The Thomistic Institute

Mar 12, 2025 • 49 min

Prof. Francis Beckwith discusses moral relativism, presenting arguments for and against it, while emphasizing the importance of objective morality in the context of the Catholic intellectual tradition. This lecture was given on January 26th, 2024, at University of Miami. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Francis J. Beckwith is is a philosopher who teaches, publishes, and speaks on a variety of topics and issues in ethics, law, politics, and religion. He is currently Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies, Affiliate Professor of Political Science, Associate Director of Graduate Studies in Philosophy, and Resident Scholar in the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University, where he has served on the faculty since 2003. He earned an Ph.D. and M.A. in philosophy from Fordham University, and a Master of Juridical Studies (M.J.S.) degree from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, where he won the CALI Award for Excellence in Reproductive Control Seminar. Among his over twenty books are D efending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (2007) and T aking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (2015), both published by Cambridge University Press, and Never Doubt Thomas: The Catholic Aquinas as Evangelical and Protestant (2019), published by Baylor University Press. Taking Rites Seriously was a winner of the American Academy of Religion’s 2016 Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion. He has served as President of both the American Catholic Philosophical Association (2017-18) and the Evangelical Theological Society (2006-07), from which he resigned in the middle of his term in May 2007 to return to the Catholic Church of his youth. He and his wife, Frankie, make their home in Woodway, Texas. Keywords: Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Ethics, Moral Objectivism, Moral Relativism, Natural Law, Philosophy, Pre-evangelization, Virtue

Mar 11, 2025 • 51 min

Prof. John O'Callaghan discusses Aquinas's perspective on divine justice in the act of creation, emphasizing that it is primarily an act of justice of God towards Himself, reflecting His will, wisdom, and goodness. This lecture was given on October 18th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Prof. John O'Callaghan is the Director Emeritus of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame as well as a permanent member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. He served as the past President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. His areas of scholarly interest include medieval philosophy, the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Thomistic metaphysics and ethics. Keywords: Aristotle, Augustine, Creation, Distributive Justice, Divine Justice, Divine Will, Justice, Metaphor, Natural Law, Summa Contra Gentiles

Mar 10, 2025 • 33 min

Fr. Gregory Pine discusses justice as a virtue that enables us to render to others what is due to them, exploring its characteristics of otherness, equality, and precision, while also acknowledging its limits and the need to go beyond justice in our relationships. This lecture was given on November 7th, 2024, at University of Tulsa. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He is the co-author of Credo: An RCIA Program and Marian Consecration with Aquinas as well as the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly . His writing also appears in Aleteia , Magnificat , and Ascension’s Catholic Classics series. He is a regular contributor to the podcasts Pints with Aquinas , Catholic Classics , The Thomistic Institute , and Godsplaining . Keywords: Aristotelianism, Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Ethics, Forgiveness, G. K. Chesterton, Justice, Mercy, Relationships, Summa Theologica , Virtue

Mar 7, 2025 • 51 min

Dr. John Haldane examines the themes of evil and vice as portrayed in film and entertainment, utilizing philosophical concepts and specific examples like The Exorcist and Apocalypse Now, to analyze the ethical dimensions of these representations. This lecture was given on November 28th, 2024, at University of Edinburgh. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: John Haldane is the Newton Rayzor Sr Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Baylor University, Texas, and Professor of Moral Philosophy, and Senior Fellow of the Centre for Ethics and Public Affairs, at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He is also Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and Chair of the Royal Institute of Philosophy, London. As well as his many philosophical writings, he has contributed to the Times and the Guardian, and broadcast often with the BBC UK and World, and ABC Australia. In 2016 he was named by Best Schools one of the ‘ 50 Most Influential Living Philosophers’. Keywords: Apocalypse Now , Aristotelian Ethics, Courage, Evil, Exorcist , Film, Heart of Darkness , Hollywood, Justice, Prudence, Virtue And Vice

