Christopher Mooney argues that John Henry Newman’s teaching on conscience means conscience is not mere personal preference or social conditioning, but the practical application of divine moral law to particular actions. This ...
Prof. Paul Gondreau argues that disability, though a real physical wound of human nature, can also be a profound gift because it deepens participation in Christ’s suffering and points toward healing in the resurrection. This ...
Dr. Peter Koritansky argues that Thomas Aquinas grounds punishment in natural law and retributive justice, where punishment is justified not merely to deter or rehabilitate, but to express the moral order and the common good....
Prof. Nina Sophie Heereman argues that the Church is not a human invention but a divinely founded reality rooted deeply in Scripture, where Israel’s story, the Eucharist, and Pentecost all reveal Christ’s intention to gather ...
Fr. Gregory Pine argues that good conversation is a real moral and spiritual practice: it matters, takes time, and should be used to draw near to others through listening well, welcoming contributions, and sharing life rather...
Dr. Rebekah Lamb argues that St. John Henry Newman’s idea of the saint is deeply relational: saints are friends knit together in the communion of saints, and holiness is lived through prayer, hidden service, and ordinary fide...
Dr. Wes Siscoe argues that true happiness and the good life are not found in pleasure, wealth, fame, or even bodily health, but in a fully ordered human flourishing that culminates in union with God. This lecture was given on...
Prof. Steven Jensen presents several arguments in favor of the conclusion that the life of a fetus has intrinsic human dignity on account of what a human being is and not merely as an effect of psychological or cognitive capa...
Dr. John-Paul Heil argues that Christians should “elect Christ as king” by judging political institutions according to whether they actually lead people toward holiness, the common good, and heaven. This lecture was given on ...
Dr. Lydia Dugdale argues that the “lost art of dying” can be recovered by reviving older practices of mortality awareness, community, reconciliation, and hope rather than accepting medicalized dying as normal. This lecture wa...
Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau presents the Catholic disagreement over honoring Truman as a serious moral dispute rooted in differing judgments about just war, innocent life, and the necessity of the atomic bomb. This lecture was given...
Prof. Michael Krom argues that just war principles still govern contemporary warfare, especially drone warfare and autonomous weapons, and that moral judgment cannot be replaced by technology or legal convenience. This lectur...
Prof. Michael Krom argues that just war theory remains morally necessary today because war must be judged by justice, right intention, and the common good rather than by realpolitik, legal minimalism, or national self-interes...
Prof. Thomas Ward argues that Stoicism offers valuable detachment and moral discipline, but Boethius and Christianity deepen it by reordering the human person toward friendship, hope, and beatitude in God. This lecture was gi...
This lecture was given on February 12th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Dr. Lydia Dugdale is the Silberberg Pr...
This lecture was given on March 5th, 2026, at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Dr. Heereman was born and r...
This lecture was given on March 12th, 2026, at University of Edinburgh. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Rik Van Nieuwenhove is Professor of Med...
Prof. Christopher Frey argues that Stoicism offers real insights about freedom and detachment from externals, but its ideal of self-sufficient serenity risks flattening human emotion, moral life, and the need for grace. This ...
Sr. Anna Wray argues that sorrow can either deform the soul as acedia or save it when rightly faced, and she offers a Thomistic account of how sorrow, friendship with God, and spiritual remedies shape the Christian life. This...
This lecture was given on February 19th, 2026, at University of Tulsa. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. Stephen Ryan was born and raised in ...
Prof. Michael Dauphinais contends that modern Christians, formed by empiricism, individualism, and a this‑worldly hope that easily turns to despair, especially need the Eucharist because it is the concrete, sacramental way Ch...
Prof. Gavin D’Costa explains how, since Vatican II, the Catholic Church has rethought its relationship to Judaism by affirming the enduring validity of God’s covenant with the Jewish people, recovering the Church’s identity a...
Prof. Michael Root argues that, in Catholic theology, we are saved wholly by the unmerited grace of Christ, and that this grace brings us into a Spirit‑given life of faith, hope, love, and morally significant works, so that e...
Fr. Dominic Langevin defends the Catholic priesthood as a divinely willed, sacramental system of mediation in which ordained men, configured to Christ the High Priest, bestow God’s gifts on the faithful and offer their prayer...