Lumen Christi Institute

"A Critical Look at Ayn Rand"
2012-03-23 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Chicago) | Union League Club, 65 W Jackson Blvd. Chicago, IL 60604, Downtown, IL
The continuing success of the books of Ayn Rand, even among Catholics, reveals the influence of her thought in debates on the role of the individual, community, market, and state in modern societies. At the same time, Rand’s success may have obscured fundamental flaws in her thought. A closer look at her philosophical, moral, political, and economic positions brings into question both the legitimacy of her success as well as the credulity of her disciples and the American public. Is it possible for anyone to be a legitimate philosopher in an age of clever marketing and mass consumption?

"Emotion and Virtue in Thomas Aquinas"
2012-03-02 17:00 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Templeton Foundation and The Philosophy Department

Abstract: For Aquinas, ethics is nothing other than the study of human psychology insofar as it flourishes or fails to flourish. Consequently, his thought on emotion is crucial to his account of virtue. This lecture will discuss Aquinas’s theory of the emotions and its implications for his virtue theory.

"Benedict's Teaching for Dark Ages, His and Ours"
2012-02-23 20:00 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
While Roman civilization collapsed around him, Benedict a fifth-century monk and abbot authored his Rule for monks and set forth a way of life for the monasteries that would become one of the few lights of wisdom and civility in an age of increasing darkness and social isolation. Benedict taught those who lived in these dark ages how to make their daily lives an integrated whole of prayer and work, enlightened by the wisdom of Christ. In this respect, his Rule contains many lessons that apply to Christians in contemporary life.

Symposium on Timothy Matovina's new book, "Latino Catholicism: Transformation in America's Largest Church"
2012-02-08 17:00 - 19:00 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Cosponsored by The American Religious History Workshop and The Center for Latin American Studies
Finely researched, engagingly written, and more comprehensive than any other book on the subject, Timothy Matovina’s Latino Catholicism is a scholarly labor of love that does justice to the historic presence of Latino Catholics in America….His book raises the bar for studies of U.S. religion and society.
-Allan Figueroa Deck, S.J.
Timothy Matovina (University of Notre Dame)
with responses from:
Peter Casarella (DePaul University)
Kathleen Conzen (University of Chicago)

"The Grand Design: An Augustinian Reply to Stephen Hawking"
2012-02-02 20:15 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Cosponsored by The Theology Workshop
Stephen Hawking has recently declared that philosophy is dead, and that science is the only reasonable method for securing knowledge. In response, Professor Cavadini will argue that philosophy is rooted in man’s wonder about the universe, and that scientific inquiry is only one aspect of true wisdom and should not be privileged over others.

Solidarity Forever: An Idea and its Roots in Catholic Social Thought
2012-01-26 17:30 | Swift Hall, Room 106, 1025 E 58th St, Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Before “solidarity” became a legal concept and later the name of the Polish labor movement, it developed as an economic, political, social, but most fundamentally a theological idea from which the rest of the Catholic social teaching tradition developed.

The Church Fathers: The Shaping of Christian Orthodoxy, Non-Credit Course
2012-01-18 19:00 - 2012-02-29 19:00 | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
Lecture, 7:00pm
Informal Dinner, 6:30pm
Intended for University students, faculty, and recent graduates. Others interested in attending, contact info@lumenchristi.org.
January 19
Athanasius of Alexandria: Theologian of the Incarnationâ€
Aaron Canty (St. Xavier University)
January 26
Jerome in Bethlehem
Robin Darling Young (University of Notre Dame)
February 2, 7:15pm
Social Sciences 122
The Grand Design: An Augustinian Reply to Stephen Hawking
John Cavadini (University of Notre Dame)
February 9
Origen: Christian Faith and Greek Wisdom
Andrew Radde-Gallwitz (Loyola University Chicago)
February 16
St. Augustine on Love
Jean-Luc Marion (University of Chicago, University Paris-Sorbonne)
Registration closed.Â The event has reached seating capacity.
February 23
Swift Hall, Third Floor Lecture Hall
“St. Benedict’s Teaching for Dark Ages, His and Ours”
Russell Hittinger (University of Tulsa)
March 1
Evagrius of Pontus: Master of Spiritual Psychology
Fr. Peter Funk (Monastery of the Holy Cross)

Conference on Christian Legal Thought
2012-01-07 09:45 - 19:00 | The University Club of Washington DC, 1135 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20036, Washington, D.C., DC
This conference is offered for legal scholars, law students, and others interested in Christian legal thought.
Conference Schedule
Registration: 8:45am
Panel One: 9:00am-10:30am
“Public Unions and the Current State of Organized Labor ”
David L. Gregory, St. Johns University School of Law
Thomas C. Kohler, Boston College Law School
John O. McGinnis, Northwestern University Law School
Panel Two: 10:45am-12:15pm
“Pedagogy”
Susan Stabile, University of St. Thomas School of Law
Deanell Reece Tacha, Pepperdine University School of Law
Michael Scaperlanda, University of Oklahoma College of Law
Lunch: 12:15pm-1:30pm
Panel Three: 1:30pm-3:00pm
“Law, Speech, and Morality”
Eric R. Claeys, George Mason University School of Law
Mary G. Leary, Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America
Michael W. McConnell, Stanford Law School
Paul E. Salamanca, University of Kentucky College of Law
Address and Discussion: 3:15pm-4:15pm
The Vocation of the Christian Lawyer and the Future of Legal Education
Kent D. Syverud, Washington University School of Law
Vespers: 4:30pm-5:00pm
Reception: 5:00pm-6:00pm

“The Identity of Knower and Known in Aquinas”
2011-11-15 17:00 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Lecture Abstract:
The claim that knowledge involves an identity of knower and known has its historical roots among the Greeks. This lecture explores this claim as one finds it in the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. Professor O’Callaghan will explore these issues in critical dialogue with two different papers, one by Wilfrid Sellars titled “Being and Being Known” and the other by John McDowell titled “Sellars’s Thomism.”

