The Thomistic Institute
By: The Thomistic Institute
Language: en
Categories: Religion, Spirituality, Christianity, Society, Culture, Philosophy
The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone. The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and much more. Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.
Episodes
Does God Care About Suffering? – Dr. Christopher Mooney
Jan 09, 2026Dr. Christopher Mooney asks "whether God really cares about our suffering" and uses biblical narratives, the significance of Christ’s tears, and philosophical responses to death in order to answer in the affirmative, ultimately showing that God can form a greater good from evil without making the evil into something good.
This lecture was given on October 9th, 2025, at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Dr...
Duration: 00:54:39Is Suffering Good? – Sr. Elinor Gardner, O.P.
Jan 08, 2026Sr. Elinor Gardner asks whether suffering can be called “good” by engaging Stoic thinkers like Seneca, modern echoes in Nietzsche, and biblical wisdom to show how God can use painful trials to heal and deepen the soul without glorifying evil itself.
This lecture was given on September 11th, 2025, at University of North Texas.
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About the Speakers:
Sister Elinor Gardner, O.P., is Affiliate Assistant Professor of Philosophy at t...
Duration: 00:38:17The God of Love and the Reality of Evil and Suffering – Prof. Chris Baglow
Jan 07, 2026Prof. Chris Baglow explores how the God of love can allow evil and suffering by showing that a world created for freedom and love—not as a deterministic machine—necessarily entails the risk of physical and moral evils, yet opens a deeper path of redemptive goodness.
This lecture was given on October 30th, 2025, at Mississippi State University.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Baglow is Professor of the Practice of T...
Duration: 00:48:32Christ Fully Reveals Man to Himself: What Christ's Humanity Says about What It Means to Be Human – Prof. Paul Gondreau
Jan 06, 2026Prof. Paul Gondreau explores how Christ’s concrete, fully human life uniquely “fully reveals man to himself,” showing that every human person and all of history are teleologically ordered to him as the final Adam and measure of authentic humanity.
This lecture was given on November 20th, 2025, at The Ohio State University.
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About the Speakers:
Paul Gondreau is professor of theology at Providence College, where he has taught...
Duration: 00:54:00Creation as Relation: An Existential Consideration – Dr. Robert McNamara
Jan 05, 2026Dr. Robert McNamara explores how creation is not a distant event but our very act of existing here and now, so that each person’s being is itself a continuous relation of absolute dependence on God that can be freely understood, accepted, and joyfully affirmed.
This lecture was given on December 2nd, 2025, at Queen's University at Belfast.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Robert McNamara is lecturer in philosophy at...
Duration: 00:33:21Do We Make Morality, or Discover It? An Examination of the Basis of Natural Law – Dr. Erik Dempsey
Jan 01, 2026Dr. Erik Dempsey explores whether we make morality or discover it by unpacking Aquinas’s three natural inclinations and arguing that they ground objective, inescapable moral obligations rather than mere social conventions.
This lecture was given on October 11th, 2025, at Michigan State University.
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About the Speakers:
Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Di...
Duration: 00:37:45Seeking Friendship in the Virtual Age – Prof. John Cuddeback
Dec 31, 2025Prof. John Cuddeback reflects on why many students feel relationally unsatisfied in a hyper-connected world and shows how reclaiming embodied presence, intentional discernment of a few trustworthy friends, and technology-limited, silence-friendly communal spaces can restore the depth, vulnerability, and shared pursuit of the good that real friendship requires.
This lecture was given on September 23rd, 2025, at Virginia Military Institute.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing...
Duration: 00:42:27Let the Best One Win: Reflections of Friendship and Competition – Prof. Michael Krom
Dec 30, 2025Prof. Michael Krom explores how athletic rivalry, when rooted in justice and love of the good, can deepen genuine friendship, build virtue, and lead toward a contemplative vision of life.
This lecture was given on November 13th, 2025, at Indiana University.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing for answers.
Thanks to a group of generous donors, every dollar you send up t...
Duration: 00:45:01Friendship and the Digital Age: A Thomistic Reflection on Human Connection – Prof. Joshua Hochschild
Dec 29, 2025Prof. Joshua Hochschild argues that digital culture reshapes friendship and attention through Curiositas and acedia, offering a path of renewal by cultivating virtue, mindful leisure, and rooted communal belonging.
This lecture was given on November 5th, 2025, at John Hopkins University.
Thanks to a group of generous donors, every dollar you send up to $150,000 before December 31 will be matched. This means that your gift will touch twice as many souls!
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Duration: 00:45:13Why Get Married? The Catholic View of the Meaning and Purpose of Marriage – Prof. Michael Dauphinais
Dec 26, 2025Prof. Michael Dauphinais explains marriage as a lifelong covenant of self-giving love between a man and a woman that images Christ’s union with the Church, ordered to the spouses’ sanctification and the procreation and education of children .
This lecture was given on October 15th, 2025, at Iowa State University.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing for answers.
Thanks to a group...
Duration: 00:51:27Why Did God Become Man? The Absolute Primacy of Christ According to Blessed Duns Scotus – Prof. Thomas Ward
Dec 25, 2025Prof. Thomas Ward explains Scotus’s bold claim that the Incarnation is not primarily a response to human sin, but the centerpiece of God’s eternal plan for creation, so that Christ would have become incarnate even if Adam had never fallen .
This lecture was given on March 4th, 2025, at Universidad Panamericana.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing for answers.
Thank...
Duration: 00:38:26Participation in the Divine Nature: Aquinas and the Catholic Vision of Theosis – Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
Dec 24, 2025Fr. Gregory Pine explains that, according to Aquinas, Christians are called to true divinization or theosis: by grace and the sacraments they really come to share in God’s own life without becoming God by nature, growing into intimate communion with the Triune God through Christ in whom this transformation is perfectly realized.
