A Spiritual Manual for the Technological Age: A Discussion of Paul Kingsnorth's Against the Machine
2025-09-25 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | University Club of Chicago, 76 E Monroe St Chicago, IL 60603, Downtown, IL
This event is full. You can register for the livestream below. To inquire about the waiting list for the in-person event, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet: mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

“A Spiritual Manual for the Technological Age” is the Lumen Christi Institute’s 2025 Kolber Lecture.

REGISTER HERE (Online Only)
5:00 Cocktail and Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:00 Dialogue and Q&A | 7:30 End
“Our culture is not in danger of dying; it is already dead, and we are in denial. This, now, is the reality we have to wrestle with—and transcend.”
We all experience how the rapid advance of technology, especially AI, has affected the way we live, think, and experience the world. But has it also changed who we are? In his new book, Against the Machine: on the Unmaking of Humanity, Paul Kingsnorth explores the consequences of hyper-technologized society. With the deftness of an essayist who is also a poet, Kingsnorth takes us through the historical and theological roots of post-Industrial Revolution advancement. He ultimately suggests that the dangers we face have a spiritual cause, and spiritual consequences. “If you knock out the pillars of a sacred order,” he writes, “the universe itself will change shape.” This technological reshaping will lead man to become the machine—unless we can learn to transcend it.
Paul Kingsnorth is a poet, novelist, and essayist. He wrote his first book after traveling around the world to study the effects of globalization on culture; since then, he has written five other works of nonfiction, three novels, two collections of poetry, and has contributed essays to numerous journals, including First Things, The Guardian, London Review of Books, and The Ecologist. He also writes a popular Substack, “The Abbey of Misrule,” with a following of over 70,000 subscribers. Kingsnorth resides in Ireland with his family.
We at the Lumen Christi Institute are excited to host Paul Kingsnorth at the University Club as he takes his book tour for Against the Machine. The evening will begin at 5:00pm with cocktails and appetizers. At 6:00pm, Kingsnorth will bring us into the major themes of his book in dialogue with another great contemporary poet and cultural critic, James Matthew Wilson, followed by an audience Q&A, and a book signing. You may pre-order a signed copy of the book when you register.
Registration for the livestream will go live on September 1st.

The Part The Muses Give Us
2025-09-26 12:00 - 17:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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(Note: The schedule below has been pushed back)
Lunch 12:00 | Master Class 1:00-4:30 | Wine & Cheese 4:30-5:30
This master class is intended for graduate and advanced undergraduate students. Others interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org for more details.
The nature, form, and purpose of poetry was called radically into question in the last century, and yet even now this art form remains a paradigm for what it means to make for the sake of beauty.
In this master class, we will consider an account of poetry grounded in the four essential M’s (making, memory, metaphor, and meter) to see what it discloses about the function of the art in general. We shall then study and savor a handful of poems that bring particular clarity to each of these essential qualities. Preparation includes reading the final chapter of The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking; a small anthology of poems will be distributed for consideration during the class itself.
Participants will receive a copy of The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking.

Welcome Back Ice Cream Social With Pizza
2025-10-01 18:00 - 20:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Open to all students at the University of Chicago. This event is co-sponsored by Calvert House.
Welcome back! As school starts up again, the Lumen Christi Institute and Calvert House would like to invite all students to a welcome back social. Meet other Catholics and friends of LCI to kick off the year! Pizza and an ice cream bar will be available. All students are welcome. Grad students are invited to bring spouses and children.
For those bringing a spouse and/or children, please DO NOT include them in “Persons registering.” Please mark them in the field called “How many children/spouse will attend with you? (If applicable).”

The Works and Legacy of St. Augustine
2025-10-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-21 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-04 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-18 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture (last 20 Q & A) | 7:30 End
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
In his first public address, Pope Leo XIV declared himself “a son of St. Augustine, who once said, ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’” This moment served as an ode to the Augustinian order, of which he is a member, and marked St. Augustine as a central influence to his papacy.
In order to understand Pope Leo XIV, we must return to St. Augustine.
St. Augustine of Hippo (A.D. 354–430) was a North African bishop and theologian whose writings, like The Confessions and The City of God, shaped Christian thought. After a life of searching and struggling with what is true, he embraced the Christian faith. His philosophy ultimately centers on the idea of the restless soul finding rest in God.
Join us as we survey one of the most prominent theologians in the history of Christianity and explore his enduring legacy on the Church today.

Schedule:
Oct 7 – Week 1: City of God pt 1
Willemien Otten (Dorothy Grant Maclear Professor of Theology and the History of Christianity; also in the College; Associate Faculty in the Department of History, Social Sciences Division, The University of Chicago)
The City of God is a major historical-theological work that gives both a macrohistory of the world but also a microhistory of Adam and Eve folded within it. The first two sessions of the class will deal respectively with the dynamics of the macro- and the microhistorical view.
To focus on City of God, books 1, 5 and 11-13. See also the article by James Wetzel, “Augustine on the Origin of Evil: Myth and Metaphysics.”
Oct 14 – Week 2: City of God pt 2
Willemien Otten
The City of God is a major historical-theological work that gives both a macrohistory of the world but also a microhistory of Adam and Eve folded within it. The first two sessions of the class will deal respectively with the dynamics of the macro- and the microhistorical view.
To focus on City of God, books 14-15 and 19. See also the article by Willemien Otten, “Between Exegesis and Naturalization: Gender and Creation in Augustine.”
Oct 21 – Week 3: Confessions
Ryan Coyne (Associate Professor of the Philosophy of Religions and Theology; also in the College, The University of Chicago)
Oct 28 – Week 4: On The Trinity
Bernard McGinn (Naomi Shenstone Donnelley Professor Emeritus of Historical Theology and of the History of Christianity in the Divinity School and the Committees on Medieval Studies and on General Studies, The University of Chicago)
Augustine’s “De Trinitate” is one of his longer and most difficult writings. The book makes three significant contributions to Christian theology of the Trinity: (1) sorting out the biblical basis for the Trinity; (2) establishing a “grammar” of correct speaking about the doctrine, and (3) exploring the inner appropriation of the Trinity into the life of the believer.
Nov 4 – Week 5: On Christian Teaching
Scott Moringiello (Chair of the Department of Catholic Studies, Associate Professor, DePaul University)
Augustine’s On Christian Teaching (De Doctrina Christiana) is in some ways an overlooked classic. But this book gets to the heart of Augustine’s theological vision. In explaining the proper way to interpret the Scriptures and to preach Augustine offers a vision of how to do theology. If you read the Scriptures, and love does not increase in you, you’re misreading them.
Nov 11 – Week 6: Augustine and the Sociology of the Self
Cassandra Sever (Postdoctoral Fellow, The Lumen Christi Institute)
What if the key to understanding today’s cultural crises is hidden in an ancient vision of the self? This lecture explores Augustine’s idea of the self as ordered to the sacred and meaning-seeking—and shows how this vision can illuminate the sociology of who we are, what we long for, and the fractures of the contemporary world.
Nov 18 – Week 7: History of the Augustinian Order
Fr. Peter Funk, O.S.B. (Prior of the Monastery of the Holy Cross)

The Vice of Curiosity
2025-10-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-20 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-03 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-10 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate students. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
In our Information Age, we are constantly bombarded by a deluge of new knowledge, whether it be academic works, social media alerts, or 24/7 news blasts. In the academy in particular, we are taught from an early age that the ideal student is the one with insatiable curiosity – a never-ending appetite for knowledge in whatever guise it may come. And yet if we are honest, this ceaseless quest for total knowledge often leaves us more distracted and anxious than ever before. St. Augustine would have a surprising diagnosis for our age – we suffer from the vice of curiositas, a kind of malformed appetite for knowledge that prizes novelty and control over the intrinsically true, good, and beautiful.
In the Vice of Curiosity and Intellectual Appetite, esteemed theologian Paul J. Griffiths outlines an Augustinian critique of the modern academy’s ways of knowing, including the history of how modernity turned curiosity from vice into virtue, a theological criticism of patent law, and analysis of why plagiarism is not in fact theft. In this five week reading group, we will dive into the thought of both St. Augustine and Griffiths as we seek to understand what a properly catechized intellectual appetite looks like and how we can rightly desire knowledge as students.
Schedule:

Oct 13 – Week 1: Introduction (Optional Reading, Intellectual Appetite: 9-18 of Introduction)
Oct 20 – Week 2: The Vice of Curiosity, p. 1-21 (Optional: I.A. p. 19-22 & 75-91)
Oct 27 – Week 3: V.C., p. 22-41 (Optional: I.A. p. 139-162)
Nov 3 – Week 4: V.C., p. 41-59 (Optional: I.A. p. 163-186)
Nov 10 – Week 5: V.C., p. 60-79 (Optional: I.A. p. 125-138)

Religion, Politics, and Revolution in The Ancient City
2025-10-15 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-10-29 18:00 - 19:30, 2025-11-12 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
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6:00 p.m. Dinner | 6:15 p.m. Discussion | 7:30 p.m. End
This event is designated for current University of Chicago undergraduate students. All registrants will be provided with a free copy of the text.
This seminar and the Nicklin Fellows are made possible by the First Analysis Institute. This seminar is co-sponsored by the Seldon Institute and is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
Nothing could be stranger than life in the cities of ancient Greece and Rome:

Property is private, but its sale is forbidden
Celibacy is illegal
Marriage ceremonies combine ritualized force and denunciation of ancestors
Politics is all-consuming

The more one looks at the ancient world, the odder it appears–until one realizes that ancient religion was the key to the social state.
The Ancient City is the great masterpiece of the 19th century French historian, Numa Denis Fustel de Coulanges. By turning an incisive eye towards the primary sources of Ancient Greece and Rome, supplemented by comparisons to ancient Hindu texts, Coulanges reconstructed the basis of ancient Greek and Roman society. At the root of this society was ancient religion and the domestic cult. Only by understanding ancient religion could one begin to understand the nature of ancient law, property relations, and political organization.
Coulanges traced the origin and development of the ancient city, its transformation among various social and political revolutions, and its demise. Coulanges’ new approach to old things paved the way for 20th century developments in anthropology and the sociology of religion.
Join us as we read selections of The Ancient City and discuss Fustel’s theses about the beginnings of religion, the birth of political life, and the nature of human society.
Schedule:
Each session will have about 15 pages of assigned reading. An additional 30 pages of recommended reading are suggested as well.

Oct 15 – Week 1: The Family and the Domestic Cult
Oct 29 – Week 2: The City
Nov 12 – Week 3: Revolutions

Please click here for the syllabus with more detailed reading assignments. PDFs of readings for the first session can be found here.

Series Description:
Fundamental Questions Seminar
This event is part of Lumen Christi’s Fundamental Questions program, a quarterly seminar 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!

Our Hearts Are Restless: Augustine’s Confessions and Modern Anxiety - Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2025-10-15 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER HERE

October 15th:
Our Hearts Are Restless: Augustine’s Confessions and Modern Anxiety
Co-sponsored by St. Gregory’s Hall
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
The twentieth century philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said that Augustine’s Confessions was possibly the most serious book ever written. There’s good reason to think he was right. In the book – equal parts memoir, prayer, philosophical treatise, and theological masterpiece – Augustine explores the nature of goodness, the puzzle of sin, and the necessity of friendship. He savors the love of God that is offered in Christ and his Church. He even realizes (as we all do eventually) that his mother was right all along.
In this lecture, Prof. Moringiello will introduce the Confessions, one of the greatest books in the Western canon, and one especially dear to Pope Leo’s heart. He will talk about his experience teaching it to undergraduates at Villanova University and DePaul University. And he will focus on how one of the most famous lines in the book — “our hearts are restless until the find rest in You, Lord” (1.1.5) – speaks to his students and to all of us who live in a world dominated by restlessness and who continually search for the rest that God’s love provides.
Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, or if you would like to request a comped ticket as a priest, religious, or high school teacher, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animals
2025-10-16 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-10-23 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-10-30 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-06 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-13 17:00 - 18:30, 2025-11-20 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
5:00-6:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
“What is ‘in your character’ (NOT ‘in your wallet’)?” Who is your guide to a happy, fulfilled life–Nietzsche or Aristotle? Given the ethical confusion, indeed meltdown, afflicting our society, who offers the most reliable “moral compass” to help us find our way?
This reading course will read and discuss Dependent Rational Animals by Alisdair MacIntyre. Drawing on Aristotle, MacIntyre describes our biologically rooted condition and the need to cultivate the virtues that take account of our shared human condition. Macintyre criticizes Aristotle’s ideal of the “great souled” man; he argues for the cultivation of virtues that acknowledge our inescapable dependence and inter-dependency.
A midlife convert from atheistic Marxism to Catholicism, MacIntyre is considered by many to be the most important moral philosopher of the past 50 years. He died in the spring of 2025, making a re-assessment of his life’s work all the more timely.
Copies of Dependent Rational Animals will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 40 pages.

SCHEDULE

Oct. 16 Introduction (readings available in class Google Folder)
Oct. 23 DRA, preface + chapters 1-4, pp. 1-41
Oct. 30 DRA, chapters 5-7, pp. 43-80.
Nov. 6 DRA, chapters 8-9, pp. 81-118.
Nov. 13 DRA, chapters 10-11, pp. 119-146
Nov. 20 DRA, chapter 12-13, pp. 147-166

The Silmarillion
2025-10-16 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-23 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-10-30 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-11-06 19:00 - 20:30, 2025-11-13 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate students. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
Peter Thiel wants to live forever, and he’s cited the works of JRR Tolkien as a justification: “why can’t we be elves?” But a careful reader of Tolkien’s works, especially the cosmological and mythic stories in The Silmarillion, knows that the answer to that question is very complicated. In this group, we will discuss what Tolkien has to say about death, mortality, and suffering, along with his rich worldbuilding and epic tales.
Schedule:

Oct 16 – Week One (52 pages): Ainulindalë (pages 13-23), Quenta Silmarillion chapters 1-8 (pages 35-77)
Oct 23 – Week Two (52 pages): QS chapters 9-16 (78-130)
Oct 30 – Week Three (56 pages): QS chapters 17-19 (131-187)
Nov 6 – Week Four (49 pages): QS chapters 20-22 (188-237)
Nov 13 – Week Five (45 pages): QS chapters 23-24 (238-257), Akallabêth (257-283)

Greek New Testament
2025-10-17 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-01-30 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-06 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-13 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-20 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-02-27 10:00 - 11:00, 2026-03-06 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Refreshments Provided
*Note: winter sessions have been shifted forward by one week
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” This dramatic opening salvo of the Letter to the Hebrews, summarizing salvation history, is one of the most famous and consequential one-liners in the New Testament. But who is this Son? How is he “appointed heir of all things”? What is the relationship between God’s message through him and His message through the prophets? In this reading group, we will examine, through careful study of the Koine Greek text, how the Letter to the Hebrews answers these questions and more, with an eye to the authorship, audience, and genre of this mysterious text. All levels of Greek proficiency are encouraged to join. Advance preparation is recommended but not required.
Schedule:

Oct. 17: Introduction; Hebrews 1.1-4: God’s Son
Oct. 24: Hebrews 1.5-14: The Son’s Superiority to the Angels
Oct. 31: Hebrews 2.1-9,:The Son’s Abasement
Nov. 7: Hebrews 2.10-18: The Son, the Pioneer of Our Salvation
Nov. 14: Hebrews 3: The Son and Moses
Nov. 21: Hebrews 4.1-13: God’s Promised Rest

Jan. 30: Hebrews 4.14–5.14

Feb. 6: Hebrews 6.1–20

Feb. 13: Hebrews 7.1–22

Feb. 20: Hebrews 7.23–8.13

Feb. 27: Hebrews 9.1–14

March. 6: Hebrews 9.15–28

Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: A Michigan Conversation on Criminal Justice
2025-10-21 17:00 - 20:30 (America/Detroit) | Saint Mary Cathedral Parish Hall, 220 N Walnut St, Lansing, MI, 48933, United States
In partnership with the Diocese of Lansing and the Michigan Catholic Conference, the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network is hosting an evening event entitled “Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: A Michigan Conversation on Criminal Justice.” Rooted in Catholic Social Teaching, this program brings together individuals actively working within the criminal justice system and those directly impacted by it–returning citizens and survivors of crime.

