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APPLICATIONS ARE CLOSED FOR THIS SEMINAR Now in its seventh consecutive year, this intensive seminar will examine the achievements of Blessed John Henry Newman as a theologian, philosopher, educator, preacher, and writer. Remarkably, in each of these areas Newman produced works that have come to be recognized as classics: An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, The Grammar of Assent, The Idea of a University, The Parochial and Plain Sermons, and the Apologia Pro Vita Sua. This seminar will approach Newman’s thought through a critical engagement with these texts. Format: There will be two 2-hour sessions each day. The seminar will include...

APPLICATIONS FOR THIS SEMINAR ARE CLOSED One of the most influential 20th century Catholic thinkers, René Girard transformed our understanding of culture, religion, and human behavior. His “mimetic theory" builds on the demystifying power of the Old and New Testaments to illuminate the religious history of mankind. Through an intensive reading of his major works of literary analysis, religious anthropology, and Biblical exegesis, this five-day seminar will explore Girard’s key insights into imitation, conflict, and scapegoating, connecting them to central themes of Christian theology. Format: There will be two 2.5-hour sessions each day. Each session will include an opening lecture and...

APPLICATIONS FOR THIS SEMINAR ARE CLOSED In this seminar, students will read, analyze, and discern continuities and discontinuities in Catholic social thought from the late 19th century to the present. Lectures, seminar reports, and discussion will focus on original sources (encyclicals and other magisterial documents), beginning with Rerum novarum (1892) and concluding with Caritas in veritate (2009) and Evangelii Gaudium (2013). This intensive course is multi-disciplinary, since this tradition of social thought overlaps several disciplines in the contemporary university including political science, political philosophy, law, economics, theology, and history. Format: There will be two 2.5-hour sessions each day. Each session will include an opening lecture and seminar-style...

THIS SEMINAR HAS BEEN POSTPONED TO SUMMER 2020 The manifold and deepening social, political, and economic crises that people and their governments face have called forth a strongly renewed interest in the Christian social teaching tradition, and the contributions that insights from the tradition might make to responding to these exigencies. This revival of interest brings several thorny problems in its wake: Why does the Church speak on these matters, and based on what authority? What role does the Church properly have in this context? What contributions can she make to such worldly concerns? What does the Church have to offer...