The Thomistic Institute

This lecture was given to the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of California, Santa Barbara on February 24, 2021.For more information on upcoming events, visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.About the speaker:Carol Zaleski is the Professor of World Religions at Smith College in Northampton Massachusetts, where she has been teaching philosophy of religion, world religions, religion and literature, and Catholic thought since 1989. She is the author of Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of NearDeath Experience in Medieval and Modern Times (Oxford University Press) and The Life of the World to Come: NearDeath Experience and Christian Hope (Oxford University Press); and she is coauthor with Philip Zaleski of Prayer: A History (Houghton Mifflin), The Book of Heaven (Oxford University Press), and The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

Held each summer, The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship Program supports rising scholars seeking to better understand the Catholic intellectual tradition. Sponsored by the Thomistic Institute and the Institute for Human Ecology, Civitas Dei Fellows spend a week together in Washington DC, examining the search for happiness as a fundamental end of the person and the polis.The week-long seminar introduced students to foundational themes in philosophy, political theory, and theology, dealing with law, personhood, political life, and the search for happiness. The focus was on an introduction to foundations of political and moral theory of Augustine, Aquinas, and modern constitutional jurisprudence. Speakers included Dr. Adrian Vermeule (Harvard Law School), Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies) and Dr. Chad C. Pecknold (Catholic University of America)For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/events

This talk was delivered at Stanford University on April 17, 2019. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1Speaker bio:Edward Feser is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California. He has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an M.A. in religion from the Claremont Graduate School, and a B.A. in philosophy and religious studies from the California State University at Fullerton.

This lecture was given at the University of Utah on 14 November 2019.Catherine Ruth Pakaluk (PhD, 2010) is an Assistant Professor of Social Research and Economic Thought at the Tim and Steph Busch School of Business at The Catholic University of America. Formerly, she was Assistant Professor and Chair of the Economics Department at Ave Maria University. Her primary areas of research include economics of education and religion, family studies and demography, Catholic social thought, and political economy. Dr. Pakaluk is the 2015 recipient of the Acton Institute’s Novak Award, a prize given for “significant contributions to the study of the relationship between religion and economic liberty.”Pakaluk did her doctoral work at Harvard University under Caroline Hoxby, David Cutler, and 2016 Nobel-laureate Oliver Hart. She has co-authored widely cited articles in social science and epidemiological journals, including Demography, Economic Inquiry, and the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.Beyond her formal training in economics, Dr. Pakaluk studied Catholic social thought under the mentorship of F. Russell Hittinger, and various aspects of Thomistic thought with Steven A. Long. She is a widely-admired writer and sought-after speaker on matters of culture, gender, social science, the vocation of women, and the work of Edith Stein. She lives in Maryland with her husband Michael Pakaluk and their eight children.For more information on this and other events go to thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

This lecture was given to the Dominican House of Studies on February 26, 2021 as part of the second installment of the annual Thomistic Circles series: What is the Common Good? For more information on upcoming events, visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.About the speaker:A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After several years of pastoral work in New York City, Fr. Guilbeau began doctoral studies in moral theology at the University of Fribourg, where he completed a dissertation on St. Thomas Aquinas’s doctrine of the common good. In addition to his teaching, Fr. Guilbeau serves as senior editor of Aleteia.org (English edition). He is also the current prior of the Dominican House of Studies.

On July 10th- 14th the Thomistic Institute held our first annual "Student Leadership Conference" at the Dominican House of Studieson the theme "Faith, Reason, & the Mind’s Ascent to God"Aquinas offers a robust account of faith and reason, and the way that human beings can come to real knowledge of the divine. Understanding these truths is central not only to the Catholic faith, but to all knowledge of reality because God is the transcendent cause of all being, the source of intelligibility, and truth itself.PRESENTERS INCLUDED:Fr. Dominic Legge, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute)Prof. Ed Feser (Pasadena City College)Fr. James Brent, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception)and a keynote address by R.R. Reno (First Things)For more info about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/events