This lecture was given on October 3rd, 2025, at Duke University.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Ch...
Duration: 00:31:51What Difference Did Christianity Make? Why the Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Irish Converted – Fr. Terence Crotty, O.P.
Dec 23, 2025Fr. Terence Crotty argues that Christianity spread so rapidly because it uniquely answered the human search for truth and happiness while transforming social life through charity, dignity for slaves and women, and a compelling vision of a good and loving God that pagan religion and philosophy could not provide.
This lecture was given on September 6th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to st...
Duration: 00:55:48The Disappearing Man: Body, Soul, and the Question of Who We Are – Dr. Paul LaPenna
Dec 22, 2025Dr. Paul LaPenna uses the dramatic case of a man in a coma from autoimmune brain disease to show that personal identity endures despite severe loss of abilities, arguing from neurology and Thomistic philosophy that a human person is a unified body–soul substance whose soul grounds changing traits over time.
This lecture was given on October 17th, 2025, at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the...
Duration: 01:05:28Rebutting Necessitarian Universalism: Three Thomistic Arguments – Prof. Mats Wahlberg
Dec 19, 2025Prof. Mats Wahlberg argues that “necessitarian universalism”—the claim that hell is metaphysically impossible and that God must save all rational creatures—is incompatible with core Christian metaphysical commitments, and he develops three Thomistic arguments to show that the possibility of eternal damnation follows from God’s wisdom, respect for created natures, and desire for truly free self-gift.
This lecture was given on September 6th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college...
Duration: 00:43:27Reprobation and Permission of Sin – Prof. Thomas Osborne
Dec 18, 2025Prof. Thomas Osborne explains reprobation and the permission of sin in Thomas Aquinas as the asymmetrical counterpart to predestination, where God positively causes the grace and merits leading the elect to glory but only permits the sins of the reprobate without ever willing or causing moral evil, thus safeguarding both divine justice and human responsibility.
This lecture was given on September 6th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, br...
Duration: 00:46:08Aquinas's Interpretation of Predestination in Scripture – Fr. Piotr Roszak
Dec 17, 2025Fr. Piotr Roszak shows how Thomas Aquinas interprets predestination through a deeply biblical lens, reading predestination as God’s merciful, Christ-centered plan to lead creation freely to a supernatural end and insisting that scriptural context is essential for avoiding deterministic distortions of the doctrine.
This lecture was given on September 5th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing for answers.
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Duration: 00:47:25Why is Thomism so Fixated on Predestination? – Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.
Dec 16, 2025Fr. Cajetan Cuddy explains that Thomism is “fixated” on predestination because this doctrine lies at the speculative and practical center of the Thomistic vision of reality, uniting its key philosophical principles and theological convictions about God, creation, grace, and salvation in a single, coherent account.
This lecture was given on September 6th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing for answers.
...
Duration: 00:43:29What is predestination? – Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.
Dec 15, 2025Fr. Dominic Legge explains predestination as a profoundly hopeful Catholic doctrine rooted in God’s eternal, loving plan to give grace and lead rational creatures freely to the supernatural end of the beatific vision, drawing especially on Saint Thomas Aquinas and Saint Augustine.
This lecture was given on September 5th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Through your gift to the Thomistic Institute, you will send the best scholars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition directly to college campuses, bringing the light of Christ to students longing for answers.
...
Does Nature Make Laws? – Prof. Raymond Hain
Dec 12, 2025This lecture was given on September 8th, 2025, at United States Military Academy.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Raymond Hain is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Humanities Program at Providence College in Providence, RI. Educated at Christendom College, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oxford, he is the founder of the PC Humanities Forum and Humanities Reading Seminars and is responsible for the strategic development of the Humanities...
Duration: 00:41:46'The greatest of all God's works': Justification in Catholic Theology – Prof. Matthew Thomas
Dec 11, 2025Prof. Matthew Thomas explains why justification—God’s transformative act of making sinners righteous in Christ by grace through faith and incorporation into the Church—is, for Aquinas, greater even than creation, and explores how Catholic teaching on faith, works, and grace can address Reformation-era controversies and open paths toward Protestant–Catholic reconciliation.
This lecture was given on April 6th, 2025, at Stanford University.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Matthew...
Duration: 00:55:39Can Divine Providence Be Known Through Natural Reason? The Classics' Response – Prof. Carlos A. Casanova
Dec 10, 2025Prof. Carlos A. Casanova argues that a properly understood Aristotelian–Platonic metaphysics of form, final causality, and nature allows human reason, without biblical revelation, to infer a governing divine intellect that orders the cosmos and human history in a providential way.
This lecture was given on October 22nd, 2025, at Clemson University.
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About the Speakers:
A native of Venezuela, Carlos Casanova holds a law degree from the Catholic Univ...
Duration: 00:47:16Living Mary's Mediation through De Montfort’s 'Total Consecration' – Fr. John Langlois, O.P.
Dec 09, 2025Fr. John Langlois presents Saint Louis de Montfort’s Marian spirituality of “total consecration” as the surest, easiest, and most secure way to live Mary’s maternal mediation and grow in intimate union with Jesus by entrusting one’s whole life to her.
This lecture was given on December 14th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Born in Berlin, NH, Father John Langlois, O.P. entered th...
Duration: 00:40:40The History of Devotion to Mary: She Who Leads Us to Jesus – Fr. John Langlois, O.P.
