The Thomistic Institute

Aug 28, 2025 • 45 min

Fr. Andrew Hofer explores the origins of the Christian just war tradition through Augustine’s anti-Manichean writings, examining the theological debates around violence, authority, and moral law within early Christianity. This lecture was given on June 11th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist , Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons , and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers . He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions. Keywords: Augustine of Hippo , Augustinian Ethics, Christian Just War Tradition, Ethics of Violence,  Against Faustus , Manichaeism, Moral Law, Pacifism,  De Libero Arbitrio , Theology

Aug 27, 2025 • 42 min

Prof. Michael Krom analyzes the ethics of drone warfare through the lens of Aquinas’s just war tradition and virtue ethics, addressing moral principles of discrimination, proportionality, and the indispensability of human judgment in the use of violent technology. This lecture was given on March 18th, 2025, at Virginia Military Institute. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of college. Upon learning about Flannery O’Connor’s “hillbilly Thomist” habit of reading Aquinas every night, he started studying two articles a day and completed the Summa while in graduate school at Emory University. As a professor at Saint Vincent College, he saw the urgent need for collegians and seminarians to receive a solid foundation in Aquinas’s philosophical theology. In 2020, he published Justice and Charity:  An Introduction to Aquinas’s Moral, Economic, and Political Thought (Baker Academic Press), and teaches a Thomistic philosophy course each fall. In addition to continuing work on the moral, economic, and political topics covered in the book, his current research is on the influence of monastic spirituality on Aquinas; he is working on a monograph tentatively entitled Aquinas Among the Benedictines . Keywords: Artificial Intelligence in Warfare, Christian Ethics, Double Effect Principle, Drone Warfare, Ethics of Technology, Human Judgment, Incendiary Weapons, Just War Tradition, Proportionality, Virtue Ethics

Aug 26, 2025 • 44 min

Prof. Joseph Capizzi presents the just war account within the Catholic tradition, arguing that the use of force in war can be a moral act of peacemaking grounded in pursuit of the common good, and emphasizing the importance of authority, intention, cause, proportionality, and distinction between guilt and innocence. This lecture was given on April 11th, 2025, at The Ohio State University. Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit  thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast  to give today! For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Joseph E. Capizzi is Dean of Theology at the Catholic University of America. He teaches in the areas of social and political theology, with special interests in issues in peace and war, citizenship, political authority, and Augustinian theology. He has written, lectured, and published widely on just war theory, bioethics, the history of moral theology, and political liberalism. Keywords: Anabaptism, Aristotelianism, Augustine of Hippo, Christian Pacifism, Common Good, Ethics of War, Francisco de Vitoria, Guilt and Innocence Distinction, Natural Law, Schleitheim Confession

Aug 25, 2025 • 47 min

Prof. Michael Krom explores Thomas Aquinas’s view on the relationship between religion and politics, discussing the distinction between obligations to political authority and to God, as reflected in the biblical command to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's." This lecture was given on November 7th, 2024, at University of Florida. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of college. Upon learning about Flannery O’Connor’s “hillbilly Thomist” habit of reading Aquinas every night, he started studying two articles a day and completed the Summa while in graduate school at Emory University. As a professor at Saint Vincent College, he saw the urgent need for collegians and seminarians to receive a solid foundation in Aquinas’s philosophical theology. In 2020, he published Justice and Charity:  An Introduction to Aquinas’s Moral, Economic, and Political Thought (Baker Academic Press), and teaches a Thomistic philosophy course each fall. In addition to continuing work on the moral, economic, and political topics covered in the book, his current research is on the influence of monastic spirituality on Aquinas; he is working on a monograph tentatively entitled Aquinas Among the Benedictines . Keywords: Abortion, Catholic Social Teaching, Christian Ethics, Divine Law, Early Christianity, Incarnation, Legal Justice, Martyrdom, Obedience, Summa Theologiae

