Intellectual Retreats Episodes

Prof. Steven Jensen analyzes the complexity of the human heart by distinguishing the interplay between emotions and will, drawing on Aquinas and Aristotle to explain how passions like love, desire, sorrow, anxiety, guilt, vainglory, and pride shape human behavior and moral decision-making. This lecture was given on September 6th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Steven J Jensen, w...

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, euthanasia, and palliative care, as illustrated by real clinical cases. This lecture was given on March 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Gina Maria Noia, P...

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 ethical tradition. This lecture was given on March 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Gina Maria Noia, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Providenc...

Fr. Innocent Smith explores the origins and theological significance of the Feast of Corpus Christi, emphasizing how liturgical tradition, scriptural foundations, and figures like Saint Juliana of Liège shape the Church’s understanding and celebration of the Eucharist. 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 the Ord...

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 tabernacle and the dual spiritual practices of visual contemplation and sacrificial offering. This lecture was given on February 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker:...

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, drawing on insights from Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy. This lecture was given on February 22nd, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Thomas M. Ward is As...

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 Augustine and Aquinas. This lecture was given on February 21st, 2025, 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. (Commissio Leonina) was born and ...

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 challenges about the nature of evil. This lecture was given on February 22nd, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy a...

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 given on February 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pont...

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 It . This lecture was given on January 18th, 2025, at Cedarbrake Catholic Retreat Center. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Cassian Derbes, O.P. is a priest of the Dominican Province of Saint...

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, grounded in Catholic theology and enriched by personal experience. This lecture was given on Jan 24th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Nathaniel Peters is the Dir...

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 their lives. This lecture was given on March 10th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Stephen Ryan was born and raised in Boston and entered the Order of 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. This lecture was given on February 14th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican...

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 defending orthodox Christology remains vital for Christian faith and unity today. This lecture was given on February 16th, 2024, at St. Joseph's in Greenwich Village. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speake...

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, emphasizing the Holy Spirit’s role in uniting believers to Christ.

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 born and raised in Washington, D.C. He entered the Order of Preachers in 1991 and was ordained a priest in 1998. He studied at Wake Forest University (B.S., 1982), the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (M.Div. and S.T.B., 1997; S.T.L, 1999) and the Ecole Pratique ...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.