The Thomistic Institute

This talk was given on April 10th, 2023 at Ohio State University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Gina Maria Noia is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Resident Bioethicist at Belmont Abbey College. She received her Ph.D. in Theology and Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University. She has served as a clinical ethicist for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL and St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis, MO, and she is published in Christian Bioethics and the Journal of Moral Theology. She and her husband, Justin, love spending time with their vivacious one-year-old boy.

This talk was given at the University of Oregon on March 15, 2023. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Ross McCullough joined George Fox University as an assistant professor of theology and faculty fellow in the George Fox University Honors Program in 2018. He studied patristic theology at the University of Notre Dame before doing a doctorate at Yale University at the intersection of systematic theology and analytic philosophy of religion. Dr. McCullough's first book, Freedom and Sin: Evil in a World Created by God (Eerdmans, 2022) reconciles traditional Christian commitments to, on the one hand, God causing all that is and, on the other, God in no way being responsible for sin. He also has academic publications on the doctrine of hell, the Eucharist, the hermeneutics of Scripture, and liberation theology. His popular articles have appeared in First Things, Commonweal, and America Magazine, among other venues. Dr. McCullough lives with his wife and four children acr

This talk was given on March 28th, 2023 at Regent University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Francis J. Beckwith is Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies and Affiliate Professor of Political Science at Baylor University, where he also serves as Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy. Among his over one dozen books are Never Doubt Thomas: The Catholic Aquinas as Evangelical and Protestant (Baylor University Press, 2019), Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), 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).

This talk was given on March 23, 2023 at the University of Dallas. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Dr. William E. Carroll is Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Philosophy at Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (Wuhan, China) and Senior Research Fellow at the Collegium of Anton Neuwirth (Bratislava, Slovakia). His specialty is the relationship among the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology, with an emphasis on Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of the doctrine of creation. He is the author of works and articles including Creation and Science: Has Science Eliminated God?; Galileo: Science and Faith; and (with Steven Baldner) Aquinas on Creation. Beginning in 2013, he has spent several weeks each year giving lectures and seminars at various Chinese universities in Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Wuhan.

This talk was given on March 6th, 2023 at Oxford University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Lewis Ayres is Professor of Catholic and Historical Theology at Durham University in the United Kingdom. He specializes in the study of early Christian theology, especially the history of Trinitarian theology and early Christian exegesis. He is also deeply interested in the relationship between the shape of early Christian modes of discourse and reflection and the manner in which renewals of Catholic theology during the last hundred years have attempted to engage forms of modern historical consciousness and sought to negotiate the shape of appropriate scriptural interpretation in modernity, even as they remain faithful to the practices of classical Catholic discourse and contemplation. His publications include Augustine and the Trinity (2010) and Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Trinitarian Theology (2004). He is co-editor of the Cambridge History of Early Christia

This talk was given on April 27th, 2023 at Georgetown University. The slides for the lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yus8cvkx For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Patrick Callahan is director of the Newman Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as Assistant Professor of English & Humanities at St. Gregory the Great Seminary. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Dallas and his graduate work at Fordham University in Classical Philology. While his doctoral work focused on ancient Greek commentaries to the lyric poet Pindar, his recent work focuses on early Jesuit Latin texts.

This talk was given on March 3rd, 2023 at New York University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Karin Öberg is Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. Her specialty is astrochemistry and her research aims to uncover how chemical processes affect the outcome of planet formation, especially the chemical habitability of nascent planets. Dr. Öberg obtained her B.Sc. in chemistry at Caltech in 2005, and her Ph.D. in astronomy, with a thesis focused on laboratory astrochemistry, from Leiden University in 2009. She did postdoctoral work at Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics as a NASA Hubble fellow, focusing on millimeter observations of planet-forming disks around young stars. In 2013 she joined the Harvard astronomy faculty as an assistant professor. She was promoted and named the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor in Astronomy in 2016, and promoted to full professor with tenure in 2017. Dr. Öberg’s research in astrochemistry has been recognized with a

This lecture was given on February 8, 2023 at Trinity University, San Antonio. The handout for this lecture can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/yczkuphu. For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Sister Elinor Gardner is a member of the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia. Before arriving at University of Dallas, she taught at Aquinas College in Nashville, TN and at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. Her doctoral work (Boston College) was on the ethics of Thomas Aquinas ("St Thomas Aquinas on the Death Penalty").

This talk was given on February 7th, 2023 at Texas A and M University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitue.org. About the speaker: Michael Gorman is professor of philosophy at The Catholic University of America. He has doctorates in philosophy and theology. He has authored over thirty-five academic papers and a book entitled Aquinas on the Metaphysics of the Hypostatic Union (Cambridge University Press, 2017). His main interests are metaphysics, human nature, and ethics. He is working on a textbook in metaphysics and on a short book on human nature and human dignity.

This talk was given on February 23, 2023 at the University of South Carolina. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Dr. Paul LaPenna is a neurologist in Greenville, SC and Associate Professor of Neurology at the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, Carolinas Campus. Dr. LaPenna completed his neurology residency at Indiana University School of Medicine in 2018. As a neurohospitalist, Dr. LaPenna’s skill set is focused on treatment of neurological emergencies and performing and interpreting electrophysiological studies of the brain and peripheral nervous system. As an Associate Professor of Neurology, Dr. LaPenna has won numerous teaching awards, including Clinical Medicine Professor of the neuroscience curriculum in 2019, 2020, and 2021. For the 2020-2021 academic year, Dr. LaPenna was awarded the Preceptor of the Year. For his care towards patients, he was elected to the Arnold P. Gold Humanism Honor Society in 2016. Dr. LaPenna has an interest in the rela

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Prof. Paige Hochschild. Why the Roman Catholic Church? w/ Prof. Paige Hochschild and Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/why-the-roman-catholic-church-prof-paige-hochschild For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary's University (MD), specializing in Augustine, Thomas Aquinas and the early Church. She also teaches philosophy courses at the Seminary at Mount St. Mary's. She has written a book on the place of memory in Augustine's theological anthropology, and publishes on the Church, education, tradition, 20th c. theological debates within the Church (Scripture, history; marriage).

