The Thomistic Institute

Latest Episodes:

Friendship and the Common Good | Prof. Adam Eitel May 16, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Adam Eitel explores the nature of friendship and the common good through the lens of Aquinas and Aristotle, emphasizing that true friendship is a mutual, habitual disposition to will and pursue the good of another through concrete sharing and fellowship.

This lecture was given on December 4th, 2024, at Saint Louis University.

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

About the Speaker:

Professor Eitel is an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Dallas. Before joining the UD faculty in 2023, he taught for eight years at Yale University, holding appointments in the Divinity School, the Program in Medieval Studies, and the Humanities Program. A specialist in medieval scholasticism, his research interests include doctrinal and moral theology, with a particular focus on the works of Thomas Aquinas and his contemporaries. His teaching and research bring historical Christian theology into dialogue with contemporary moral and political issues.

Keywords: Aristotle, Charity as Friendship, Communicatio, Common Good, Friendship and Love, Habitual Disposition, Mutual Well-Wishing, Thomas Aquinas, Virtue Ethics

Friendship is a Difficult Good | Fr. Cassian Derbes, O.P. May 15, 2025

Show notes

Fr. Cassian Derbes explores why friendship is a difficult but essential good, drawing on Aquinas, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and Dante to show how hope, fortitude, and magnanimity help us overcome sloth and despair in pursuit of true friendship as a common good.

This lecture was given on January 18th, 2025, at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center.

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

About the Speaker:

Fr. Cassian Derbes, O.P. is a priest of the Dominican Province of Saint Joseph. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in the Mendoza College of Business. Father Cassian served recently as vice dean and professor of theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. His previous teaching positions include as adjunct professor of theology at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. Father Cassian earned his Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.) from the Angelicum. He has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, a Bachelor’s degree (B.A.) from New York University (N.Y.U.), and he is a graduate of Jesuit High School in New Orleans, Louisiana. From 2014-2020, Father Cassian served as director of an initiative at the Vatican under Pope Francis to design, implement, and teach an executive leadership development program for the Cardinals, Bishops, and senior lay officials of the Roman Curia. Father Cassian is a Missionary of Mercy, having been appointed by Pope Francis in 2015.

Keywords: Aquinas on Virtue, Aristotle, Augustine, Cicero’s De Amicitia, Common Good, Dante’s Divine Comedy, Fortitude and Magnanimity, Friendship and Hope, Sloth and Despair, Thomistic Philosophy

Aquinas on Friendship and Human Excellence | Prof. Thomas Hibbs May 14, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Thomas Hibbs analyzes Aquinas’ account of friendship and human excellence, drawing on Aristotle and Tocqueville to show how friendship is a necessary, intrinsically valuable common good that addresses contemporary crises of loneliness, civic animosity, and the loss of meaningful community.

This lecture was given on January 17th, 2025, at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center.

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

About the Speaker:

Thomas Hibbs is currently J. Newton Rayzor Sr. Professor of Philosophy at Baylor where he is also Dean Emeritus, having served for 16 years as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College. At Baylor he was also the inaugural director of Baylor in Washington, D.C. where he currently runs a summer program on Religion and Social Life. He has served as department chair at Boston College and as president of the University of Dallas. Hibbs has published more than thirty scholarly articles, the most recent of which is “Aquinas and Black Natural Law.” He has published eight books, the most recent of which is Theology of Creation: Ecology, Art, and Laudato Si’ (University of Notre Dame Press, 2023). He has also published two books on film and philosophy and one book on art. He has published more than 100 reviews and discussion articles on film, theater, art, and higher education in a variety of venues including First Things, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Wall Street Journal, and National Review. He writes regularly for The Dallas Morning News. Hibbs’ lectures have been protested by nihilists at Boston University and by communists in Palermo, Sicily.

