

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

Aug 31, 2022 • 39min
Politics and the Problem of Moral Relativism | Prof. Francis Beckwith
Prof. Beckwith's slides can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2p982fwr
This lecture was given on April 22, 2022 at Ashland University.
For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Francis J. Beckwith is Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies at Baylor University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy. Among his over one dozen books are Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Politics For Christians: Statecraft As Soulcraft (IVP, 2010), and Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (Cambridge University Press, 2015), winner of the American Academy of Religion's prestigious 2016 Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Constructive-Reflective Studies. He is a graduate of the Washington University School of Law, St. Louis (MJS) as well as Fordham University (PhD, MA, philosophy).

Aug 30, 2022 • 1h 23min
Resurrection in Context: The Strangeness of Early Christian Claims | Prof. Matthew Thomas
This lecture was given on April 8, 2022 at the University of California, Berkeley.
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Matthew J. Thomas is Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, CA, and an Instructor in Theology at Regent College, Vancouver. He holds a D.Phil in New Testament and Patristics from the University of Oxford, and is the author of Paul's 'Works of the Law' in the Perspective of Second-Century Reception (Mohr Siebeck, 2018; IVP, 2020), which received the Jesus Creed "Book of the Year" award for 2018. Matthew and his wife Leeanne live in the Bay Area with their children Camille, Raphael, Michael and Agnes, who are also aspiring theologians.

Aug 29, 2022 • 50min
Christiana Tempora | Prof. Thomas Clemmons
This lecture was given on June 16, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons’s teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

Aug 26, 2022 • 1h 1min
A Neighborly Civic Holiness | Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P.
Fr. Thompson's slides can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/8smyu7xm
This lecture was given on June 16, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P. is a Catholic priest of the Order of Preachers and currently serves as Praeses (Director) of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto in Canada
and Professor of History at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkleley, CA. He holds a Ph.D in medieval history from the University of California. Until 2009, he was Professor of Religious Studies and History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. His books and publications focus on medieval Italy and medieval religious history.

Aug 25, 2022 • 48min
Off-Campus Conversations, Ep. 003: Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P. - Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer?
Why does God allow us to suffer? How can we address the problem of pain? Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P. about her latest Thomistic Institute lecture, "Suffering and the Narrative of Redemption: Why God Allows Us to Suffer."
Why Does God Allow Us to Suffer? w/ Fr. Gregory Pine and Sr. Jane Dominic (Off-Campus Conversations)
You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/suffering-and-the-narrative-of-redemption-sr-jane-dominic-laurel-op-1
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.

Aug 23, 2022 • 52min
Augustine's Christology | Prof. Thomas Clemmons
This lecture was given on June 15, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons’s teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.

Aug 23, 2022 • 1h 14min
Weaponizing Saints & Miracles: The Church as Stairway to Heaven | Prof. Carlos Eire
This lecture was given on June 15, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
The slides for this lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/b7ubtddp
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Carlos Eire, who received his PhD from Yale in 1979, specializes in the social, intellectual, religious, and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Europe, with a focus on both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations; the history of popular piety; and the history of the supernatural, and the history of death. Before joining the Yale faculty in 1996, he taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota and the University of Virginia, and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for two years. He is the author of War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship From Erasmus to Calvin (1986); From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth Century Spain (1995); A Very Brief History of Eternity (2010); Reformations: The Early Modern World (2016); and The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography (2019). And he is co-author of Jews, Christians, Muslims: An Introduction to Monotheistic Religions (1997). He has also ventured into the twentieth century and the Cuban Revolution in the memoir Waiting for Snow in Havana (2003), which won the National Book Award in Nonfiction in the United States and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. His second memoir, Learning to Die in Miami (2010), explores the exile experience. A past president of the Society for Reformation Research, he is currently researching attitudes toward miracles in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His recent book Reformations won the R.R.Hawkins Prize for Best Book of the Year from the American Publishers Association, as well as the award for Best Book in the Humanities. It was also awarded the Jaroslav Pelikan Prize by Yale University Press. All of his books are banned in Cuba, where he has been proclaimed an enemy of the state – a distinction he regards as the highest of all honors.

Aug 22, 2022 • 59min
Making Citizens & Christians At Easter | Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P.
This lecture was given on June 15, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
The slides for this lecture are available here: https://tinyurl.com/y4jwy2c9
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Fr. Augustine Thompson, O.P. is a Catholic priest of the Order of Preachers and currently serves as Praeses (Director) of the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies at the University of Toronto in Canada
and Professor of History at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkleley, CA. He holds a Ph.D in medieval history from the University of California. Until 2009, he was Professor of Religious Studies and History at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA. His books and publications focus on medieval Italy and medieval religious history.

Aug 19, 2022 • 1h 11min
Returning to Constantine: Protestant Theocracies | Prof. Carlos Eire
This lecture was given on June 14, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
The slides for this lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/mpfttpnh
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Carlos Eire, who received his PhD from Yale in 1979, specializes in the social, intellectual, religious, and cultural history of late medieval and early modern Europe, with a focus on both the Protestant and Catholic Reformations; the history of popular piety; and the history of the supernatural, and the history of death. Before joining the Yale faculty in 1996, he taught at St. John’s University in Minnesota and the University of Virginia, and was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton for two years. He is the author of War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship From Erasmus to Calvin (1986); From Madrid to Purgatory: The Art and Craft of Dying in Sixteenth Century Spain (1995); A Very Brief History of Eternity (2010); Reformations: The Early Modern World (2016); and The Life of Saint Teresa of Avila: A Biography (2019). And he is co-author of Jews, Christians, Muslims: An Introduction to Monotheistic Religions (1997). He has also ventured into the twentieth century and the Cuban Revolution in the memoir Waiting for Snow in Havana (2003), which won the National Book Award in Nonfiction in the United States and has been translated into more than a dozen languages. His second memoir, Learning to Die in Miami (2010), explores the exile experience. A past president of the Society for Reformation Research, he is currently researching attitudes toward miracles in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. His recent book Reformations won the R.R.Hawkins Prize for Best Book of the Year from the American Publishers Association, as well as the award for Best Book in the Humanities. It was also awarded the Jaroslav Pelikan Prize by Yale University Press. All of his books are banned in Cuba, where he has been proclaimed an enemy of the state – a distinction he regards as the highest of all honors.

Aug 18, 2022 • 55min
The Christianizing Empire | Prof. Thomas Clemmons
This lecture was given on June 14, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. as part of The Civitas Dei Summer Fellowship: "The City of God in Modernity: Culture and Ecclesiology."
For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org.
About the speaker:
Thomas Clemmons, a native of South Florida, is assistant professor of theology in Church History at the Catholic University of America. Dr. Clemmons joined the STRS faculty in 2016 after completing his Ph.D. in the History of Christianity from Notre Dame, where he focused on Latin Patristics, early medieval theology, and Augustine. He also holds an M.A. in Early Christianity from Notre Dame and an M.T.S. from Vanderbilt. Dr. Clemmons’s teaching and research interest focus on Latin Patristics, Augustine, particularly his thought through the Confessions and his anti-Manichaean works, Late Antiquity, especially in North Africa, and the medieval reception of Augustine.