“Platonism and Christianity”
2011-11-08 20:00 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

“Phenomenology and Naturalism: Attitude and Objectivity”
2011-11-08 17:00 | Rosenwald 405, 1101 East 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Edmund Husserl was a philosopher, mathematician, and founder of the philosophical school of phenomenology. Professor Moran will argue that Husserl was correct to see naturalism as the dominant tendency of twentieth-century science and philosophy. Naturalism can be understood in many different senses, but it is typically defined by its commitment to science as the arbiter of what is objective. Husserl took naturalism to be self-refuting. Moran will discuss Husserl’s arguments, and in particular, the manner in which Husserl redefines ‘objectivity’ within his transcendental idealism, which is his alternative to naturalism.

Moran’s lecture will be followed by commentary from Professors Jean-Luc Marion (University of Paris/Sorbonne, University of Chicago) and Christopher Frey (University of Chicago).

“Politics as Vocation in Cicero and Burke”
2011-11-01 19:00 | Mandel Hall, 1131 East 57th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Mary Ann Glendon
A.B., J.D., M.C.L., University of Chicago
Professor of Law, Harvard University Law School,
President, The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences
On the occasion of the publication of her bookÂ The Forum and the Tower: How Scholars and Politicians Have Imagined the World, from Plato to Eleanor Roosevelt
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Social Thought and the University of Chicago Law School
About the Book:
As Aristotle noted long ago, two very different and sometimes incompatible ways of life; the political and the philosophical exert a powerful pull on the ambitious and talented members of any society. Mary Ann Glendon, who teaches at Harvard Law School, says that she sees this double attraction in her students. Some go into politics, but many turn away, fearful of the compromises and corruptions of power. Such students may go on to become teachers and scholars, but they never quite give up on the idea of making a difference in the wider, public world, even if they aren’t quite sure how to do it. Ms. Glendon’s The Forum and the Tower profiles 12 figures in Western history who struggled not always successfully with the conflict between an active life and a contemplative one, between life in the public forum and life in the ivory tower.… The Forum and the Tower is a wise exploration of the eternal tension between action and thought.
Brian C. Anderson, The Wall Street Journal

“Humility in Bernard of Clairvaux and al-Ghazali: A Christian and A Muslim Perspective”
2011-10-25 16:30 | Classics 110, 1010 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

A Concert of Sacred Music, "Josquin: Master of the Notes"
2011-10-22 20:00 - 21:30 | St. James Chapel, Quigley Center, 835 North Rush Street Chicago, IL 60611, Chicago, IL
Schola Antiqua of Chicago, Artists-in-Residence at the Lumen Christi Institute, presented a program exclusively dedicated to the music of Josquin des Prez, one of the most important composers from the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. His fluid and persuasive style of composition encapsulates the transition between the sound-world of the late Middle Ages and that of the High Renaissance. The centerpiece of the concert featured a rare performance of the composer’s Mass for the Blessed Virgin, a four-voice setting of the Mass Ordinary that figures among the latest of the composer’s masses, written around 1510. The program, under the direction of Michael Alan Anderson (Eastman School of Music), was supplemented by three of Josquin’s most exceptional motets (sacred choral works).
Friday, October 21, 8pm
St. James Chapel at Quigley Center of the Archdiocese of Chicago
835 North Rush Street
Chicago, IL 60611
Saturday, October 22, 8pm
Rockefeller Memorial Chapel at the University of Chicago
5850 South Woodlawn Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
Sunday, October 23, 4pm
St. Francis Xavier Church
524 Ninth Street
Wilmette, IL 60091

Symposium on Czesław Miłosz
2011-10-21 14:00 - 17:00 | Social Sciences, Tea Room, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Sponsored by The Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, The Committee on Social Thought, The Committee on Creative Writing, The Program on Poetry and Poetics, and The Lumen Christi Institute.

Saturday, October 22, 1:30pm-4:00pm
Symposium on Polish poet, Czeslaw Milosz
At the 100th anniversary of his birthday
Social Sciences, Tea Room (2nd Floor)
Program
1:30pm Introductory Remarks
1:45pm Adam Zagajewski, University of Chicago
2:15pm Bozena Shallcross, University of Chicago
2:45pm Coffee break
3:00pm Lukasz Tischner, Jagellonian University, Cracow
3:30pm Thomas Pavel, University of Chicago

