Sacred study is the prayerful and attentive reading of a work with the initial goal of understanding it, the intermediate goal of reflectively appropriating it, and the final goal of making its teaching concrete in a life devoted to God. Sacred study is study because it puts questions to the text, as an apprentice questions […]
Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) has long cherished Catholic liturgy, and his writings on the subject illuminate the man as well as the meaning of Christian ritual. This talk is intended as an introduction to the concept of liturgy as understood by Catholics and of the contributions Ratzinger-both as theologian and as worshiper-has made to […]
Cosponsored by the Department of History and the Medieval Studies Workshop with Augustine Thompson, O.P., Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Berkeley Karen Scott, DePaul University Lawrence Cunningham, University of Notre Dame In this authoritative and engaging new biography, Augustine Thompson, O.P., sifts through the surviving evidence for the life of Francis using modern historical methods. […]
Cosponsored by the Department of History and the Medieval Studies Workshop Among the most beloved of saints, Francis of Assisi is celebrated for his dedication to poverty, his love of nature, and his desire to follow perfectly the teachings and example of Christ. His followers compiled numerous, often legendary, accounts. The man and his own […]
Cosponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop In his new book, Francis of Assisi: A New Biography, Augustine Thompson, O.P., sifts through the surviving evidence for the life of Francis using modern historical methods. The Francis who emerges here is both more complex and more conflicted than that of older biographies. This one-day master class will consider […]
Co-Sponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop The thought of Thomas Aquinas, especially as it bears upon human action, leads one to make difficult choices. Aquinas insists that a lie even to save the life of another is always a sin. He also insists that one ought not ever by means of a direct act to […]
Co-sponsored by the History of Christianity Club For three hundred years the modern nation-state appeared to determine the relationship between politics and religion. Indeed, the modern state was devised to solve this troubled relation. This is no longer the case. The present weakness of nations in discerning matters religious and theological, along with its cool […]
Intended for University Students. Transportation from Hyde Park will be provided. Registration required as space is limited. SCHEDULE: 4:00 Depart from Hyde Park. 4:30 Talk on Spirituality and the Liturgy by Fr. Peter Funk, OSB. 5:15 Chanted Office of Vespers. 5:40 Silent Prayer. 6:00 Dinner. 6:30 Discussion and Questions. 7:15 Chanted Office of Compline. 8:00 […]
Co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy and Philosophy of Religions Club During the first two centuries of Christianity believers were led to confess their faith before a pagan world and endure persecution and trial, often leading to martyrdom. One might expect from them the posture and tactics of an irrational and “prophetic” theology. But in […]
Co-sponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop How can philosophers speak about God in a reasonable fashion? Does speech about God exceed the capacities of human reason? In responding to these questions, Thomas Aquinas develops a path between the extremes of apophaticism (rejecting the applicability of human language to God) and rationalistic optimism. This lecture will […]
Co-sponsored by the History of Christianity Club The Second Vatican Council insisted that the Virgin Mary is to be understood in light of the Church, and the Church is to be understood in light of the Virgin Mary. Why should the Church seek to recover today a greater emphasis on Marian devotion? How is the […]
A Public Symposium in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Pope John XXIII’s Encyclical on Establishing Universal Peace on Earth KEYNOTE: Roland Minnerath, Archbishop of Dijon RESPONDENTS: Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law School Joseph Weiler, New York University Law School Russell Hittinger, University of Tulsa On April 11, 1963, amid the global tensions of the Cold War, and shortly […]