Registration Link

For more information, contact CCJRN@Lumenchristi.org

This event is intended for those working in or impacted by the criminal justice system.

A History of the Impossible: Carlos Eire on They Flew
2025-10-29 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Swift Hall 3rd Floor Lecture Hall, 1025 E 58th Street, Chicago, IL
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5:30 Lecture | 6:20 Response | 6:45 Audience Q & A | 7:00 End
This event is open to the public, registration is required, please contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org for any questions.

This event is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Workshop on the Early Modern World.
Levitation. Bilocation. Witchcraft. Demonic Possession.
Europe in the early modern era was simultaneously the site of Kepler, Newton, Copernicus–and of eyewitness accounts of levitating saints and nocturnal witches’ sabbats.
In his history of the impossible, award-winning historian Carlos Eire mines the firsthand accounts and archival evidence of the miraculous and demonic. How did an increasingly skeptical and scientific culture account for events deemed impossible by its leading intellectuals? What does this say about the supposed boundaries between the natural and supernatural that marked the transition to modernity?
In this lecture, Carlos Eire will explore the major themes of They Flew and ask: what makes something impossible? And is there more to reality than meets the eye?
University of Chicago Divinity School professor Kirsten Macfarlane will offer a response and engage Eire in a conversation about They Flew. Audience Q&A will follow.

This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.

Magis Lecture | Why Do We Need Saints and Miracles?
2025-10-30 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Saint Ignatius College Prep, 1076 W Roosevelt Rd, Chicago, IL
REGISTER HERE
5:00 Mass | 5:30 Drinks & Hors d’Oeuvres | 6:30 Lecture | 7:30 Close
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. This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Free and open to the public. Registration required. For questions, please contact Margaux (Killackey) Taffet mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.
Lecture Description
Two of the most significant features of Catholic Christianity are its focus on holy men and women and the miracles ascribed to them. What is it that makes saints and miracles so significant? What difference does this characteristic of Catholicism make, not just for its history, but for us, here and now? Asking such questions is absolutely necessary for Catholics, and in this talk we will explore why this is so. Please join the Lumen Christi Institute, the Bollandist Society, and St. Ignatius College Preparatory School for this lecture delivered by Yale scholar, Carlos Eire.
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 entrée into the mind of the Church is welcome and encouraged to attend; no affiliation with either high school is needed.

Faculty Colloquium on They Flew by Carlos Eire
2025-10-31 09:00 - 12:00 (America/Chicago) | The Catholic Theological Union, 5416 S Cornell Ave, Chicago, IL, 60615, United States
This event is by invitation only. For more information contact Geoffrey Zokal gzokal@lumenchristi.org
The Lumen Christi Institute will host a faculty colloquium with Carlos Eire on his book They Flew: A History of the Impossible. Remarks will be given by Richard Kieckheffer (Northwestern University) and Barbara Newman (Northwestern University) with responses followed by Carlos Eire. The colloquium will be moderated by Father Andrew Summerson.

Augustine the Teacher – Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2025-11-12 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER HERE

November 12th:
Augustine the Teacher
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
Doctor of the Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo, has a lot to say about teaching. He writes memorably about the way his early teachers failed him, teaching him to love praise and worldly success. He writes too about the vocation of the teacher, a vocation he lived in many different ways as rhetorician, father, priest, and bishop. In his early work “On the Teacher” he insists teaching is not a matter of passing along information. Instead, he writes, true teaching is an invitation to attend to the voice of Christ. Join Dr. Erika Kidd to learn more about Augustine’s timeless teaching wisdom and its continued relevance today.
Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, or if you would like to request a comped ticket as a priest, religious, or high school teacher, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life
2025-11-14 18:00 - 21:30 (America/Chicago) | 5554 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – Dinner | 6:30 Film | 9:30 End
Please reach out to Graham Certain (gtcertain@uchicago.edu) with any questions.
Widely considered Terrence Malick’s masterpiece, The Tree of Life is a meditation on the transcendent order of creation and the place of man in it. The film tells the story of Jack O’Brien and his family as he grows up in 1950s suburban Texas, interwoven with scenes from his adulthood and from the dawn of the universe. It is a glimpse into how nature and grace, suffering and beauty, strife and love all come together in a cosmic whole which surpasses understanding.
The event will consist of dinner beginning at 6pm, some brief introductory remarks beginning at 6:30, the film itself immediately following, and a discussion to conclude. Runtime is 139m.
The movie screening will be held at the Woodlawn House, a Victorian mansion located at 5554 S Woodlawn Ave. It is the site of the Lumen Christi Institute’s residential student community.

Conversion in the Modern Church: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil
2025-11-15 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 3111 South Aberdeen St. Chicago, IL 60608, Chicago, IL
REGISTER BELOW
This event is primarily designated for current University of Chicago students. This event is co-sponsored by the Calvert House. Please reach out to William Hurley (whurley@lumenchristi.org) with any questions.
Experience the silence, prayer, and chant with the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross. In addition to a taste of the contemplative life, join a conversation hosted by the Prior of the Monastery, Fr. Peter Funk. He will lead a discussion on “Conversion in the Modern World,” with a focus on “The World.”
Lumen Christi will coordinate rides to and from the monastery for those without transportation.
SCHEDULE:

5pm – Arrival
5:15pm – Vespers
6:00pm – Dinner (with reading)
6:20pm – Silent Prayer
6:40pm – Discussion
7:05pm – End Discussion
7:15pm – Compline
7:30pm – End

Winter Social
2026-01-08 17:00 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided
Join us at Gavin House for a night of pizza, hot chocolate and fellowship as you settle back into the quarterly routine! Learn more about the programs that the Lumen Christi Institute will hold during the winter quarter and reconnect with friends after the Christmas break.
Students, faculty, and staff of the University of Chicago are welcome to attend. Spouses and children are welcome (and encouraged) to join, too.

