and/or field excursions throughout the day
Participants will be required read the assigned materials in preparation for the seminar.
In order to receive the $350 stipend, students must participate fully in all seminar activities and complete a survey at the end of the seminar.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Open to all undergraduate students, including those who graduate in 2024 and recent graduates.
Applicants must submit an online application, including details on their course of study, a statement of interest, and a letter of recommendation.
15 applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

The application deadline is February 25, 2024
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.
This seminar is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide.”

The Thought of Rene Girard: Understanding the Faith in a Secular Age
2024-07-13 00:00 - 2024-07-20 00:00 | Stanford University, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, Stanford, CA
One of the most influential 20th century Catholic thinkers, René Girard transformed our understanding of culture, religion, and human behavior. His “mimetic theory” builds on the demystifying power of the Old and New Testaments to illuminate the religious history of mankind. Through an intensive reading of his more accessible works, in conjunction with the fiction of the greatest writers, this five-day seminar will explore Girard’s key insights into imitation, conflict, and scapegoating, connecting them to central themes of Christian theology.
Location and Format
This seminar will be held at Stanford Univeristy.
There will be two 2.5-hour sessions on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. On Tuesday and Thursday, the morning session will be followed by a post-lunch excursion. Each session will a seminar-style discussion of the text and the issues at hand. Students will be expected to prepare the readings carefully, submit study questions in advance, and participate actively in each session.
Application Information
This seminar is open to all undergraduate students (including 2024 graduates) interested in understanding the thought of one of the great modern Christian apologists.
Applicants will be required to submit an online application form including:

A list of completed coursework.
At least one and as many as two letter(s) of recommendation from a professor at the school in which the student is currently enrolled.
A statement of interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current intellectual interests.

All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Fifteen applicants will be admitted to this seminar. Admitted students will receive lodging and meals for the duration of the seminar and a $350 travel stipend.
Application materials are due February 25.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Eudaimonia: Philosophical, Theological, and Psychological Perspectives
2024-07-21 00:00 - 2024-07-27 00:00 | University of Pennsylvania, 34th & Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104
What is a good human life? What are the virtues and community types that enable us to live well? This seminar will explore the nature of virtue and happiness by putting philosophical and theological perspectives on eudaimonia in dialogue with the empirical findings and theoretical frameworks of contemporary psychology, especially the field of positive psychology situated at Penn. Possible topics to be explored include: (1) eudaimonia and its relation to subjective well-being, (2) virtue in the context of community and social institutions, (3) the significance of religion and transcendence for human flourishing, (4) interdisciplinary perspectives on concepts like (a) freedom and grace, conditioning and constraint; (b) acquired virtue and infused virtues, or (c) sin / failure and forgiveness / resilience.
This Magi Summer Seminar is presented by the Collegium Institute and the Lumen Christi Institute, and will feature lectures by Martin E.P. Seligman (University of Pennsylvania), Candace Vogler (University of Chicago), Kristján Kristjánsson (University of Birmingham), Darcia Narvaez (University of Notre Dame), David Cloutier (Catholic University of America), and Sarah Schnitker (Baylor University).
LOCATION AND FORMAT

The seminar will take place at University of Pennsylvania. Admitted students will be required to arrange their own travel to and from the seminar.
Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs in addition to having their lodging and most meals covered for the duration of the seminar.
Participants will arrive in Pennsylvania on Sunday, July 21 and depart on Saturday, July 27. The seminar will take place from Monday to Friday, with a lecture and discussion session each morning and afternoon.
Participants will be required to read the assigned materials in preparation for the seminar.
In order to receive the $350 stipend, students must participate fully in all seminar activities and complete a survey at the end of the seminar.

APPLICATION INFORMATION

Open to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM fields, medicine, the history of science, philosophy, theology, and relevant fields.
Applicants must submit an online application, including details on their course of study, a statement of interest, and a letter of recommendation (optional).
Application Deadline is February 2.
15 applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.
The Application Deadline is Friday February 2.
This seminar is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide.”