Mar 3, 2025 • 43 min

Fr. Thomas Petri explicates St. Thomas Aquinas's understanding of God as ipsum esse subsistens (being itself), the source of all existence and goodness, and that evil is not a thing but an absence or deficiency of good within God's ultimate plan. This lecture was given on January 17th, 2025, at University of Michigan. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Father Thomas Petri, O.P. is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, where he also serves as an assistant professor of moral theology and pastoral studies. Ordained a priest in 2009, he holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America. Keywords: Aristotelianism, Causality, Evil, Free Will, Goodness, Ipsum Esse Subsistens , Pantheism, Summa Theologica , Suffering, Theology, Trinity

Feb 28, 2025 • 42 min

Professor Michael Krom evaluates the modern "Benedict Option" as a proposed Christian response to cultural decline, contrasting it with Saint Benedict’s historical withdrawal from Rome and analyzing its merits through Thomistic ethical frameworks governing obedience to authority and resistance to unjust laws. This lecture was given on November 8th, 2024, at Florida State University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: 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: Aristotelianism, Benedict Option , Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Life of Saint Benedict , Patrick Deneen, Post-Liberal Age, Saint Benedict, Scott Hahn, Thomistic Theology, Virtue Ethics

Feb 26, 2025 • 36 min

Fr. Dominic Verner explores Aquinas' definition of honor as reverence exhibited in testimony to someone's excellence, explaining its importance for personal virtue, self-knowledge, friendship, and fostering a community that values true goodness. This lecture was given on March 9th, 2024, at Our Lady of Corpus Christi Retreat Center. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Fr. Dominic Verner, O.P. (Providence College) after earning a B.S. in electrical engineering from Purdue University and an M.A. in philosophical studies from Mount St. Mary's University, Fr. Dominic Verner, O.P. entered the Order of Preachers and was ordained to the priesthood in 2016. He has an S.T.L. from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and a Ph.D. in moral theology/Christian ethics from the University of Notre Dame, where he wrote his dissertation "Saving Honor: A Thomistic Ethics of Honor." He joined the Theology Faculty at Providence College as an Assistant Professor in the Fall of 2022. His research and teaching interests especially concern Thomistic moral theory and the role that honor, friendship, and glory play in practical reason and the quest for beatitude. Keywords: Excellence, Fear of the Lord, Friendship, Honor, Imitation, Reverence, Self-Love, Testimony, Virtue

Feb 25, 2025 • 33 min

Fr. Bonaventure Chapman analyzes the flaws in modern action theory, using Wittgenstein and Anscombe to argue against seeking intention in either physical or psychological states, and advocating instead for examining the description of intentional actions. This lecture was given on October 5th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Father Bonaventure Chapman, O.P. (Catholic University of America) was born and raised in Buffalo, NY. Father Bonaventure entered the Order of Preachers (Province of St. Joseph), in 2011 and was ordained a priest in 2017, having completed theology degrees at the Dominican House of Studies, as well as a Ph.L from The Catholic University of America. After teaching philosophy at Providence College, RI, he completed a Ph.D in philosophy at Catholic University in 2023 and joined the faculty of the School of Philosophy in Fall 2023. Father Bonaventure’s dissertation, “The Crusian Core of Kant’s Critical Project,” investigates the influence of philosophical Pietism, especially that of Christian August Crusius, on Immanuel Kant’s critical metaphysics and ethics. His primary research interest is eighteenth-century German philosophical Pietism as developed by Crusius and his beloved teacher Adolph Friedrich Hoffmann, and more broadly on early modern German metaphysics and ethics. For relaxation, Father Bonaventure serves as Assistant Student Master at the Dominican House of Studies, enjoys viewing great American art, sailing, and finding American toads whenever the opportunity presents itself. Keywords: Action Theory, Anscombe, Ethics, Intention, Modern Moral Philosophy, Robert Chisholm, Wittgenstein, Wrong Questions