Virtual Masterclass: The Thought of John Henry Newman
2026-01-09 13:00 - 14:30 (America/Chicago)
Recently canonized as the first English saint since the Reformation and declared the 38th Doctor of the Universal Church and Co-patron of Catholic Education (along with St. Thomas Aquinas), John Henry Newman (1801-1890) stands as the most important Catholic thinker between the Council of Trent of the sixteenth century and the second Vatican Council (1962-65).
Newman’s intellectual autobiography (Apologia pro Vita Sua), treatise on higher education (Idea of a University), theory of knowledge (Grammar of Assent), and major work of theology (Development of Doctrine) stand as classics in their genres. In addition, his prolific sermons cover both his Anglican career at Oxford and Catholic career in Birmingham.
We will discuss two sermons from his Anglican years, delivered as “University Sermons” on the relation between faith and reason. In them, Newman offers creative insights that deepen the classic Catholic position put forth by Aquinas.
This masterclass will provide a glimpse of the 2026 intensive summer seminar on Newman’s thought. A full syllabus of the masterclass can be found here.
The Zoom link will be distributed in advance of the seminar.
This program is restricted to graduate students from any university or discipline.
This program is part of the project “In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide” (Grant #63614) supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
Times are central standard time.
For more information contact Geoffrey Zokal at gzokal@lumenchristi.org

The Miraculous and the Supernatural
2026-01-13 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-20 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-27 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-03 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-10 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets weekly on Tuesdays: Jan. 13, Jan. 20, Jan. 27, Feb. 3, Feb. 10.
6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture (last 20 Q & A) | 7:30 End
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”…or acknowledged by materialistic naturalism! [Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” act 1 sc.5]
This 5-session course will study Jesus’s miracles and miracles performed in Jesus’s name, the Eucharistic miracle in which bread and wine are transformed into his Body and Blood, and his miraculous Resurrection whereby he was raised body and soul from the dead. If the Shroud of Turin is the actual burial cloth of Jesus, it is both a relic of his tortured death and a witness to his heavenly transformation! The course will also investigate the mystical experiences of saints such as Francis of Assisi, Ignatius of Loyola, and Theresa of Avila. Supernatural reality also includes the demonic, so exorcisms will be studied.
Schedule:

Jan. 13: The miraculous & the supernatural. Jesus the Miracle Worker and miraculous healings. The dogmatic limits of philosophical materialism.
Jan. 20: The Miracle of the Eucharist and eucharistic miracles.
Jan. 27: “They Flew”: mystical experiences of the saints.
Feb. 3: The reality of evil, the demonic and exorcisms.
Feb. 10: Near death experiences and the Shroud of Turin: experiential evidence for Life after death.

Why Think? Hannah Arendt and the Life of the Mind
2026-01-14 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-01-28 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-11 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-02-25 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Bi-Weekly on Wednesdays: Jan. 14, Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 25
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
This seminar and the Nicklin Fellows are made possible by the First Analysis Institute, the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation, and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
What is “thinking”? This question attracts Hannah Arendt’s attention in her later works. Though Arendt claims that thinking is utterly without purpose and leaves no trace behind, she also proposes that it can provide a protective effect against certain forms of evil-doing in our time.
With that said, what is the practical relevance of thinking, today? Given the destructive, resultless nature of this activity, why bother? In short: Why think? In this seminar led by Prof. Magnus Ferguson, we will investigate what it means to ‘think’ in an Arendtian sense through close readings of key excerpts from Hannah Arendt’s final work, The Life of the Mind, as well as several short essays.
Copies of The Life of the Mind will be provided to all participants. Bi-weekly meetings are held on Wednesday evenings over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Schedule:

Jan. 14: “Thinking and Moral Considerations”
Jan. 28: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 69–98)
Feb. 11: Life of the Mind Vol I (p. 141–151, 166–182, 187–193)
Feb. 25: Life of the Mind Vol. I (p. 197–216), and “Karl Jaspers: A Laudatio”

Series Description:
Reading Course
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a student-centered reading course at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading course is usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

Image Credit: Samuel Bak, “In Search of a Roof of One’s Own” (2017)

Mythmaking and the Epic Tradition in Tolkien's Silmarillion
2026-01-15 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-22 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-01-29 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-05 19:30 - 21:00, 2026-02-12 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 15, Jan. 22, Jan. 29, Feb. 5, Feb 12
*Note: Start Date has Been Moved Back a Week from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15
7:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
There are few figures as foundational to the epic fantasy genre as J.R.R. Tolkien, and few works as wide-ranging in that genre as The Silmarillion. Written over the course of nearly 60 years and inspired by the folk traditions of northern Europe, Greece, and the personal ethical and historical philosophies of Tolkien himself, The Silmarillion is a story of morality, greed, bliss, and tragedy. We invite you to join us in a discussion of The Silmarillion’s most dramatic tales, from the creation of the world to the forging of the One Ring.
Copies of The Silmarillion will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Schedule:

Jan. 15: Ainulindalë and Valaquenta (p. 15-32)
Jan. 22: The story of Fëanor and the Silmarils (p. 63-90, 106-107)
Jan. 29: The story of Beren and Lúthien (p. 162-187)
Feb. 5: The story of Túrin Turambar and Nienor Níniel (p. 198-226)
Feb. 12: Akallabêth

Series Description:
Graduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation (or prior knowledge of Tolkien!) is necessary.

Hemingway’s Short Stories
2026-01-19 17:30 - 19:00, 2026-01-26 17:30 - 19:00, 2026-02-02 17:30 - 19:00, 2026-02-09 17:30 - 19:00, 2026-02-16 17:30 - 19:00, 2026-02-23 17:30 - 19:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Weekly on Mondays: Jan. 26, Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23
5:30 – 7:00 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago students. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
In this reading group we will read a selection of Ernest Hemingway’s short stories that will illuminate his ingenious writing style through his lesser-known works. We will be reading from the Finca Vigia Complete Short Stories collection, which features many previously unfinished works. Discussions will revolve around themes of masculinity, femininity, life, and love, all of which are saturated in his works writ large. Some of the texts that will be discussed include the Nick Adams stories, Men Without Women, and the First Forty-Nine. This will be an exciting way to get to know Hemingway’s writings or dive deeper into his work, while engaging with peers and discussing ideas that are just as relevant today as they were when he wrote them.
Schedule:

Jan. 26: Deeper Dive into Hemingway’s Writing. Readings will include stories where the immediate meaning of the story is not explicitly stated and requires some deeper analysis. Readings will include Hills Like White Elephants and The Sea Change. These are both readings where there is a meaning that must be arrived to through subtle hints in the stories themselves (though there are varying degrees of subtlety). Discussion will center on getting at what these stories are conveying.

Hills Like White Elephants (4 Pages)
The Sea Change (4 Pages)
Wine of Wyoming (13 Pages)
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place (4 Pages)

Feb. 2: Nick Adams Stories Pt. I. This week will focus on the first part of the Nick Adams stories, some of Hemingway’s most famous, and enjoyable, short stories. I’ve divided the collection into two weeks for the sake of doing justice to the collection while remaining under 30 pages. These stories express much about a man’s experience of life and is semi-autobiographical. This week will focus on Nick’s youth in Michigan, his adolescence, and his time at war. Discussion will focus on what Hemingway is conveying through his stories of youth and masculinity, particularly regarding how Nick conceives himself and how he views his father.

Indian Camp (6 Pages)
The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife (6 Pages)
The Battler (10 Pages)
The Killers (8 Pages)

Feb. 9: Nick Adams Stories Pt. II. As we continue to read the stories, we will turn to Nick’s adulthood and marriage. This will bring together ideas of masculinity, maturity, life, and fatherhood.

Big Two-Hearted River Pt I (10 Pages)
Now I Lay Me (7 Pages)
Fathers and Sons (10 Pages)

Feb. 16: Men Without Women Pt. I. Readings from this week will seek to synthesize what we’ve discussed so far. Bringing together the themes Hemingway often discusses with his writing style. Men Without Women is a collection of short stories that discuss how men act without women. Discussion will revolve, again, on ideas of masculinity and the “natural” state of man.

In Another Country (5 Pages)
The Undefeated (25 Pages)

Feb. 23: Men Without Women Pt. II. This week will conclude this collection, and we will finish up our discussion of the themes present in them. I would also like to add The Last Good Country, however, it is 41 pages long. I think I may add it as optional reading and discuss it if time allows. This is a personal favorite of his short stories, but not a necessary addition. There is not enough substance in the text to devote an entire week to the text, though it is a fun read.