Catholic Social Thought: A Critical Investigation
2024-07-27 00:00 - 2024-08-03 00:00 | University of California, Berkeley, S Hall Rd. Berkeley, CA 94720, Berkeley, CA
In this seminar, students will read, analyze, and discern continuities and discontinuities in Catholic social thought from the late 19th century to the present. Lectures, seminar reports, and discussion will focus on original sources (encyclicals and other magisterial documents), beginning with Rerum novarum (1892) and concluding with Caritas in veritate (2009) and Evangelii Gaudium (2013). This intensive course is multi-disciplinary, since this tradition of social thought overlaps several disciplines in the contemporary university including political science, political philosophy, law, economics, theology, and history.
LOCATION AND FORMAT

The seminar will be held in Berkeley, CA.
Most Meals (some on their own) and lodging will be provided for participants.
Participants will receive a stipend of up to $350 to offset travel expenses.
Participants will arrive on Saturday, July 27 and depart on Saturday, August 3.
Participants will be required to read the assigned texts in preparation for the seminar.
Fifteen applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

QUALIFICATIONS AND APPLICATION
This seminar is open to Ph.D. and J.D. students in theology, philosophy, law, social sciences, and relevant fields of study

A completed online application form.
An updated CV.
At least one and no more than two letter(s) of recommendation.
A statement of research interest no longer than 750 words, which includes an explanation of how this seminar might bear on the student’s current or future research plans.
One academic writing sample (30 pages maximum).
All application materials can be submitted via the online application. Incomplete applications will not be considered

THE APPLICATION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 25, 2024.
Contact us with any questions at seminars@lumenchristi.org.

Heart Speaks to Heart: John Henry Newman on Faith, Reason, and Holiness
2024-08-28 18:30 - 20:30 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Registration has been closed
(If you would like to be put on a waitlist in case we receive a cancellation, please email mcorona@lumenchristi.org)
Each year, the West Suburban Catholic Culture series presents sophisticated yet accessible lectures drawn from the treasure house of the Church’s intellectual tradition. These lectures explore contemporary themes and issues by presenting faithful Catholic teaching in a way that avoids the acrimony of the culture wars.
As a capstone to the 2023-2024 series on Faith and Reason, the Lumen Christi Institute will hold an intimate dinner-time lecture at its headquarters on the University of Chicago Campus. Associate Director and Scholar-in-Residence Austin Walker will discuss the thought of St. John Henry Newman, one of the most influential and sophisticated modern Catholic thinkers. Dr. Walker will take us through Newman’s famous and insightful account of how we discover, assent to, and communicate the truth and beauty of the faith.
Doors will open and cocktails will be served at 6:30 pm. Dinner and the lecture begin at 7:00 pm. The evening will conclude by 8:30 pm. The format will be the same as we follow at Ruth Lake Country Club; the one difference is that we at Lumen Christi will have the joy of hosting you.

What is Catholic Culture? - A Catholic Vision of Culture in the 21st Century | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2024-09-25 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
September 25th:
What is Catholic Culture?
Jennifer Newsome Martin (University of Notre Dame)

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)

Graduate Student Social
2024-10-03 16:00 - 18:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current graduate students at the University of Chicago. Advanced registration is encouraged. Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be provided. This social is co-presented by Calvert House.
Come join us over wine and cheese to celebrate the start of the new academic year. Learn more about the Lumen Christi Institute, Calvert House, and meet new and returning graduate students!
The social will run from 4:00pm – 6:00pm on Thursday, October 3rd at Gavin House (1220 East 58th Street).

Art and Beauty in the Middle Ages: Umberto Eco Graduate Reading Group
2024-10-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-21 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-28 18:00 - 19:30, 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)

Non-Credit Course | Science and Religion: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
2024-10-08 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-15 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-22 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-29 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 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.
Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject.
It is often assumed, on the basis of contemporary controversies, that science and religion have always been in an oppositional relationship, and that conflict between them is inevitable. In this course we will consider the long history of science-religion relationships, exploring the ways in which religious factors played a positive role in the emergence of modern science, and were important in establishing a permanent and prominent place for scientific activity at the heart of modern Western culture. Specifically, the course will consider how the very ideas of ‘science’ and ‘religion’ came to take on their present form, while examining historical episodes such as the Galileo affair, the publication of Darwin’s Origin of Species, and the nineteenth-century invention of the conflict thesis. We will also discuss how historical insights can provide resources for helping understand present relations between science and religion.
SCHEDULE
October 8th: The Boundaries of Science & Religion

Further Reading: Harrison, Peter, Territories of Science and Religion ch 1 and 2.

