“Emotion and Virtue in Thomas Aquinas”
Co-sponsored by the Templeton Foundation and The Philosophy Department Abstract: For Aquinas, ethics is nothing other than the study of human psychology insofar as it flourishes or fails to flourish. Consequently, his thought on emotion is crucial to his account of virtue. This lecture will discuss Aquinas’s theory of the emotions and its implications for his virtue theory.
Newman, Vatican II, and the Hermeneutic of Continuity
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.
G.K. Chesterton on Humor
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.
The Catholic Roots of Religious Freedom
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 of religious freedom.
The Unintended Reformation”
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 are each the long-term effects of a distinctive religious movement that marked the end of a period of history in which Christianity provided a framework for a shared intellectual, social, and moral life in the West.
“The Making of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae”
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.
A Conversation on Faith and Science, with Mark Wyman and Minyoung Wyman
This event is intended for college students. Dinner will be served. Contemporary culture is built in part on a mythology of the natural sciences. This mythology characterizes Christianity, particularly Catholicism, as a reactionary force clinging to a pre-modern worldview that brave men and women have replaced with a modern, scientific one. Two postdoctoral researchers at the University of Chicago’s theoretical cosmologist and an evolutionary biologist will explain why this myth is false. Each will give a brief account of their own experience as scientists and reflect on the compatibility of faith and modern science. Ample time for questions and discussion will…
Conference on Christian Legal Thought, New Orleans
Saturday, January 5, 2013, 1 PM to 6:15 PM Wyndham Riverfront New Orleans 701 Convention Center Boulevard New Orleans, LA 70130 Conference Topic: The Statement on the Nature of Law from Evangelicals and Catholics Conference Schedule 1:00 PM: Registration (coffee available) 1:15 PM – 2:45 PM: Session One: Christian Perspectives on the Nature of Law Chair: Michael Moreland (Villanova University School of Law) William Brewbaker III (University of Alabama School of Law) Nora O’Callaghan (Loyola University Chicago School of Law) David Skeel (University of Pennsylvania Law School) 2:45 PM – 3:00 PM: Coffee Break 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM: Session Two: Non-Christian Perspectives on…
“The Capacious Mind of St. Thomas”
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 take the life an innocent human being. Understanding Thomas’s capacious mind” and the nature of the acts in question held us to understand why we should follow him in these matters.
“The Theologico-Political Problem Today”
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 disinterest in religion, presents a particular crisis for the Church. This lecture will consider the history of the theologico-political problem and address the condition of three essential institutions: marriage, polity and church.