A Banal Story (2 Pages)
Today is Friday (3 Pages)
An Alpine Idyll (5 Pages)
A Pursuit Race (4 Pages)
Ten Indians (5 Pages)
My Old Man (12 Pages)

Series Description:
Graduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any graduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation (or prior knowledge of Tolkien!) is necessary.

Léon Bloy: Martyr or Madman?
2026-01-22 17:00 - 18:30, 2026-01-29 17:00 - 18:30, 2026-02-05 17:00 - 18:30, 2026-02-12 17:00 - 18:30, 2026-02-19 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Weekly on Thursdays: Jan. 22, 29, Feb. 5, 12, 19
5:00 – 6:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate students. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
“My anger is the effervescence of my pity,” declared writer, polemicist, and literary brigand Léon Bloy. Bloy played a leading role in the French Catholic Revival (c. 1885-1915), though he also influenced thinkers from Cèline to Grahame Greene to the controversial Michel Houellebecq. A remarkable wordsmith, Bloy cut his teeth on Gothic Romanticism, Counter-Enlightenment philosophy, and the Vulgate. Styling himself “the Ungrateful Beggar,” he picked fights with popular writers Émile Zola and Victor Hugo, got himself banned from the press, and lived in destitution all his days. Nonetheless, throughout his life, he cultivated a group of intellectual devotés who ended up making a tremendous mark on French literature and philosophy. This winter, Lumen Christi is hosting a reading group on The Pilgrim of the Absolute, (Le Pèlerin de L’Absolu) a remarkable compilation sampling widely from Bloy’s works on mystery, money, and the modern world. Please join us if you are interested in discovering and discussing one of the few writers who “knew how to administer the sacrament of literature…”
Schedule:

Jan. 22: Dolorism

Introduction to the 1947 Edition by Jacques Maritain
“Suffering, Faith, Sanctity”

Jan. 29: Money

“The Wisdom of the Bourgeois”
“The Poor Man”

Feb. 5: Mystery

“The Sense of Mystery”

Feb. 12: Art

“Art and the Pilgrim of the Holy Sepulchre”

Feb. 19: Christianity and Modernity

“The Hurler of Curses”
“Modern Christians”

Series Description:
Graduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any graduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation (or prior knowledge of Tolkien!) is necessary.

Glimpses of Wonder: Faith, Reason, and Technology in the University Today
2026-01-23 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Chicago)
One great challenge in the modern research university is the siloing of information and of knowledge. While specialized knowledge is valuable, pressing questions confronting the contemporary world require that diverse forms of knowing be integrated, both in the heart of the knower and in society. A Catholic Institute is uniquely poised to speak to this challenge since the Catholic intellectual tradition has sought to embrace and integrate five intellectual virtues as presented in Aristotle (NE, VI:3) and St. Thomas Aquinas (ST, 1a-IIae, q. 57): wisdom, science, art, prudence, and mind or understanding. The Franciscan tradition has also emphasized the importance of wonder at the beauty of creation in this synthesis. In this class, we will engage the unity of these virtues under the guidance of wonder and discuss specific applications to new technologies in artificial intelligence and ecological engineering. True human flourishing is not necessarily about slowing down or accelerating the advance of progress as finding a new measure that allows one to see epiphanies of beauty and learn from them about oneself, the world, and the creator of the beauty of the world.
This masterclass will provide an engagement with topics related to the 2026 Summer Seminar “Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change” and will help students explore in advance related themes.
The Zoom link will be distributed in advance of the seminar.
This program is restricted to graduate students from any university or discipline.
The syllabus and readings can be found here.
This program is part of the project “In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide” (Grant #63614) supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
All times are Central Standard Time.
For more information email Geoffrey Zokal at gzokal@lumenchristi.org

Myth, Patterns & the Promise of a Quest - An Evening with Martin Shaw
2026-02-03 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Private Home, 1501 Oriole Dr, Munster, IN, 46321, United States
REGISTER BELOW
5-6:00pm: Welcome reception | 6-6:45pm: Storytelling/presentation | 6:45-7:15pm: Discussion | 7:30pm Close and Book Signing
Cosponsored Dr. Torie’s Dental Shoppe and Manic Meadery/Gnosis Brewery
Open to the public. Registration required (includes a copy of Martin Shaw’s newest book). For questions, please contact Margaux Taffet mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.
Lecture Description

The stories we remember do not begin with a day that was like the one before. They begin most often with an abrupt break from familiar patterns. They disrupt stagnation and suddenly we are in the grip of a new and sometimes startling adventure.
In this talk acclaimed mythographer Martin Shaw will balance both theory and experience, whilst exploring the inner-rhythm of an old story and how they relate to traditional rites of passage. In fact he will argue that Christianity is itself fundamentally initiatory, and designed to bring vocation and quest crashing into the life of believer. Have we subdued its challenging invitation?
Join the Lumen Christi Institute and St. Mary’s Byzantine Catholic Church as they welcome Dr. Martin Shaw for an event celebrating the release of his new book Liturgies of the Wild.

Mythopoetics and Faerie Stories: Theory and Practice of Mythmaking
2026-02-04 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
5:00 p.m. Dinner | 5:30 p.m. Lecture with Q&A | 6:15 p.m. Story-Telling on The Patio By The Fire | 7:00 p.m. Audience Q & A | 7:15 p.m. Event End, Book Signing, Smores
This event is designated for current University of Chicago students. All registrants will be provided with a free copy of the text.
There’s an old Irish belief that if you aren’t wrapped in a cloak of story you will be unprepared for what the world will hurl at you. In his newly published Liturgies of the Wild, acclaimed mythographer and storyteller Martin Shaw argues that we live in a myth-impoverished age and that such poverty has left us vulnerable to stories that may not wish us well. Drawing on the “ancient technologies” of myths and initiatory rites, Shaw provides a road to wholeness, maturity and connection.
In this event for UChicago students, Dr. Shaw will explore both the theory and practice of mythmaking. In the first section Shaw will guide us through myth’s relationship to initiation rites and oral storytelling, explaining these “ancient technologies.”
In the second we tilt directly into the telling of an Irish fairy tale, The Birth of Ossian. Drawing on his experience as a professor and widely respected storyteller, Shaw will locate us in the deeper dimensions of how a modern person approaches an ancient story.
The theory of mythopoetics will take place in the Gavin House seminar room. But because any good story requires the proper setting, The Birth of Ossian will be told in the Gavin House back yard, where fire pits will blaze, patio heaters will burn, and hot chocolate will be served to all.
An optional pre-event dinner will be served at 5pm. Copies of Liturgies of the Wild are included for all registrants. This event is open to current UChicago undergraduate and graduate students. Registration is free but will be capped at 40 students.

Mythmaking and the True Myth - A Conversation with Martin Shaw
2026-02-05 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | The Graduate in Evanston, 1625 Hinman Ave, Evanston, IL, 60201, United States
THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT. PLEASE CONTACT MARGAUX TAFFET (MTAFFET@LUMENCHRISTI.ORG) IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE PUT ON THE WAIT LIST.
5:00pm: Cocktail reception | 6:00pm: Dr. Shaw’s presentation & storytelling | 6:45pm: Audience Q&A and conversation | 7:15pm: Book signing and close
Open to the public. Registration required (includes a copy of Martin Shaw’s newest book). For questions, please contact Margaux Taffet mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.
Lecture Description

There’s an old Irish belief that if you aren’t wrapped in a cloak of story you will be unprepared for what the world will hurl at you. You remain adolescent at just the moment a culture worth its salt requires you to become a real, grown, human being.
We live in a myth-impoverished age and that such poverty has left us vulnerable to stories that may not wish us well. Myths from antiquity are vivid in describing the conditions of life.
Christianity goes a step further in providing the most extraordinary example of how to live that life. Working out of examples from Arthurian and fairy tale motifs, acclaimed mythographer Martin Shaw will show how, if ‘all true is God’s truth’, profound Christian resonances can be found in many mythic traditions.
How do stories assist us in the making of a real human being? In troubled times how could we forge a deeper life? Join the Lumen Christi Institute as it welcomes Dr. Martin Shaw for an event celebrating the release of his new book Liturgies of the Wild.

