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1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637
Hyde Park, IL Get Directions
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Is it Rational to Believe in Miracles? A Discussion of David Hume’s Argument Against Believing in Miracles

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

Can one be rational and also believe in miracles? The philosophers of the Enlightenment held that it was impossible for the laws of nature to allow such ruptures: to believe in miracles was to be de-facto irrational.  Voltaire said that a miracle was a "contradiction in terms," and Thomas Jefferson famously cut all the miracles […]

Master Class on Yves Congar’s “True and False Reform in the Church”

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

This program was open to students, faculty, and staff.  Is a reform of the church really possible? Yves Congar’s True and False Reform (1950), although initially restricted by the Holy See, became an instrumental text in setting the stage for the Second Vatican Council, and remained one of the most important theological works of the 20th […]

Pope, Councils, Bishops, and Synods: Insights from St. Dominic and the Order of Preachers for Governance in the Church

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

The malfeasance of bishops and priests has led to a call for reform of the institution of the Church. There is a peril in this: the Church is animated and governed by the Holy Spirit and an overemphasis upon the institutional structure of the Church runs the risk of stifling the Spirit. As a path for reform, […]

Iris Murdoch on Philosophy and Literature

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

This luncheon seminar for students and faculty examined essays by Dame Iris Murdoch on literature, philosophy, morality, virtue, and the concept good. The focus of discussion centered on why Murdoch thinks truth, understood as a clear vision of reality, is the fundamental goal of literature, philosophy, and virtue. Iris Murdoch studied at Oxford and Cambridge (where she studied […]

What is Wrong with Curiosity? Augustine on Curiosity and the Use and the Abuse of the Intellect in the Confessions

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

What could be wrong with curiosity? "Long live curiosity," proclaims the Museum of Science and Industry, and modernity unanimously praises it as the beginning of intellectual discovery. But, surprisingly, Augustine of Hippo criticizes “curiositas” in his Confessions. Is Augustine’s notion out-moded? Is the pursuit of knowledge adverse to Christian faith? Or could Augustine’s concern about the proper use and the […]

Achievement and the Christian Life: What is Education For?

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

REGISTER HERE What is achievement? What is success?  Does the human desire for achievement or success have a natural end, or is it restless and never-satisfied?  In other words, what do we understand human fulfillment to be, and how does our university education contribute to that fulfillment? In this lunch time discussion, Elizabeth Corey, professor […]

Are the Great Books Good for us? Liberal Education and the Christian Tradition

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

What are the liberal arts? Is there more than one tradition of humanistic liberal learning, and what's the connection between them the UChicago core curriculum? Professor Jared Ortiz (an undergrad alum of UChicago) hosted a lunchtime conversation about the tradition of liberal education, its reception in Catholic thought, and the question of what an education […]

Master Class on Maximus the Confessor

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

St. Maximus the Confessor is rapidly becoming one of the most studied of all early Christian theologians; the depths and richness of his writings and theology are being ever more appreciated. This masterclass focused on one specific—and short—text, Ambiguum 41, perhaps the richest of them all and certainly the one for which is best known. It […]

Master Class on Yves Simon’s “Philosophy of Democratic Government”

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

REGISTER HERE Open to current students and faculty. Copies of Philosophy of Democratic Government (University of Notre Dame Press, 1993) will be provided for registrants. The Charles R. Walgreen Foundation for the Study of American Institutions was established in June 1937 to foster greater appreciation of American life and values among University of Chicago students.  […]

Non-Credit Course on Modern Science and Christian Faith

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

6:00 Dinner | 6:30 Lecture This weekly non-credit course is open to current students and faculty. Registrants are free to attend as many sessions as they choose. Sessions do not presuppose previous attendance or prior knowledge of the subject. This program is made possible by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation and The Our […]

Master Class on “Heidegger & Aquinas on the Question Concerning Technology”

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

REGISTER HERE Open to current students and faculty. Copies of the readings will be provided for those who register. SCHEDULE 9:30am Coffee & Pastries 10:00am Session I 11:25am Break 11:35am Session II 1:00pm End, lunch REQUIRED READINGS Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica, I, Q.47, Art.1-2 (on creation); III, Q.60, Art.2-4 (on sacraments) Martin Heidegger, The Question […]

Master Class on “The Life of Teresa of Avila”

Gavin House 1220 E 58th St. Chicago, IL 60637, Hyde Park, IL

This program was made possible in part by a grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute. The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila is one of the most remarkable accounts ever written of the human encounter with the divine.  This text is not really an autobiography at all, despite the fact that it is widely […]