"Irenaeus: Bishop, Martyr, and Opponent of Gnosticism"
2011-10-12 23:00 - 2011-11-17 00:00 | Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 201, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Thursday Evenings, Non-Credit Course, Autumn Quarter 2011
“The Age of the Church Fathers: From Pagan Philosophy to Christian Wisdom”
Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 201
5811 S. Ellis AvenueÂ
Lecture, 7:00pm
Informal Dinner, 6:30pm
October 13
“Introduction: Why Study the Fathers?”
Fr. Michael Heintz (University of Notre Dame)
October 20
“Clement of Alexandria: Neo-Platonism and Christian Wisdom”
Brian Daley, S.J. (University of Notre Dame)
October 27
“Justin Martyr: Early Christian Engagement with Greek Philosophy”
Aaron Canty (St. Xavier University)
November 3
“Tertullian: What Does Athens Have to do with Jerusalem?”
Msgr. Michael Heintz (University of Notre Dame)
Tuesday, November 8, Social Sciences 122
“Platonism and Christianity”
Carlos Steel (Catholic University of Leuven)
November 17
“Irenaeus: Bishop, Martyr, and Opponent of Gnosticism”
Scott D. Moringiello (Villanova University)
Intended for University students, faculty, and recent graduates. Others interested in attending, contact info@lumenchristi.org.
About the Course:
A non-credit course for students and members of the University of Chicago community that explores the thought of some of the early Church Fathers, including Clement of Alexandria, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Irenaeus. From the close of the apostolic age until the 8th century, the Church Fathers put forth a vision of Christian wisdom and debated the nature of Christ, grace and free will, the role of the Church, and the meaning of a Christian life in the context of a changing social and political world.

Symposium on “God, Freedom, and Public Life”
2011-10-06 15:00 - 17:00 | Mandel Hall, 1131 East 57th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Social Thought

The Lumen Christi Institute is pleased to co-sponsor a symposium at the University of Chicago entitled “God, Freedom, and Public Life” on the occasion of the publication of Francis Cardinal George’s book God in Action: How Faith in God can Address the Challenges of the World.
The symposium featured contributions from Jean Bethke Elshtain (University of Chicago), Hans Joas (University of Chicago), Martin Marty (University of Chicago), and Francis Cardinal George, OMI (Archbishop of Chicago).

Catholic Social Thought: A Critical Investigation
2011-09-08 00:00 - 2011-09-14 00:00 | Portsmouth Abbey, 285 Corys Lane, Portsmouth, RI
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). 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. This will be the third time Prof. Hittinger has led this seminar.
Format: There will be two 2 ½ hour sessions each day. Professor Hittinger will open each session with a lecture, and then we will turn to general, seminar-style discussion of the text and the issues at hand. Students will be expected to make seminar presentations of the material under discussion.
Location: The seminar will take place at the University of California, Berkeley. Students will be provided with a travel stipend, accommodations, and meals. . Students will be provided with a travel stipend, accommodations, and meals.
Application Information:  This seminar will be open to Ph.D. students in the humanities and social sciences (such as philosophy, theology, political science, history & medieval studies).
Applicants will be required to submit:

A completed online application form found HERE.
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 except for letters of recommendation, which can be emailed to mfranzen@lumenchristi.org or mailed to: Lumen Christi Institute, Graduate Seminars, 1220 East 58th Streeet, Chicago, IL 60637. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 15 students will be admitted to this seminar.
The Lumen Christi is an institute for the promotion of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and is committed to the integration of the intellectual and spiritual life. The Institute welcomes seminar participants of all or no religious affiliation, and wants to assure all applicants that the opportunities to participate in devotional activities are optional.
Any further questions can be directed to Mark Franzen at mfranzen@lumenchristi.org.

Aquinas and Contemporary Ethical Theory
2011-08-06 23:00 - 2011-08-11 23:00 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
June 2011: Professor Mark Murphy (Georgetown University) led a seminar on “Aquinas and Contemporary Ethical Theory” in Chicago, IL.

“From Natural Law to Human Rights in Jewish Thought”
2011-06-01 16:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Ethics Club and Jewish Studies and the Hebrew Bible Workshop
TO LISTEN: right click on below links to download or open in new window
“From Natural Law to Human Rights in Jewish Thought,” David Novak (part 1)
“From Natural Law to Human Rights in Jewish Thought,” David Novak (part 2)
“From Natural Law to Human Rights in Jewish Thought,” David Novak (part 3)

“Right Reason”
2011-05-24 17:00 | Classics 110, 1010 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Ancient Philosophy Workshop and the Practical Philosophy Workshop

The Schola Antiqua of Chicago at Roosevelt University
2011-05-22 18:30 | Roosevelt University, Ganz Hall, 430 S Michigan Ave Chicago, IL 60605, Downtown, IL
“Tomorrow’s Music Today II”
featuring Pacifica Quartet, eighth blackbird, and special guest, Schola Antiqua of Chicago Sunday,
The Lumen Christi Institute co-sponsors Artist-in-Residence Schola Antiqua of Chicago in a University of Chicago Presents concert event. Founded in 1943, University of Chicago Presents is one of Chicago’s oldest and most distinguished concert series. Early performers in the series included Igor Stravinsky, Artur Schnabel, Isaac Stern, Arnold Schoenberg, and the Budapest Quartet, who performed, offered public master classes, and spoke about music and composition.
The Schola will be premiering Jacob Bancks’ Litany of the Sacred Heart with two GRAMMY award-winning ensembles: eighth blackbird and Pacifica Quartet.
Jacob Bancks: http://jbancks.com/home/
eighth blackbird: http://www.myspace.com/8bb
Pacifica Quartet: http://www.pacificaquartet.com/index2.html
For more information, please call University of Chicago Presents at 773-702-8068 or visit http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu/ or http://contempo.uchicago.edu/current.html.