This lecture was given by Prof. Peter Kreeft (Boston College) at Rutgers University on 8 October 2019.Dr. Peter Kreeft is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and teaches philosophy courses at King’s College. Kreeft is a popular writer of Christian philosophy, theology and apologetics and the author of dozens of books, two of which include The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind the Lord of the Rings and Symbol or Substance: A Dialogue on the Eucharist with C. S. Lewis, Billy Graham and J. R. R. Tolkien.For more information on this and other events go to https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

On July 10th- 14th the Thomistic Institute held our first annual "Student Leadership Conference" at the Dominican House of Studieson the theme "Faith, Reason, & the Mind’s Ascent to God"Aquinas offers a robust account of faith and reason, and the way that human beings can come to real knowledge of the divine. Understanding these truths is central not only to the Catholic faith, but to all knowledge of reality because God is the transcendent cause of all being, the source of intelligibility, and truth itself.PRESENTERS INCLUDED:Fr. Dominic Legge, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and the Thomistic Institute)Prof. Ed Feser (Pasadena City College)Fr. James Brent, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception)and a keynote address by R.R. Reno (First Things)For more info about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/events

This was the fifth lecture of our 2019 Summer Philosophy Workshop, "Aquinas on Human Action and Virtue." The annual four day conference was cosponsored by the Catholic and Dominican Institute and the Center for Ethics and Culture. The Conference ran from June 19th-23rd at Mount Saint Mary College, Newburgh, NY. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/eventsSpeakers included: Fr. James Brent (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception), Fr. Steve Brock (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross), Edward Feser (Pasadena City College), Candace Vogler (University of Chicago) and Fr. Michael Sherwin (University of Fribourg)

This lecture was given at Louisiana State University on 4 November 2019.Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. serves presently as the Assistant Director for Campus Outreach with the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He served previously as an associate pastor at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught as an adjunct professor at Bellarmine University. Born and raised near Philadelphia, PA, he attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, studying mathematics and humanities. Upon graduating, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2010. He was ordained a priest in 2016 and holds an STL from the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on this and other events go to thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

This lecture was given April 25th, 2019 at Tulane University. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.org/events.Speaker Bio: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. serves presently as the Assistant Director for Campus Outreach with the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He served previously as an associate pastor at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught as an adjunct professor at Bellarmine University. Born and raised near Philadelphia, PA, he attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, studying mathematics and humanities. Upon graduating, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2010. He was ordained a priest in 2016 and holds an STL from the Dominican House of Studies.

This talk was offered for the Aquinas Society of Cincinnati, hosted at St. Gertrude's Priory on March 26th, 2019. For more information about upcoming TI events, visit: www.thomisticinstitute.orgEvent Description: St. Augustine of Hippo has vastly influenced Catholic thinking, and is the most quoted theologian in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. He was a man always surrounded by friends, and came to have deep insight into friendship—especially with God. This talk will consider St. Augustine’s insights into the Lord’s initiative of friendship with us, and our response to enjoy the Lord.

This lecture was given at the University of Kansas on 30 September 2019. Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. serves presently as the Assistant Director for Campus Outreach with the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He served previously as an associate pastor at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught as an adjunct professor at Bellarmine University. Born and raised near Philadelphia, PA, he attended the Franciscan University of Steubenville, studying mathematics and humanities. Upon graduating, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2010. He was ordained a priest in 2016 and holds an STL from the Dominican House of Studies.For more information on this and other events go to thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

This lecture was given by Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. (of the Angelicum) at the University of Oxford on 7 November 2019.Fr. White is the Director of the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum. He did his doctoral studies at Oxford University, and has research interests in metaphysics, Christology, Trinitarian theology, and the theology of grace. His books include The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (2015) and The Light of Christ: An Introduction to Catholicism (2017). He is co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera and in 2011 was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. In 2019 Fr. White was named a McDonald Agape Foundation Distinguished Scholar.For more information on this and other events go to https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1

This retreat conference was given at the Fall 2019 Intellectual Retreat "Dante and Aquinas: The Theological Vision of the Divine Comedy" held at the Moody Center on 20-22 September 2019.Presenters at this retreat were Fr. Gregory Pine, OP (Thomistic Institute), Dr. Robert Royal (Faith and Reason Institute), and Fr. Albert Trudel, OP (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception).For more information on this and other events, go to https://thomisticinstitute.org/events-1