The Thomistic Institute

Latest Episodes:

Creation vs. Creationism – University of America Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P. Jan 30, 2026

Show notes

Fr. Dominic Legge distinguishes the classical Catholic doctrine of creation from modern creationism by showing how a robust Thomistic account of God as the transcendent cause of all being avoids conflict with evolutionary science while deepening our understanding of what it means for the world to be created.

This lecture was given on October 20th, 2025, at The Catholic University of America.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Dominic Legge is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. He is an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and 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, 2017).

Keywords: Catholic Doctrine Of Creation, Creation And Evolution, Creation vs. Creationism, Faith and Science, Metaphysics Of Creation, Primary And Secondary Causality, Thomistic Philosophy, Universe And God

Vocation of a Catholic Scientist – Prof. Karin Öberg Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

Prof. Karin Öberg reflects on her journey from atheism to Catholicism and explains how the vocation of a Catholic scientist and professor involves uniting rigorous scientific inquiry with the Catholic intellectual tradition in order to contemplate God through creation and to renew the life of the university.

This lecture was given on January 15th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Professor Öberg obtained her B.Sc. in Chemistry from Caltech and her Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Leiden. She has taught at Harvard since 2013, where she is the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences. Her scholarship aims to uncover how chemical processes impact the outcome of planet formation, with special attention to the possible habitability of nascent planets. She has published over 250 refereed articles, including in Nature and Science. Professor Öberg has been awarded the Barry Prize by the American Academy of Sciences and Letters (2024), the Harnack Lectureship by the Max Planck Society (2022), a Simons Investigator Award (2019), the American Astronomical Society's Newton Lacy Pierce Prize (2016), a Packard Fellowship (2014), and a Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (2014). She is the Vice President of the Angelicum Board, a Board Member of the Society of Catholic Scientists, a member of the American Academy of Catholic Scholars and Artists, and a frequent public speaker on questions of science and faith.

Keywords: Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Catholic Professor, Conversion, Creation And Creator, Msgr. Georges Lemaître, Science And Faith, Thomas Aquinas, University And Truth, Vocation, Vocation Of A Catholic Scientist

What Contemporary Culture Needs to Learn from Thomas Aquinas – Prof. Michael Dauphinais Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

Prof. Michael Dauphinais explains what contemporary culture needs to learn from Thomas Aquinas, arguing for a metaphysics of communion in which God, family, Church, and society are not locked in competition but share common goods that make each more fully alive.

This lecture was given on September 22nd, 2025, at University of Florida.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Michael A. Dauphinais, Ph.D., serves as the Fr. Matthew Lamb Professor of Catholic Theology and the co-director of the Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal at Ave Maria University, Ave Maria, Florida. He has co-authored with Matthew Levering Knowing the Love of Christ: An Introduction to the Theology of Thomas Aquinas; Holy People, Holy Land: A Theological Introduction to the Bible; and The Wisdom of the Word: Biblical Answers to Ten Questions about Catholicism. He specializes in C.S. Lewis, the Bible, and St. Thomas Aquinas. He speaks frequently in both academic and popular settings, and particularly enjoys visiting Thomistic Institute student chapters. Dr. Dauphinais hosts The Catholic Theology Show podcast to help a wide audience discover the richness of coming to know and love God as he has revealed himself in Jesus Christ.

Keywords: Common Good, Common Good versus Zero-Sum Competition, God’s Non-Competitive Action, Human Community, Metaphysics of Communion, Natural Law, Original Sin and False Image of God, Participated Goods in Family and Society, Thomistic View of Marriage and Family, Vision of God in Evangelium Vitae

Flirting with Happiness: Aquinas on the Good Life – Fr. Alan O'Sullivan, O.P. Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Fr. Alan O’Sullivan unpacks Aquinas on the good life, explaining why wealth, power, fame, and pleasure cannot be our ultimate happiness and how true beatitude is found in virtuous activity ordered to God.

This lecture was given on October 23rd, 2025, at Trinity College Dublin.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Alan O’Sullivan, O.P. (Trinity College) is currently the chaplain of Trinity College, Dublin. He is a member of the Irish province of the Order of Preachers who studied at Blackfriars, Oxford.