Dostoevsky’s Pilgrimage: Aesthetics and Ascesis in “The Brothers Karamazov”
2011-05-17 19:00 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

Dostoevsky’s final novel, set partly in a monastery, continues to shape contemporary images of Orthodox Christian monasticism and ascetic practice. Bird will examine how well Dostoevsky actually knew this milieu and this tradition, and how profoundly his knowledge affected his writing of The Brothers Karamazov. This will serve as a case study for the broader question of the influence of the Orthodox Christian ascetic tradition on modern Russian aesthetics.

“The Importance of Elizabeth Anscombe”
2011-05-10 19:00 | Classics 110, 1010 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy
TO LISTEN: right click on below links to download or open in new window
“The Importance of Elizabeth Anscombe,” Anselm Mueller (part 1)
“The Importance of Elizabeth Anscombe,” Anselm Mueller (part 2)
“The Importance of Elizabeth Anscombe,” Anselm Mueller (part 3)

Elizabeth Anscombe has become known as a pupil and literary executor of Wittgenstein, but also as a defender of conservative views on questions of morality. A. W. Müeller will suggest that she has contributed to current intellectual life in three ways: 1) by initiating a philosophy of action that helps us to argue responsibly about moral questions; 2) by stressing the importance of seeking truth in matters of basic orientation; 3) by showing that Christian beliefs do not need to shun the standards of intellectual respectability.

A Carnal Love of Concepts or a Work of Mercy? The Intellectual Life and the Dominican Vocation
2011-04-28 19:00 | Social Sciences, Room 122, 1126 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
co-sponsored by the Committee on Social Thought and the Program in Medieval Studies

In the Order of Preachers (Dominicans), study has a central place as it is an integral part of the religious life itself. What is the aim of studying theology and other sciences within a Christian vocation?

“The Dignity of Being a Substance”
2011-04-27 16:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the Committee on Social Thought and the Program in Medieval Studies
Thomas Aquinas characterized the person as “what is most perfect” and “most worthy” in all of nature. What grounds the dignity of the human being as a person? While in our day a metaphysical approach to the question is undervalued, this lecture attempts to show the value of such an approach in terms of “substance” and “nature.”

“Cardinal Lustiger and the New Springtime of the Church in Paris”
2011-04-13 17:00 | Alliance Française de Chicago, 54 West Chicago Avenue Chicago, IL 60610, Downtown
A close friend of Jean-Luc Marion, Cardinal Lustiger was nicknamed “le bulldozer” for his efforts to rebuild the Church as Archbishop of Paris. He established new parishes, founded the “Ãcole Cathedrale,” created Radio Notre-Dame, founded a center for cultural dialogue in a 13th-century monastery building on the Left Bank, and published best-selling books, among them Dare to Believe. Lustiger’s work was rooted in the “French School” of spirituality of Cardinal Pierre de Barulle and Jean-Jacques Olier (founder of the Sulpicians). Lustiger was committed to deepening the French Church’s reconciliation with democracy and to strengthening relations with the Jewish people, to whom he belonged by birth.
**Part of the Alliance’s “April in Paris” series**

Virtue, Action, and Reason: A Conference in Honor of Anselm Müller
2011-04-01 23:00 - 2011-04-02 23:00 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
The University of Chicago Philosophy Department will host a conference entitled, “Virtue, Action, and Reason” in honor of the Spring 2011 Lumen Christi visiting fellow, Anselm Müeller. The Lumen Christi Institute, along with a number of other institutes on campus, are delighted to act as conference co-sponsors.
The publication of Elizabeth Anscombe Modern Moral Philosophy in 1958 is often taken to mark a watershed event in analytic philosophical ethics. In this justly famous paper, Anscombe laid out three controversial theses. First, she argued that philosophers should not do moral theory until they have worked out an adequate philosophy of action and practical reason. Second, she argued that the idea of moral obligation, so central to the project of modern moral philosophy, is vacuous, and we should learn to do moral philosophy without it. Finally, she argued that the differences within contemporary moral theorists are superficial once we consider the crucial respect in which they are the same: each rejects the idea that some forms of human action such as the procurement of the judicial condemnation of the innocent are intrinsically bad qua human and, as such, are absolutely forbidden. At the close of her paper, Anscombe suggests that we give up the project of modern moral philosophy and return to the wisdom of a more ancient tradition of thought about the good life for man, one whose roots lie in Plato and Aristotle.
Arguably, no one has done more to advance progress in the direction Anscombe originally pointed than her student, Professor Anselm Müeller. Over the course of his long and distinguished career, he has articulated a theory of practical reason and action that seeks to demonstrate that man needs the virtues (dispositions for good practical inference) in order to achieve happiness. Moreover, he develops his theory in such a way that eliminates the need for an unreflective appeal to a species of practical obligation that is special in virtue of being moral. And finally, he has forcefully argued that predications of goodness and badness apply directly to actions and agents, and only derivatively to states of affairs, thereby showing that consequentialism rests upon a false picture of the relation between act and agent. In so doing, Professor Müeller has made lasting contributions to the field of practical philosophy.
Professor Müeller will be a visiting faculty member in the Philosophy Department this Spring quarter, and will be teaching a graduate seminar on the writings of Elizabeth Anscombe. To commemorate his visit to the University of Chicago, and to honor his distinguished career, the Philosophy Department is hosting a conference on his contributions to practical philosophy, titled Action, Virtue, and Reason. Each presenter at our conference will give a talk that engages one of Professor Müeller’s seminal papers in practical philosophy, with one hour of discussion to follow each presentation. Professor Müeller will also give the keynote address, titled The Teleology of the Virtuous Life.

