The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute promotes Catholic truth by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square, with the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas as its touchstone. The podcast features lectures and talks from conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and more. Founded in 2009, it is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.
Episodes
Words Matter: Thomas Aquinas on the Philosophy of Language - Prof. Catherine Peters
Prof. Catherine Peters unpacks Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy of language and reveals how the words we use do more than describe reality: they shape what we understand, how we judge, and how we act.This lecture was given on April 1st, 2026, at University of California, Los Angeles.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Catherine Pe
If God Doesn’t Exist, Science is Impossible - Dr. Wes Siscoe
Dr. Wes Siscoe tackles a big question in science and philosophy, arguing that the very fact that nature follows stable, intelligible laws points beyond brute fact and toward God as the deeper explanation.This lecture was given on April 14th, 2026, at University of Wisconsin-Madison.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Wes Sisc
Thomas Aquinas on Vocational Discernment - Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.
Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy brings Aquinas into the urgent modern conversation about vocation, showing why the path to a call is not endless hesitation but a grace-filled, courageous movement toward charity and the life God is asking of us.This lecture was given on April 15th, 2026, at University of South Florida.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsA
Can Computers Think? - Prof. Steven Jensen
Prof. Steven Jensen asks whether computers can really think, and he argues that while machines can imitate reasoning and behavior associated with thought, they lack the awareness that makes genuine thinking possible.This lecture was given on April 16th, 2026, at Southern Methodist University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speake
What is Truth? - Prof. Paige Hochschild
Prof. Paige Hochschild explores what truth is and shows, through Tolkien, how truth arises from the mind’s encounter with reality, how myth can reveal historical meaning, and how truthful storytelling can shape moral vision.This lecture was given on April 16th, 2026, at Williams College.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Dr.
Do You Need to be Smart to be Holy? - Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Swi
The Catholic Faith and Golf - Prof. Michael Pakaluk
Prof. Michael Pakaluk compares Catholicism and golf in order to show how a game often dismissed as “useless” can become a surprisingly rich school of virtue, shaping humility, patience, prudence, honesty, and love of tradition.This lecture was given on April 17th, 2026, at Ohio State University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Spe
Contemplating the Presence of God - Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.
Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy shows how Thomas Aquinas helps Catholics contemplate the presence of God in nature, grace, and the Incarnation, so that ordinary prayer and daily life become occasions for deeper awareness of divine closeness.This lecture was given on April 17th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the
St. Leo the Great on Love of the Poor and the Weak - Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
This lecture was given on May 3rd, 2026, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program.
Action, Thought, and Decision-Making - Dr. Joshua Hochschild
Dr. Joshua Hochschild asks how action, thought, and decision-making fit together, and he shows that prudent choice is the uniquely human act that unites intellect, desire, and moral formation under the guidance of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.This lecture was given on June 25th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming
The Work of Our Redemption Is Accomplished: Thomas Aquinas and the Sacrifice of the Mass - Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P.
This lecture was given on March 6th, 2026, at University of California, Berkeley.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Innocent Smith, O.P., is Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. After undergraduate studies in music and philosophy at Notre Dame, he entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ord
How Can I be a Holy Scientist? - Dr. Karin Öberg & Dr. Paul LaPenna
Dr. Karin Öberg and Dr. Paul LaPenna take up a deceptively simple question—how can a scientist be holy?—and show how the pursuit of truth in creation can become a path to humility, charity, and wonder before God.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Profes
How Did Study Sanctify St. Thomas Aquinas? / How Does Study Sanctify Me? - Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P. & Sr. Anna Wray, O.P.
Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett and Sr. Anna Wray ask the question "How did study sanctify St. Thomas Aquinas?" St. Thomas serves as an exemplar of how study becomes holy when it is ordered by charity, tempered by right desire, and lived as a way of being with God.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinsti
God from God: Understanding the Trinity - Prof. Bruce Marshall
This lecture was given on April 23rd, 2026, at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Bruce D. Marshall is Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University, and in 2023 he held the Aquinas Chair in the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum in Rome. He is the author
Why be Philosophical? - Prof. Marshall Bierson
Prof. Marshall Bierson asks what it really means to be philosophical, and he takes listeners through the subtle ways our love of truth gets derailed—by winning, by approval, by self-justification, and even by mistaking the feeling of insight for insight itself.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinst
Why be Theological? - Prof. Joshua Benson
Prof. Joshua Benson asks why we should be theological, and he answers with a vivid case for studying the faith: to think more deeply, speak more clearly to others, and let theology shape both mind and life.This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker:Joshua Benso
The Summa Illuminated: A Guide to St. Thomas Aquinas’s Masterpiece - Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.