Dec 08, 2025Fr. John Langlois traces how Marian doctrine and devotion—from Scripture and the early Fathers through medieval councils, liturgy, and architecture—culminate in the rosary as a Christ-centered, biblically rooted prayer that brings believers to Jesus through Mary’s maternal intercession.
This lecture was given on December 14th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Born in Berlin, NH, Father John Langlois, O.P. entered the Domini...
Duration: 00:48:54Is Free Will an Illusion? – Prof. Joshua Hochschild
Dec 05, 2025This lecture was given on October 10th, 2025, at St. Joseph’s Church in Greenwich Village.
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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 t...
Duration: 00:51:08Happiness and Virtue: Can it be Good for You to Be Bad? – Prof. Thomas Osborne
Dec 04, 2025Prof. Thomas Osborne argues that, on an Aristotelian–Thomistic account of human nature, it is never truly good for you to be bad, because vice damages your very being as a rational, social creature ordered to common goods and ultimately to God.
This lecture was given on October 29th, 2025, at University of Pittsburgh.
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About the Speakers:
Thomas M. Osborne, Jr. (Ph.D, Duke University, 2001) is the Frank A...
Duration: 00:40:35Virtue and the Meaningful Life – Dr. David McPherson
Dec 03, 2025Dr. David McPherson argues that human beings are “meaning-seeking animals” and that an adequate neo-Aristotelian ethics must see the virtues as constitutive of a meaningful life ordered to strong goods such as the noble, the sacred, and love of God and neighbor.
This lecture was given on October 16th, 2025, at University of Florida.
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About the Speakers:
David McPherson is Professor of Philosophy in the Hamilton School for Classi...
Duration: 00:46:37St. Thomas Aquinas: His Life, Wisdom, and Relevance Today – Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.
Dec 02, 2025Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy presents Aquinas as a medieval theologian whose love of Scripture, clear metaphysics of happiness, integrated view of body and soul, and profound Eucharistic devotion offer urgently needed guidance for Christians facing modern confusion about truth, identity, and God.
This lecture was given on October 30th, 2025, at Southern Methodist University.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the...
Duration: 00:50:37Why We Need the Saints – Prof. Adam Eitel
Dec 01, 2025Prof. Adam Eitel argues that God’s divine pedagogy makes the examples of the saints indispensable for our salvation, since their concrete, imperfect yet graced lives teach us how to endure sorrow, grow in virtue, and imitate Christ in the real circumstances of our own time.
This lecture was given on October 6th, 2025, at Brown University.
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About the Speakers:
Professor Eitel is an Associate Professor of Theology at...
Duration: 00:35:54Does Marketing Make Us Less Human? – Dr. John-Paul Heil
Nov 28, 2025Dr. John-Paul Heil critiques modern marketing’s implicit anthropology, explaining that marketing driven by manipulation, simulation, and quantity undermines human dignity, authentic friendship, and the pursuit of truth, advocating for a vision of marketing grounded in transparency, service, and the intrinsic value of persons.
This lecture was given on October 7th, 2025, at Washington and Lee University/Virginia Military Institute.
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John-Paul Heil is a Core Fe...
Duration: 00:50:52A Breastplate of Stillness and a Book of Thanksgiving: The Fruits of Patience in the Face of Boredom – Prof. Carl Vennerstrom
Nov 27, 2025Prof. Carl Vennerstrom explores how perseverance, prayer, ordered work, and thanksgiving transform boredom and the temptation to acedia into opportunities for deep spiritual growth, joy, and resilient virtue in an age of digital distraction.
This lecture was given on April 12th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Vennerstrom specializes in eastern patristic theology. Of particular interest are monasticism, scriptural interpretation, and the writings of...
Duration: 00:35:32Theology of the Body – Prof. Paige Hochschild
Nov 26, 2025Prof. Paige Hochschild analyzes John Paul II’s Theology of the Body, contrasting the Catholic vision of bodily integration, purity, and vocation with both contemporary purity culture and philosophical dualism to reveal how grace, self-gift, and resurrection ground true human flourishing.
This lecture was given on October 6th, 2025, at University of South Florida.
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About the speaker:
Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of historical and systematic theology at...
Duration: 00:55:12Identity vs. Nature: Aquinas on Who Creates Me – Prof. Jacob Wood
Nov 25, 2025Prof. Jacob Wood contrasts Aquinas’s account of nature, cause, and purpose with modern identity theory, showing that human nature—created and ordered by God—grounds authentic freedom and common purpose in contrast to the fragmentation of expressive individualism.
This lecture was given on September 10th, 2025, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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About the speaker:
Jacob W. Wood was born and raised in the New York City area...
Duration: 00:33:58The Way of Beauty: The Church and the Arts – Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P.
Nov 24, 2025Fr. Innocent Smith explores how beauty in art, architecture, and liturgy forms the soul, elevates worship, and points to God, showing that the Church’s cultivation of beauty is essential for evangelization, spiritual maturity, and experiencing the divine.
This lecture was given on October 6th, 2025, at University of Virginia.
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About the speaker:
Innocent Smith, O.P., is Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Afte...
Duration: 00:34:29Mariology 101: Part 1 – Fr. James Brent, O.P.
Nov 21, 2025Fr. James Brent presents a systematic introduction to Mariology, demonstrating that all Marian titles and attributes find their source and unity in her primary dogmatic role as Mother of God, which shapes her graces, virtues, and mission in salvation history.
This lecture was given on December 8th, 2024, at an Intellectual Retreat at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
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About the speaker:
Fr. James Dominic...
Duration: 00:37:40Finding Meaning Amidst the Chaos Or: Why Get Out of Bed in the Morning? – Dr. Robert McNamara
Nov 20, 2025Dr. Robert McNamara explores the problem of meaninglessness and chaos in contemporary life, showing how wonder, intellectual attention, and the cultivation of virtue empower individuals to find purpose and resilience in the face of suffering and cultural fragmentation.