Keywords: Alexis de Tocqueville, American Culture, Aristotle, Aquinas on Friendship, Civic Animosity, Common Good, Human Flourishing, Loneliness and Isolation, Virtue and Vice

How To Be A Good Friend: Combatting Envy And Apathy And Exercising Love And Wisdom | Prof. W. Scott Cleveland May 13, 2025

Show notes

Prof. W. Scott Cleveland explores how to be a good friend by applying Aristotle’s philosophy of human flourishing, highlighting the importance of combating envy and apathy while cultivating the virtues of love and wisdom for lasting, meaningful friendships.

This lecture was given on February 21st, 2025, at University of Michigan.

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

About the Speaker:

Professor Scott Cleveland received his PhD in philosophy (Baylor University) and is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Studies at the University of Mary (Bismarck, ND). His research interests are in ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion. He is especially interested in the study of virtues and emotions, the relation between the two, and the role of each in the moral and intellectual life. His thought is deeply influenced by Aristotle and Aquinas and his work has appeared in journals such as American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Res Philosophica, Religious Studies, Religions, and the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. He is the co-editor with Adam Pelser of Faith and Virtue Formation: Essays in Aid of Becoming Good with Oxford University Press.

This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Keywords: Aristotelian Ethics, Aristotle, Envy and Apathy, Friendship and Human Flourishing, Love and Wisdom, Nicomachean Ethics, Practical Philosophy, Robert Waldinger, Virtue Ethics, Virtuous Friendship

What is Love? Plato’s Theology of the Body | Prof. Joshua Hochschild May 12, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Joshua Hochschild compares Plato’s philosophical exploration of love in the Symposium with John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, analyzing how both traditions address the unity of eros and agape, the meaning of embodied love, and the enduring questions of sexual ethics in light of Humanae Vitae.

This lecture was given on February 18th, 2025, at The Basilica of Saint Mary’s Lyceum.

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

About the Speaker:

Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he served as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Keywords: Agape and Eros, Embodied Love, Humanae Vitae, Imago Dei, John Paul II, Karol Wojtyla, Personalist Philosophy, Plato’s Symposium, Sexual Ethics, Theology of the Body

The Metaphysics of Prayer | Fr. Stephen Brock May 09, 2025

Show notes

Fr. Stephen Brock examines the metaphysics of petitionary prayer through the perspectives of C.S. Lewis, Peter Geach, and especially Thomas Aquinas, highlighting how Aquinas’ account uniquely reconciles divine immutability, providence, and the real efficacy of prayer.

This lecture was given on February 7th, 2025, at Duke University.

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

About the Speaker:

Stephen L. Brock is a priest of the Prelature of Opus Dei (ordained 1992). He is Ordinary Professor of Medieval Philosophy at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, where he began teaching in 1990. Since 2008 he has been an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Since 2017 he has been a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy of the University of Chicago. He is the author of Action & Conduct: Thomas Aquinas and the Theory of Action (T&T Clark, 1998); The Philosophy of Saint Thomas Aquinas: A Sketch (Wipf & Stock, 2015); The Light that Binds: a Study in Thomas Aquinas's Metaphysics of Natural Law (Wipf & Stock, 2020); and numerous articles on various aspects of Aquinas’s thought.

Keywords: Aquinas, C. S. Lewis, Divine Immutability, Metaphysics of Prayer, Petitionary Prayer, Peter Geach, Providence, Thomistic Philosophy, Time and Eternity, Work and Prayer

Can Philosophical Skepticism Be Overcome? | Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. May 08, 2025

Show notes

Fr. Thomas Joseph White explores whether philosophical skepticism can be overcome by examining Aristotle, Aquinas, Kant, and Nietzsche on metaphysical knowledge, emphasizing foundational principles like non-contradiction and identity.

This lecture was given on February 5th, 2024, at Yale University.