October 15: Religion and the Rise of Science

Further Reading: Harrison, Peter, ‘Christianity and the Rise of Western Science’, ABC Religion and Ethics, 8 May, 2012.
Further Reading: Harrison, Peter, Territories of Science and Religion, ch. 3.

October 22: Exemplars of Conflict: Galileo and Darwin

Further Reading: Graney, Christopher, ‘Opposition to Galileo was Scientific, not just Religious’, Aeon Magazine, 21 September, 2016.
Further Reading: Dixon, Thomas and Adam Shapiro, Science and Religion, chs. 2 & 4.

October 29: Science and Modern Naturalism

Further Reading: Harrison, Peter, Some New World, Introduction.

FORMAT
Tuesdays, October 8-October 29
6:00pm: Dinner
6:30pm: Presentation

Undergraduate Student Social
2024-10-09 18:00 - 20:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
Open to current undergraduate students at the University of Chicago. Advanced registration is encouraged. Pizza will be provided.
Come join us over pizza to celebrate the start of the new academic year. Learn more about the Lumen Christi Institute and meet new and returning undergraduate students!
The social will run from 6:00pm – 8:00pm on Wednesday, October 9th at Gavin House (1220 East 58th Street).
Undergraduate Only Events

Fundamental Questions Seminar: Civilization on the Brink? Modern Philosophy and the Abolition of Man

Poverty, Injustice, Liberation: Class Conflict in Latin America and The Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group

An Inquiry into the Value of Work: A Discussion of Matt Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft
2024-10-10 17:30 - 19:30 | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
REGISTER HERE
5:30 Cocktail and Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:30 Opening Remarks | 6:45 Dialogue and Q&A | 7:30 End
Through the generosity of LCI’s donors, undergraduate and graduate students are able to attend this event for free. Interested students should email Marial Corona at mcorona@lumenchristi.org to register.
This event is cosponsored at The Point Magazine.
Published in 2009, Matthew Crawford’s Shop Class as Soulcraft became an unexpected best-seller. Written by a University of Chicago PhD and motorcycle mechanic, the book explored the value of craftsmanship and manual work in a world increasingly dominated by technology and abstract thinking.
Drawing on his own experiences as a philosopher and motorcycle mechanic, Crawford argued that hands-on labor offers a sense of purpose, fulfillment, and autonomy often lacking in the world around us. The book delves into the intellectual and philosophical richness of craftsmanship, challenging the conventional wisdom that separates thinking from doing, and seeks to reintegrate man with the created world.
In this downtown conversation, Crawford will rehearse the major themes of his bestseller. He will then enter into conversation with experts in Catholic social thought, to discuss the ways in which his insights about purposeful work and craft resonate with the Church’s insights about the dignity of labor and the value of the created world.
Crawford will be joined by Kirk Doran, a University of Notre Dame economist and expert in labor economics and Catholic Social Thought, and Elisa Rubbo, a University of Chicago economist, whose research focuses on how macroeconomic variables affect different industries and labor markets.

Dante's Divine Comedy Graduate Reading Group
2024-10-10 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-24 18:00 - 19:30, 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)