Aug 22, 2025 • 1h 25m

Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel explores the project of literature from the classical to the modern era, highlighting how stories like Anna Karenina shape the moral imagination through themes of virtue, marriage, culture, and the perennial question of what it means to be human. This lecture was given on March 11th, 2025, at Trinity College Dublin. Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit  thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast  to give today! For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel is a member of the St. Cecilia Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Nashville, Tennessee. She has been active in her religious community’s teaching apostolate for over fifteen years and assists with the theological formation of the newest members of her religious congregation, serving as Associate Professor of Theology at Aquinas College. In addition to contributing articles to a number of journals and magazines, including the Vatican newspaper ( L’Osservatore Romano ), The National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Linacre Quarterly, and the Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, her favorite projects have been serving as editor-in-chief of her Congregation’s book, Praying as a Family , directing a television series of the same title with EWTN, co-directing the documentary Undivided Heart , and serving as the creator and founding Director of the University of Dallas Studies in Catholic Faith & Culture Program. Keywords: Agapic Love, Aristotle, Anna Karenina , Classical Literature, Hans Christian Andersen, Homer, Moral Imagination, Romeo and Juliet , Tolstoy, Virtue Ethics

Aug 21, 2025 • 53 min

Prof. Lee Oser explores the intertwined lives, faith journeys, and literary legacies of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and the Inklings, highlighting their countercultural Christian imagination against modernist trends. This lecture was given on November 22nd, 2024, at College of William and Mary. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Lee Oser's scholarly focus is Religion and Literature. His books include Christian Humanism in Shakespeare: A Study in Religion and Literature and The Return of Christian Humanism: Chesterton, Eliot, Tolkien and the Romance of History. Also, he is a noted novelist who specializes in satire.   Keywords: Beowulf , Christian Imagination,  The Chronicles of Narnia , Inklings, Medievalism, Modernism in Literature, Owen Barfield, Subcreation,  The Lord of the Rings , World War I

Aug 20, 2025 • 38 min

Fr. Isaac Morales and Prof. Michael Root explore how Thomas Aquinas’ biblical commentaries on Matthew and 1 Corinthians illuminate the beatific vision, resurrection, and the role of Scripture in shaping Christian life through literal and spiritual interpretation. This lecture was given on June 28th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit  thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast  to give today! For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. Isaac Morales, O.P. is associate professor of theology at Providence College. Before joining the Dominican Order, he received an MTS in biblical studies from the University of Notre Dame and a PhD in New Testament from Duke University. He is the author of The Bible and Baptism: The Fountain of Salvation (Baker Academic Press) and a forthcoming book on eschatology titled The Life of the World to Come: Seeing God, Resurrection, and the Christian Hope. He also regularly teaches a course on the life and writings of C. S. Lewis. Michael Root is Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Earlier in life, he was a Lutheran, teaching at various Lutheran seminaries and serving ten years as a Research Professor at the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg, France. He was received into the Catholic Church in 2010. His particular theological interests lie in grace and justification, eschatology (death, heaven, hell, etc.), and Protestant-Catholic relations.  Keywords: Aristotelian Science, Beatific Vision, Biblical Exegesis, Christian Formation, Figural Interpretation, Grace and Salvation, Resurrection of the Body, Sacred Scripture, Spiritual Senses of Scripture, Thomistic Theology

Aug 19, 2025 • 46 min

Dr. Rebekah Lamb explores J.R.R. Tolkien’s “detached aesthetics,” revealing how his Christian understanding of spiritual detachment shapes his writing, especially in "The Lord of the Rings," as a means of cultivating hope, wonder, and a rightly ordered love for the world. This lecture was given on January 30th, 2025, at University of Edinburgh. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Dr. Rebekah Lamb is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) in theology and the arts at the University of St Andrews, specializing in religion and literature of late modernity. Her research centres on the ways in which the arts can be distinctive and timely modes of theology in their own right, especially in light of liturgical, spiritual, and existential concerns. Key figures in her work include Joseph Ratzinger, St. John Henry Newman, Gerard Manley Hopkins SJ, Christina Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites as well as their inheritors (JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis, among others). Prior to joining St Andrews, she was an inaugural Étienne Gilson Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. She is a trustee of the Christian Heritage Centre at Stonyhurst (Lancashire, UK) and frequently contributes to popular magazines and journals, including an interview with Robert Cardinal Sarah for the Catholic Herald. Keywords: Aesthetics of Detachment, Beauty and Suffering, Christian Tradition, Detached Narrative Style,  Leaf by Niggle ,  Lord of the Rings , Mary Mother of God, Providence and Hope, Spiritual Detachment,  The Wanderer