Keywords: Aquinas on the Good Life, Beatitude and True Happiness, Epicureanism, Limits of Wealth Power and Fame, Pleasure and the Highest Good, Restlessness and Desire for More, Virtue and Ordered Pleasure, Worldly Goods, Ultimate Happiness

Does God Exist? How Do I Know? The Five Ways of Aquinas – Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. Jan 26, 2026

Show notes

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy introduces Aquinas’ Five Ways, showing how arguments from motion, causality, contingency, gradation, and teleology lead from everyday experience to the rational conclusion that God exists as first mover, first cause, necessary being, supreme perfection, and intelligent governor.

This lecture was given on May 8th, 2025, at North Dakota State University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P. is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI, as well as an adjunct professor and assistant chaplain at Providence College. He originates from Columbus, OH, studied architecture in Virginia and Switzerland, and practiced in the DC area before entering the Order of Preachers in 2013. He was ordained a priest in 2020 at the Dominican House of Studies during the quarantine. In his work with the Thomistic Institute, he has given talks on the virtue of penance, loving God with the mind, and the intersection of theology and architecture. He often travels the country visiting Thomistic Institute Campus Chapters, leading seminars that help students grasp Thomistic concepts. Additionally, he coordinates the TI's intellectual retreat programming, which affords students time to pray and integrate into their lives Thomistic theology and philosophy.

Keywords: Act and Potency, Argument from Motion, Contingency and Necessary Being, Degrees of Perfection and Maximum Good, Five Ways to Prove God’s Existence, First Cause and Efficient Causality, Teleology and Intelligent Governor, Thomistic Proofs for God, Unmoved Mover

John Paul II on the Value of Human Life and Euthanasia – Prof. Christopher Tollefsen Jan 23, 2026

Show notes

Prof. Christopher Tollefsen explains John Paul II on euthanasia, showing how the Pope’s vision of human life as a sacred gift, bearing God’s image and destined for eternal friendship with Him, rules out any claim to a right to kill oneself or others.

This lecture was given on September 23rd, 2025, at University of South Carolina.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Christopher Tollefsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He has published over 100 articles in journals and edited collections, and a similar number of popular essays in venues such as Public Discourse, First Things, and National Review. He is the author of Lying and Christian Ethics and the forthcoming Killing and Christian Ethics, and is co-author of The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (with Dr. Farr Curlin) and Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (with Robert P. George). In 2019-20, he served as a Commissioner on the State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights. He has twice been a Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and in 2024-25 was a Visiting Fellow at the DeNicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame.

Keywords: Euthanasia, Evangelium Vitae, Gift of Life, Human Destiny, Human Dignity, Imago Dei, Inviolability of Human Life, John Paul II, Life and Death, Lordship of God over Life, Sacredness of Human Life, Usurping God’s Role in Life and Death

St. Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes – Fr. Anton ten Klooster Jan 22, 2026

Show notes

Fr. Anton ten Klooster explores St. Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes, showing how they map an ordered, grace‑filled path of virtues and gifts that lead from imperfect happiness in this life to perfect union with God in the next.

This lecture was given on November 3rd, 2025, at Oxford University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Anton is an assistant professor of theology at Tilburg University. His primary focus is on fundamental moral theology. He is currently working on a book on the development of moral teaching (e.g. How did the church come to oppose slavery, and how can we then hold a continuity in teaching?). He studied theology in Utrecht and Fribourg, and did part of the doctoral research as a visiting scholar at the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. In 2018, he was awarded the doctoral degree cum laude for 'Thomas Aquinas on the Beatitudes'. The dissertation was awarded the international 'Veritas et Amor' award by the Circolo San Tommaso. He has been published in journals such as Nova et Vetera, Angelicum, Journal of Moral Theology and Incontri.

Keywords: Aquinas on Happiness and Man's Final End, Beatitudes, Beatitudes as Path to Union with God, False Views of Happiness, Grace and the Beatitudes, Gifts of the Spirit, Imperfect versus Perfect Happiness, Virtue and the Beatitudes, Vocation of Preaching

Engaging Politics as a Catholic – Dr. Jan Bentz Jan 21, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Jan Bentz explores what it means to engage politics as a Catholic, calling believers to critical thinking rooted in truth, a both‑and logic that resists polarization, and a discerning love of nation that remains ordered to the common good and eternal beatitude.

