The Thomistic Institute

This talk was given on February 23, 2023 at the University of South Carolina. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: 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. Dr. LaPenna was previously a collegiate runner and now enjoys running recreationally, hiking, and spending time outdoors. Most of all, he loves his wife Nicole and their two daughters, Catherine and Susanna.

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Paige Hochschild. Why the Roman Catholic Church? w/ Prof. Paige Hochschild and Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/why-the-roman-catholic-church-prof-paige-hochschild For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary's University (MD), specializing in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and the early Church. She also teaches philosophy courses at the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's. She has written a book on the place of memory in Augustine's theological anthropology, and publishes on the Church, education, tradition, 20th c. theological debates within the Church (Scripture, history; marriage).

This talk was given on February 16th, 2023 at the University of Texas at Austin. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. 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 a 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 of 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.

This talk was given on February 21st, 2023 at Hillsdale College. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: John A. Cuddeback, PhD, is professor of Philosophy at Christendom College, where he has taught for twenty-five years. He lectures widely on topics including virtue, fatherhood, friendship, and household, and his professional writings appear in various academic journals and books. His book True Friendship is being republished by Ignatius Press. His blogging at BaconFromAcorns and LifeCraft is renowned for applying an ancient wisdom to life today.

This talk was given on February 18th, 2023 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. James Brent, O.P. holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Saint Louis University. While there, he specialized in the rationality of faith. He currently teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

This talk was given on Feburary 18th 2023, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the author: Dr. Sarah Byers is a professor of philosophy at Boston College. Aside from specializing in Augustine, she has also published on Rene Descartes. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.

This talk was given on February 17th, 2023 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Prof. Jorge Secada is a professor of philosophy from the University of Virginia. He is originally from Peru and received his Ph.D. from the University of York in the United Kingdom. He specializes in late medieval and Renaissance philosophy, as well as early modern philosophy with a special interest in the work of Descartes. He is the author of Cartesian Metaphysics: The Scholastic Origins of Modern Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

This talk was given on October 5th, 2022 at Dartmouth College. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., completed his Bachelor’s Degree (B.S.E.) in Bioengineering, summa cum laude, at the University of Pennsylvania, and then earned his Ph.D. in Biology from M.I.T. in the laboratory of Professor Leonard Guarente, where he was a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). He was ordained a priest in the Order of Preachers in May of 2004. He completed his Pontifical License in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) in Moral Theology, summa cum laude, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, in 2005, and a Pontifical Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.), magna cum laude, at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, in 2015. Fr. Austriaco currently serves as Professor of Biological Sciences & Professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines. Before this position, he was Professor of Biology and of Theology at Providence College in Providence, Rhode Island. His NIH-funded laboratory at Providence College is investigating the genetics of programmed cell death using the yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Candida albicans, as model organisms. Papers describing his research have been published in PLoS ONE, FEMS Yeast Research, Microbial Cell, Cell, the Journal of Cell Biology, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, among others. In philosophy and theology, his essays have been published in the National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Theological Studies, Nova et Vetera, The Thomist, Science and Theology, and the Linacre Quarterly. His first book, Biomedicine and Beatitude: An Introduction to Catholic Bioethics, was published by the Catholic University of America Press in 2011. It was recognized as a 2012 Choice outstanding academic title by the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Dr. Edward Feser. St. Thomas's Five Ways: How to Prove God Exists w/ Dr. Edward Feser and Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/demonstrating-the-existence-of-god-prof-ed-feser For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Edward Feser is 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 talk was given on Feburary 7th, 2023 at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Robert C. (“Rob”) Koons is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has taught for 33 years. M. A. Oxford, Ph.D. UCLA. He is the author or co-author of four books, including: Realism Regained (Oxford University Press, 2000), and The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics, with Timothy H. Pickavance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). He is the co-editor (with George Bealer) of The Waning of Materialism (Oxford University Press, 2010), and co-editor (with Nicholas Teh and William Simpson) of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2018). He has been working recently on an Aristotelian interpretation of quantum theory, on defending and articulating Thomism in contemporary terms, and on arguments for classical theism.