Aug 18, 2025 • 37 min

Prof. Thomas Ward explores C. S. Lewis’s "The Abolition of Man", analyzing how technology’s conquest of nature risks diminishing humanity unless anchored by objective moral values. This lecture was given on April 8th, 2025, at Indiana University. Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast to give today! For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin, in the School of Civic Leadership. He specializes in the history of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages. Ward is the author of After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher (Word on Fire, 2024), Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus (Angelico, 2022), Divine Ideas (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and has translated, with commentary, John Duns Scotus’s Treatise on the First Principle (Hackett, 2024). He has been a NEH Fellow (2022) and Harvey Fellow (2009-2011), and is a past winner of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Founder's Award (2013) and the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Rising Scholar Essay Contest (2018). He studied philosophy at Biola University (BA 2004) and theology at Oxford University (M.Phil 2006), where he was Head Resident at the Kilns, the former residence of C.S. Lewis. His PhD in philosophy is from UCLA (2011). Ward is married with six children and is a member of St. Peter Catholic Student Center in Waco. Keywords: Abolition of Man , Artificial Contraception, Catholicism, C. S. Lewis, Eugenics, Ethics of Technology, Incarnation, Posthumanism, Practical Reasoning, Virtue Ethics

Aug 15, 2025 • 59 min

Prof. Christopher Malloy defends the Catholic understanding of Mary’s role in salvation history, refuting common objections and demonstrating how her divine maternity, perpetual virginity, and immaculate grace magnify rather than diminish the glory of Christ. This lecture was given on April 6th, 2025, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Christopher J. Malloy is married to Flory with whom he has seven children. He earned his B.A. in Theology (second major in Philosophy) from the University of Notre Dame in 1992. He earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology (minor in Philosophy) from The Catholic University of America in 2001. Since then he has taught at The University of Dallas, where he currently serves as Professor and Chair of Theology. He has published three books: Engrafted into Christ: A Critique of the Joint Declaration [on Justification] , Aquinas on Beatific Charity and the Problem of Love , and False Mercy: Recent Heresies Distorting Catholic Truth . He has published numerous blind peer-reviewed articles for journals such as The Thomist , Nova et Vetera , Freiburger Zeitschrift für Philosophie und Theologie , Josephinum , Angelicum , etc. He loves academia, especially publishing and teaching systematic theology, but he has always been fired up to give popular presentations highlighting the intelligibility and beauty of the Catholic faith, since that was the reason he got into Theology in the first place. Keywords: Abraham, Bernard of Clairvaux, Divine Maternity, Immaculate Conception, Incarnation, John Calvin, Marian Doctrine, Martin Chemnitz, Mother of God, Participation in God

Aug 14, 2025 • 47 min

Prof. Christopher Mooney's lecture confronts the philosophical objection that heaven would be unbearably boring due to its infinite duration, arguing instead that Christian eternity is fulfilled in the beatific vision of God, which offers infinite and undiminished joy. This lecture was given on April 23rd, 2025, at Texas A&M University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Dr. Christopher Mooney is an assistant professor of theology at the Augustine Institute Graduate School in St. Louis, Missouri, where he teaches on Catholic theology, scriptural interpretation, and the Church Fathers. His teaching and research specialize in Augustine, the Fathers, and historical theology, and he is the author of Augustine's Theology of Justification by Faith (2026). A native of Connecticut, he studied at Georgetown and Yale Divinity School before receiving his PhD from the University of Notre Dame. He also serves as a theological representative for the USCCB's Catholic-Reformed dialogue. He lives next door to the Augustine Institute's campus with his wife and four children. Keywords: Augustine of Hippo, Beatific Vision, Bernard Williams, Eternal Life, Freud, Heaven, Immortality, Odyssey, Philosophy of Religion, Richard Dawkins

