The Thomistic Institute

This lecture was given on November 5, 2021 at Auburn University. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel is a member of the St. Cecilia Congregation of Dominican Sisters of Nashville, Tennessee. She received her Doctorate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy. She has been active in her religious community's teaching apostolate for over fifteen years and has assisted with the theological formation of the newest members of her religious congregation. 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, Sister has served as editor-in-chief of her Congregation's book, Praying as a Family (also available in Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic versions). With EWTN, she directed a television series of the same title. She has also served as the creator and founding Director of the University of Dallas Studies in Catholic Faith & Culture Program.

Fr. Guilbeau's handout can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/3vw4dp4e This lecture was delivered on December 6, 2021 at St. Mary Mother of God Catholic Church for the DC Young Professionals Chapter of the Thomistic Institute. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P. entered the 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 in moral theology. His topic was Charles De Koninck’s doctrine of the common good. In addition to his teaching, Fr. Guilbeau is prior of the Dominican House of Studies.

This homily by Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. was given on Thursday, Jan. 27 in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for the Catholic University of America's annual University Mass in honor of the school's patron, St. Thomas Aquinas. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org About the speaker: Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and an Assistant Professor in systematic theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He 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. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001 and was ordained a priest in 2007. He practiced law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice before becoming a Dominican.

This lecture was given on November 2, 2021 at Yale University. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Farr Curlin is the Josiah C. Trent Professor of Medical Humanities and Co-Director of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative (TMC) at Duke University. Dr. Curlin’s ethics scholarship takes up moral questions that are raised by religion-associated differences in physicians’ practices. He is an active palliative medicine physician and holds appointments in both the School of Medicine and the Divinity School, where he is working with colleagues to develop a new interdisciplinary community of scholarship and training focused on the intersection of theology, medicine, and culture.

This lecture was given at University of Alabama, Birmingham on November 1, 2021. For more events and info visit thomisticinstitute.org/events-1. Marie George has been a member of the Philosophy Department since 1988. Professor George is an Aristotelian-Thomist whose interests lie primarily in the areas of philosophy of nature and philosophy of science. She has received several awards from the John Templeton foundation for her work in science and religion, and in 2007 she received a grant from the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences (CTNS) for an interdisciplinary project entitled: “The Evolution of Sympathy and Morality.” Professor George has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and two books: Christianity and Extraterrestrials? A Catholic Perspective (2005) and Stewardship of Creation (2009). She is currently working on Aquinas’s “Fifth Way,” and also on a variety of questions concerning living things (self-motion, consciousness, evolution, etc.). Professor George is a member of ten philosophical societies, including the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy, and more.

This lecture was given at University of California, Berkeley on November 16, 2021. For more events and info visit thomisticinstitute.org/events-1. Zena Hitz is a Tutor at St. John's College where she teaches across the liberal arts. She is interested in defending intellectual activity for its own sake, as against its use for economic or political goals. Her forthcoming book, Intellectual Life, is rooted in essays that have appeared in First Things, Modern Age, and The Washington Post. Her scholarly work has focused on the political thought of Plato and Aristotle, especially the question of how law cultivates or fails to cultivate human excellence. She received an MPhil in Classics from Cambridge and studied Social Thought and Philosophy at the University of Chicago before finishing her PhD in Philosophy at Princeton.

This lecture was given at West Virginia University on November 5, 2021. For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Joshua Hochschild is the Monsignor Robert R. Kline 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’s been elected to serve as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P. discusses the nature of evil, suffering, and God's omnipotence. Concepts from St. Thomas Aquinas are used to explain evil as a deficiency, the role of free will in moral evil, and the philosophical underpinnings of theodicy.

Prof. Carol Zaleski discusses how C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's experiences in World War I and II influenced their iconic works, delving into themes of war, hope, and the triumph of good over evil. She explores the concepts of friendship, goodness, and faith in a besieged world, drawing parallels to the Church's community and medieval views of the universe.

Prof. Andrew Abela discusses Distributism, advocating for widespread property ownership over redistribution. They explore the roots in 20th-century English Catholic authors, Pope Leo XIII's influence, Rerum Novarum's impact on faith and workers' rights, critiques of capitalism, and challenges in achieving distributism amidst obstacles like corporate welfare and usury.