Feb 24, 2025 • 45 min

Professor Michael Wahl discusses the Catholic Church's position on abortion, emphasizing the importance of both scientific and philosophical arguments in defending the pro-life stance. This lecture was given on May 5th, 2024, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Michael Wahl is Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College. His research focuses on Catholic moral theology, Thomistic ethics, virtue theory, and moral development. His articles have been published in The Thomist, Nova et Vetera, and Philosophy, Theology, & the Sciences. He lives in Providence, RI with his wife and four young children. Keywords: Abortion Ethics, Catholic Church, Embryology, Fetal Development, Human Dignity, Natural Law, Personhood, Philosophy of Life, Pro-Life Arguments, Scientific Evidence

Feb 20, 2025 • 46 min

Professor Pruss presents arguments against physicalist theories of mind, explores the challenges to biologism and functionalism, and discusses the possibility of consciousness in non-biological systems. This lecture was given on October 24th, 2024, at Texas A&M University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Alexander Pruss is professor of philosophy at Baylor University. He has two PhDs, one in mathematics and one in philosophy, and does research in metaphysics, philosophy of religion, ethics, epistemology, philosophy of science and philosophy of mathematics. Much of his work is centered on showing how pretty much everything in reality points to the existence of God. His books include The Principle of Sufficient Reason , Infinity, Paradox, and Causation , and One Body: An Essay in Christian Sexual Ethics . In his spare time, Pruss engages in a variety of hobbies including electronics, software development, and indoor rock climbing where he recently got two Guinness World Records. Keywords: Aristotelianism, Biologism, Consciousness, Functionalism, Mary Argument, Meaning Argument, Multiple Realizability, Neuroscience, Octopi Consciousness, Physicalism

Feb 19, 2025 • 55 min

Professor William Hurlbut explores the relationship between neurobiology and the concept of the soul, examining the reductive scientific approach to life, the challenges posed by technology like large language models, cerebral organoids, and synthetic embryos, and the need to integrate scientific understanding with the ancient insights of the soul. This lecture was given on November 17th, 2024, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: William B. Hurlbut is a physician and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center.  After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford, he completed postdoctoral studies in theology and medical ethics, studying with Robert Hamerton-Kelly, the Dean of the Chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer of the Institut Catholique de Paris.   His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and philosophy of biology.  He was instrumental in establishing the first course in biomedical ethics at Stanford Medical Center and subsequently taught bioethics to over six thousand Stanford undergraduate students in the Program in Human Biology. Dr. Hurlbut is the author of numerous publications on science and ethics including the co-edited volume Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue (2002, Oxford University Press), and “Science, Religion and the Human Spirit” in the Oxford Handbook of Science and Religion .  He has organized and co-chaired three multi-year interdisciplinary faculty projects at Stanford University, “Becoming Human: The Evolutionary Origins of Spiritual, Religious and Moral Awareness,” “Brain Mind and Emergence,” and the ongoing “The Boundaries of Humanity: Human, Animals, and Machines in the Age of Biotechnology.”  In addition, he was Co-leader, together with U.C. Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna of  “The challenge and opportunity of gene editing: a project for reflection, deliberation and education.” Keywords: Aristotle, Blaise Pascal, Cerebral Organoids, Hylomorphism, Large Language Models, Neurobiology, Reductionism, Soul, Synthetic Embryos, Vitalism

Feb 17, 2025 • 43 min

Professor Christopher Baglow explores the compatibility of evolutionary science with Catholic faith, focusing on the role of chance and divine providence, and defending the unique creation of the human soul. This lecture was given on October 28th, 2024, at University of Texas at Austin. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Dr. Baglow is Professor of the Practice of Theology and the Director of the Science and Religion Initiative of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame. His work is the culmination of 19 years of faith and science scholarship and educational program creation, as well as a lengthy career in Catholic theological education spanning high-school, undergraduate, graduate and seminary teaching. For this work, he was co-recipient of an Expanded Reason Award in Teaching from the Universidad Francisco de Vitoria (Madrid) and the Vatican Joseph Ratzinger Foundation (Rome). Baglow is the author of Faith, Science and Reason: Theology on the Cutting Edge (2nd edition, Midwest Theological Forum, 2019) and Creation: A Catholic’s Guide to God and the Universe (Ave Maria Press, 2021). He serves as theological advisor to the Board of Directors of the Society of Catholic Scientists and as a contributor to the JTF-funded science and religion programming of the Word on Fire Institute. Most recently, he authored the transcripts for Wonder: The Harmony of Faith and Science , a Word on Fire film series directed by Manny Marquez and narrated by Jonathan Roumie. His work has appeared in That Man is You, Crux, Church Life Journal, Culture and Evangelization, and Joie de Vivre Quarterly Journal . Keywords: Chance, Darwinism, Divine Providence, Evolution, Faith and Science, Humani Generis, John Henry Newman, Pope Pius XII, Primary and Secondary Causality, Soul

