The Thomistic Institute

Latest Episodes:

Divine Simplicity and the Complexity of Creation | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. Sep 25, 2022

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This lecture was given on July 17, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. for the Fourth Annual Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science Symposium: Complexity, Simplicity and Emergence. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Thomas Joseph White completed his bachelor’s in religious studies from Brown University (1993) and his Master’s (1995) and Doctorate (2002) in Theology at Oxford University. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2003. He completed his licentiate in Sacred Theology (2007) at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. He professed final vows in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2008. His research and teaching concentrate on Thomistic metaphysics, Christology and Roman Catholic-Reformed ecumenical dialogue. He was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas in 2011. White taught at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C from 2008-2018, and was the founder and Director of the Washington DC Thomistic Institute from 2009 until his departure for Rome in 2018. In 2015 White became co-editor of Nova et Vetera Journal, an American Catholic Theological journal. In 2018 he was assigned to teach at the Angelicum and function as the Director of the Angelicum Thomistic Institute. In June 2021, he was appointed rector of the Angelicum in Rome, and in June 2022 White was appointed president of the Academy of Catholic Theology, one of the principal societies of academic Catholic theology in the United States.

The Trinity at Christ's Baptism and the Institution of the First Sacrament | Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. Sep 23, 2022

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This lecture was given on September 20, 2022 at the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Angelicum. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: www.thomisticinstitute.org The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Angelicum Thomistic Institute present the XI International Thomistic Congress. The general scientific objective of the XI International Thomistic Congress is to consider new perspectives in the study of Saint Thomas (interests, methods and results) in order to highlight the resources of the Thomistic tradition in contemporary theological and philosophical debates. The Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas and the Angelicum Thomistic Institute invite you to the XI International Thomistic Congress. It will be held at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. A unique opportunity to share work, research and friendships with the best international specialists in the thought of Saint Thomas Aquinas. The Congress is under the Honorary Presidency of His Eminence Rev. Luis Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The languages of the Congress are Italian, French, Spanish and English. Simultaneous translations will be provided for the plenary sessions for the in-person audience. The plenary sessions will also be live-streamed, but only in their original language. About the speaker: Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P., is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and Assistant Professor in Dogmatic 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 in Switzerland. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001, after having practiced constitutional law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at The Catholic University of America Law School and at Providence College. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2016).

Off-Campus Conversations, Ep. 005: Prof. Nina Heereman on the Book of Revelation Sep 22, 2022

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How can we read and interpret the Book of Revelation? Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with scripture scholar Prof. Nina Heereman about her latest Thomistic Institute lecture, "Finding Consolation in the Book of Revelation." Finding Consolation in the Book of Revelation w/ Fr. Gregory Pine and Prof. Nina Heereman (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/finding-consolation-in-the-book-of-revelation-prof-nina-heereman For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org About the Speaker: Dr. Heereman was born and raised in a devout Catholic family in Germany. Originally trained as a lawyer, Dr. Heereman experienced a deep conversion experience at the 1997 World Youth Day. This conversion led her to discern a vocation as a lay woman “celibate for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” and also led her to theological studies so as to “consecrate [her] life to the study and teaching of the Word of God”. She received an STB from the Pontifical Gregorian University, an SSL from the Pontifical Biblical Institute, and the very rare SSD from the École biblique et archéologique française de Jérusalem and the Université de Fribourg. Her doctoral thesis “Behold King Solomon on the Day of His Wedding”: A Symbolic-Diachronic Reading of Song 3:6-11 and 4:12-5:1 has been heralded by scholars as a profound contribution to scholarship on the Song of Songs. Dr. Heereman is presently an Assistant Professor of Sacred Scripture at St. Patrick’s Seminary and University in Menlo Park, CA.

Nominalism and Modernist Literature | Prof. Erik Tonning Sep 21, 2022

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This lecture was given on June 6, 2022 at Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website: www.thomisticinstitute.org About the speaker: Erik Tonning is Professor of British Literature and Culture in the University of Bergen (from 2015). In 2011-2014 he was Research Director of the ‘Modernism and Christianity’ project funded by the Bergen Research Foundation/Trond Mohn Foundation. He completed an undergraduate degree at Bergen (1999) and an MA at Oslo (2001), before going on to the University of Oxford for his DPhil (2006). He has held a Norwegian Research Council postdoctoral grant (2006-2009) for a project on ‘Samuel Beckett and Christianity’, and has also been affiliated with the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College (2005-2010). In 2010, he held a Tutorial Fellowship at Regent’s Park College, Oxford. He has published two monographs, Samuel Beckett’s Abstract Drama: Works for Stage and Screen 1962-1985 (2007), and Modernism and Christianity (2014). He has also published severl co-edited volumes including Samuel Beckett: Debts and Legacies (Samuel Beckett Today/Aujourd’hui 22, 2010), Broadcasting in the Modernist Era (2014) and Modernism, Christianity and Apocalypse (2015). He is Series Editor (with Prof. Matthew Feldman) of the two book series Historicizing Modernism and Modernist Archives from Bloomsbury Academic.