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

About the Speaker:

Fr. Thomas Joseph White is the Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. Originally a native of southeastern Georgia in the US, Fr. White studied at Brown University, where he converted to Catholicism. He did his doctoral studies in theology at Oxford University, and is the author of various books and articles including Wisdom in the Face of Modernity, A Thomistic Study in Natural Theology (Sapientia Press, 2016), The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (The Catholic University of America Press, 2015), The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Catholic University of America Press, 2022), Principles of Catholic Theology Book III: On God, Trinity, Creation, and Christ (Catholic University of America Press, 2024) and Contemplation and the Cross (The Catholic University of America Press, 2025). With Matthew Levering he is the co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera. In 2011 he was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and in 2019 was named a Distinguished Scholar of the McDonald Agape Foundation. He held the 2018-2019 McInnes Chair for theological inquiry at the Angelicum. In 2022, he was granted an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of America, and in 2023 he was elected President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. In 2023, Fr. White was also awarded the title Master of Sacred Theology, one of the highest academic awards in the Dominican Order.

Keywords: Adrienne Moore, Aristotle, Kant, Metaphysical Knowledge, Nietzsche, Non-Contradiction, Philosophical Skepticism, Principle of Identity, Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Thomistic Metaphysics

Aquinas on the Identity of Essence and Existence in God | Prof. Michael Gorman May 07, 2025

Show notes

Prof. Michael Gorman explains Aquinas’ doctrine that in God, essence and existence are identical, highlighting how this principle underpins divine simplicity and distinguishes God from all created beings.

This lecture was given on June 1st, 2024, at Mount Saint Mary College.

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

About the Speaker:

Michael Gorman is Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has doctorates in philosophy and theology, and his work covers both areas, with a special emphasis on metaphysical themes. He is the author of over thirty-five scholarly articles, a book entitled Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Hypostatic Union (Cambridge University Press, 2017), and a book that will appear in the spring of 2024 entitled A Contemporary Introduction to Thomistic Metaphysics (The Catholic University of America Press, 2024).

Keywords: Divine Perfection, Divine Simplicity, Essence and Existence, Metaphysical Composition, Philosophy of Religion, Thomistic Metaphysics, Transcendence

The Trinity: The Heart of Christian Life | Dr. Edmund Lazzari May 06, 2025

Show notes

Dr. Edmund Lazzari defends the coherence and relevance of the Trinity by addressing Thomas Jefferson’s objections through Thomistic philosophy, emphasizing divine revelation’s role in understanding God’s triune nature.

This lecture was given on March 3rd, 2025, at College of William and Mary.

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

About the Speaker:

Edmund Lazzari is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Catholic Studies at Duquesne University. Dr. Lazzari is also a member of the Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group and affiliated faculty of the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law. A former Basselin Fellow, he earned an ecclesiastical licentiate degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, as well as a doctorate in systematic theology and ethics from Marquette University. He has previously taught philosophy and theology at Mount St. Mary's University, Marquette University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other universities not starting with the letter "M." Dr. Lazzari has published on a wide variety of topics in theology, such as theology and science, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, Catholic-Muslim dialogue, liturgical theology, machine learning/AI, Catholic ethics, and extraterrestrial intelligence. He is the author of two books: Why Nature Matters: Unlocking Catholic Doctrine through Commonsense Philosophy (2022) and Miracles in Said Nursi and Thomas Aquinas (Routledge, 2024).

Keywords: Arianism, Divine Essence, Divine Revelation, Modalist Heresy, Summa Theologica, Thomistic Philosophy, Transcendent Reality, Trinitarian Persons, Unity-in-Diversity, Worship and Salvation

Does God Exist | Prof. Michael Gorman May 05, 2025

Show notes

Professor Michael Gorman explores philosophical arguments for God's existence through Aquinas' approach of reasoning from effect to ultimate uncaused cause rather than from definition to existence.

This lecture was given on February 22nd, 2025, at University of Rochester.

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

About the Speaker:

Keywords: Argument From Effect to Cause, Divine Faith, Divine Revelation, God's Existence, Metaphysics, Natural Theology, Philosophical Argumentation, Philosophy of Religion, Uncaused Cause

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