Fr. Cajetan Cuddy shows why Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae still matters today, presenting it as a clear, enduring roadmap for understanding Catholic truth, teaching beginners, and thinking more carefully about God, the world, and the human person.This lecture was given on April 13th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn
The AI Apocalypse Already Happened (And What You Can Do About It) - Mahon McCann
Mahon McCann argues that the real AI apocalypse already happened when social media and platform algorithms took over human judgment, reshaping what we see, think, and do through an attention economy that quietly downgrades our humanity.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at University of Maynooth.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit
Artificial Intelligence: A Theological Investigation - Fr. Ezra Sullivan, O.P.
Fr. Ezra Sullivan examines artificial intelligence through a theological lens, showing why AI may imitate personhood and judgment, but cannot replace the human capacity for truth, freedom, and communion with God.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at University of Maynooth.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstit
I Compute, Therefore I Am: The Distinctively Human in the Age of AI - Dr. Robert McNamara
Dr. Robert McNamara examines what remains distinctively human in the age of AI, arguing that while artificial intelligence can process and predict with remarkable speed, it cannot replace human understanding, freedom, or wisdom.This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at University of Maynooth.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https:/
The Efficient Cause of Evangelization: The Spirit Empowering the Blessed Virgin's Word - Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P. argues that the Holy Spirit is the real power behind evangelization, showing how Mary, the apostles, and every Christian become instruments of God’s mission through grace, witness, and prayer.This lecture was given on December 13th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomi
The Formal Cause of Evangelization: The Grace of the Blessed Virgin's Word - Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.
Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy shows how evangelization works by grace from the inside out, arguing that its deepest “form” is the contemplative, witness-filled communication of Christ that moves others to faith.This lecture was given on December 13th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinstitute
Does Nature Make Laws? An Introduction to the Natural Law Tradition - Prof. Paige Hochschild
Prof. Paige Hochschild introduces natural law by exploring what nature is, how we know it, and why the classical tradition treats the world as an intelligible order to which human beings are truly fitted.This lecture was given on April 6th, 2026, at University of California, San Diego.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticin
Why Stories Matter for Transmitting the Faith – Prof. Michael Dauphinais
Prof. Michael Dauphinais argues that stories are not just useful for faith—they are how human beings understand reality, and the Christian story of creation, redemption, and resurrection is the true narrative that reorders the imagination.This lecture was given on March 27th, 2026, at Florida State University.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more,
The Mystery of Love - Prof. Maria Fedoryka
Prof. Maria Fedoryka explains love as more than a feeling, showing how it begins with recognizing another person’s goodness, leads to self-gift and communion, and ultimately reveals why love is the source of meaning in human life.This lecture was given on March 16th, 2026, at University of Georgia.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https:
Why Forgive: Accepting the Good News of Forgiving Others - Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
Fr. Andrew Hofer explains why Christian forgiveness is not the same as excusing harm, and shows how forgiving others is a deliberate act of mercy that frees us, heals our hearts, and reflects God’s own forgiveness.This lecture was given on March 7th, 2026, at University of Pittsburgh.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticins
St. John Henry Newman and the Failure of the University - Prof. Lewis Ayres
Prof. Lewis Ayres examines St. John Henry Newman’s critique of the university and argues that higher education often succeeds at training skills while failing to form the Christian imagination toward truth, wisdom, and God.This lecture was given on April 13th, 2026, at University of Aberdeen.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thom
Why Is There Evil In The World? - Prof. Ross McCullough
Prof. Ross McCullough explores why evil and suffering exist, surveys the main Christian answers—especially free will and greater goods—and shows how suffering can be united to Christ rather than treated as meaningless.This lecture was given on November 17th, 2025, at University of Oregon.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisti
Deo Gratias: A Theology of Gratitude - Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
Fr. Andrew Hofer explains gratitude as a theological virtue rooted in God’s gifts, showing how thanksgiving begins in the heart, becomes visible in words and worship, and ultimately orders us toward God.This lecture was given on November 11th, 2025, at University of Colorado Boulder.Apply for the Thomistic Institute Study Abroad program by August 1, 2026. To learn more, visit https://thomisticinst
To What End? Reclaiming Meaning with Saint Thomas Aquinas - Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.
Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy uses Aquinas to argue that the search for meaning is really the search for an ultimate end, and that human happiness is found not in success, pleasure, or status, but in God.This lecture was given on November 4th, 2025, at University of California, San Diego.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP
Why Get Married: The Catholic View of the Meaning and Purpose of Marriage - Prof. Paul Gondreau
This lecture was given on October 23rd, 2025, at Indiana University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Paul Gondreau is professor of theology at Providence College, where he has taught for 28 years. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, doing his dissertation on Christ's full humanity (Christ
What do you seek? Study and the Moral Life in St Thomas Aquinas - Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett
Fr. Thomas Pickett explores what Aquinas means by study and argues that study is not just academic work but a morally formative pursuit that shapes charity, virtue, and the Christian path to happiness.This lecture was given on August 29th, 2025, at University of California Berkeley.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr Thomas Aquinas Pic
Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin: Aquinas on the Limits of Charity - Prof. Michael Krom
Prof. Michael Krom presents Aquinas’s account of charity and asks what it really means to love the sinner without affirming the sin, showing how true Christian love can require both mercy and moral clarity.This lecture was given on August 18th, 2025, at Universidad Panamericana.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Michael Krom started read
The First Theologians: Who Were the Church Fathers and Why Do They Matter? - Prof. Mathew Thomas
Prof. Mathew Thomas introduces the Church Fathers as the first theologians and explains how their witness to Scripture, Christian discipleship, and early worship can still help readers understand the faith and its unity today.This lecture was given on June 9th, 2025, at University of Oregon.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Dr. Matthew
Historical Arguments for God's Existence: Anselm, Aquinas, and Scotus - Prof. Thomas Ward
Prof. Thomas Ward examines medieval arguments for God’s existence in Anselm, Aquinas, and Scotus, showing how each thinker approaches the question from a different starting point and why their arguments still matter for faith and reason.This lecture was given on April 21st, 2025, at Saint Vincent College.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speake
Creation and the Big Bang: What's the Big Deal? - Prof. John O'Callaghan
Prof. John O’Callaghan examines the Big Bang in relation to the Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo and argues that cosmology and belief in God as creator address different kinds of explanation.This lecture was given on February 27th, 2025, at University of South Carolina.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Prof. John O'Callaghan is
Secularism and the Modern World - Prof. Brad Gregory
Prof. Brad Gregory argues that the Protestant Reformation set off a chain of unintended consequences that helped produce the secular, fragmented modern world, ultimately showing why and how that history still shapes how we live, believe, and consume today.This lecture was given on February 27th, 2025, at West Virginia University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute
Are All Religions Different Paths Up the Same Mountain? – Prof. Christopher Kaczor
Prof. Christopher Kaczor argues that the common claim that all religions are just different paths to the same destination collapses under scrutiny, and that Christianity uniquely holds together truth, toleration, and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.This lecture was given on February 9th, 2026, at University of Florida.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.