Beyond the Tenure Track: Catholic Vocation in Higher Education
2026-02-10 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago)
A webinar hosted by the Office of Mission and Ministry at Providence College and COLLIS Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture (Cornell University) and co-sponsored by the Lumen Christi Institute and the In Lumine Network.
Graduate training often assumes a single path: the tenure-track job at a major research university. But for Catholic scholars, discerning a vocation in academia shouldn’t principally be about chasing prestige. This webinar reframes professional development within a Catholic understanding of vocation and invites Catholic graduate students to reflect on their academic calling by exploring possibilities for faithful, flourishing work in higher education. A panel of Catholic scholars from different disciplines and institutions will share their experiences of living out their faith in the classroom, the lab, and the wider intellectual community. Together, they will reflect on vocation, institutional culture, and sustaining Catholic intellectual life across the varied landscapes of higher education—from Catholic liberal arts colleges and mission-oriented non-Catholic universities to state institutions. The panel will also open space for the practical dimensions of vocation: discerning how to balance family life, community, and parish participation alongside the responsibilities of teaching and research.
Schedule
-5 PM-5:40 PM Panel Interview
-5:40 PM-6:15 PM Open Q&A and Discussion
Panelists
-Robert Miner, Ph.D, Professor of Philosophy, Providence College
-Tyler Thomas, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Political Science, School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership, Arizona State University
-Katherine Bulinski, Ph.D, Professor of Geoscience, Bellarmine University
This webinar is for graduate students, postdocs, and early career faculty. Registration can be found here.
Times are Central Standard Time
A house watch party with dinner served will be hosted for graduate students and early career scholars. For more information contact gzokal@lumenchristi.org
﻿This project is supported by Providence College and by a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63614)

A Man for All Seasons Showing
2026-02-20 18:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | 5554 S. Woodlawn Ave., Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Movie | 8:30 Discussion & End
This event is intended for graduate and undergraduate students of the University of Chicago, all others should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 British film directed and produced by Fred Zinnemann, based on a play by Robert Bolt. It depicts the lawyer and then-Lord Chancellor of England, St. Thomas More, as he navigates the turbulent waters of faith, conscience, loyalty, and ambition in England under Henry VIII. The film poses ambitious and important questions en route to showing us how Thomas was truly a man for any season.
The movie screening will be held at the Woodlawn House, a Victorian mansion located at 5554 S Woodlawn Ave. It is the site of the Lumen Christi Institute’s residential student community.

Winter Newman Forum Conference for High School Students: Back to the Future!
2026-02-21 09:30 - 14:30 (America/Chicago) | University of Saint Mary of the Lake, 1000 East Maple Avenue Mundelein, IL 60060, Mundelein, IL
REGISTER BELOW
Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute’s Newman Forum. Open to current high school students. This conference is cosponsored by the University of Saint Mary of the Lake at Mundelein Seminary, and the Archdiocese of Chicago Vocation Office. For more information, please email Margaux Taffet at newmanforum@lumenchristi.org.
What is the relationship between the past and the present? And how can this relationship prepare us for our future? How do we think about the past in a world fixated on the new? If our world is constantly changing, what does it mean to profess eternal truths?
On February 21, 2026, the Newman Forum’s “Back to the Future!” conference will gather high school students at the University of St. Mary of the Lake to discover the fascinating realities of everyday and misunderstood scientific, historical, literary, and religious topics. Students will meet with presenters and discuss the wonders of science, the lessons of history, the beauty of literature, and the mysteries of faith.
Students will get to pick three 20-minute “lightning round” presentations. Presentation roster can be found here.

PROGRAM

Registration
Welcome & Opening Prayer
Lightning Round Talks by invited professors and graduate students from the University of Chicago, Notre Dame, and other Universities
Lunch at the USML dining hall
Office Hours to engage with the faculty and learn about their interest, research, and school
Eucharistic Adoration

COST
$15 by Friday, January 30 | $30 after Friday, January 30th
$10/participant for groups over 10.

Please register a group of 9 or fewer using this “Individual Ticket” option. Indicate the number of participants you are registering, and record their names.
For a group of 10 or more, please register using this “Group Ticket” option. Indicate the number of participants you are registering, and record their names. For example, if you are registering a group of 30, be sure to select 30 tickets.
Please note: everyone must be pre-registered for this event by name. If a participant arrives who has not been registered by name, they will not be able to attend the conference. For questions, please email Margaux Taffet at newmanforum@lumenchristi.org.

Conversion in the Modern Church: The World, the Flesh, and the Devil (Winter Monastery Visit)
2026-02-28 17:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | The Monastery of the Holy Cross, 3111 South Aberdeen St. Chicago, IL 60608, Chicago, IL
REGISTER BELOW
5:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is primarily designated for current University of Chicago students. This event is co-sponsored by the Calvert House. Please reach out to William Hurley (whurley@lumenchristi.org) with any questions.
Description:
Experience the silence, prayer, and chant with the monks at the Monastery of the Holy Cross. In addition to a taste of the contemplative life, join a conversation hosted by the Prior of the Monastery, Fr. Peter Funk. He will lead a discussion on “Conversion in the Modern World,” with a focus on “The Flesh.”
At the beginning of the Lenten fast, we will reflect on the second traditional enemy of the soul: the Flesh. Based on the writings of Saint John the of Cross, we will aim to gain insight on the ways in which the “flesh lusts against the soul,” and how to resist it.
Lumen Christi will coordinate rides to and from the monastery for those without transportation.
Schedule:

5:00 p.m. – Arrival
5:15 p.m. – Vespers
6:00 p.m. – Dinner (with reading)
6:20 p.m. – Silent Prayer
6:40 p.m. – Discussion
7:05 p.m. – End Discussion
7:15 p.m. – Compline
7:30 p.m. – End

Wisdom and the Tranquility of Order: Reflections on Popes Leo XIII and XIV – Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2026-03-18 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER BELOW

March 18th:
Wisdom and the Tranquility of Order: Reflections on Popes Leo XIII and XIV
Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
In this lecture, Prof. Roniger will outline the historical context that instigated the development of modern Catholic social doctrine during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903). He will discuss some of Leo’s most important contributions to Magisterial teaching on social issues, contributions that illuminate perennial principles that transcend the circumstances prompting their articulation. He will focus on Leo’s presentation of the dignity of society in all its complementary forms – a social dignity based upon the truth of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Finally, he will briefly show how these principles have already been put to good use in the nascent pontificate of Pope Leo XIV.
Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, or if you would like to request a comped ticket as a priest, religious, or high school teacher, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

Wonder at the Silence of God: Sin and the Mystery of the Divine Presence in Shūsaku Endō's Masterpiece
2026-03-19 13:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
1:00 p.m – 4:30 p.m. (Detailed Schedule Below)
This event is designated for current graduate & advanced undergraduate students and faculty from the University of Chicago & regional colleges and universities. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
Shūsaku Endō’s novel Silence was published in Japanese in 1966 and translated into English in 1969, immediately generating acclaim and intense debate. The conversation surrounding the novel was reinvigorated a decade ago with the release of Martin Scorsese’s 2016 film adaptation. This most recent round of discussion was dominated by two opposing answers to the question: Was Fr. Rodrigues’s climactic action justified? Did he sin or simply do what Christian charity demanded?
In this master class, I will argue that neither side in the debate has it quite right because both sides are posing the wrong question. In order to make this argument, we will begin by asking the question: What is a question? What does it mean to ask the right question, and how is a good question related to philosophical and theological inquiry? After investigating the nature of a question, we will turn to the philosophy and theology of Robert Sokolowski, especially his articulation of the “Christian distinction,” which will enable us to pose the question that opens the door to the deepest dimensions of Endo’s novel. Finally, in light of Sokolowski’s recapitulation of fundamental metaphysical truths in the Catholic tradition, we will discuss what Endo’s novel might reveal to us about ourselves.
Syllabus:

