Presented by the Committee on Social Thought and the Department of Philosophy. Co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute. In his most recent book, A Case for Irony, Jonathan Lear argues that becoming a human being is a difficult task, and that developing a capacity for irony is essential to doing it well. He claims that ironic […]
Co-sponsored by The Nicholson Center for British Studies, The American Chesterton Society, and the Literature and Philosophy Workshop Chesterton regarded comedy as important an art form as tragedy. He thought humor was integral to Christianity as opposed to paganism, and it was an essential part of his philosophy of wonder.
Often called the Father of the Second Vatican Council, Newman both anticipated a number of its teachings and, through his recovery of the thought of the early Church, provides a hermeneutic of continuity for interpreting the Council's documents.
Co-sponsored by the Department of History and The Early Modern Workshop In his latest book, The Unintended Reformation, Brad Gregory identifies the unintended consequences of the Protestant Reformation and traces how it has shaped the modern condition. He argues that hyperpluralism, an absence of a shared sense of the common good, and the triumph of consumerism […]
Registration Required. RSVP to info@lumenchristi.org. About the Lecture: John Cassian, a monk with broad experience of Greek, Latin and Coptic monasticism, wrote his most important works, The Institutes and The Conferences to assist the Pope in establishing the monastic tradition of the Desert Fathers in fifth-century Europe. Since Cassian maintains that the monastic life is simply the life of the apostolic church, his […]
Co-sponsored by the St. Thomas More Society The roots of modern ideas of religious freedom are as much religious as they are political and philosophical. The American political leaders who first championed these ideas were well aware of the religious sources supporting their views. This lecture explores how early Christian thinkers developed a theological understanding […]
Co-sponsored by the Medieval Studies Workshop The Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas stands among the finest expressions of the Catholic “understanding of faith” (intellectus fidei). Over a thousand commentaries have been written on it. A leading historian of Medieval Christian thought, Bernard McGinn explores Thomas’s reason for writing the Summa and its principles, structure, and originality.
Lecture, 7:00pm Informal Dinner, 6:30pm Intended for University students, faculty, and recent graduates. Others interested in attending, contact info@lumenchristi.org. May 24 “John Climacus: Cleansing, Death, and Resurrection in his "The Ladder of Divine Ascent” Perry Hamalis (North Central College) Co-sponsored by the Orthodox Christian Fellowship John Climacus (ca. 579-ca. 659) uses a number of analogies to describe the […]
Keynote Address: Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich Presentations: Roger Myerson, University of Chicago, Kevin M. Murphy, University of Chicago, and Russell Hittinger, University of Tulsa This event opens the Fourth Lumen Christi Institute Conference on Economics and Catholic Social Thought and inaugurates the Institute Collaboration with the German-American Colloquium of the Katholische Sozialwissenschaftliche Zentralstelle. Co-sponsored […]
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As President Clinton observed, "religious freedom is . . . our first freedom." It was central to the Founders' vision for the American political community. They did not always agree about what religious freedom means or requires, but they knew that it matters, and that it should be respected in policy and protected by law. James […]
Cosponsored by the University of Chicago Ethics Club After decades of ideological upheaval that often placed the Catholic Church in conflict with modernity, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council in part to open a dialogue with modern culture. This lecture will reflect on the theological developments that led to Vatican II's Pastoral Constitution […]