How John Paul II Used the Saints Against the Communists – Prof. James Felak
Prof. James Felak argues that John Paul II used Polish saints as powerful symbols of faith, moral courage, and national identity to inspire resistance against communism and affirm the Church’s role in Poland’s history.This lecture was given on October 31st, 2026, at St. Albert's Priory.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:James Felak is a
Flannery on Art and Truth – Prof. Jennifer Frey
Prof. Jennifer Frey explores Flannery O’Connor’s bold claim that art can reveal truth in a way philosophy cannot, and shows how her fiction turns beauty, form, and imagination into a distinctive kind of knowledge.This lecture was given on February 7th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Jennifer A. Fre
The Family, the Polity, and the Church – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
Fr. Brad Elliott argues that human beings are naturally social and are meant to flourish through the distinct but related societies of family, polity, and Church, with the Church uniquely ordering people to grace and the common good.This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr
Flannery O'Connor: Hillbilly Thomist or Hillbilly Nihilist? – Prof. Jennifer Frey
Prof. Jennifer Frey asks whether Flannery O’Connor is really a “hillbilly Thomist” or a “hillbilly nihilist,” and uses her life and fiction to show how grace, reality, and shocking moral drama can expose the deepest truths about human nature.This lecture was given on February 7th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.Abou
Is There a Right to Steal? – Prof. Michael Krom
Prof. Michael Krom uses Aquinas to argue that while stealing is always morally wrong, urgent need can change what counts as rightful use of superabundant goods, revealing how private property is meant to serve the common good.This lecture was given on February 12th, 2026, at Georgia Institute of Technology.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Spea
The Mystical Body of Christ: What Does Jesus Have to Do with Me? – Dr. Edmund Lazzari
Dr. Edmund Lazzari explains how Christ’s divinity and humanity make the sacraments, grace, confession, purgatory, and the communion of saints all part of one living mystical body in which every Christian is united to every other in Jesus.This lecture was given on February 11th, 2026, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute
The Creator of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence: Natural Law, Inalienable Rights, and a Just Political Order – Prof. Christopher Kaczor
Prof. Christopher Kaczor takes Jefferson’s famous declaration apart piece by piece to ask what it really means to say that all people are created equal, why those words still matter, and how natural law and inalienable rights shape a just political order.This lecture was given on April 9th, 2026, at Indiana University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.Ab
Rights, Liberties, and the Nature of Medicine – Prof. Christopher Tollefsen
Prof. Christopher Tollefsen argues that medicine is fundamentally ordered to health, not preference satisfaction, and he shows why that matters for abortion, euthanasia, physician authority, and conscience.This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at University of Scranton.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Christopher Tollefsen is P
Aquinas' Philosophy of the Angels – Prof. Gregory Doolan
Prof. Gregory Doolan explains how Aquinas uses philosophy to show that angels are real immaterial beings—pure forms with intellect and will—whose place in creation can even be understood in relation to the famous “head of a pin” question.This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at Harvard University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speake
Private Property and the Universal Destination of Goods: How a Right to Private Possessions Serves the Common Good – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P. explores how the Catholic tradition understands ownership as a moral relation that binds persons together rather than isolating them, and why that matters for families, society, and human flourishing.This lecture was given on February 4th, 2026, at Stanford University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Brad Ell
Thomistic Sacramental Theology – Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.
Fr. Thomas Joseph White brings Aquinas and Flannery O’Connor into conversation to ask what sacraments do, how grace reaches us through visible signs, and why O’Connor’s fiction can reveal that same divine work even in the lives of people without sacraments.This lecture was given on February 6th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitu
Pope Leo XIII and Communism – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
Fr. Brad Elliott shows how Leo’s Rerum Novarum responds to Marx and Engels by grounding property rights in the father’s duty to provide, the family’s priority over the state, and the Church’s vision of human flourishing.This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Brad Elliot
Nagasaki Prays, Hiroshima Rages: God's Providence and Narratives of Suffering – Prof. James Nolan
Prof. James Nolan argues that Nagasaki’s prayerful response to the atomic bomb can only be understood through the city’s long Christian history, especially the witness of the hidden Christians and Takashi Nagai.This lecture was given on January 29th, 2026, at Florida State University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Professor James L.
What is Catholic Social Teaching? – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
Fr. Brad Elliott argues that it is really a theological vision of the human person as a social being ordered to God through family, polity, and Church, showing how the common good, friendship, and the distinct missions of these three societies shape both public life and spiritual life.This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.To make a gift this June, visit https:
Mercy and Justice in Political Life: Augustine, Seneca, and Nussbaum – Prof. Sarah Byers
This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at University of Toronto.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Sarah Byers is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. Her interests include St. Augustine, Hellenistic philosophy, and the history of ancient and medieval ethics and metaphysics. She is responsible for many publications
The University and the Search for Wisdom in the Middle Ages – Dr. Brian FitzGerald
Dr. Brian FitzGerald explores how the first universities emerged from cathedral schools and monastic learning, and why they were built not just to transmit information, but to cultivate wisdom, practical judgment, and a love of learning. This lecture was given on January 15th, 2026, at Dartmouth College.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker
The Good Citizen: Lessons from Tocqueville on Democratic Citizenship in the 21st Century – Prof. Raymond Hain
Prof. Raymond Hain argues that Tocqueville’s insights show democratic citizenship depends on stable attachments, shared social life across class lines, and a willingness to let citizens practice freedom through responsibility.This lecture was given on December 4th, 2025, at University of Tulsa.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:Raymond
How John Paul II Used the Saints Against the Communists in Poland – Prof. James Felak
Prof. James Felak shows how John Paul II used the saints in his pilgrimages to communist Poland to challenge atheistic rule, strengthen Catholic identity, and encourage resistance and hope.This lecture was given on October 31st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:James Felak is a Professor of History and cur
Musical Dependence: What's Behind It and How We Can Move Beyond It – Sr. Anna Wray, O.P.
