Episodes

Prof. 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. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speakers: Dr. Vennerstrom specializes in eastern patristic theology. Of part...

Prof. 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. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the speaker: Dr. Paige Hochschi...

Prof. 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. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the speaker: Jacob W. Wood was born an...

Fr. 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. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the speaker: Innocent Smith, O.P., is Assistant Professor of Theolog...

Fr. 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. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the speaker...

Dr. 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. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events. About the Speakers: Dr. Robert McNamara is lecturer in philo...

Fr. Gregory Pine explores the Eucharist as the foundation of Catholic identity, showing how sacramental worship unites the past, present, and future of salvation history and invites believers into personal transformation, unity, and divine love.

Prof. Jennifer Frey’s lecture compares Aquinas and Newman on the pursuit of wisdom and happiness, showing how a true liberal education cultivates philosophical habits and interior freedom by uniting the quest for knowledge, meaning, and the common good.

Dr. Michael Krom uses Catholic social teaching and Thomistic ethics to explain the difference between minimum wage and just wage, emphasizing that justice, moral duty, and human need—not just legal or economic policy—should guide compensation for workers.

Dr. Edmund Lazzari uses Thomistic philosophy and sacramental theology to analyze whether extraterrestrial intelligences could be baptized, exploring questions of nature, the soul, salvation, and God’s freedom to grant grace beyond the human species.​

Prof. Jonathan Lunine tells the story of Georges Lemaître—the Catholic priest and physicist who proposed the Big Bang theory—showing how his pioneering science, deep faith, and personal humility revolutionized modern cosmology and bridged the perceived gap between religion and science.

Dr. Edmund Lazzari 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.

Dr. 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.

Fr. Ambrose Little explains why medieval philosophers studied astrology as part of natural science, showing how its connection to astronomy, cosmology, and causal mechanisms shaped intellectual inquiry, yet warns that modern astrology lacks scientific legitimacy and poses spiritual risks.

Prof. 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.

Prof. 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.

Fr. 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.​

Fr. 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.

Fr. 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. Will you hand on the Faith to those who need it the most? Give by October 31st to film the next season of Aquinas 101! https://aquinas101.thomisticinstitute.org/oct25podc...

Fr. 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.

Dr. 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.

Prof. 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.

Prof. 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.

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 sung prayer.