“The Book of Ruth”
2011-03-30 18:00 - 2011-04-18 18:00 | Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 409, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
6:30pm Dinner
7:00pm Lecture

Intended for university students, faculty, and recent graduates. Others interested in attending, please contact info@lumenchristi.org.
The Book of Ruth is exceptional in the Old Testament for the candor and serenity with which it portrays the relations of Israelite to pagan, freeman to dependent, mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. This course of lectures and discussions will include a close reading of the four chapters that make up the book, with an eye to the theological concerns of the sacred author and the importance of the work for Jewish and Christian commentators.
Thursday, March 31
Ruth Chapter One: Naomi’s sojourn in Moab and the stubborn loyalty of Ruth.
Thursday, April 7
Ruth Chapter Two: Ruth and Naomi in Bethlehem and the providential intervention of Boaz.
Thursday, April 14
Ruth Chapters Three and Four: Naomi’s arrangements for the courtship of Boaz and Ruth, and the marriage of Boaz and Ruth and its consequences for the nation of Israel.
Tuesday, April 19
No Meeting.

“Decision-Making in the Pressure Cooker: Lessons Learned from the Collapse of Lehman Brothers”
2011-03-03 17:30 | Jenner & Block, 45th Floor, 353 N Clark St. Chicago, IL 60654, Downtown, IL
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Catholic Lawyers Guild, sponsored by Jenner & Block.

panelists:
Harry Kraemer (executive partner with Madison Dearborn)
Anton Valukas (Chairman of Jenner & Block and former United States Attorney)
Luigi Zingales (Robert C. McCormack Professor of Entrepreneurship and Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business)

“The Christian Mystic in a Post-Modern Culture”
2011-02-28 16:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Theology Workshop and the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University
Maria Clara Bingemer (Catholic University at Rio de Janeiro)
Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago, Emeritus)

A Philosophical Reading of the Prodigal Son
2011-02-21 17:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
While the parable of the prodigal son has traditionally been read as a story about a wayward son in need of repentance or the conflict of two siblings over their just treatment, Hart will suggest that the father is the central character of the narrative. The phenomenological tradition is employed to shift the theological perspective of the parable toward a vision of the kingdom of God imagined through the forgiveness and unconditional love of the Father. This lecture was co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Theology Workshop.

“The Freedom of a Christian”
2011-02-16 17:30 | Ida Noyes Hall, Max Palevsky Cinema, 1212 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Marilynne Robinson will deliver an Yves Simon lecture entitled, “The Freedom of a Christian.”

“Eriugena: The Medieval Irish Genius Between Augustine and Aquinas”
2011-02-08 19:00 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
The Carolingian thinker Johannes Scottus Eriugena (810-877CE) is the author of numerous philosophical and theological works. Most famous among them is the Periphyseon or On Natures (864-866CE), a metaphysical dialogue drawing on the Greek and Latin patristic and classical traditions. Having been falsely condemned because of pantheism in 1225, Eriugena was only seriously studied in the twentieth century, which saw a major effort to complete all the critical editions of his works (until 2005). With all the modern tools in place, it is time to map out a vista of what the tradition of medieval Western thought would have looked like, had he not been excised from it. For Eriugena is by all accounts the most interesting and systematic thinker between Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.
What Eriugena has in common with Augustine (354-430CE) is his deep attention to creation and to exegesis as the prime vehicle for conveying his ideas about it. Eriugena was familiar with Augustine’s interpretation of Genesis as well as with that of Gregory of Nyssa, and he seems to have situated himself deliberately in between them. The latter half of his major work On Natures is cast entirely as a commentary on Genesis but exegesis was for Eriugena, just like for Augustine, also a vehicle for speculative thought.
With Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274CE) Eriugena has in common a deep interest in precise epistemological analysis: what can and cannot be known by the human mind, and how do we distinguish the reach of the mind from the infinity of the divine? Here Eriugena daringly incorporates the negative theology of Pseudo-Dionysius in what is an unusual definition of nature. While we cannot know the divine, as he transcends the human mind, Eriugena still considers God an integral part of natura, and it is through the via negativa that he wants to approach the divine.
With both Augustine and Aquinas Eriugena shares an attachment to the mystical structure ofexitus and reditus, or procession and return, as his intellectual journey ultimately parallels a mystical quest, that of the soul on its way to salvation. Where Eriugena is most unlike Augustine and Aquinas, however, is in the neglect that has befallen his thought as opposed to theirs. It is time for a reappraisal, therefore, or rather, time for a first integral appraisal of the thought of John Scottus Eriugena.

“Knowledge, Metaphysics, and the Information Explosion”
2011-01-28 16:00 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Benedict Ashley, OP (Aquinas Institute of Theology, Emeritus)
Herman Sinaiko (University of Chicago, Emeritus)
To some, in the information age, we seem to know more things, to communicate more effectively, and to better interrelate scientific disciplines. To others, however this ‘information explosion’ has produced a miscommunication, a superficial acquaintance with trivial facts, and fragmentation of once-related disciplines. In light of this, Benedict Ashley and Herman Sinaiko will consider whether an Aristotelian ‘synthesis’ of the sciences might offer a means of integrating human knowledge.