Sr. Anna Wray argues that many people are caught in a “musical dependence” that uses music to make ordinary life merely tolerable, a mere toleration which can transformed into true enjoyment by means of asceticism and an education in genuine enjoyment.This lecture was given on November 12th, 2025, at Catholic University of America.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitu
Silence, Contemplation, and Non-Being – Fr. Ephrem Reese O.P.
Fr. Ephrem Reese argues that silence is not mere absence but a fertile, hidden potency through which contemplation, devotion, and the word of God can come to life.This lecture was given on November 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, and has family in P
Boredom: The Threshold of Great Deeds – Fr. Ephrem Reese O.P.
Fr. Ephrem Reese argues that boredom can be read both as a modern opening onto time and wonder and, more importantly, as a spiritual problem that must be disciplined by the virtues.This lecture was given on November 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, an
Why We Need or Don't Need Utopias – Dr. Jan Bentz
Dr. Jan Bentz argues that utopias are dangerous because they promise a perfected society by denying human fallenness, replacing Christian hope and grace with man-made salvation, and turning politics into a counterfeit religion.This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in Limerick.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Spea
Catholic Social Teaching – Prof. James Felak
Professor James Felak argues that Catholic social teaching presents a holistic vision of the human person and society, insisting that rights and duties belong together, the market must serve the common good, and neither socialism nor unchecked capitalism can satisfy human dignity.This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory.For more information on upcoming events, visit us
Astonished at the World: G. K. Chesterton's Philosophy of Wonder – Joe Grabowski
Joe Grabowski presents Chesterton’s philosophy as a disciplined recovery of wonder, arguing that reality is not exhausted by habit, utility, or material explanation but should be seen with childlike astonishment and gratitude.This lecture was given on March 30th, 2026, at the University of Kansas.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the
Receiving a Share of God's Kingdom: Vocation and Christian Life according to St. Paul – Fr. Jordan Schmidt, O.P.
Fr. Jordan Schmidt says that vocation is a grace-filled cooperation with God’s kingdom, where renewed discernment helps us choose our way of life and embrace suffering with Christ for the salvation of ourselves and others.This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Sp
Principles of Discernment – Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
Fr. Gregory Pine teaches that discernment is less about forcing certainty and more about entering the way Christ reveals himself: gradually, trustingly, and through prayerful relationship.This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speakers:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is
Attainment of Happiness – Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speakers:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (
Life to the Full: Are You Surviving or Thriving? – Sr. Mary Madeline Todd, O.P.