Simplicity, Complexity, and the Emerging Cell | Prof. Mark Van Berkum Sep 19, 2022

Show notes

This lecture was given on July 16, 2022 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. for the Fourth Annual Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science Symposium: Complexity, Simplicity and Emergence. Slides for this lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/2p97hkek For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Mark Van Berkum is a professor of biological sciences at Wayne State University, and focuses on developmental neurobiology. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and received his Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine.

Conference: 'Complexity, Simplicity & Emergence in Biochemistry,' Prof. Jessica Brown Sep 18, 2022

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One of the hallmarks of modern science is the ability to explain the workings of nature by detailed study of its pieces and parts. Organisms are understood as combinations of organ systems, which are made up of tissues, which are made up of cells, which are made of up complex chemicals, then atoms, and more fundamental particles. As successful as this methodological reductionism has been, it is still an open question how complete it can be. Can everything about complex biological systems be reduced to chemistry, and every detail of chemistry explained from fundamental physics? Do the organization and complexity of higher-level systems require additional tools to complete our understanding of the natural world? Do the answers to these scientific questions work for or against an Aristotelian and Thomistic understanding of nature and natural kinds, and how might those classical ideas be of use in contemporary science? The Thomistic Philosophy and Natural Science Symposium gathers expert scientists and philosophers to discuss the potential compatibility and mutual enrichment of the study of Aquinas' philosophy of nature and various forms of modern scientific knowledge in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and biology. The 2022 symposium includes a day of lectures geared towards an introduction to Thomistic philosophy and the history of science, with a focus on complexity, simplicity and emergence. The rest of the symposium will have scientific experts discussing the understanding of complexity and simplicity in their own fields with one another and with philosophers. About the speaker: Professor Jessica Brown is an Associate Professor of biochemistry at Notre Dame. She received her Ph.D. from The Ohio State University and was a postdoc fellow at Yale University. Her research focuses on structural, biochemical & cellular roles of RNA triple helices.

The Problem of Evil: Why Is There Evil if a Good God Exists? | Prof. Gloria Frost Sep 12, 2022

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This lecture was given on March 22, 2022 to the University of North Texas. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Gloria Frost is an associate professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Her areas of research are medieval philosophy, metaphysics, philosophy of religion, and the history of science. She is an assistant editor for the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly and on the executive councils for the American Catholic Philosophical Association and the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy. She is married to Jake Frost, author of "Catholic Dad" and the "Happy Jar," and they have four children.

Symbolic Veiling and Creative Freedom in Tolkien | Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini Sep 09, 2022

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Prof. Pezzini's handout can be found here: tinyurl.com/nkxw4saa This lecture was given on May 9, 2022 at Oxford University. For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Giuseppe Pezzini is Associate Professor of Latin Language & Literature at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. Prof. Pezzini returned to CCC in 2021, after five beautiful years of teaching in St Andrews (2016–2021), and research fellowships at Magdalen College Oxford (2013–2015) and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton (2016). He has studied and worked in excellent collegiate institutions, the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa (2003–2008) and the University of Oxford (D.Phil. 2012). From 2010 to 2013, he worked as Assistant Editor for the Oxford Dictionary of Medieval Latin. He was visiting professor at the University of Turin in 2020, visiting fellow at Leiden University in 2015, and visiting student at CCC itself, back in 2006, where everything began. He is currently supervising research projects on the Comoedia Togata and the Theory of Fiction in late Antique commentaries.

Off-Campus Conversations, Ep. 004: Prof. J. Budziszewski - Aquinas on Happiness Sep 08, 2022

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What does St. Thomas Aquinas say about happiness and ultimate purpose? How (and how not) can we be happy? Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. J. Budziszewski about Aquinas' thoughts on happiness. Aquinas on Happiness w/ Fr. Gregory Pine and Prof. J. Budziszewski (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to one of Prof. Budziszewski's lectures on happiness here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/how-and-how-not-to-be-happy For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org About the speaker: J. Budziszewski (Ph.D. Yale, 1981) is a professor of government and philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. His main area of research is the natural moral law, and he is most well known for his work on moral self-deception, “the revenge of conscience,” what happens when we tell ourselves that we don't know what we really do know. However, he has written about all sorts of things such as moral character, family and sexuality, religion and public life, toleration and liberty, and the unraveling of our common culture. The most recent of his thirteen books are Commentary on Thomas Aquinas's Treatise on Law and Commentary on Thomas Aquinas’s Virtue Ethics, both from Cambridge University Press, as well as On the Meaning of Sex, from Intercollegiate Studies Institute. His book for students, How to Stay Christian in College has sold several hundred thousand copies. He also maintains a personal website and blog, The Underground Thomist. Married for more than 45 years, Dr. Budziszewski has several children and a clutch of grandchildren.

The Eucharist and the Theological Virtues | Fr. Dominic Langevin, O.P. Sep 07, 2022

Show notes

This lecture was given on April 28, 2022 at Texas State University. For information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Dominic Langevin is an assistant professor of systematic theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, and editor in chief of the journal The Thomist. He specializes in sacramental theology. He did his undergraduate studies at Yale University and his doctoral studies at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He was formerly assigned as a parochial vicar at St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish in Charlottesville, Virginia, serving the University of Virginia.

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