Endō, Silence (at least p. 129-189 in the Johnston translation, Picador Modern Classics, 2016)
Aristotle, Metaphysics, VII.17, 1041a5-1041b35
Robert Sokolowski, “Creation and Christian Understanding.”
1 Kings 19

(Metaphysics & Sokolowski can be found here)
Schedule:

12:30pm – Optional Lunch
1:00pm – First Session
2:30pm – Break
2:45pm – Second Session
4:15pm – Close
4:30-m – Wine and Cheese Reception

Event Type:
Master Class
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a master class at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). A master class is a seminar in miniature, in which top scholars introduce students to a major figure or concept in the Catholic intellectual tradition. The two eighty-minute sessions contain a mixture of lecture, seminar discussion, and close reading. All participants are provided a copy of the text under consideration. Any student interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

History of Monasticism
2026-03-31 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-04-07 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-04-14 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago)
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
Monasticism is the form of religious life common to the Latin, Greek, Syriac, and Coptic churches. This course will examine its development from the age of the martyrs to the present and its perennial role within the Body of Christ. Of special interest will be the tensions between the solitary life and common life, flight from the world versus evangelization, and the way these tensions create opportunities for renewal. Also of interest is how monasticism adapts itself to new political situations: the collapse of the Roman Empire in the West, the advance of Islam, the French Revolution and Enlightenment and the prospects for monasticism in the 21st century.
Schedule:

March 31 – The Call of the Desert (1st-4th)
April 7 – Foundations of a New World (5th-7th)
April 14 – Vikings to the North, Saracens to the South (8th-10th)
April 21 – Shifts of Gravity: Cluny, Athos, and Monastic Reform (11th-13th)
April 28 – Cataclysms: The Fall of Constantinople and the Dissolution (14th-16th)
May 5 – The Age of Reason and Romantic Re-imaginings (17th-19th)
May 12 – Global Monasticism (19th-21st)

Series Description:
Non-Credit Course
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a Tuesday evening non-credit course at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). Survey-style lectures are held over a shared meal, with no advanced preparation required. These courses offer accessible introductions to key aspects of the Catholic intellectual tradition. All UChicago students, staff, and faculty members are welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

What is a “Uni-versity”? Revisiting Newman’s “Idea of a University”
2026-04-01 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-04-08 15:00 - 16:30, 2026-04-15 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
3:00 – 4:30 p.m. | Refreshments Provided
This event is designated for current University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. University of Chicago faculty and staff are also welcome to attend. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org. The book may be picked up any time during business hours from Gavin House.
Description:
The crisis of the university has been frequently remarked. Mortimer Adler, onetime University of Chicago professor, decades ago prophetically sounded the tocsin regarding the fragmentation of the modern university. Battles over core curricula, distribution of limited resources, and arguments over research and teaching priorities are all indications of the crisis. Perhaps the greatest threats to the university in our Űber-Tech culture are posed by S.T.E.M. and AI.
So what is a “uni-versity”? What is its purpose? What should be the goals of a university education? Spurred by the modern spiritual and cultural genius of John Henry Newman, we will read and discuss his “Idea of a University.” Several months ago, Newman was declared a “Doctor” of the Catholic Church in recognition of his personal holiness and mastery of the Christian tradition.
In the light of Newman’s insights, come share your experiences at the University of Chicago. What classes have especially impacted you? How have you become a different person? What are your existential desires and hopes?
Schedule:

April 1: Newman’s preface [pp. xxxvii-xlvii] and Discourses One and Two [pp.1-32]
April 8: Discourses Three and Four [pp. 32-74]
April 15: Discourses Five and Six [pp.74-114]
April 22: Discourses Seven and Eight [pp. 114-161]
April 29: Discourses Nine and Ten [pp.161-181]

Class materials are accessible via the class Google folder found here.
Series Description:
Reading Course
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a student-centered reading course at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading course is usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any student interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

An Ordinary Life Well Lived: Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead
2026-04-01 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-04-08 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-04-15 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – 7:30 | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate students. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
Description:
“Love is holy because it is like grace–the worthiness of its object is never really what matters.” – Marilynne Robinson, Gilead
Marilynne Robinson’s Gilead tells the story of Congregationalist minister John Ames, who, with the knowledge that the end of his life is near, decides to pen a testament to his seven-year old son, something for his son to keep close as he grows up without his father. Ames’ reflections are wide-ranging and probing: on faith and doubt, on fathers and sons, on forgiveness, and on return of an old friend’s prodigal child who threatens to disturb the peace Ames has made with his life. We’ll meet each week to discuss the novel and what Ames’ testament might teach us about love, grace, parenthood, and what it means to live well. In a world that prizes speed, spectacle, and novelty for its own sake, Gilead urges the opposite: attention, slowness, and fidelity to an ordinary life well lived. This, Marilynne Robinson says, “is an interesting planet. It deserves all the attention you can give it.” Join us each week as we do just that.
Schedule:

Week 1 (Wed. April 1)

Pg. 1–41

Week 2 (Wed. April 8)

Pg. 42–81

Week 3 (Wed. April 15)

Pg. 82–120

Week 4 (Wed. April 22)

Pg. 121–162

Week 5 (Wed. April 29)

Pg 162–206

Week 6 (Wed. May 6)

206–end.

Series Description:
Graduate Student Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any graduate student interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

The Master and Margarita
2026-04-02 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-04-09 19:00 - 20:30, 2026-04-16 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
Meets Weekly on Thursdays: April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, May 7, 14, 21
7:00 – 8:30 (the time has changed) | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts. You may pick up your copy any time during business hours from Gavin House. Please reach out to William Hurley for any questions (whurley@lumenchristi.org).
A city whose citizens refused to believe in the existence of Jesus, God or Satan. A certain Satan who arrived in this city—Moscow—with his retinue, on a hot spring day. A nameless writer pilloried by his novel on Pontius Pilate and his fiery lover who was willing to do anything to save him, including going to literal hell. A mental facility. A talking black cat who cheated in chess and loved kerosene. The cruel fifth procurator of Judea, the knight Pontius Pilate.
A culmination of religious and political satire, warm humor, and surreal imagination, Mikhail Bulgakov’s masterpiece was at the same time ardent and deeply philosophical.
Our weekly dinnertime reading group will freely discuss the text in an enriching and inclusive communal setting. In our final session on Week 9, Professor Caryl Emerson from Princeton University will join us to answer questions and wrap up important themes of the book.
For each week, there will be 30-40 pages of required reading, and 10-20 pages of optional reading. Our conversation will focus on the required readings. At the end of each session, I will briefly go over the plot in the optional chapters so that we are on the same page. With that said, Bulgakov should be a light and delightful read, and I encourage everyone to do the optional chapters too. The questions and fragmented bullet points, as seen below, are guidelines that may prompt conversation but we definitely don’t have to adhere to them. Note that although they are generalized and willfully opaque, they still contain mild spoilers.
Copies of The Master and Margarita will be provided to all participants. Weekly meetings are held over dinner. Weekly reading assignments are kept at or below 30 pages.
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.
Schedule:

April 2

Book One, Ch. 1-3 (p. 3-41)
Optional: Ch. 4-6 (p. 42-67)

