The Thomistic Institute
The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone. The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and much more. Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.
Episodes
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 at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He specializes in the history of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages and h...
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 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 Facult...
This lecture was given on November 15th, 2024, at University of Illinois.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speaker:
Candace Vogler is the David B. and Clare E. Stern Professor of Philosophy at the University of Chicago. Her primary area of research is moral philosophy, with special emphasis on virtue and practical reason. She draws extensively from ...
This lecture was given on March 12th, 2025, at University of Georgia.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.
About the Speaker:
Stephen Meredith is a professor at the University of Chicago’s Departments of Pathology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Neurology. He is also an associate faculty member...
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 at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. He specializes in the history of philosophy and theology of the Middle Ages and h...
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 Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as ...
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 Joseph. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Notre Dame in the Mendoza College of Business. Father Cassian served recently as vice dean ...
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 thomisticinstitu...
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:
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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. ...
Prof. Jeffrey Brower defends Aquinas’s hylomorphic account of human nature, arguing that the soul, as the body’s substantial form, ensures metaphysical unity while allowing for postmortem survival, offering a coherent alternative to materialism and substance dualism
This lecture was given on February 25th, 2025, at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinsti...
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.
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 February 23rd, 2024, at Dominican House of Stu...
Prof. Ross McCullough systematically explores the major models of the atonement-including Christus Victor, ransom theory, and divinization-showing how each interprets Christ’s saving work and how Aquinas’s distinctions can help organize these diverse approaches into a coherent theological architecture.
This lecture was given on October 16th, 2023, at University of Texas, Austin.
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 ...
Prof. Joshua Hochschild analyzes how smartphones and digital technologies reshape our brains, habits, and sense of self by leveraging neuroscience and AI-driven behavioral design, warning that these tools commodify our attention, erode agency, and pose deep spiritual and ethical challenges that demand more than technocratic solutions.
This lecture was given on September 19th, 2024, at East Carolina University.
Prof. Steven Jensen critically examines transhumanism as a new form of eugenics, arguing that the pursuit of human enhancement through technologies like genetic engineering and brain-computer interfaces repeats the ethical pitfalls of historical eugenics by neglecting the importance of human nature and the distinction between treatment and enhancement.
This lecture was given on February 13th, 2025, at Texas A&M University.
Prof. Gyula Klima uses Aquinas’ philosophy of mind to argue that human intelligence, rooted in immaterial universal concept formation, is metaphysically distinct from artificial general intelligence (AGI), though AGI can still serve as a powerful tool for enhancing human understanding and life.
This lecture was given on February 19th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at th...
Fr. Ambrose Little examines the philosophical and ethical implications of AI-assisted writing by drawing on Plato’s myth of Thoth, Aristotle, and Aquinas, arguing that while new technologies like AI can threaten essential intellectual virtues, they can also be used wisely if we seek a balanced, virtue-oriented approach to knowledge and memory.
This lecture was given on February 11th, 2025, at North Carolina State University.
Sr. Anna Wray explains that technocratic tools, while designed for efficiency and ease, undermine wisdom by weakening essential cognitive activities and social bonds, but we can preserve wisdom by using technology more reflectively and fostering communal engagement.
This lecture was given on February 20th, 2025, at University of Pittsburgh.
For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-e...
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