This lecture was given on September 30th, 2025, at University of Galway.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Robert McNamara is lecturer in philosophy at St. Patrick’s Pontifical University, Maynooth, Ireland, as...
Duration: 00:41:24A Feeble Plant in the Breeze: Personal and Social Forms of Acedia – Prof. Carl Vennerstrom
Nov 19, 2025This lecture was given on April 11th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Dr. Vennerstrom specializes in eastern patristic theology. Of particular interest are monasticism, scriptural interpretation, and the writings of Evagrius of Pontus. He earned his PhD in Early Christian Studies at the Catholic University of America and teaches courses in church history, theology, and Greek at the Augustine Institute Graduate School in St. Louis, Missouri.
Duration: 00:36:34Your Eucharistic Identity – Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
Nov 18, 2025This lecture was given on November 3rd, 2025, at University of Pennsylvania.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He is the co-author of Credo: An RCIA Program and Marian Consecration with Aquinas as well as the author of Prudence...
Duration: 00:45:12Aquinas and Newman on the Pursuit of Wisdom and Happiness – Prof. Jennifer Frey
Nov 17, 2025This lecture was given on September 18th, 2025, at University of Tulsa.
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About the Speakers:
Jennifer A. Frey is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. She previously served as the inaugural Dean of the Honors College. Before coming to Oklahoma, she was an Associate Professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina, where she was also a Peter and Bonnie McCausland Faculty Fellow in the College of Arts and...
Duration: 00:38:29Minimum Wage vs. Just Wage: A Thomistic Clarification of Catholic Social Teaching – Dr. Michael Krom
Nov 14, 2025This lecture was given on September 25th, 2025, at Louisiana State University.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speakers:
Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of college. Upon learning about Flannery O’Connor’s “hillbilly Thomist” habit of reading Aquinas every night, he started studying two articles a day and completed the Summa while in graduate school at Emory University. As a professor at Saint Vincent College, he saw the ur...
Duration: 00:47:52Would St. Thomas Baptize and Extraterrestrial? – Dr. Edmund Lazzari
Nov 13, 2025This lecture was given on September 10th, 2025, at North Dakota State University.
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About the Speakers:
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...
Duration: 00:43:09George Lemaitre: The Catholic Priest Who Proposed the Big Bang Theory – Prof. Jonathan Lunine
Nov 12, 2025This lecture was given on October 5th, 2023, at the Thomistic Institute in Limerick, Ireland.
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About the Speakers:
Jonathan Lunine is the Chief Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech in Pasadena, California. Beforehand, he was the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences and Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University. Lunine is interested in how planets form and evolve, what processes ma...
Duration: 00:54:13Does AI Have a Soul? – Dr. Edmund Lazzari
Nov 11, 2025Dr. Edmund Lazzari’s lecture critically assesses claims that artificial intelligence systems might possess souls, arguing from Thomistic philosophy and computational neuroscience that AI lacks genuine abstraction, intentionality, and the ontological requirements for immaterial intelligence.
This lecture was given on October 2nd, 2025, at University of Houston.
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About the Speakers:
Edmund Lazzari is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Catholic Studies at Duquesne University. Dr. Lazzari is also a...
Duration: 00:47:44Neuroscience and the Soul – Dr. William Hurlbut
Nov 10, 2025Dr. William Hurlbut explores the profound questions raised by neuroscience, biotechnology, and artificial intelligence, emphasizing that the human soul—understood as the organizing principle of embodied, personal, and purposeful life—remains irreducibly distinct from animal, mechanical, and computational processes.
This lecture was given on October 7th, 2025, at The Ohio State University.
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About the Speakers:
William B. Hurlbut is a physician and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neur...
Duration: 01:02:09Astrology: Why Did Medieval Philosophers Study It? – Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P.
Nov 07, 2025This lecture was given on September 19th, 2025, at University of Michigan
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Ambrose Little is the director of the Thomistic Institute. He is originally from Connecticut and entered the Dominican Order in 2007 and was ordained a priest in 2013. Before entering the Dominican Order, he graduated from The Catholic University of America with a BA in philosophy. After ordination, he completed a Licentiate in Philosophy at The Catholic University of A...
Duration: 00:42:10Theology True Science of God or Poetical Musing – Prof. Christopher Malloy
Nov 06, 2025Prof. Christopher Malloy argues that theology, properly understood as a classical science, involves intellectual habits of certain knowledge through causes grounded in faith, integrating poetry and philosophy to guide believers toward truth and beatific union with God.
This lecture was given on September 25th, 2025, at University of Pittsburgh.
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About the Speakers:
Christopher J. Malloy is married to Flory with whom he has seven children. He earned his...
Duration: 00:42:21How to Know God? Philosophical Wisdom and Divine Revelation – Prof. Michael Dauphinais
Nov 05, 2025Prof. Michael Dauphinais explores how Thomas Aquinas integrates philosophical wisdom and divine revelation, showing that genuine knowledge of God arises from both reason and the transformative experience of Christ’s incarnation and the Holy Spirit.
This lecture was given on June 28th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Michael A. Dauphinais, Ph.D., serves as the Fr. Matthew Lamb Professor of Catholic Theology and the co...
Duration: 00:19:57Nicene Trinity, Chalcedonian Christology: Understanding Christ through Councils and Conflicts – Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
Nov 04, 2025Fr. Gregory Pine explains Nicene Trinitarian theology and Chalcedonian Christology through key councils and controversies, showing how Christ’s incarnation and union with humanity unveil the path to salvation and divine participation.
