Season 12

Oct. 21, 2025

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Canticles: Gregorian Chant and the Joy o…

Fr. 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 sun...

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Oct. 20, 2025

The Incarnation and the Machine: The Visions of Fra Angelico and Le C…

Fr. 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 p...

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Oct. 17, 2025

Beyond but Not Against Nature: How Grace Perfects and Transforms Natu…

Fr. 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 giv...

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Oct. 16, 2025

How the Highest of the Inanimate Touches the Lowest of the Living: A …

Fr. 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 under...

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Oct. 15, 2025

The Measure of All Things? Rethinking Constants and Replicability in …

Prof. 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 biologica...

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Oct. 10, 2025

Thomistic Wisdom for the Pilgrimage to God – Prof. John Cuddeback

Prof. 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 ...

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Oct. 9, 2025

Thomistic Wisdom for the Pilgrimage to God – Prof. Paige Hochschild

Prof. 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 illumina...

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Oct. 8, 2025

Must Beautiful Things be Natural? – Prof. Raymond Hain

Prof. 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 relat...

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Oct. 7, 2025

Are Societies Natural? The Metaphysics of Thomistic Social Thought I …

Prof. 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 pu...

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Oct. 6, 2025

Are the Virtues Natural? I Fr. John Sica, O.P.

Fr. 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. Thi...

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Oct. 3, 2025

From Nature to Norm: How to Derive 'Ought' From 'Is' I Prof. Catherin…

Prof. 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, bridgin...

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Oct. 2, 2025

The Natural and the Artificial I Prof. Christopher Frey

Prof. 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 lectu...

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Oct. 1, 2025

Nature's Cheat Codes? On the Course of Nature and its Laws I Prof. Jo…

Prof. 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 ca...

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Sept. 29, 2025

Aquinas on Nature and the Natural: Endoxa and Principles I Fr. Raymun…

Fr. 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, ...

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Sept. 26, 2025

Usefulness and Elegance in Mathematics I Prof. Meraiah Martinez

Prof. 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 v...

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Sept. 25, 2025

How Planetary Science Unifies the Search for Life Beyond Earth I Prof…

Prof. 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, Encela...

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Sept. 24, 2025

Nicolaus Steno and the Intersection of Disciplines in the Scientific …

Prof. 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 mathe...

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Sept. 23, 2025

Dividing and Relating the Sciences in Aquinas I Fr. Philip-Neri Reese…

Fr. 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 o...

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Sept. 22, 2025

Aquinas and the Basic Principles of the Material World I Prof. Michae…

Prof. 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 an...

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Sept. 19, 2025

How Many Friends Should I Have? I Fr. Aquinas Guilbeau, O.P.

Fr. 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 h...

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Sept. 18, 2025

Dating Like Mr. Darcy I Dr. John-Paul Heil

Dr. 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 roma...

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Sept. 17, 2025

What is Wisdom and Why Do We Need It? I Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy, O.P.

In 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. ...

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Sept. 15, 2025

12 (Thomistic) Rules for Managing Appearances and Making Yourself Mis…

Sr. 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 f...

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Sept. 11, 2025

Why Becoming More Philosophical is a Good Idea I Prof. Michael Gorman

Prof. 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 intel...

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