

The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone.
The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and much more.
Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.
The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and much more.
Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Feb 7, 2023 • 1h 11min
Passionate Intellects: Aquinas, Dante, and the Love of Wisdom | Prof. George Corbett
This lecture was given on November 11, 2022, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Prof. George Corbett (University of St. Andrews) is Professor of Theology, and Director of Research at the School of Divinity. He has two principal areas of research and teaching: Theology and the Arts (with a focus on the theologian-poet Dante Alighieri) and Historical and Systematic Theology (with a focus on Aquinas’s theology and its influence, and on Catholic theology).

Feb 7, 2023 • 1h 10min
The Spiritual Geography of the Afterlife: Aquinas and Dante | Fr. Albert Trudel, O.P.
This lecture was given on November 11, 2022, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., as part of the intellectual retreat entitled, "Aquinas and Dante."
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Fr. Albert Trudel, O.P., specializes in the intersection between theology and literature in the Middle Ages, and has lately commented on Dante's Purgatorio and the Middle English Pearl for various Thomistic Institute projects. He completed his Master's degree in English Literature at the University of Toronto, his doctoral work in English Literature at the University of Oxford, and he received a postdoctoral License in Mediaeval Studies at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto. He is an Assistant Professor of Latin and Pastoral Studies at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He is also the Rome Director for the Thomistic Institute's semester abroad program.

Feb 3, 2023 • 1h 23min
Does Tradition Live? Do Doctrines 'Develop'? | Prof. Lewis Ayres
This lecture was given on November 17, 2022, at Trinity College Dublin.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He specializes in the study of early Christian theology, especially the history of Trinitarian theology and early Christian exegesis. He is also deeply interested in the relationship between the shape of early Christian modes of discourse and reflection and the manner in which renewals of Catholic theology during the last hundred years have attempted to engage forms of modern historical consciousness and sought to negotiate the shape of appropriate scriptural interpretation in modernity, even as they remain faithful to the practices of classical Catholic discourse and contemplation.
His publications include Augustine and the Trinity (2010) and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Trinitarian Theology (2004). He is co-editor of the Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature (2004) and of the Oxford Handbook of Catholic Theology (forthcoming). Professor Ayres has co-edited the Blackwell Challenges in Contemporary Theology series (since 1997), the Ashgate Studies in Philosophy and Theology in Late Antiquity series (since 2007), and has just co-founded with Fortress Press the Renewal: Conversations in Catholic Theology series. He serves on the editorial boards of Modern Theology, the Journal of Early Christian Studies, and Augustinian Studies. He has also served on the board of the North American Patristics Society.

Feb 2, 2023 • 1h 5min
Does Neuroscience Disprove Free Will? | Prof. James Madden
This lecture was given on November 10th, 2022, at the University of Rochester.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Prof. James Madden is Professor of Philosophy at Benedictine College. He lives in Atchison, Kansas with his wife (Jennifer) and their six children; William, Martha, J. Patrick, Brendan, Jack, and Cormac. He is originally from Wisconsin, where he received a B.A. from St. Norbert College, and did his graduate work at Kent State (MA, 1998) and Purdue (Ph.D., 2002). He was awarded the Benedictine College Distinguished Educator of the Year Award in 2006. In addition to usual general education courses in philosophy (Logic, Principles of Nature, Ethics, and Philosophical Psychology), Dr. Madden typically teaches courses in modern philosophy, metaphysics, and philosophy of religion.

Feb 1, 2023 • 1h 10min
Suffering and the Narrative of Redemption | Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P.
This lecture was given on November 9, 2022, at Hillsdale College.
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 and currently serves as Associate Professor of Theology at Aquinas College in Nashville, TN. 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.

Jan 31, 2023 • 1h 10min
It's My Right: What Are Natural Rights and What Rights Do We Have? | Prof. Joseph Trabbic
This lecture was given on November 9, 2022, at Regent University.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Dr. Trabbic is associate professor of philosophy at Ave Maria University, where he has taught since 2006. He earned his PhD in philosophy from Fordham University in 2008. His areas of interest include Aquinas, continental philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and political philosophy. He has published his work in various academic journals, including Religious Studies, The Heythrop Journal, and New Blackfriars.

Jan 30, 2023 • 54min
Love in Person—in the Trinity and in Our Souls | Fr. John Baptist Ku, O.P.
Fr. Ku's handout can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2p88mf28
This lecture was given on November 9, 2022, at Trinity University.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Fr. John Baptist Ku, O.P., was born in Manhattan (1965) and grew up in Fairfax, Virginia. After graduating from the University of Virginia, he worked at AT&T for five years before entering the Dominican Order in 1992. After serving for three years in St. Pius Parish in Providence, R.I., he completed his doctoral studies at the University of Fribourg in 2009. He now teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C., where he has also served as book review editor of The Thomist (the faculty’s journal), chaplain to commuter students, and chaplain to the Immaculate Conception Chapter of Third Order Dominicans, and assistant student master. He served as student master and subprior at St. Dominic Priory from 2015-2018, and is currently the subprior.

Jan 27, 2023 • 1h 8min
Made for Another: John Paul II's Theology of the Body and Thomas Aquinas | Fr. Thomas Petri, O.P.
This lecture was given on December 5, 2022, at St. Charles Catholic Church in Arlington, Virginia.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
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.

Jan 26, 2023 • 42min
Is It Possible to Have Productive Conversations About Abortion? w/ Prof. Angela Knobel
Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Dr. Angela Knobel about her latest Thomistic Institute, "The Philosophy of the Abortion Debate."
The Philosophy of the Abortion Debate w/ Dr. Angela Knobel and Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations)
You can listen to the original lecture here:
https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/the-philosophy-of-the-abortion-debate-prof-angela-knobel
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 is forthcoming from the University of Notre Dame Press.

Jan 25, 2023 • 42min
May Life-Sustaining Treatment Be Withheld or Withdrawn? | Prof. Gina Noia
This lecture was given on December 2, 2022, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Gina Maria Noia is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Resident Bioethicist at Belmont Abbey College. She received her Ph.D. in Theology and Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University. She has served as a clinical ethicist for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL and St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis, MO, and she is published in Christian Bioethics and the Journal of Moral Theology. She and her husband, Justin, love spending time with their vivacious one-year-old boy.