This lecture was given on September 11th, 2025, at University of Dallas.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assi...
Duration: 00:44:49Thomas Aquinas on Intellectual Memory – Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P.
Nov 03, 2025Fr. Philip-Neri Reese examines Thomas Aquinas’s theory of intellectual memory, tracing how Aquinas navigates conflicting authorities and ultimately defends the preservation of intelligible species in the possible intellect.
This lecture was given on June 17th, 2025, at Schloss St. Emmeram.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P. is a Dominican Friar of the Province of St. Joseph and a professor of philosophy at the Pontifical University of St...
Duration: 01:04:07Augustine's Account of Trinitarian Image and Thomas Aquinas – Fr. Reginald Lynch, O.P.
Oct 31, 2025Fr. Reginald Lynch’s lecture explores Augustine’s account of the Trinitarian image and its reception by Aquinas, illuminating how the development of grace, human anthropology, and sacramental life shape the Christian journey toward likeness with God.
This lecture was given on June 17th, 2025, at Schloss St. Emmeram.
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Duration: 00:59:11Rational Mind and Non-Rational Agency: Aquinas' Augustinian Account of the Sinning Will & the Hierarchy of the Soul – Dr. Albert von Thurn und Taxis
Oct 30, 2025Dr. Albert von Thurn und Taxis analyzes the Augustinian and Thomistic accounts of the rational mind, will, and the hierarchy of the soul, exploring how sin emerges from the complex interplay of reason, freedom, and non-rational agency.
This lecture was given on June 15th, 2025, at Schloss St. Emmeram.
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Dr. Albert von Thurn und Taxis is the twelfth Prince of Thurn und Taxis and the...
Duration: 00:51:22In the Beginning Was the Word: Augustine, Aristotle, and Aquinas – Fr. Dominic Legge, O.P.
Oct 29, 2025Fr. Dominic Legge’s lecture traces the theological development of the concept of the Word through Augustine, Aristotle, and Aquinas, illuminating the evolution of Trinitarian analogy and the nature of human understanding in medieval philosophy.
This lecture was given on June 16th, 2025, at Schloss St. Emmeram.
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Duration: 00:50:46World Time versus Soul Time: Augustine in Albert the Great's Physics – Prof. Katja Krause
Oct 28, 2025Prof. Katja Krause analyzes Albert the Great’s synthesis of Augustine in his physics, showing how philosophical method, anthropological formation, and the hierarchy of sciences inform the integration of world time and soul time in medieval thought.
This lecture was given on June 16th, 2025, at Schloss St. Emmeram.
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About the Speakers:
Prof. Katja Krause is a historian of science and a philosopher specializing in medieval thought and beyo...
Duration: 00:40:26Memory, Intellect, and Will: The 13th Century Reception of Augustine – Dr. Albert von Thurn und Taxis
Oct 27, 2025Dr. Albert von Thurn und Taxis explores the 13th-century reception of Augustine’s account of memory, intellect, and will, analyzing how medieval philosophers navigated the tension between Augustinian and Aristotelian models of the rational soul.
This lecture was given on June 15th, 2025, at Schloss St. Emmeram.
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Duration: 00:21:18Catholic Culture with Tolkien – Prof. Patrick Callahan
Oct 24, 2025Prof. Patrick Callahan explores the living tradition of Catholic culture, using Tolkien’s life and imagination to demonstrate how the Mass, community, and cultivation of virtue form a unified Christian identity resilient amidst modern challenges.
This lecture was given on January 18th, 2024, at University of Washington.
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Duration: 00:48:12Flannery O'Connor and the Perils of Governing By Tenderness – Dr. Jerome Foss
Oct 23, 2025Dr. Jerome Foss uses Flannery O’Connor’s stories to warn against the pitfalls of governing by abstract tenderness, advocating for a vision rooted in faith, realism, and the transformative power of suffering.
This lecture was given on February 12th, 2025, at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
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About the Speakers:
Jerome C. Foss is Professor of Politics, Endowed Director of the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture, and Director of t...
Duration: 00:44:53Newman and Tolkien: The Humility of (Hi)story – Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini
Oct 22, 2025Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini explores the biographical and spiritual connections between Newman and Tolkien, revealing how their shared organic vision of historical development and renewal challenges modern tensions between nostalgia, progress, and Christian identity.
This lecture was given on March 27th, 2025, at University of Edinburgh.
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Duration: 00:57:53Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Canticles: Gregorian Chant and the Joy of the Gospel – Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P.
Oct 21, 2025Fr. Innocent Smith’s lecture illuminates how Gregorian Chant, rooted in Psalms, hymns, and spiritual canticles, enriches Catholic liturgy by shaping Christian spirituality and expressing the deep joy of the Gospel through sung prayer.
This lecture was given on April 10th, 2025, at Clemson University.
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About the Speakers:
Innocent Smith, O.P., is Assistant Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. After undergraduate studies in music an...
Duration: 00:37:18The Incarnation and the Machine: The Visions of Fra Angelico and Le Corbusier – Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy O.P.
Oct 20, 2025Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy's lecture contrasts the incarnational vision of Fra Angelico with Le Corbusier’s machine aesthetic, revealing how Christian art and architecture communicate spiritual beauty, theological wisdom, and the presence of Christ through the transformation of physical space.
This lecture was given on March 14th, 2025, at Rhode Island School of Design.
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Duration: 00:47:55Beyond but Not Against Nature: How Grace Perfects and Transforms Nature – Fr. Cajetan Cuddy, O.P.
