Episodes

Prof. Michael Krom presents Aquinas’s account of charity and asks what it really means to love the sinner without affirming the sin, showing how true Christian love can require both mercy and moral clarity. This lecture was given on August 18th, 2025, at Universidad Panamericana. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of col...

Prof. Mathew Thomas introduces the Church Fathers as the first theologians and explains how their witness to Scripture, Christian discipleship, and early worship can still help readers understand the faith and its unity today. This lecture was given on June 9th, 2025, at University of Oregon. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Dr. Matthew J. Thomas is Associate Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology Department Chair at the Dominic...

Prof. Thomas Ward examines medieval arguments for God’s existence in Anselm, Aquinas, and Scotus, showing how each thinker approaches the question from a different starting point and why their arguments still matter for faith and reason. This lecture was given on April 21st, 2025, at Saint Vincent College. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Thomas M. Ward is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin, in th...

Prof. John O’Callaghan examines the Big Bang in relation to the Christian doctrine of creation ex nihilo and argues that cosmology and belief in God as creator address different kinds of explanation. This lecture was given on February 27th, 2025, at University of South Carolina. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Prof. John O'Callaghan is the Director Emeritus of the Jacques Maritain Center at the University of Not...

Prof. Christopher Kaczor argues that the common claim that all religions are just different paths to the same destination collapses under scrutiny, and that Christianity uniquely holds together truth, toleration, and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. This lecture was given on February 9th, 2026, at University of Florida. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Pr...

Prof. James Felak argues that John Paul II used Polish saints as powerful symbols of faith, moral courage, and national identity to inspire resistance against communism and affirm the Church’s role in Poland’s history. This lecture was given on October 31st, 2026, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: James Felak is a Professor of History and current holder of the Newman Center Term Professorship in Catholic Chris...

Prof. Jennifer Frey explores Flannery O’Connor’s bold claim that art can reveal truth in a way philosophy cannot, and shows how her fiction turns beauty, form, and imagination into a distinctive kind of knowledge. This lecture was given on February 7th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Jennifer A. Frey is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. She previously served as the inaugural...

Fr. Brad Elliott argues that human beings are naturally social and are meant to flourish through the distinct but related societies of family, polity, and Church, with the Church uniquely ordering people to grace and the common good. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinn...

Prof. Jennifer Frey asks whether Flannery O’Connor is really a “hillbilly Thomist” or a “hillbilly nihilist,” and uses her life and fiction to show how grace, reality, and shocking moral drama can expose the deepest truths about human nature. This lecture was given on February 7th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Jennifer A. Frey is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tulsa. She previ...

Prof. Michael Krom uses Aquinas to argue that while stealing is always morally wrong, urgent need can change what counts as rightful use of superabundant goods, revealing how private property is meant to serve the common good. This lecture was given on February 12th, 2026, at Georgia Institute of Technology. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his...

Dr. Edmund Lazzari explains how Christ’s divinity and humanity make the sacraments, grace, confession, purgatory, and the communion of saints all part of one living mystical body in which every Christian is united to every other in Jesus. This lecture was given on February 11th, 2026, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Edmund Lazzari is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Catholic Studie...

Prof. Christopher Tollefsen argues that medicine is fundamentally ordered to health, not preference satisfaction, and he shows why that matters for abortion, euthanasia, physician authority, and conscience. This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at University of Scranton. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Christopher Tollefsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He has published ...

Prof. Gregory Doolan explains how Aquinas uses philosophy to show that angels are real immaterial beings—pure forms with intellect and will—whose place in creation can even be understood in relation to the famous “head of a pin” question. This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at Harvard University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Gregory T. Doolan is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University...

Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P. explores how the Catholic tradition understands ownership as a moral relation that binds persons together rather than isolating them, and why that matters for families, society, and human flourishing. This lecture was given on February 4th, 2026, at Stanford University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University ...

Fr. Brad Elliott shows how Leo’s Rerum Novarum responds to Marx and Engels by grounding property rights in the father’s duty to provide, the family’s priority over the state, and the Church’s vision of human flourishing. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College C...

Prof. James Nolan argues that Nagasaki’s prayerful response to the atomic bomb can only be understood through the city’s long Christian history, especially the witness of the hidden Christians and Takashi Nagai. This lecture was given on January 29th, 2026, at Florida State University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Professor James L. Nolan, Jr. is the Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College, where he ha...

Fr. Brad Elliott argues that it is really a theological vision of the human person as a social being ordered to God through family, polity, and Church, showing how the common good, friendship, and the distinct missions of these three societies shape both public life and spiritual life. This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at Vanderbilt University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio a...

This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at University of Toronto.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Sarah Byers is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. Her interests incl...

Dr. Brian FitzGerald explores how the first universities emerged from cathedral schools and monastic learning, and why they were built not just to transmit information, but to cultivate wisdom, practical judgment, and a love of learning. This lecture was given on January 15th, 2026, at Dartmouth College. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speakers: Brian FitzGerald is Lecturer on Medieval Studies and the Study of Religion a...

Prof. Raymond Hain argues that Tocqueville’s insights show democratic citizenship depends on stable attachments, shared social life across class lines, and a willingness to let citizens practice freedom through responsibility. This lecture was given on December 4th, 2025, at University of Tulsa. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speakers: Raymond Hain is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Humanities Program at Pro...

Prof. James Felak shows how John Paul II used the saints in his pilgrimages to communist Poland to challenge atheistic rule, strengthen Catholic identity, and encourage resistance and hope. This lecture was given on October 31st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speakers: James Felak is a Professor of History and current holder of the Newman Center Term Professorship in Catholic Christianity at the University of...

Fr. Ephrem Reese argues that silence is not mere absence but a fertile, hidden potency through which contemplation, devotion, and the word of God can come to life. This lecture was given on November 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speakers: Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, and has family in Philadelphia, New Jersey and California. He received a BA from St John’s College in Annapolis, MD ...

Fr. Ephrem Reese argues that boredom can be read both as a modern opening onto time and wonder and, more importantly, as a spiritual problem that must be disciplined by the virtues. This lecture was given on November 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, and has family in Philadelphia, New Jersey and California. He received a BA from St John’s College ...

Dr. Jan Bentz argues that utopias are dangerous because they promise a perfected society by denying human fallenness, replacing Christian hope and grace with man-made salvation, and turning politics into a counterfeit religion. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in Limerick. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speakers: Dr. Jan C. Bentz was born and raised in Germany and graduated high school in St Louis, Misso...