This lecture was given on November 19th, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in London.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Dr. Jan C. Bentz was born and raised in Germany and graduated high school in St Louis, Missouri, where he attended as a foreign exchange student. Dr Bentz holds a doctorate in Philosophy from the Roman Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, a Masters in Sacred Art, Architecture, and Liturgy and a Masters in Church, Ecumenism, and Religious Studies. His dissertation was published in German on Gustav Siewerth (1903-1963) and his work on Thomas Aquinas and G.W.F. Hegel. His fields of expertise include Metaphysics, History of Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Thomism, and Philosophy of Art. Dr Bentz lectures at Blackfriars’ Studium on History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Philosophy of History. He taught Philosophy of Art (Aesthetics) for The Catholic University of America, Rome Campus, History of Medieval Philosophy at Christendom College, Rome Campus, and Apologetics for IES Study Abroad also in Rome. His journalistic career included the production of weekly TV coverage in German and English for EWTN Global; interviews and commentary for Catholic News Agency, Inside the Vatican; and for The Catholic Herald in English and Jüdische Rundschau in German. His current format is called Reality Check, a series of video interviews also published on YouTube with the European Conservative.

Keywords: Analogy of Being and Politics, Catholic Both-And Logic, Catholic Engagement in Public Life, Christian and Secular Nationalism, Common Good and Beatitude, Critical Thinking as a Catholic, National Identity and Faith, Polarization and Either-Or Thinking, Testing Everything Holding Fast to the Good, Voting as a Catholic Conscience

Understanding Anscombe’s Absolutism – Prof. Marshall Bierson Jan 20, 2026

Show notes

Prof. Marshall Bierson unpacks Elizabeth Anscombe’s moral absolutism, arguing that questions like “Why is it worse to kill one innocent person than to let five die?” rest on a grammatical confusion that obscures the absolute wrongness of intentionally killing the innocent.

This lecture was given on October 2nd, 2025, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Marshall Bierson is an assistant professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America. His research centers on the intersection of ethics and philosophical anthropology. He is particularly focused on the work of Elizabeth Anscombe and in exploring how her Thomisticly inflected philosophical psychology clarifies moral absolutes.

Keywords: Act and Omission Distinction, Anscombe, Consequentialism, Intentional Killing of the Innocent, Logical Grammar of Moral Language, Moral Absolutism, Reasons versus Absolutes, The Trolley Problem, Victim-Focused Account of Murder

Icons and Idols: An Augustinian Reflection on Race, Racism, and Antiracism – Prof. Kevin Kambo Jan 19, 2026

Show notes

Prof. Kevin Kambo reflects on race, racism, and antiracism through Augustine, showing how modern racial categories operate as idolatrous myths born of the lust to dominate and calling listeners to see others instead as icons of God rather than instruments of civic or ideological projects.

This lecture was given on October 24th, 2025, at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Kevin M. Kambo is an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Dallas in Irving, TX. Before completing his doctoral studies at the Catholic University of America, he earned a bachelor of science in Chemistry at Stanford University and worked as an intellectual property paralegal in Manhattan, NY. Dr. Kambo specialises in classical Greek philosophy, particularly on Platonic moral psychology and on the dramatic elements of Platonic dialogues. He also works on the reception of Platonic thought through history, from late antique (e.g., in Clement of Alexandria and Augustine of Hippo) through contemporary (e.g., W. E. B. Du Bois and Simone Weil) thinkers, and has broader scholarly interests in philosophy of technology, philosophy and literature (especially tragedy), philosophy of race, and liberal education. He is a partisan of the original Star Wars trilogy, P. G. Wodehouse, and receiving postcards--not necessarily in that order.

Keywords: Augustinianism, Critique of Racism, Domination, Icons and Idols, Imago Dei and Race, Libido Dominandi, Modern Antiracism, Noble Lie, Race, Racial Categories, Slavery, Social Myth, Violence

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