“The Book of Genesis” Non-Credit Course
2011-01-12 19:00 - 2011-02-16 19:00 | Cobb Lecture Hall, Room 409, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Intended for university students, faculty, and recent graduates. Others interested in attending, please contact info@lumenchristi.org
Thursday, January 13
Genesis 1-2: “Creation: Grace upon Grace”
If the Hebrew word for God were treated as an unknown (so that we learned its meaning from the text, instead of bringing our catechism with us to the reading), these verses would by themselves teach us most of the Divine Attributes. We are told of the creation of heaven and earth, the creation of man in the image of God, the naming of the beasts, the presentation of the woman and her namegiving, and the nuptial meaning of the one flesh. To be discussed: what authority does the text of Genesis claim for itself?
Thursday, January 20
Genesis 3-4: “Downfall”
God places the man into a garden He had planted. Prohibition, temptation, sacrifice, and homicide make their appearance. What are we to understand by prohibition, sin, lying, and shame as conveyed by the text?
Thursday, January 27
Genesis 5-11: “The Sign of the Covenant”
God resolves to destroy “all flesh” by the flood. What does it mean for God to annihilate His own Creation? What does the righteousness of Noah consist in and what is the meaning of the covenant? What was the sin of the builders of the tower of Babel, and how does the sacred author understand their abasement?
Thursday, February 3
Genesis 12-22: “Abraham: Reckoned unto Him as Righteousness”
The story of Abraham and Sarah is the story of a divine promise, which is at once a burden and a source of hope. What is meant to be taught by Abraham’s obedience in the sacrifice of Isaac? To be discussed: does the Old Testament understand faith as a virtue?
Thursday, February 17
Genesis 23-36: “The Sorrows of the Patriarchs”
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are not held up to us as men whose character and moral conduct are to be imitated. Their patriarchy is accorded its value not in virtue of heroism or holiness, yet is seen most clearly in adversity. To be discussed: within its own limits, what does the Book of Genesis understand by “Israel”?

Sixth Annual Conference on Christian Legal Thought
2011-01-08 11:30 - 19:15 | Hotel Monaco, 501 Geary St. San Francisco, CA 94102, San Francisco, CA
Registration Form
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Hotel Monaco
501 Geary Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
http://www.monaco-sf.com/

Follow the Star: Medieval and Renaissance Music for Epiphany
2011-01-07 20:00 - 2011-01-08 20:00 | Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S Woodlawn Ave. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Friday, January 7, 8:00pm Rockefeller Chapel, 5850 S. Woodlawn Ave.
Saturday, January 8, 8:00pm St. Clement Church, 642 W. Deming Place
Tickets available at door: $20 general, $10 students and seniors, Free for University of Chicago students

Aquinas, Thomism, and 20th Century Liberalism
2010-11-17 17:30 - 19:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Paul E. Sigmund, Professor of Politics at Princeton University, delivers a lecture titled “Aquinas, Thomism, and 20th Century Liberalism” on November 17, 2010 at the University of Chicago.

Is There a Christian Philosophy?
2010-11-10 17:30 - 20:00 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Jean-Luc Marion delivers a lecture titled “Is There a Christian Philosophy?” on November 10, 2010 at the University of Chicago.

How the University of Chicago Opened My American Mind
2010-10-19 17:00 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Fr. Benedict Ashley’s life at the University of Chicago in the 1930’s included Trotskyite activism and participation in the first Great Books Seminar led by President Robert Maynard Hutchins. His lecture will consider liberal education in light of this history and the life of scholarship and inquiry it inspired.

Spiritual Exercises and the Contemporary Academy
2010-10-13 16:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
The work of Pierre Hadot and, in his later years, Michel Foucault on the ancient pagan and Christian practices of askesis, or “spiritual exercise,” has proven to be of interest not only to scholars of the late classical and early Christian era, but to a much broader range of humanists working across a variety of disciplines. One reason for this interest is the possibility that religious and non-religious contemporary academics might be able to incorporate the techniques and aims of spiritual exercise into their own scholarly work, thus imbuing their academic teaching and writing with an ethical, if not religious, significance that is sometimes felt to be lacking in the day-to-day life of the academic. On this panel, we will consider whether and how the contemporary academy might be enriched by spiritual exercise and practices of contemplation or meditation.

Seminar: De Trinitate and De Civitate Dei
2010-08-07 23:00 - 2010-08-12 23:00 | University of Saint Mary of the Lake, 1000 East Maple Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060, Mundelein, IL
Professor Paul Griffiths (Duke University) led a seminar on Augustine’s seminal later works, De Trinitate and De Civitate Dei at the University of St. Mary of the Lake Conference Center in Mundelein, Illinois.

Catholicisme
2010-06-24 18:00 | College des Bernardins, 18 rue Poissy 75005 Paris, France, Paris, France
Panelists include Charles Taylor and Paul Thibaud.
All presentations given in French.

Catholics in Political Life
2010-06-02 16:30 | Loyola University Chicago School of Law, Power Rogers & Smith Ceremonial Courtroom (10th Floor), 25 E Pearson St. Chicago, IL 60611, River North, IL

The Apocalypse in Origen and the Origenian Tradition
2010-05-25 15:30 | Classics 110, 1010 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This lecture will investigate the interpretation of the Book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, in Origen and the Origenian tradition. Why does Origen accept this book, whereas many Origenian exegetes do not? What role does Millenarianism play in this choice, and what kind of exegesis does Origen apply in order to accept the Apocalypse? In answering these questions and others, the lecture looks to two influences on Origen’s thought: Plato and St. Paul, especially 1 Cor. 15.