Oct 17, 2025Fr. Cajetan Cuddy explores the relationship between grace and nature, demonstrating how grace perfects, transforms, and preserves the continuity of human nature without destroying its fundamental reality.
This lecture was given on July 20th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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Duration: 00:50:02
How the Highest of the Inanimate Touches the Lowest of the Living: A Contemporary Thomistic Approach – Fr. Thomas Davenport, O.P.
Oct 16, 2025Fr. Thomas Davenport examines the philosophical and scientific boundaries between the inanimate and the living, highlighting how Thomistic principles, spontaneous generation, and structured homogeneity offer new ways to understand life’s emergence and complexity.
This lecture was given on July 19th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Thomas Davenport, O.P., is professor of philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Ro...
Duration: 00:46:41The Measure of All Things? Rethinking Constants and Replicability in the Life Sciences – Prof. Santiago Schnell
Oct 15, 2025Prof. Santiago Schnell’s lecture examines the challenges of measurement, scientific constants, and replicability in the life sciences, highlighting how philosophical and mathematical models are crucial for advancing biological research.
This lecture was given on July 19th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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<... Duration: 00:50:08The Plasma Membrane - Boundary and Bridge at the Edge of Life – Prof. Keith Kozminski
Oct 14, 2025This lecture was given on July 19th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Keith Kozminski is an Associate Professor of Biology and Cell Biology at the University of Virginia, where he studies polarized cell growth, i...
Duration: 00:41:28Water and Oil, or Water into Wine? St. Thomas and the Mixture and Subalternation of Sciences – Prof. Brian Carl
Oct 13, 2025This lecture was given on July 18th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Brian T. Carl earned his M.A. in Philosophy from Saint Louis University and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from The Catholic...
Duration: 00:49:13Thomistic Wisdom for the Pilgrimage to God – Prof. John Cuddeback
Oct 10, 2025Prof. John Cuddeback presents Thomistic wisdom for the pilgrimage to God emphasizing the importance of cleaving to the final end—God—as the ultimate rule and measure of all actions, fostering order and peace in the spiritual journey.
This lecture was given on June 28th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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Duration: 00:20:38Thomistic Wisdom for the Pilgrimage to God – Prof. Paige Hochschild
Oct 09, 2025Prof. Paige Hochschild explores Thomistic wisdom for the pilgrimage to God, focusing on the virtues required for spiritual journey, the meanings of patience, hope, and memory, and the role of Dante’s Divine Comedy in illuminating the challenges and fulfillment of the pilgrim’s quest.
This lecture was given on June 28th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Paige Hochschild is a professor of hist...
Duration: 00:19:37Must Beautiful Things be Natural? – Prof. Raymond Hain
Oct 08, 2025Prof. Raymond Hain examines whether beauty must be natural, exploring Thomistic metaphysics, twentieth-century debates between Maritain and Gilson, and contemporary examples from architecture and literature to probe the relationship between nature, artifice, and the beautiful.
This lecture was given on May 31st, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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Duration: 00:48:12Are Societies Natural? The Metaphysics of Thomistic Social Thought I Prof. Joshua Hochschild
Oct 07, 2025Prof. Joshua Hochschild examines whether societies are natural by tracing the Aristotelian and Thomistic understanding of social forms, arguing that certain social bodies like families and states have intrinsic natures and purposes that fulfill the social aspect of human flourishing.
This lecture was given on May 31st, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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About the Speakers:
Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, wh...
Duration: 00:50:24Are the Virtues Natural? I Fr. John Sica, O.P.
Oct 06, 2025Fr. John Sica explores whether virtues are natural by examining Aristotle and Aquinas, ultimately concluding that the virtues are not innate qualities, but are rather habituated character states that perfect human nature.
This lecture was given on May 31st, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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Duration: 00:32:47From Nature to Norm: How to Derive 'Ought' From 'Is' I Prof. Catherine Peters
Oct 03, 2025Prof. Catherine Peters addresses the philosophical question of deriving moral ought from descriptive is, arguing from a Thomistic natural law perspective that the essence of human nature grounds objective moral norms, bridging fact and value through teleology and reason.
This lecture was given on May 30th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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About the Speakers:
Catherine Peters is an associate professor of medieval philosophy at Loyola Marymount University...
Duration: 00:43:38The Natural and the Artificial I Prof. Christopher Frey
Oct 02, 2025Prof. Christopher Frey examines the distinctions and interactions between natural and artificial entities, showing how art can complete, imitate, or even subvert nature within Aristotelian and Thomistic frameworks.
This lecture was given on May 30th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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About the Speakers:
Christopher Frey is currently the McFarlin Professor of Philosophy at The University of Tulsa. Prof. Frey works primarily in Ancient Greek philosophy, especially Aristotle’s...
Duration: 00:56:50Nature's Cheat Codes? On the Course of Nature and its Laws I Prof. John G. Brungardt
Oct 01, 2025Prof. John Brungardt explores the concept of laws of nature as partial transcriptions of the natures of physical substances, emphasizing the interplay between philosophical tradition, scientific discovery, and metaphysical causality.
This lecture was given on May 30th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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About the Speakers:
John G. Brungardt is an associate professor of philosophy at the School of Catholic Studies at Newman University.
As a...
Duration: 00:54:18Aquinas on Nature and the Natural: Form and the Scale of 'Esse' I Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P.
Sep 30, 2025This lecture was given on May 29th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P. is the Director of Campus Programs and Evangelization for the Thomistic Institute. He grew up in Wichita, Kansas and studied philosophy and classics at the University of Notre Dame. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2010 and was ordained a priest in 2016. He recently completed a licentiate in philosophy at the Catholic...
Duration: 00:51:20Aquinas on Nature and the Natural: Endoxa and Principles I Fr. Raymund Snyder, O.P.