The Boldness of Belief and Timidity of Technology: A Symposium on Gratitude, Creation, and the Technological Mindset
2024-10-11 15:00 - 16:30 | Social Sciences, Tea Room, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE FOR ZOOM LIVESTREAM
REGISTER HERE FOR IN-PERSON
Open to students and faculty. For more information, contact dstrobach@lumenchristi.org.
This event is cosponsored and supported by the University of Chicago John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought. It is also cosponsored by The Point Magazine. 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.
In his Introduction to Christianity, Joseph Ratzinger saw that at the root of the “technological mindset” was an anxiety about how man can come to know the world. Ratzinger contrasted the technological orientation to the world with an orientation of belief. Belief was not incomplete or provisional knowing, but a trustful standing upon and loyalty to that which is given by Creation.
In this symposium, Matt Crawford and Mark Shiffman will come together to discuss the problem of virtue in light of Ratzinger’s distinction. Crawford will begin by exploring how the virtue of gratitude often eludes us under a technological mindset. A better approach is to boldly entrust oneself to that which one cannot make or fully grasp.
Mark Shiffman will respond by using this same distinction between technocracy and givenness to and explain the difference between optimism and hope. Melanie Barrett will also offer comments.
On Saturday, Matt Crawford and Mark Schiffman will lead a Master Class on Max Scheler’s work, Ressentiment.

Is Christianity a Slave Morality? Max Scheler on Ressentiment
2024-10-12 12:00 - 15:00 | 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.
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.
In his book Ressentiment, the German philosopher Max Scheler deepens Nietzsche’s account of ressentiment, the life-denying disposition of spite, envy and revenge. Nietzsche finds this spiritual sickness to be the inner secret of so-called Christian love, which is really an expression of weakness. Scheler turns this account upside down, and finds Christianity a life-affirming doctrine that elevates its adepts into generosity and strength. Scheler also sharply distinguishes Christian love from egalitarian humanitarianism. Sometimes called “the Nietzschean Catholic,” Scheler is thus a helpful guide for thinking through the quarrels that are emerging today between the neo-pagan, online Right, which takes its bearings from Nietzsche, and the nascent revival of orthodox Christianity. Scheler equips us to see some overlap in the intuitions of these camps, and to retrieve a more aristocratic and virile strand in the Christian tradition. It is a strand that can speak to our present discontents, and to the pervasive sense of civilizational collapse.
Readings:
We will read Max Scheler’s Ressentiment, which may be found here
The master class will focus on:

Ch. 1
Ch. 3
Ch. 4

If you prefer, you can pick up a printout of the readings at Gavin House (1220 E. 58th Street) Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm. Please email David Strobach at dstrobach@lumenchristi.org to let us know you are coming.
Discussion Questions Forthcoming
Schedule:
11:30-12:00 | Optional pre-event lunch
12:00-1:20 | Session 1
1:20-1:40 | Coffee break
1:40-3:00 | Session 2
3:00-3:30 | Reception

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group
2024-10-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-21 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-28 18:00 - 19:30, 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 | 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)

Greek New Testament Reading Group
2024-10-15 13:00 - 14:00, 2024-10-22 13:00 - 14:00, 2024-10-29 13:00 - 14:00, 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)

Civilization on the Brink? Modern Philosophy and the Abolition of Man
2024-10-16 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-10-30 18:00 - 19:30, 2024-11-13 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.
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!

Literary Traditions and the Pursuit of Truth: A Culture of Humility - A Catholic Vision of Culture in the 21st Century | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2024-10-16 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
October 16th:
Literary Traditions and the Pursuit of Truth: A Culture of Humility
Emily Austin (University of Chicago)
The challenges of our times can make Christians feel embattled and besieged. But the Catholic intellectual tradition, at its best, equips us to look with openness for the Truth, incarnate in the world around us. In this lecture, Prof. Emily Austin will share her perspective as a classicist, reading within a literary tradition. To read within a tradition requires patience and attentiveness, allowing each text to teach you how to read anew. She will argue that a Catholic literary culture requires—and fosters—humility. The pursuit of Truth is most productively sought, in a literary context, within a community of friends
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)

2024 Annual Meeting of the In Lumine Network
2024-10-17 08:30 - 2024-10-18 18:30 | The Study Hotel, 1227 E 60th St, Chicago, IL, 60637
INVITATION ONLY
The In Lumine Network, consisting of thirteen independent institutes for Catholic Thought located at top research universities throughout the U.S., will hold its annual best practices meeting October 17th-18th at the Study Hotel at the University of Chicago. The meeting will be held in conjunction with Baylor University’s meeting of Christian study centers and institutes for Catholic thought on the topic of developing moral communities within higher education. This is the 3rd annual in-person meeting for the In Lumine Network. The 2 day event will bring together leaders from various Catholic institutes and Christian study centers for workshops and panels on how these institutes and centers can best achieve their missions today at secular universities. The event will also offer an opportunity for fellowship, communal prayer, and participation in the liturgy among the attendees.
While the annual meeting is by invitation only, there will be a public panel titled “Virtue, Moral Formation, and the University” on Thursday, October 17th from 5:00pm – 6:30pm.
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.