Sr. Mary Madeline Todd argues that Christ calls us not merely to survive but to thrive, and that “life to the full” comes through meaning, suffering united to love, disciplined commitment, wonder, prayer, and sacramental life.This lecture was given on March 27th, 2026, at University of South Alabama.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About t
Science, Reason... and Beyond – Prof. Alexander Pruss
Prof. Alexander Pruss argues that science is powerful but limited, because it depends on presuppositions about logic, rationality, uniformity of nature, and value judgments that science itself cannot justify, and because human fulfillment ultimately points beyond reason to faith in an infinite being.This lecture was given on April 14th, 2026, at Florida State University.For more information on upc
Aquinas and Catholic Theology – Prof. Gaven Kerr
Prof. Gaven Kerr argues that Aquinas is central to Catholic theology because Thomas provides the systematic, deductive, and scripturally grounded framework needed to articulate doctrine about God, Trinity, and salvation.This lecture was given on March 26th, 2026, at Maynooth University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speakers:Ga
Diagnosing Dignity in the Era of AI – Prof. Paul Scherz
Prof. Paul Scherz argues that AI-driven precision medicine and genetic risk prediction can undermine human dignity by turning health into an endless management of risk, increasing anxiety, weakening prudence, and subordinating both patients and clinicians to institutional control.This lecture was given on March 26th, 2026, at New York University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at
The Idea of a University – Prof. Raymond Hain
Prof. Raymond Hain presents John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University as a powerful defense of liberal education, arguing that a university should include theology because all knowledge forms one interconnected whole, yet also insisting that intellectual excellence is not the same as moral holiness.This lecture was given on March 26th, 2026, at University of Alabama.For more information on upcoming
Does Vatican II Permit a Hermeneutic of Rupture? – Prof. Christopher Malloy
Prof. Christopher Malloy argues that Vatican II does not permit a hermeneutic of rupture but demands one of continuity and reform, as Benedict XVI taught, rejecting both progressive over-spiritualization and traditionalist rejection of post-conciliar developments.This lecture was given on March 24th, 2026, at Franciscan University of Steubenville.For more information on upcoming events, visit us a
Like Soul to Body?: The Church's Developing Understanding of Her Relation to the State – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
Fr. Brad Elliott traces the Church's evolving use of the soul-body metaphor for her relation to the state, purifying it in modern social teaching to affirm the Church as a distinct perfect society ordered to supernatural ends while leavening the temporal order.This lecture was given on March 24th, 2026, at Cornell University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.o
Foreigners’ Views on American Secularism: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, and G.K. Chesterton – Prof. James Nolan
Prof. James Nolan argues that Tocqueville, Weber, and Chesterton offer contrasting foreign views on American secularism, with Tocqueville and Chesterton seeing religion as essential to democracy and predicting its persistence, while Weber views Protestantism as inevitably fueling disenchantment.This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2026, at New York University.For more information on upcoming even
The Catholic Imagination of Oscar Wilde – Prof. Guiseppe Pezzini
Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini argues that Oscar Wilde's aestheticism and life journey reveal a Catholic imagination, where art confronts suffering and beauty leads to embracing the full reality of pain, culminating in his final reconciliation with faith.This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2026, at University of Galway.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-
Catholic Social Teaching: Highlights from the Popes – Prof. James Felak
Prof. James Felak traces Catholic social teaching from Leo XIII to Francis, showing how the popes defend human dignity, a just wage, solidarity with the poor, subsidiarity, and the balance between rights and duties against both unchecked capitalism and collectivist ideologies.This lecture was given on March 5th, 2026, at University of Washington.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at
Mary's Necessary Role in the Spiritual Life – Fr. John Mark Solitario, O.P.
Fr. John Mark Solitario argues that Mary's role in the spiritual life is necessary because she uniquely forms disciples into Christ's life through her graces as new Eve, spiritual mother, and intercessor who draws us to her Son.This lecture was given on March 20th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the S
How to Marry Your Best Friend: Thomas Aquinas on Friendship, Marriage, and Children – Dr. Nathaniel Peters
Dr. Nathaniel Peters argues that Thomas Aquinas teaches marriage is the greatest friendship, uniting spouses in a sacramental bond ordered to mutual virtue, children’s generation and formation, and sharing in God’s fatherhood and Christ's priesthood.This lecture was given on March 19th, 2026, at Universidad Panamericana.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/up
'I Cannot Tell a Lie': Thomas Aquinas on the Moral Permissibility of Lying – Prof. Christopher Tomaszewski
Prof. Christopher Tomaszewski argues that Thomas Aquinas teaches lying is intrinsically evil because it uses the faculty of speech against its natural purpose, even in difficult cases often thought to justify deception.This lecture was given on March 19th, 2026, at University of Toronto.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speakers:C
Newman on the Dangers of Liberal Education – Prof. Thomas Hibbs
Prof. Thomas Hibbs argues that Newman exposes the dangers of liberal education when intellectual refinement is detached from moral and spiritual formation, producing not saints but “gentlemen” who can become self-enclosed, proud, and oddly shallow.This lecture was given on January 17th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/
To Live is to Change: Newman on Cognitive, Moral, and Spiritual Development – Prof. Thomas Hibbs
Prof. Thomas Hibbs argues that John Henry Newman sees human development as a lifelong process of integrating the cognitive, moral, and spiritual dimensions of the person, so that faith and intellect, growth and identity, and knowledge and character are not split apart but brought into a unified life under grace.This lecture was given on January 17th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.For more in
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