The Thomistic Institute

Dec 15, 2023 • 38 min

Jane Sloan Peters is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, NY. Her dissertation explored Thomas Aquinas's reception of Greek patristic and Byzantine biblical interpretation for his four-volume commentary on the Gospels, the Catena Aurea. Jane has written for First Things, the University of Notre Dame's Church Life Journal, Plough Quarterly, and America Magazine. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons.

Dec 14, 2023 • 50 min

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Jane Sloan Peters about her latest Thomistic Institute lecture, "Beyond Words: What ChatGPT Can't Say." Beyond Words: What ChatGPT Can't Say w/ Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. & Prof. Jane Sloan Peters (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute About the speaker: Jane Sloan Peters is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the College of Mount Saint Vincent in Riverdale, NY. Her dissertation explored Thomas Aquinas's reception of Greek patristic and Byzantine biblical interpretation for his four-volume commentary on the Gospels, the Catena Aurea. She lives in Connecticut with her husband and two sons. This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63017 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Dec 13, 2023 • 37 min

This lecture was given on September 21st, 2023, at Saint Vincent College. 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. Prior to joining Franciscan, he did his undergraduate studies at Boston College, received a PhD in philosophy from Saint Louis University, completed a fellowship in clinical health care ethics at UCLA, and taught at the University of Scranton.

Dec 12, 2023 • 42 min

This lecture was given on October 23rd, 2023 at William and Mary. For more information on upcoming events, visit thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is associate 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 has 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). His research appears in such journals as Augustinianum, Journal of the History of Ideas, and Vigiliae Christianae. Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification and The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons. He is presently at work on a book titled Peace in the Life and Teaching of Augustine of Hippo.

Dec 11, 2023 • 1h 8m

This lecture was given on November 15th, 2023 at Saint Louis University. For more information on upcoming events, visit thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speaker: Daniel De Haan is a Research Fellow in Natural Theology at the Ian Ramsey Centre for Science and Religion and the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Oxford. Before coming to Oxford he was a postdoctoral fellow working on the neuroscience strand of the Templeton World Charity Foundation’s Theology, Philosophy of Religion, and the Sciences project at the University of Cambridge. He has a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of Leuven and University of St Thomas in Texas. His research focuses on philosophical anthropology and the sciences, natural theology, and the thought of Thomas Aquinas.

Dec 8, 2023 • 55 min

Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia. Sister received her PhD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, having written her dissertation on Aristotle’s account of the activity of contemplation. Sister is on faculty in CUA's School of Philosophy.

Dec 7, 2023 • 40 min

Candace Vogler is the David B. and Clara E. Stern Professor of Philosophy and Professor in the College at the University of Chicago, and Principal Investigator on "Virtue, Happiness, and the Meaning of Life," a project funded by the John Templeton Foundation. She has authored two books, John Stuart Mill's Deliberative Landscape: An Essay in Moral Psychology (Routledge, 2001) and Reasonably Vicious (Harvard University Press, 2002), and essays in ethics, social and political philosophy, philosophy and literature, cinema, psychoanalysis, gender studies, sexuality studies, and other areas. Her research interests are in practical philosophy (particularly the strand of work in moral philosophy indebted to Elizabeth Anscombe), practical reason, Kant's ethics, Marx, and neo-Aristotelian naturalism.

Dec 6, 2023 • 1h 5m

Dr. Paul LaPenna is a neurologist in Greenville, SC and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Carolinas Campus. Dr. LaPenna completed his neurology residency at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2018. As a neurohospitalist, Dr. LaPenna’s skill set is focused on treatment of neurological emergencies and performing and interpreting electrophysiological studies of the brain and peripheral nervous system. As an Associate Professor of Neurology, Dr. LaPenna has won numerous teaching awards, including Clinical Medicine Professor of the neuroscience curriculum in 2019, 2020, and 2021. For the 2020-2021 academic year, Dr. LaPenna was awarded the Preceptor of the Year. For his care towards patients, he was elected to the Arnold P. Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2016. Dr. LaPenna has an interest in the relationship between science and faith—in particular, the relationship between neuroscience and the soul, the overreaching claims of science, and the dignity of the human person, to name a few. Saint Thomas Aquinas has been a major influence in Dr. LaPenna’s intellectual and faith journey.

Dec 5, 2023 • 50 min

The Philosophical And Scientific Images Of Humanity I Professor James Madden by The Thomistic Institute

Dec 1, 2023 • 36 min

Matthew Dugandzic joined the theology faculty at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in 2019 after completing a Ph.D. in moral theology at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. His dissertation, "A Thomistic Account of the Habituation of the Passions," explored the ways in which people can develop virtuous affective inclinations. Dr. Dugandzic's scholarship focuses on medieval thought, especially Thomas Aquinas' anthropology, psychology, and ethics. His work on Christ's passions recently appeared in the European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas and his other writings on the passions and on bioethics have appeared in New Blackfriars and National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly. His current research focuses on the sources that Aquinas used in developing his understanding of virtue and on recovering ancient and medieval wisdom regarding economics in order to apply this wisdom to contemporary financial problems (like student loan debt). Dr. Dugandzic has taught courses in fundamental moral theology, bioethics, theological anthropology, and Catholic social teaching. In addition to his work in the academy, Dr. Dugandzic has also brought his theological expertise to the aid of the Church, having taught theology to RCIA groups, catechists, and candidates for the permanent diaconate. In addition to his doctorate, Dr. Dugandzic holds a BSc in biology from Concordia University in Montréal, Québec and an MA in religious studies from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, New York. He and his wife, Audra, live in Baltimore, MD. In his spare time, he likes to play hockey, which he enjoys almost as much as reading theology.