Aug 13, 2025 • 53 min

Prof. Bruce Marshall presents a deep Catholic theological exploration of predestination, examining its biblical foundations, historical development, doctrinal boundaries, and the enduring tension between God’s sovereign will, grace, and human freedom. This lecture was given on October 6th, 2024, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Bruce D. Marshall is Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University, and in 2023 he held the Aquinas Chair in the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum in Rome.  He is the author of Trinity and Truth and Christology in Conflict , and at present he is completing a book entitled The Primacy of Christ: Faith, Reason, and the Cross .  Marshall has written extensively on the doctrines of the Trinity, the person and redemptive work of Christ, the Eucharist, the Catholic Church and non-Christian religions, and the relationship between faith and reason.  He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. from Yale University, and is a past President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. Keywords: Augustine, Baptism, Council of Trent, Efficacious Grace,  Gaudium et Spes , Grace and Free Will, Jesus Christ, Predestination, Romans 8, Sufficient Grace

Aug 12, 2025 • 56 min

Prof. Thomas Pfau offers an in-depth theological and philosophical analysis of Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov, focusing on Ivan and Alyosha’s contrasting worldviews, the “Rebellion” and “Grand Inquisitor” chapters, and the novel’s profound exploration of freedom, suffering, and divine love. This lecture was given on January 31st, 2025, at University of Texas at Austin. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Thomas Pfau (PhD 1989, SUNY Buffalo) is the Alice Mary Baldwin Professor of English, with a secondary appointment in the Divinity School at Duke University. He has published some fifty essays on literary, philosophical, and theological subjects ranging from the 18th through the early 20th century. In addition to two translations, of Hölderlin and Schelling (SUNY Press, 1987 and 1994), he has also edited seven essay collections and special journal issues and is the author of four monographs: Wordsworth’s Profession (Stanford UP 1997), Romantic Moods: Paranoia, Trauma, Melancholy , 1790-1840 (Johns Hopkins UP 2005),  Minding the Modern: Intellectual Traditions, Human Agency, and Responsible Knowledge (Notre Dame UP, 2013), and Incomprehensible Certainty: Metaphysics and Hermeneutics of the Image (Notre Dame UP, 2022). He in the early stages of a new book project focused on the relationship between poetry and theology from 1800 to the present. Keywords: The Brothers Karamazov , Freedom, Gnosticism, Grand Inquisitor, Human Suffering, Ivan Karamazov, Nihilism, Original Sin, Rebellion, Rowan Williams

Aug 11, 2025 • 50 min

Prof. Christopher Kaczor explores the relationship between positive psychology and Catholic theology, uncovering how empirical psychological findings on happiness align with and deepen spiritual practices like gratitude, service, and forgiveness. This lecture was given on February 15th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His eighteen books include Is Belief Believable? The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life , and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition . Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review , NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show. Keywords: Achievement, Altruism, Engagement, Forgiveness, Gratitude, Happiness, Martin Seligman, Meaning, Positive Psychology, Relationships

Aug 8, 2025 • 51 min

Dr. Nathaniel Peters explores and compares the theological views of Martin Luther and Thomas Aquinas on justification, focusing on grace, faith, merit, and the fundamental differences shaping Catholic and Lutheran perspectives. This lecture was given on February 25th, 2025, at University of Virginia. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Nathaniel Peters is the Director of the Morningside Institute. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, his M.T.S. from the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. from Boston College. He has published article on many topics on religion and public life, and his first book, The Trinitarian Dimensions of Cistercian Eucharistic Theology , is forthcoming from Catholic University of America Press. Keywords: Aristotelianism, Ethics, Faith and Works, Grace, Incarnation, Justification, Law and Gospel, Martin Luther, Summa Theologiae , Thomas Aquinas