West Meets East: French Sacred Music from Cyprus
2010-05-14 19:00 - 2010-05-15 19:00 | Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, 5850 S Woodlawn Ave. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Tickets: $15 general, $5 students and seniors
University of Chicago students free with ID
Cosponsored by the France Chicago Center

From Curiosity to Studiousness: Catechizing the Appetite for Knowledge
2010-05-12 15:30 | Swift Hall, First Floor Common Room, 1025 E 58th St,Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
It’s a good thing, almost everyone would say, to want to know things; that view is certainly bone-deep in our universities and colleges, as well as in the church. But there are different ways of coming to want to know things, different ways of training and forming the appetite for knowledge. It has been traditional in Catholic Christianity to identify two such ways under the labels curiositas (curiosity) and studiositas (studiousness). This talk will explore the difference between the two, and offer a sketch of what a well-formed appetite for knowledge is like.

Symposium on Caritas in Veritate
2010-04-28 15:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Published upon the heels of the global financial collapse of 2008, Benedict XVI’s social encyclical, Caritas in Veritate, has been received with great controversy in America. Conservatives have criticized the encyclical’s indictment of neoliberal policies while progressives have severed the encyclical’s social concerns from their origin in the sanctity of human life. This panel discussion of Caritas in Veritate will consider the encyclical in light of the tradition of Catholic social teaching, the political difficulties facing economic reform, and the challenge of inter-religious dialogue.

Representation vs. Direct Realism in Modern Philosophy
2010-04-05 16:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Gyula Klima (Fordham University)

The Authority of Law in Recent Catholic Political Philosophy
2010-03-02 16:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Cosponsored by the Center for Law, Philosophy and Human Values
This lecture considers several recent attempts by Catholic political philosophers working in the natural law tradition to give an account of law’s authority, and their success in answering some recent criticism. The difficulties in providing a successful natural law account of law’s authority gives us reason to rethink the sort of explanatory ambitions of new natural law theorists.

Symposium on Gary Anderson’s Sin: A History
2010-02-24 17:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
In Sin: A History, Gary Anderson shows how changing conceptions of sin lay at the heart of the biblical tradition. Spanning two thousand years, the book demonstrates how sin, once conceived of as a physical burden, becomes, over time, eclipsed by economic metaphors. Transformed from a weight that an individual carried, this Jewish revolution in thought shaped the way the Christian church understood the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Shakespeare’s Jewish Questions
2010-02-09 17:30 | Ida Noyes Hall, Library, 1212 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
David Nirenberg (University of Chicago)
Cosponsored by the Chicago Center for Jewish Studies

Are Catholics Unreliable from a Democratic Point of View? Reflections on the 60th Anniversary of Paul Blanchard’s American Freedom and Catholic Power
2009-11-04 17:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Published in 1949, Paul Blanshard’s American Freedom and Catholic Power captured the attention of American intelligentsia with its claim that American Catholic citizens had to choose “between a church hostile to fundamentals of democracy and a state where contrary views are implicit under our Constitution.” John F. Kennedy’s famous speech to Protestant ministers in Houston on Sept. 12, 1960 was in many respects a response to Blanshard’s thesis. Today Blanshard’s bigotry may not be explicitly defended in educated circles, but questions remain about what made his book so compelling. Patrick Brennan considers whether Blanshard was onto something about the incompatibility of Catholic principles and American democratic philosophy.

A Colloquium on Kathleen Sprows Cummings’s New Women of the Old Faith: Gender and American Catholicism in the Progressive Era
2009-10-19 16:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
American Catholic women rarely surface as protagonists in histories of the United States. Offering a new perspective, Kathleen Sprows Cummings places Catholic women at the forefront of two defining developments of the Progressive Era: the emergence of the “New Woman” and Catholics’ struggle to define their place in American culture. Cummings highlights four women: Chicago-based journalist Margaret Buchanan Sullivan; Sister Julia McGroarty, SND, founder of Trinity College in Washington, D.C., one of the first Catholic women’s colleges; Philadelphia educator Sister Assisium McEvoy, SSJ; and Katherine Eleanor Conway, a Boston editor, public figure, and antisuffragist. Cummings uses each woman’s story to explore how debates over Catholic identity were intertwined with the renegotiation of American gender roles. By examining female power within Catholic religious communities and organizations, she challenges the widespread assumption that women who were faithful members of a patriarchal church were incapable of pathbreaking work on behalf of women.

Does Secularization Lead to Moral Decline?
2009-10-13 16:30 | Classics 110, 1010 E 59th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
The broad public debates on religion and ethics frequently suffer from empirical deficiencies. All sides tend to argue in a way one might call an “a priori” mode of argumentation. In contrast, this lecture offers some empirically grounded reflections. First, Hans Joas asks whether the morality of secularized societies could be a mere remnant or reverberation of religious traditions. Secondly, he briefly investigates with regard to tribal societies whether religion should be considered to be constitutive for morality at all. Thirdly, he uses an example from Christian missionary work to look at the interaction of new religion and traditional morality. And lastly he brings together these reflections by claiming that normative regulations have a double origin and he will mark the precise point where he sees a present danger of moral regression caused by secularization.