Dec 1, 2023 • 42 min

Professor W. Scott Cleveland is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Studies at the University of Mary (Bismarck, ND). His research interests are in ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion. He is especially interested in the study of the virtues and emotions, the relation between the two, and the role of each in the moral and intellectual life. His work has appeared in journals such as American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Res Philosophica, Religious Studies, Oxford Bibliographies Online, and the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. He co-edited with Adam Pelser Faith and Virtue Formation: Christian Philosophy in Aid of Becoming Good with Oxford University Press.

Nov 30, 2023 • 39 min

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Fr. Uwe Michael Lang about his latest Thomistic Institute lecture, "Veneration of the Eucharist." Veneration of the Eucharist w/ Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. & Fr. Uwe Michael Lang (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/ About the speaker: Fr. Uwe Michael Lang, a native of Nuremberg, Germany, is a priest of the Oratory of St Philip Neri in London. He holds a doctorate in theology from the University of Oxford, and teaches Church History at Mater Ecclesiae College, St Mary’s University, Twickenham, and Allen Hall Seminary, London. He is an associate staff member at the Maryvale Institute, Birmingham, and on the Visiting Faculty of the Liturgical Institute in Mundelein, IL. He is a Corresponding Member of the Neuer Schülerkreis Joseph Ratzinger / Papst Benedikt XVI, a Member of the Council of the Henry Bradshaw Society, a Board Member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy, and the Editor of Antiphon: A Journal for Liturgical Renewal.

Nov 29, 2023 • 55 min

Erik Dempsey is the Assistant Director of the University of Texas at Austin's Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He is interested in understanding human virtue and the proper place of politics in a flourishing human life. He specializes in the ethical and political teaching of the Bible and Aristotle; theoretical foundations of modern politics; and the question of relativism.

Nov 24, 2023 • 1h

This lecture was given on April 15, 2023, at the West Coast Intellectual Retreat on Divinization. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Dr. Daria Spezzano (Providence College) is Associate Professor of Theology at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master’s in Liturgical Studies from the Liturgical Institute. Her book, The Glory of God's Grace: Deification according to St. Thomas Aquinas, was published by Sapientia Press in 2015. She has published 10 scholarly articles in Nova et Vetera, Cistercian Studies and the Journal of Moral Theology, and chapters in several edited volumes, including Aquinas on Initiation and Mystagogy (Peeters, 2019), Reading Job with St. Thomas Aquinas (CUA Press, 2020), Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian (Emmaus Academic, 2021), and Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology (Sapientia Press, 2021). Among other projects, she is currently coediting a volume, Christ, the Wisdom of God in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Nov 23, 2023 • 1h 3m

This lecture was given on April 15th, 2023 at the West Coast Intellectual Retreat on Divinization. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

Nov 22, 2023 • 1h

This lecture was given on April 15th, 2023, at the West Coast Intellectual Retreat on Divinization. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: r. Andrew Hofer, O.P., grew up as the youngest of ten children on a farm in Kansas, and studied history, philosophy, and classics at Benedictine College. He then went to St Andrews, Scotland for a Master of Letters in medieval history. He entered the Order of Preachers as a son of the Province of St. Joseph, and was ordained a priest in 2002. After finishing his S.T.L. and serving as an associate pastor for a brief time, he was sent to Kenya as a missionary for two years. He taught at the Tangaza College of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa and other institutions in Nairobi. He returned to the U.S. and completed the Ph.D. in theology at the University of Notre Dame, with the primary area of history of Christianity (specializing in patristic theology with additional studies in medieval theology) and the secondary area of systematic theology. His research appears in such journals as Vigiliae Christianae, Augustinianum, International Journal of Systematic Theology, New Blackfriars, Nova et Vetera, Pro Ecclesia, The Thomist, Communio, and Angelicum and in books published by Catholic University America Press and Ignatius Press. He is the author of Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford Early Christian Studies), Oxford University Press, 2013, and the editor of Divinization: Becoming Icons of Christ through the Liturgy, Hillenbrand Books, 2015.

Nov 21, 2023 • 1h 10m

This lecture was given on April 14, 2023, at St. Albert's Priory in Oakland California. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Dr. Daria Spezzano (Providence College) is Associate Professor of Theology at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. She holds a Ph.D. in Theology from the University of Notre Dame, and a Master’s in Liturgical Studies from the Liturgical Institute. Her book, The Glory of God's Grace: Deification according to St. Thomas Aquinas, was published by Sapientia Press in 2015. She has published 10 scholarly articles in Nova et Vetera, Cistercian Studies and the Journal of Moral Theology, and chapters in several edited volumes, including Aquinas on Initiation and Mystagogy (Peeters, 2019), Reading Job with St. Thomas Aquinas (CUA Press, 2020), Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian (Emmaus Academic, 2021), and Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology (Sapientia Press, 2021). Among other projects, she is currently coediting a volume, Christ, the Wisdom of God in the Thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Nov 20, 2023 • 48 min

This lecture was given on September 7, 2023, at Texas A&M For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Angela Knobel is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dallas. She received her doctorate in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2004. From 2004 to 2020, she taught philosophy at her alma mater, the Catholic University of America. Her work focuses primarily on Aquinas’ theory of infused virtue, virtue ethics and applied ethics. Her book Aquinas and the Infused Moral Virtues was published by the University of Notre Dame Press in 2021.

Nov 18, 2023 • 45 min

Patrick Callahan is director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as Assistant Professor of English & Humanities at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. While his doctoral work focused on ancient Greek commentaries to the lyric poet Pindar, his recent work focuses on early Jesuit Latin texts.

Nov 17, 2023 • 1h 3m

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.