April 9

Book One, Ch. 7-9 (p. 68-94)
Optional: Ch. 10 (p. 95-104)

April 16

Book One, Ch. 11-13 (p. 105-139)
Optional: Ch. 14 (p. 140-147)

April 23

Book One, Ch. 15-16 (p. 148-170)
Book One, Ch. 18 (p. 183-201)
Optional: Ch. 17 (p. 171-182)

April 30

Book Two, Ch. 19-22 (p. 205-246)

May 7

Book Two, Ch. 23-24 (p. 247-282)
Optional: Ch. 25 (p. 283-292)

May 14

Book Two, Ch. 26-27 (p. 293-326)
Optional: Ch. 28 (p. 327-337)

May 21

Book Two, Ch. 29-30 (p. 338-353)
Book Two, Ch. 32-Epilogue (p. 363-373)
Optional: Ch. 31 (p. 354-356)

Series Description:
Undergraduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

The Cloud of Unknowing
2026-04-06 18:00 - 19:30, 2026-04-13 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
6:00 – 7:30 p.m. | Dinner Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the text. You may pick up your copy any time during business hours from Gavin House. Other students interested in attending should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
Description:
The Cloud of Unknowing, a gem of English mysticism, is both a guide and a warning to the spiritual seeker. Written anonymously in the 14th century, the Cloud troubles the relation between man and God, making spirituality an antidote to the secular world and despair the path towards glimpses of enlightenment. Through the Cloud and the writings of contemporary thinkers and mystics, we will explore the spiritual lives of medieval laity and differing conceptions of the contemplative life.
Schedule:

April 6th: Introduction, What is Spiritual Life?

Exhortation, Chs. 1-6

April 13th: The Contemplative Life

Chs. 7-24

April 20th: The Work of the Soul

Chs. 25-46

April 27th: Perfection of the Soul

Chs. 46-60

May 4th: Conclusion, Practical Considerations

Chs. 61-75, Book of Privy Counseling

Optional Readings: Group Folder
Series Description:
Undergraduate Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a number of student-led reading groups at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any undergraduate interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

Developing a Catholic Social Vision for the Modern World: A Century of Church Teaching – Ever Ancient, Ever New: The Sources of Pope Leo XIV | West Suburban Catholic Culture Series
2026-04-08 18:30 - 20:30 (America/Chicago) | Ruth Lake Country Club, 6200 South Madison Street, Hinsdale, IL
The West Suburban Catholic Culture Series

Ever Ancient, Ever New:
The Sources of Pope Leo XIV
REGISTER BELOW

April 8:
Developing a Catholic Social Vision for the Modern World:
A Century of Church Teaching

Schedule: 6:30 p.m. Drinks | 7:00 p.m. Dinner, Lecture, & Q&A | 8:30 p.m. End
LECTURE DESCRIPTION
Our April speaker, David Cloutier, will trace the development of Catholic social teaching (CST) from Rerum Novarum through Quadragesimo Anno to Centesimus Annus and beyond. Through many papacies and much change in the world, CST develops a unique and distinctive social vision that speaks to both the hopes and the perils of the contemporary world.
Business casual attire encouraged. For questions, or if you would like to request a comped ticket as a priest, religious, or high school teacher, please email Margaux (Killackey) Taffet at mtaffet@lumenchristi.org.

Greek New Testament (Spring)
2026-04-09 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. | Refreshments Provided
This event is designated for University of Chicago graduate and undergraduate students. Students will receive a copy of the texts.
“In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” This dramatic opening salvo of the Letter to the Hebrews, summarizing salvation history, is one of the most famous and consequential one-liners in the New Testament. But who is this Son? How is he “appointed heir of all things”? What is the relationship between God’s message through him and His message through the prophets? In this reading group, we will examine, through careful study of the Koine Greek text, how the Letter to the Hebrews answers these questions and more, with an eye to the authorship, audience, and genre of this mysterious text. All levels of Greek proficiency are encouraged to join. Advance preparation is recommended but not required.
Schedule:

April 9*: Hebrews 10.1–18 (Christ’s Sacrifice)

April 17: Hebrews 10.19–39 (Exhortation to Persevere)

April 24: Hebrews 11.1–22 (Examples of Faith Part I)

May 1: Hebrews 11.23–40 (Examples of Faith Part 2)

May 8: Hebrews 12

May 15: Hebrews 13

*The first session takes place at the normal time but on Thursday.
Series Description:
Language Reading Group
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts at least one classical language reading group at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). The reading groups are usually held over a shared meal and all participants are provided a copy of the text. Any student interested in working on his or her classical languages is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.

Faculty Colloquium with Bernard McGinn on In the Eagle’s Wake
2026-04-10 09:00 - 12:30 (America/Chicago) | University of Chicago, 5801 S Ellis Ave Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL
This event is by invitation only. For more information contact Geoffrey Zokal gzokal@lumenchristi.org
The Lumen Christi Institute will host a faculty colloquium in honor of the prolific work of Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago) and to discuss his new book In the Eagle’s Wake. The half‑day colloquium offers an opportunity both to engage with an important recent contribution to scholarship and to honor McGinn’s long and illustrious career.
A complementary book will be provided in advance to all participants to facilitate preparation for the colloquium.
Initial remarks will be given at the outset of each session by Kevin Hart (Duke University) and David Albertson (University of Southern California), followed by responses from Professor McGinn. Engaged participant conversation will be moderated by Erin Walsh (University of Chicago) in each session.
Following the event, a lunch will be served in honor of Dr. McGinn.
This event is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Divinity School and Crossroads Publishing.

On Learned Ignorance: Nicolas of Cusa and the Wonder of the Cosmos
2026-04-10 14:00 - 17:00 (America/Chicago) | Gavin House, 1220 E 58th St., Chicago, IL, 60637
REGISTER BELOW
2:00-5:00 (Detailed Schedule Below) | Refreshments Provided
This event is designated for current graduate & advanced undergraduate students and faculty from the University of Chicago & regional colleges and universities. Others interested in auditing should contact William Hurley at whurley@lumenchristi.org.
This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.
Description:
Is measuring the natural world a secular activity, or does wonder enliven faith in the mystery of God? Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) was a reformist cardinal who wrote profound treatises in mystical theology in his spare time. He is arguably the most brilliant Christian thinker of the fifteenth century. For Nicholas, engaging in natural science not only deepens wonder at the cosmos and Creator, but spurs one to find God in the limits of human knowing. Mathematical thinking leads directly to theology. We will explore key passages in De docta ignorantia (1440) and De visione dei (1453) that continue to draw the attention of philosophers and theologians today.
Readings: (all from CWS book; I might bring an extra one-page handout with selected paragraphs from later works)

On Learned Ignorance, Book I (I.1-4, I.11-I.17, I.24-26), pp. 87-92, 100-110, 121-127 (21 pages)
On Learned Ignorance, Book II (II.1-3, II.13), pp. 127-137, 166-169 (13 pages)
On Learned Ignorance, Book III (III.1-4), pp. 169-180 (11 pages)
Optional: On the Vision of God: Preface, Chs. 1-6, Ch. 15 (pp. 235-245, 262-265) (13 pages)

Schedule:

1:30pm – Optional Coffee and Pastries
2:00pm – Session I begins
3:20pm – Break
3:40pm – Session II begins
5:00pm – End / Wine & Cheese Reception

Event Type:
Master Class
Each quarter, the Lumen Christi Institute hosts a master class at Gavin House (1220 E 58th St.). A master class is a seminar in miniature, in which top scholars introduce students to a major figure or concept in the Catholic intellectual tradition. The two eighty-minute sessions contain a mixture of lecture, seminar discussion, and close reading. All participants are provided a copy of the text under consideration. Any student interested in a shared reading of a great text is welcome to join. No religious affiliation is necessary.