Imago Dei: Philosophical Approaches to the Human Being as Image of God
2009-10-09 16:30 - 2009-10-10 17:00 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This conference addresses the following questions: What constitutes the image of God? How are we to understand Augustine’s claim that human beings come to understand both who they are and who they have been only through relationship with God? How do St. Thomas Aquinas and Blaise Pascal remain within or depart from the Augustinian tradition? What role do Aristotelian and Platonic (or neo-Platonic) conceptions of human identity and the soul play? Lastly, as Genesis offers an essentially relational account of “Imago Dei,” in what way can we discover or participate in such relationship with God through social relationships?

Vestiges of the Trinity: Joyce on the Artist as Imago Dei
2009-10-09 16:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the Trinity is crucial to James Joyce’s presentation of the artist in both Portrait of the Artist and Ulysses. Now, Joyce’s deployment of Trinitarian themes is not strictly orthodox of course. But the Trinity does provide a model, an exemplar, for a proper understanding of artistic fecundity and a subtle critique of popular romantic conceptions of artistic self-expression. Whatever his intentions, Joyce’s treatment suggest ways in which the Thomistic doctrine of the Trinity and the Imago Dei can contribute to a fresh understanding of artistic activity.

Against Nostalgia: Catholicism, History and Modernity
2009-10-06 16:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Deeply ingrained assumptions about the nature of historical change prevent an adequate comprehension of the transformations that have created the contemporary Western world over the past half-millennium. Departures from traditional Christianity since the sixteenth century, and related attempts to ground truth claims in scripture or reason alone yielded unintended pluralisms via Protestantism and modern philosophy that remain pervasively influential today. Catholicism continues to offer an intellectually viable alternative–provided one does not subscribe to inadequate views of how the past became the present.
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Seminar: Summa theologiae
2009-09-05 23:00 - 2009-09-10 23:00 | University of Saint Mary of the Lake, 1000 East Maple Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060, Mundelein, IL
Prof. Corey Barnes (Oberlin College) led a seminar on Aquinas’s Christology in his Summa theologiae at the University of St. Mary of the Lake Conference Center in Mundelein, Illinois.

The Contemplation of God in Medieval Literature
2009-03-05 17:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

The Solzhenitzyn Question
2008-11-19 17:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn left a vast body of work, an inestimable influence on Russian culture, and a deeply divided public opinion. He documented the Soviet prison system, developed forms of literary representation for describing the experiences of prisoners, and was courageous in the face of repression. But doubts linger about him as artist, thinker and person, and thus prompt us to raise the Solzhenitsyn question.

Thomas Aquinas, Scientist: How Might He Approach 21st Century Biotechnology
2008-11-12 17:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Despite flaws in his biology, Aquinas’ writings offer us guidance in our approach to 21st century biotechnology. Aquinas’ notion of a Just War provides us with a way for thinking about biotechnology, since both use morally ambiguous means to address evils in an imperfect world. A comparison of these two disparate issues can yield criteria for an ethics of biotechnology.

Sketch of a Phenomenological Concept of Sacrifice
2008-05-29 16:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
In this lecture, Jean-Luc Marion advances a phenomenological notion of sacrifice that is distinct from the notion of sacrifice typically discussed in Sociology or even Religious Studies. He argues that sacrifice restores the gift from the side of the givee, much as he has argued previously that forgiveness restores the gift from the side of the giver. He develops both notions within the framework of a phenomenology of givenness, advancing the thesis that sacrifice requires neither destruction, nor restitution, nor even exchange, and still less contract. Sacrifice surpasses all this because sacrifice does not arise as an economic notion (one that would make an economy of the gift), but rather from the gift itself. The function of sacrifice is only to permit acknowledgment of the giver and thereby the entire process of givenness, by reducing the given.

Faith, Reason and the Eucharist
2008-05-14 16:30 | Swift Hall, 3rd Floor Lecture, 1025 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Between doubts about “natural theology” and post-modern polemics against “modernity”, an older view that the existence of God can be known “by the natural light of reason” gets little hearing. Perhaps it is time to revisit these older views in light of Aquinas’ understanding of the rational powers as “bodily presence”, analogous to the power of signification found in music and, more profoundly, in the Eucharist; only within this broader conception of human reason can we speak of the existence of God as demonstrable by rational proof.

The Christian Identity of Europe
2008-04-17 16:00 | Kent Hall, Room 120, 1020 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
Europe is suffering from a spiritual identity crisis. Some countries rejected the historical preambulum to a European Constitution because Christianity was mentioned as one of the founding elements of the union… At the heart of the crisis is the loss of the spiritual basis on which the Continent had been united, mostly the idea of a Christian civilization. This address investigates the growth of this idea through the centuries as well as the causes of its recent decline and, in some areas, even loss. Can a European union survive without its founding idea? Are other models available, such as for instance that of a United States of Europe, on a purely economic basis? What is the difference between Europe and the USA in this respect? Louis Dupré is the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor Emeritus in Yale University’s religious studies department.

Reason & Regensburg: Pope Benedict and the Dialogue of Cultures
2008-04-08 16:30 | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
To bridge the cultural rift between Islam and the West, there is an urgent need to reestablish the mutually reinforcing dialogue between faith and reason in the West, and to support moderate Muslim scholars attempting to retrieve a non-voluntarist interpretation of Islam, often at risk to their own lives.