Feb 14, 2025 • 40 min

Fr. Andrew Hofer connects the themes of Lent and love, explaining how God's sacrificial love, as revealed in Christ, calls us to a deeper, more authentic love that purifies our affections and strengthens us for sacrifice, particularly within the context of marriage. This lecture was given on February 13th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Originally from a farm in Kansas, Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., is a priest in the Dominican Province of St. Joseph who teaches on the pontifical faculty of the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC where he is editor-in-chief of The Thomist. He has authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh . He is editor or co-editor of several volumes, including The Oxford Handbook of Deification , The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons , Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers , Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christolog y, and Thomas Aquinas as Spiritual Teacher . Keywords: Ash Wednesday, Catherine of Siena, Friendship, Lent, Love, Marriage, Sacrament of Charity, Sacrifice, Saint Valentine's Day, Theology of the Body

Feb 12, 2025 • 40 min

Professor Joshua Hochschild connects Theology of the Body with Aristotelian philosophy, arguing that it supports the concept of marriage as a natural community amidst modern challenges from social contract theory and technology. This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he served as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. Keywords: Aristotle, Catholic Social Teaching, Humanae Vitae, John Paul II, Marriage, Natural Community, Social Contract Theory, Technology, Theology of the Body, Thomas Aquinas

Feb 11, 2025 • 38 min

Professor Jennifer Herdt examines the cognitive dimensions and ethical significance of anger, distinguishing human anger, linked to justice and reason, from animal anger, within an Aristotelian-Thomistic framework. This lecture was given on September 7th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Jennifer A. Herdt is Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics at Yale University’s Divinity School. She is the author, most recently, of  Assuming Responsibility: Ecstatic Eudaimonism and the Call to Live Well (link is external) . Her 2019 book,  Forming Humanity: Redeeming the German  Bildung  Tradition , was supported by a research fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. She is also the author of  Putting On Virtue: The Legacy of the Splendid Vices ,  and of  Religion and Faction in Hume’s Moral Philosophy (link is external) , and has published widely on virtue ethics, early modern and modern moral thought, and political theology. She serves on the editorial boards of the  Journal of Christian Ethics ,  Studies in Christian Ethics , and the  Journal of Religion , and served as the 2020 President of the Society of Christian Ethics. Her current research project on more-than-human creaturely agency flows from a $3.9M, 3-year collaborative  grant from the Templeton Foundation (link is external)  supporting projects in science-informed theological anthropology. From 2013-2021, she served as the academic dean of Yale Divinity School, and is now Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs.  Keywords: AI,   Anger,   Aristotelianism,   Ethics,   Justice,   Passions,   Peter Strawson,   Reactive Emotions,   Responsibility,   Thomistic Thought

Feb 10, 2025 • 58 min

Fr. Thomas Petri provides a historical overview of the evolving understanding of marriage as a path to holiness within the Catholic Church, set against the backdrop of societal changes, medical advancements, and challenges to traditional Christian views on procreation and contraception in the 20th century. This lecture was given on March 22nd, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Father Thomas Petri, O.P. is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, where he also serves as an assistant professor of moral theology and pastoral studies. Ordained a priest in 2009, he holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America. Keywords: Alice Von Hildebrand, Anglican Communion, Christian Marriage, Conjugal Act, Contraception, Dietrich Von Hildebrand, Humanae Vitae, St. John Paul the Second, Vatican II, Theology of the Body