Aug 7, 2025 • 43 min

Fr. Cajetan Cuddy provides an in-depth exploration of charity as the highest theological virtue in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas, laying foundational principles for understanding just war, peace, and the ordered structure of the Christian moral life. This lecture was given on June 10th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P., is a priest of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph. He serves as the general editor of the Thomist Tradition Series , and he is co-author of Thomas and the Thomists: The Achievement of St. Thomas Aquinas and His Interpreters . He has written for numerous publications on the philosophy and theology of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Thomist Tradition. Keywords: Christian Anthropology, Divine Friendship, Eternal Law, Intellectual Monasticism, Just War Theory, Moral Virtue, Natural Law Tradition, Summa Theologiae , Theological Virtue of Charity, Thomistic Ethics

Aug 6, 2025 • 53 min

Dr. Erik Dempsey explores the positions of Martin Luther and Thomas Aquinas against Pelagianism, highlighting their shared rejection of justification by human effort and their nuanced theological differences on grace, merit, and free will. This lecture was given on March 18th, 2024, at Regent University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout. Keywords: Augustinian Theology, Christian Anthropology, Ecumenical Dialogue, Galatians Commentary, Grace and Merit, Justification Doctrine, Liberal Modernity, Martin Luther, Original Sin, Pelagianism

Aug 4, 2025 • 46 min

Fr. Dominic Legge delves into the philosophical and moral considerations that determine whether laws are truly just, highlighting the ongoing relevance of these questions in contemporary society. This lecture was given on March 26th, 2025, at Harvard University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Dominic Legge is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.  He is an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.L. from the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001, after having practiced constitutional law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at The Catholic University of America Law School and at Providence College. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2017). Keywords: Aristotelian Philosophy, Catholic Ethics, Contemporary Legal Theory, Incarnation, John Finnis, Jurisprudence, Natural Law Tradition, Saint Augustine, Summa Theologiae , The Metaphysics of Morals

Aug 1, 2025 • 38 min

Prof. Matthew Shea examines the classic philosophical question “Can we be happy without God?” by analyzing historical and contemporary perspectives on happiness, ultimately contrasting the limitations of atheistic views with the theistic argument for true human fulfillment in God. This lecture was given on April 22nd, 2025, at Franciscan University of Steubenville. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Matthew Shea is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He specializes in moral philosophy and bioethics, with additional interests in philosophy of religion and epistemology. He did his undergraduate studies at Boston College, received a PhD in philosophy from Saint Louis University, and completed a fellowship in clinical health care ethics at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of God and Happiness (Cambridge University Press, 2024). Keywords: Aristotelianism, Augustine, Atheism, Bertrand Russell, Boethius, Human Flourishing, Perfectionism, Plato, Schopenhauer, The Consolation of Philosophy

Jul 31, 2025 • 51 min

Prof. Timothy J. Pawl examines the nature, divisions, and cultivation of virtue, harmonizing Christian moral wisdom with contemporary psychological research and offering eight practical steps to growing in virtue. This lecture was given on April 24th, 2025, at North Dakota State University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Timothy J. Pawl is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and holds a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in philosophy.  He specializes in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, Thomistic philosophy, analytic theology, and moral psychology. His books include In Defense of Conciliar Christology (Oxford, 2016), In Defense of Extended Conciliar Christology (Oxford, 2019), The Incarnation (Cambridge, 2020), and Jesus and the Genome: The Intersection of Christology and Biology (Cambridge, 2024), co-authored with a philosopher of science and an evolutionary biologist.  Keywords: Aristotelianism, Augustine, Cardinal Virtues, Christian Moral Wisdom, Habit Formation, Intellectual Virtues,  Nicomachean Ethics , Self-Control, Situational Self-Control, Theological Virtues