Sep 29, 2025Fr. Raymund Snyder explores the foundations of nature, natural philosophy, and metaphysics through a Thomistic lens, with special attention to Aristotelian principles, correlative pairs, and the interplay of form, substance, act, and potency in philosophical and theological discussion.
This lecture was given on May 29th, 2025, at Mount Saint Mary College.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Raymund Snyder, OP is the Director of Campus Programs and Evangelization for the...
Duration: 00:57:38Usefulness and Elegance in Mathematics I Prof. Meraiah Martinez
Sep 26, 2025Prof. Meraiah Martinez explores the beauty and usefulness of mathematics, emphasizing the delight mathematicians find in elegant proofs, structured abstractions, and the interplay between pure and applied mathematics across various fields.
This lecture was given on July 18th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Meraiah Martinez grew up moving between California and Colorado and graduated from BC in 2019. She received her M.S. (2021) and Ph...
Duration: 00:32:07How Planetary Science Unifies the Search for Life Beyond Earth I Prof. Jonathan I. Lunine
Sep 25, 2025Prof. Jonathan Lunine explains how planetary science unifies the search for life beyond Earth by integrating astronomy, geology, chemistry, and atmospheric science to investigate habitable environments on Mars, Europa, Enceladus, Titan, and exoplanets.
This lecture was given on July 18th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Jonathan Lunine is the Chief Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Professor of Planetary Science at Caltech in...
Duration: 00:48:48Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in the Scientific Revolution I Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco
Sep 24, 2025Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco examines Nicolaus Steno’s innovative use of focused interdisciplinarity during the Scientific Revolution, tracing Steno’s groundbreaking shift from anatomy to geology and theology by integrating mathematics, mechanical philosophy, and collaboration across European scientific circles.
This lecture was given on July 17th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Prof. Nuno Castel-Branco is a historian of early modern culture and science. He is espe...
Duration: 00:31:40Dividing and Relating the Sciences in Aquinas I Fr. Philip-Neri Reese, O.P.
Sep 23, 2025Fr. Philip-Neri Reese analyzes Aquinas’s method for dividing and relating the sciences, clarifying the distinction between speculative and practical sciences, the role of material and formal causes, and the concept of mixed or subalternated sciences.
This lecture was given on July 17th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Philip-Neri Reese is a Dominican friar of the Province of St Joseph and a Professor of...
Duration: 00:50:38Aquinas and the Basic Principles of the Material World I Prof. Michael Gorman
Sep 22, 2025Prof. Michael Gorman explores Aquinas’s foundational philosophy of the material world, detailing key concepts such as the four causes, hylomorphism, act and potency, matter and form, and the distinction between substantial and accidental change.
This lecture was given on July 17th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Michael Gorman is Professor of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has...
Duration: 00:50:56How Many Friends Should I Have? I Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P.
Sep 19, 2025Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau explores the nature, value, and varieties of friendship in Christian and philosophical tradition, highlighting the importance of cultivating friendships of pleasure, utility, and virtue for a fulfilling human and spiritual life.
This lecture was given on November 5th, 2023, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
A native of Louisiana, Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P., entered the Dominican Province of St. Joseph in 2005. After...
Duration: 00:35:24Dating Like Mr. Darcy I Dr. John-Paul Heil
Sep 18, 2025Dr. John-Paul Heil investigates how virtuous courtship, compassionate secrecy, and sexual difference—as presented in Jane Austen’s novels—are essential for discerning authentic love and practicing self-giving in Catholic romance.
This lecture was given on April 22nd, 2025, at United States Naval Academy.
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About the Speakers:
John-Paul Heil is a Core Fellow in history, philosophy, Catholic anthropology, English, and theology at Mount St. Mary's University. He received his Ph...
Duration: 00:47:34What is Wisdom and Why Do We Need It? I Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.
Sep 17, 2025In this lecture, Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy explains how wisdom—philosophical, theological, and mystical—transcends mere technical knowledge and, therefore, is able to orient man's action toward divine truth and human flourishing.
This lecture was given on May 2nd, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, OP is a Coordinator for Campus Outreach at the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC. He has served as a pa...
Duration: 00:54:06The Happiness of Human LImitations I Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
Sep 16, 2025This lecture was given on February 15th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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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 (Switzerland). He is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly and Your Eucharistic Identity: A Sacramental Guide to the Fullness...
Duration: 00:47:2812 (Thomistic) Rules for Managing Appearances and Making Yourself Miserable I Sr. Anna Wray, O.P.
Sep 15, 2025Sr. Anna Wray, redefines leadership as the practice of initiating genuine collaboration by rational wishing, deliberation, and action, exposing twelve common pitfalls that distort true agency and offering practical guidance for more authentic, freeing teamwork and spiritual growth.
This lecture was given on June 26th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican...
Duration: 00:52:54The TI and Your Vocation I Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.
Sep 12, 2025This lecture was given on June 27th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speaker:
Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an...
Duration: 00:38:43Why Becoming More Philosophical is a Good Idea I Prof. Michael Gorman
Sep 11, 2025Prof. Michael Gorman demonstrates why becoming more philosophical is essential for intellectual autonomy and deeper understanding, emphasizing the importance of fundamental questioning, sustained attention, and personal intellectual effort over dependence on artificial intelligence.
This lecture was given on June 27th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast to give today!
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Duration: 00:44:20Technology In Our Relationship With God I Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.
Sep 10, 2025Fr. Anselm Ramelow examines how technology shapes and reflects our relationship with God, cautioning against both idolizing technology and seeking salvation through it, while affirming its proper role as an instrument serving man's chosen ends.