This talk was given on February 16th, 2023 at the University of Texas at Austin. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., grew up as the youngest of ten children on a farm in Kansas, and studied history, philosophy, and classics at Benedictine College. He then went to St Andrews, Scotland for a Master of Letters in medieval history. He entered the Order of Preachers as a son of the Province of St. Joseph, and was ordained a priest in 2002. After finishing his S.T.L. and serving as an associate pastor for a brief time, he was sent to Kenya as a missionary for two years. He taught at the Tangaza College of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa and other institutions in Nairobi. He returned to the U.S. and completed a Ph.D. in theology at the University of Notre Dame, with the primary area of history of Christianity, specializing in patristic theology with additional studies in medieval theology, and the secondary area of systematic theology. H

This talk was given on February 21st, 2023 at Hillsdale College. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: John A. Cuddeback, PhD, is professor of Philosophy at Christendom College, where he has taught for twenty-five years. He lectures widely on topics including virtue, fatherhood, friendship, and household, and his professional writings appear in various academic journals and books. His book True Friendship is being republished by Ignatius Press. His blogging at BaconFromAcorns and LifeCraft is renowned for applying an ancient wisdom to life today.

This talk was given on February 18th, 2023 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. James Brent, O.P. holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Saint Louis University. While there, he specialized in the rationality of faith. He currently teaches at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.

This talk was given on Feburary 18th 2023, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the author: Dr. Sarah Byers is a professor of philosophy at Boston College. Aside from specializing in Augustine, she has also published on Rene Descartes. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.

This talk was given on February 17th, 2023 at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Prof. Jorge Secada is a professor of philosophy from the University of Virginia. He is originally from Peru and received his Ph.D. from the University of York in the United Kingdom. He specializes in late medieval and Renaissance philosophy, as well as early modern philosophy with a special interest in the work of Descartes. He is the author of Cartesian Metaphysics: The Scholastic Origins of Modern Philosophy (Cambridge University Press, 2005).

This talk was given on October 5th, 2022 at Dartmouth College. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Fr. Nicanor Austriaco, O.P., completed his Bachelor’s Degree (B.S.E.) in Bioengineering, summa cum laude, at the University of Pennsylvania, and then earned his Ph.D. in Biology from M.I.T. in the laboratory of Professor Leonard Guarente, where he was a fellow of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). He was ordained a priest in the Order of Preachers in May of 2004. He completed his Pontifical License in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) in Moral Theology, summa cum laude, at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC, in 2005, and a Pontifical Doctorate in Sacred Theology (S.T.D.), magna cum laude, at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, in 2015. Fr. Austriaco currently serves as Professor of Biological Sciences & Professor of Sacred Theology at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philippines. Before this position, he was Professor of Biology and

Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Dr. Edward Feser. St. Thomas's Five Ways: How to Prove God Exists w/ Dr. Edward Feser and Fr. Gregory Pine (Off-Campus Conversations) You can listen to the original lecture here: https://soundcloud.com/thomisticinstitute/demonstrating-the-existence-of-god-prof-ed-feser For more information on upcoming events, please visit our website at www.thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Edward Feser is Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California. He has been a Visiting Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and a Visiting Scholar at the Social Philosophy and Policy Center at Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an M.A. in religion from the Claremont Graduate School, and a B.A. in philosophy and religious studies from the California State U

This talk was given on Feburary 7th, 2023 at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Robert C. (“Rob”) Koons is a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has taught for 33 years. M. A. Oxford, Ph.D. UCLA. He is the author or co-author of four books, including: Realism Regained (Oxford University Press, 2000), and The Atlas of Reality: A Comprehensive Guide to Metaphysics, with Timothy H. Pickavance (Wiley-Blackwell, 2017). He is the co-editor (with George Bealer) of The Waning of Materialism (Oxford University Press, 2010), and co-editor (with Nicholas Teh and William Simpson) of Neo-Aristotelian Perspectives on Contemporary Science (Routledge, 2018). He has been working recently on an Aristotelian interpretation of quantum theory, on defending and articulating Thomism in contemporary terms, and on arguments for classical theism.

This talk was given on February 1st, 2023 at Fordham University. For more information please visit thomisticinstitute.org. About the speaker: Born, raised, and educated in Budapest, Hungary, Prof. Klima held postdoc positions in Helsinki, St. Andrews and Copenhagen in the eighties. In 1991, he was hired at Yale University, moved to Notre Dame in 1995, and landed his current position at Fordham in 1999, where he has been a full professor since 2002. He founded and still runs the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics, and edits (together with Prof. Alex Hall) its Proceedings. Recently, he started and has been directing the new Research Center for the History of Ideas (R.C.H.I. --"Archie") in Budapest; currently he divides his time between Budapest and NY, directing Archie in the fall and teaching at Fordham in the Spring. For his detailed CV and list of publications, as well as a number of his papers online, you may wish to visit https://faculty.fordham.edu/klima/ and https://fordham.academia.edu/GyulaKl