Virtue, Moral Formation, and the University
2024-10-17 17:00 - 18:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER HERE FOR IN-PERSON
REGISTER HERE FOR LIVESTREAM
Open to students and faculty. 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.
As scholars such as Julie Reuben have documented, there has been a decline in the mission of moral formation of students over the history of US higher education and this role of the university is no longer to be taken for granted. What role, if any, does the university play in the moral formation of its students? Is moral formation beyond the bounds of its mission or is it inescapable? What virtues are formed in the modern university? This public panel, part of the Annual Meeting of the In Lumine Network, will serve to provide a broad conversation about the role of the university in regard to virtue and moral formation.
Image courtesy of: Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library

Latin Vulgate Reading Group
2024-10-18 10:45 - 11:45, 2024-10-25 10:45 - 11:45, 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)

Poverty, Injustice, Liberation: Class Conflict in Latin America and The Theology of Gustavo Gutierrez
2024-10-18 15:00 - 18:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER HERE
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. Fabricio Wei, who designed this program, is a Nicklin Fellow. This program is for undergraduate students only.
What is the task of Christian theology in our time? How can we talk about God in the midst of poverty and injustice, without being naive or paternalistic? How can theology help us understand the call for liberation coming from people experiencing marginalization, violence and destitution?
In this class, we will address these and other key questions drawing from the work of one of the most influential theologians of the 20th and 21st centuries, Gustavo Gutierrez. We will focus on Gutierrez’s diagnosis of Modernity and how modern values such as autonomy and freedom, together with growing industrialization and capitalism shaped most theological discourse during the 20th century. With Gutierrez, we will examine whether modern, European and North American theology has been mainly focused on the needs of the most privileged in society, being often complicit with systems that cause poverty and inequality. In turn, we will study the emergence and main tenets of liberation theology as a response to both the inadequacies of modern theology and the needs of the poor and most vulnerable. Can theology be both a source for political liberation and spiritual growth, especially for those who experience the destructive effects of poverty, racism, and other affronts to our human dignity? Liberation theology’s answer is in the affirmative. Our task–through close textual analysis and critical discussion–will be to examine how Gutierrez and the liberation theology movement reached such a conclusion, while drawing lessons for the present.
Readings:
We will read Gustavo Gutierrez’s The Power of the Poor in History (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1992 [1979]), Chapter 7, “Theology from the Underside of History.” Optional reading includes the 1st Chapter of A Revolutionary Faith (Stanford UP, 2023) by Dr. Raul Zegarra.
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:
2:30-3:00 | pre-event pastries and coffee
3:00-4:20 | Session 1
4:20-4:40 | Coffee break
4:40-6:00 | Session 2

Christian Martyrdom in the Reformation Era: Reflections on Salvation at Stake (1999) after Twenty-Five Years
2024-10-24 17:00 - 19:30 | Saint Ignatius College Prep, 1076 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL
5:00 p.m. Mass.
Lecture & reception to follow
Cosponsored by the Bollandist Society, St. Ignatius College Prep. Supported by the Fr. Paul V. Mankowski, S.J., Memorial Fund for Jesuit Scholarship at Lumen Christi.
Free and open to the public. Registration required.
In Reformation Europe, several thousand Christian men and women were executed for their religious beliefs. Brad Gregory told their stories and analyzed the implications in Salvation at Stake, his ground-breaking 1999 book comparing how Catholic, Protestant, and Anabaptist martyrs understood themselves. His book has been acclaimed widely and has shaped how many historians now write about religious belief and practice. In this lecture, Prof. Gregory will reflect on the themes of his research on Christian martyrdom, especially in light of more recent developments that point to why the study of history and martyrdom continue to be relevant today.

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.“

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 | 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.