This lecture was given on June 11th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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Duration: 01:00:33Insight, Idolatry, and AI I Prof. Jordan Wales
Sep 09, 2025Prof. Jordan Wales examines how AI-aided decision making and bias in fields like medicine and criminal justice risk reducing human engagement to idolatrous control, urging that technology must serve authentic love and responsibility rather than replace genuine insight and ethical discernment.
This lecture was given on June 11th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast to give today!
Predictive AI, Manipulation, and Human Freedom According to Aquinas I Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.
Sep 08, 2025Fr. Anselm Ramelow explores the tension between predictive artificial intelligence and human freedom, drawing on St. Thomas Aquinas to argue that while AI and social systems can influence and predict behavior to a certain degree, genuine free will and moral responsibility remain grounded in rational deliberation and virtue.
This lecture was given on June 12th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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Duration: 00:50:54AI and Interpersonal Relationships I Prof. Jordan Wales
Sep 05, 2025Prof. Jordan Wales explores the ethical and spiritual implications of interpersonal relationships with artificial intelligence, emphasizing the dangers of mistaking AI’s simulated personhood for authentic human connection.
This lecture was given on June 11th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast to give today!
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Duration: 01:03:09AI and Ethics I Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.
Sep 04, 2025Fr. Anselm Ramelow examines the ethical challenges of artificial intelligence, highlighting both its beneficial uses and its risks to human dignity, personal relationships, moral growth, and authenticity.
This lecture was given on June 10th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P., a native of Germany, teaches philosophy at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California, where he is...
Duration: 00:51:31AI and Knowledge of the World I Prof. Jordan Wales
Sep 03, 2025Prof. Jordan Wales explores how artificial intelligence and neural networks engage with meaning and knowledge, contrasting their statistical methods with the depth of human conceptual understanding rooted in philosophical and theological traditions.
This lecture was given on June 10th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Jordan Wales is Associate Professor and John and Helen Kuczmarski Chair in Theology at Hillsdale College, where he teaches historical...
Duration: 00:56:56Mind, Matter, and Life: Can Machines be People, too? I Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.
Sep 02, 2025Fr. Anselm Ramelow examines whether machines can possess consciousness or personhood, arguing from philosophical and theological perspectives that artificial intelligence lacks the essential qualities of subjective experience, intentionality, and rational unity found in living beings.
This lecture was given on June 9th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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Duration: 00:55:22AI and the Human Person I Prof. Jordan Wales
Sep 01, 2025Prof. Jordan Wales critically examines the relationship between artificial intelligence and human personhood through the lens of Christian theology, exploring how AI challenges traditional notions of intelligence, consciousness, and relationality.
This lecture was given on June 9th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Jordan Wales is Associate Professor and John and Helen Kuczmarski Chair in Theology at Hillsdale College, where he teaches historical theology. His...
Duration: 00:57:49The Neuroscience of Vice and Virtue I Dr. Paul LaPenna
Aug 29, 2025Dr. Paul LaPenna delves into the neuroscience of vice and virtue, explaining how neuroplasticity, habit formation, and philosophical insights from figures like Aquinas inform our understanding of humility, magnanimity, pride, and vainglory in the development of moral character.
This lecture was given on May 2nd, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in New York City.
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About the Speakers:
Dr. Paul LaPenna is a neurologist based in Greenville, South Carolina, specializing...
Duration: 00:57:51Origins of the Christian 'Just War' Tradition in Augustine's Anti-Manichean Works I Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.
Aug 28, 2025Fr. Andrew Hofer explores the origins of the Christian just war tradition through Augustine’s anti-Manichean writings, examining the theological debates around violence, authority, and moral law within early Christianity.
This lecture was given on June 11th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.
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About the Speakers:
Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Do...
Duration: 00:45:10Drone Warfare and Just War Theory: Aquinas on the Virtuous Use of Violence I Prof. Michael Krom
Aug 27, 2025Prof. Michael Krom analyzes the ethics of drone warfare through the lens of Aquinas’s just war tradition and virtue ethics, addressing moral principles of discrimination, proportionality, and the indispensability of human judgment in the use of violent technology.
This lecture was given on March 18th, 2025, at Virginia Military Institute.
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About the Speakers:
Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end...
Duration: 00:41:33Just War Theory I Prof. Joseph Capizzi
Aug 26, 2025Prof. Joseph Capizzi presents the just war account within the Catholic tradition, arguing that the use of force in war can be a moral act of peacemaking grounded in pursuit of the common good, and emphasizing the importance of authority, intention, cause, proportionality, and distinction between guilt and innocence.
This lecture was given on April 11th, 2025, at The Ohio State University.
Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit thomisticinstitute.org/b...
Duration: 00:44:13Render Unto Caesar: Aquinas On the Relationship Between Religion and Politics I Prof. Michael Krom
Aug 25, 2025Prof. Michael Krom explores Thomas Aquinas’s view on the relationship between religion and politics, discussing the distinction between obligations to political authority and to God, as reflected in the biblical command to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's."
This lecture was given on November 7th, 2024, at University of Florida.
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About the Speakers:
Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shor...
Duration: 00:46:31Anna Karenina and the Project of Literature I Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel, O.P.
Aug 22, 2025Sr. Jane Dominic Laurel explores the project of literature from the classical to the modern era, highlighting how stories like Anna Karenina shape the moral imagination through themes of virtue, marriage, culture, and the perennial question of what it means to be human.
This lecture was given on March 11th, 2025, at Trinity College Dublin.
Secular campuses are being transformed, but the students need your help! Your gift before September fifteenth can launch a new TI chapter and change lives. Visit thomisticinstitute.org/bts25podcast to give today!