Intellectual Retreats Episodes

June 24, 2025

Pope John Paul II's Salvifici Doloris I Prof. Gina Noia

Prof. Gina Noia explores Catholic teaching on medical treatment decision-making, focusing on how suffering, prudence, and the distinction between ordinary and extraordinary means inform ethical choices in end-of-life care, eu...

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June 23, 2025

Suffering and End-of-Life Care I Prof. Gina Noia

Prof. Gina Noia explores Catholic teaching on end-of-life care, suffering, and medical treatment decision-making, highlighting the nuanced distinction between morally obligatory and optional treatments within the Catholic eth...

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June 19, 2025

Corpus Christi and the Mystery of the Eucharist I Fr. Innocent Smith,…

This lecture was given on October 25th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P. entered th...

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June 17, 2025

Is the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in "Accordance with the Scr…

Prof. Gary Anderson examines how the Christian practice of adoring the Blessed Sacrament is deeply rooted in the scriptural tradition, particularly through the Old Testament themes of God's indwelling presence in the tabernac...

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June 13, 2025

The Convertibility of Being and Goodness | Prof. Thomas Ward

Prof. Thomas Ward explores the Thomistic concept of the convertibility of being and goodness, examining how the privation theory of evil and the essential natures of things underpin the intrinsic goodness of all that exists, ...

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June 12, 2025

The Emergence of Evil as a Theological Problem | Fr. Timothy Bellamah…

Fr. Timothy Bellamah explores how the problem of evil emerged as a distinct theological issue within the Judeo-Christian tradition, contrasting it with ancient mythologies and examining historical responses from Gnosticism to...

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June 9, 2025

Evil as Privation | Prof. Thomas Ward

Prof. Thomas Ward explains the classical Christian theory that evil is not a real entity but a privation of goodness, drawing from thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, and Boethius to address philosophical and theological challe...

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June 6, 2025

Thomas Aquinas on the Nicene Creed | Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.

Fr. Andrew Hofer explores Thomas Aquinas’s interpretation of the Nicene Creed, highlighting its foundational role in Catholic theology, the Trinity, and the integration of scripture, liturgy, and tradition. This lecture was g...

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June 5, 2025

Wonderment, Contemplation, and Friendship with God | Fr. Cassian Derb…

Fr. Cassian Derbes explores how wonderment, contemplation, and friendship with God are essential to the Christian life, drawing on insights from Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and literary works such as A River Runs Through...

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June 4, 2025

The Vocation of Parenthood | Dr. Nathaniel Peters and Prof. Jane Sloa…

Dr. Nathaniel Peters and Prof. Jane Sloan Peters explore the vocation of parenthood, highlighting the distinct yet complementary roles of fatherhood and motherhood as a participation in God’s creative and priestly work, groun...

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June 3, 2025

Psalms and the Grace of Conversion | Fr. Stephen Ryan, O.P.

Fr. Stephen Ryan explains how the Psalms uniquely serve as both a mirror and remedy for the soul, fostering self-knowledge, compunction, and conversion by guiding believers into deeper prayer and recognition of God’s grace in...

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June 2, 2025

Key Principles for a Happy Life | Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Fr. Gregory Pine explores the principles for a happy life by drawing on Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy, focusing on the concept of beatitude as the fullness of flourishing rooted in the nature of God and human beings. ...

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May 29, 2025

The Earliest Christological Debates and Why They Matter Today | Fr. A…

Fr. Andrew Hofer explores the earliest Christological debates of the first centuries, showing how heresies like Arianism, Nestorianism, and Pelagianism threatened the Church’s understanding of Jesus’ true identity, and why de...

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May 28, 2025

Capitalizing Christ in Thirteenth-Century Scholasticism | Prof. Boyd …

Prof. Boyd Taylor Coolman examines the thirteenth-century scholastic doctrine of “capital grace,” showing how Alexander of Hales, Hugh of Saint Victor, and the Summa Halensis developed a pneumatologically-centered account of Christ as the head of the Church, which Aquinas later systematized, emphas…

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May 26, 2025

Contemplating Personhood and the Trinity | Fr. Timothy Bellamah, O.P.

This lecture was given on November 23rd, 2023, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Timothy Bellamah, O.P. was bor...

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May 15, 2025

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

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

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May 14, 2025

Aquinas on Friendship and Human Excellence | Prof. Thomas Hibbs

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

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May 2, 2025

Aquinas the Wordsmith: The Hymns and Sequence of Corpus Christi | Pro…

Prof. Patrick Callahan analyzes the poetic genius of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the hymns and sequence of Corpus Christi, highlighting Aquinas’ understanding of beauty, proportion, clarity, and sublimity as essential to both art and spiritual contemplation.

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May 1, 2025

Only the Lover Sings: Poetry, Mimesis, and the Christian Life | Prof.…

Prof. Patrick Callahan reveals how poetry, as the most Christ-like form of speech and a reflection of human mimesis, plays a vital role in the Christian life by fostering conformity to Christ and deepening the contemplative experience.

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April 16, 2025

What Can Demons Do? | Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

Fr. Gregory Pine explores the extent of demonic influence on human life, distinguishing between physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual dimensions to clarify the limits of their power, particularly concerning the direct access to one's sp...

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April 14, 2025

Divine Providence as Fulfilled in Christ | Fr. Timothy Bellamah, O.P.

Fr. Timothy Bellamah explores divine providence as God's vision and causation of all things fulfilled in Christ, explaining that Christ's incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection serve as God's ultimate response to the problem of evil, particularly the suffering of the innocent.

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April 3, 2025

Making Up What is Lacking: Disability and Suffering in Christ's Body,…

Prof. Paul Gondreau reflects on the profound meaning of suffering, disability, and human frailty in light of Christ’s redemptive suffering, emphasizing shared vulnerability as a source of mercy and unity within the Church.

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April 2, 2025

Ectogenesis: Transhumanism, The Brave New World, and the Attack on Tr…

Prof. Stephen Meredith explores the essence of being human through the lens of Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy, contrasting it with biological and scientific perspectives that often overlook the importance of form and final cause.

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April 1, 2025

Can Machines be People, Too? | Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P.

Fr. Anselm Ramelow critically examines whether artificial intelligence can achieve personhood, arguing that machines lack the essential qualities of being, consciousness, and unity inherent to human nature.

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