Feb 7, 2025 • 45 min

Does the Big Bang prove God? In this lecture, Prof. William E. Carroll explores how cosmological arguments for and against a creator often get it wrong by confusing creation with a temporal beginning, a mistake that Thomas Aquinas can help us avoid. This lecture was given on October 14th, 2024, at Mount Saint Mary College. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Professor William E. Carroll has recently retired from research and teaching at the Aquinas Institute of Blackfriars in the University of Oxford.  For the past two years he has been a Visiting Professor at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (Wuhan, China), and at the Hongyi Honor College of Wuhan University. He is a European intellectual historian and historian of science whose research and teaching concern: 1) the reception of Aristotelian science in mediaeval Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, and the development of the doctrine of creation, and 2) the encounter between Galileo and the Inquisition.  He has also written extensively on the ways in which mediaeval discussions of the relationship among the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology can be useful in contemporary questions arising from developments in biology and cosmology. He is the author of four books: Aquinas on Creation; La Creación y las Ciencias Naturales: Actualidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino; Galileo: Science and Faith; and Creation and Science (with translations in Slovak, Spanish, and Chinese).  His published work has appeared in 12 languages. Over many years he has written more than 25 op-ed pieces for Public Discourse, the web site of the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton. Keywords: Beginning of the Universe, Big Bang Theory, Causation, Cosmology, Cosmological Apologetics, Creation, Quantum Mechanics, Stephen Hawking, Thomas Aquinas, William Lane Craig

Feb 6, 2025 • 47 min

What role do the sacraments play in human flourishing? Why do we need them? How can they change your life? Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Fr. Dominic Langevin, O.P. about the role of sacraments in human experience, how the sacraments can transform our lives, why we should have a deeper sacramental life, and more! You can watch this interview on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmzv3rBZ64k About the speaker: Fr. Dominic Langevin, O.P. is Dean and Assistant Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, where he teaches courses principally in sacramental theology and liturgiology. He is the secretary/treasurer of the Academy of Catholic Theology. He did his undergraduate degree at Yale University. He entered the Dominican Order in 1998 and was ordained a priest in 2005. He earned his doctorate from the University of Fribourg while working as the assistant to the chair of dogmatic theology for ecclesiology and the sacraments. He is the author of From Passion to Paschal Mystery and was editor of the journal The Thomist from 2018 to 2021. Keywords: Body Positivity, Dei Veritate , Grace, Incarnation, Liturgical Life, Sacramental Theology, Sacraments, St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica

Feb 5, 2025 • 51 min

Fr. Stephen Brock explains Aquinas's Fifth Way, focusing on the governance of things and how natural bodies without cognition display goal-oriented activity, ultimately placing the Fifth Way into dialogue with Darwinism. This lecture was given on September 5th, 2024, at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Stephen L. Brock is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei (ordained 1992). He is Ordinary Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where he began teaching in 1990. Since 2008 he has been an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Since 2017 he has been a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Chicago. He is the author of Action & Conduct: Thomas Aquinas and the Theory of Action (T&T Clark, 1998); The Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Sketch (Wipf & Stock, 2015); The Light that Binds: a Study in Thomas Aquinas's Metaphysics of Natural Law (Wipf & Stock, 2020); and numerous articles on various aspects of Aquinas’s thought. Keywords: Aquinas' Fifth Way, Darwinism, Divine Governance, Natural Bodies, Natural Inclinations, Purposeful Activity, Regularity in Nature, St. Thomas Aquinas, Teleology

Feb 4, 2025 • 1h

Professor John O'Callaghan argues that atheism is not inherently irrational, exploring its varied historical meanings and proposing that, while not necessarily true, it can be a rational pursuit driven by a desire for truth. This lecture was given on November 21st, 2024, at Michigan State University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Prof. John O'Callaghan is the Director Emeritus of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Notre Dame as well as a permanent member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010. He served as the past President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. His areas of scholarly interest include medieval philosophy, the philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and Thomistic metaphysics and ethics. Keywords: Atheism, Benedict XVI, Descartes, Faith, Irrationality, Nietzsche, Rationalism, Truth