What Makes Music Sacred? William Mahrt Lumen Christi Institute 2024-10-21 | What Makes Music Sacred? William Mahrt
Rethinking Economic Inequality: a Theological Perspective with Mary Hirschfeld and Amir Sufi Lumen Christi Institute 2023-05-16 | A Lecture by Professor Mary Hirschfeld (University of Notre Dame), followed by response from Professor Amir Sufi (Booth School of Business). Presented at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, March 30, 2023.---Secular discourse about the problem of economic inequality rests on two foundational premises that are problematic from a theological point of view. First, individuals enter into society with the aim of bettering their own condition. Second, bettering one’s own condition entails accruing more wealth and power so that one can fulfill more of one’s desires. In this event, Mary Hirschfeld presents on how market behavior shaped by the premises described above can promote economic inequality. Can ethical responses to the problem of economic inequality promote justice without challenging these assumptions? How do we find a theological response to the problem of economic inequality? How does genuine human flourishing depend on communal ties and the higher human goods that material wealth is properly meant to support? ---This event was co-presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO). It was cosponsored by the In Lumine Network and Catholics at Booth. This event and recording was made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this video are those of the presenters and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.For full speaker bios, and for more information on this event, see the event webpage here: lumenchristi.org/event/2023/03/20230330%20Hirschfeld%20McGinn%20Gilson%20Economic%20Inequality
Ideologies of War and Theologies of Healing: Ukraine One Year Later Lumen Christi Institute 2023-03-09 | A panel discussion featuring Metropolitan Borys Gudziak (Ukrainian Archeparchy of Philadelphia), Elizabeth Prodromou (Boston College), Perry Hamalis (North Central College), and Gayle Woloschak (Northwestern University). This event was co-presented with Fordham University's Orthodox Christian Studies Center, and co-sponsored by the Sheptysky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, Commonweal Magazine, America Media, the University of Chicago's Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion, the Three Hierarchs Orthodox Christian Fellowship, and CNEWA. ---One year later, the war in Ukraine has risen and fallen in the news cycle but remains an ever-pressing issue in Europe and abroad. Scholars, pundits, and public figures have done much to diagnose the ideological engines that drive the conflict, yet even the most careful public reflection fails to grasp the interrelationship between the religious and cultural forces in play. Just as religion has been weaponized in this geopolitical conflict, so too can it be wielded to tend to these wounds. This panel turns to Church leaders, international relations experts, scientists, and scholars fluent in the traditions of the Christian East common to Russia and Ukraine—to explore principles that can aid in the just-peacemaking and the healing of trauma inflicted by the war.---Support our work and help keep events like these free and available to the public. Donate today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis Lumen Christi Institute 2023-03-03 | A lecture with John McGreevy (University of Notre Dame). Originally presented February 9, 2023 at the University of Chicago. This event was co-sponsored by the History Department at the University of Chicago. The story of Roman Catholicism has never followed a singular path. In no time period has this been more true than over the last two centuries. Beginning with the French Revolution, extending to the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, and concluding with present-day crises, John T. McGreevy chronicles the dramatic upheavals and internal divisions shaping the most multicultural, multilingual, and global institution in the world.In his latest book, John McGreevy gives a magisterial history of the centuries-long conflict between “progress” and “tradition” in the world’s largest international institution. ---John McGreevy is the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History and Charles and Jill Fischer Provost at the University of Notre Dame. He was formerly the dean of Notre Dame's College of Arts & Letters. He is the author of four books, including Parish Boundaries: The Catholic Encounter with Race in the Twentieth Century Urban North, Catholicism and American Freedom: A History, and American Jesuits and the World: How an Embattled Religious Order Made Catholicism Global. His fourth book, Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis, will be published by W.W. Norton in fall 2022. His essays have been translated into Italian, French and Spanish. He has received major fellowships from the Mellon Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Louisville Institute, and the Erasmus Institute, and has published articles and reviews in the Journal of American History, New York Review of Books, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Commonweal, The New Republic, Chicago Tribune and other venues. He served on the Pulitzer prize jury for History in 2010 and since 2018 has been the co-chair of the Commonweal Foundation board.---Support our work, and help us keep these lectures free and open for the public. Donate today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Aristotles Great-Souled Man in Jane Austen, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Saint Augustine Lumen Christi Institute 2023-02-17 | A lecture with J. Warren Smith. Presented in Swift Hall at the University of Chicago, January 26, 2023.Augustine famous referred to the classical virtues as "splendid vices". Although he stood in the tradition that valued virtue, he was concerned that the pursuit of greatness through the life of virtue - a theme dating back to Aristotle's ideal of the Great-Souled Man - could actually breed a sense of self-righteousness. Yet there is much to the Aristotelian ideal. The pursuit of greatness in the service of God seems preferable to complacent mediocrity that sadly characterizes so much of our life. This lecture, focusing on Dostoyevsky and Austen, seeks to discover the danger of the pursuit of greatness while examining how the category of "greatness" might be reconceived in Christian terms. For more information on this event, see the event webpage here: lumenchristi.org/event/2023/01/aristotles-great-souled-man-in-jane-austen-fyodor-dostoyevsky-saint-augustine-j-warren-smithSupport our work to keep events like these free and available to the public. Donate today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Pro and Con: Does Faith Ignore Reason? Lumen Christi Institute 2023-02-16 | A Magis Lecture with Fr. Stephen Fields, SJ (Georgetown University).Delivered at St Ignatius College Prep (Chicago, IL) on October 19, 2022---Every Sunday, Christian worshipers profess the Nicene Creed. The Creed formulates and supports our belief in one God, but there appears to be scant empirical evidence for many of its claims that we acknowledge to be true. We don’t profess the Creed because we’ve been persuaded by overwhelming evidence. Is it reasonable, then, to believe that the Creed's claims are true? Or does our profession of faith shove our reason into exile? So says Sam Harris, a recent "popular atheist,” who argues that faith is by nature unreasonable. But William James, the 19th-century American psychologist, tells another tale. He argues that it can be reasonable to believe some things based on less than compelling evidence. If we don't, we risk losing out on vitally important truths that could give us the whole purpose of life. And this risk is far greater than the risk of believing something on scant evidence.Here is a vision in which faith and reason, to work well, must work together to give life its full meaning.---ABOUT THE MAGIS SERIESThe Magis Series on Faith and Reason is a partnership between the Lumen Christi Institute and St. Ignatius College Prep to bring accessible yet sophisticated lectures on the Church's intellectual tradition to the broad lay public. The event is open to everyone from high school students to retirees. No affiliation with St. Ignatius is needed. Anyone who desires a lively entree into the mind of the Church is welcome and encouraged to attend.
Gregor Mendel at his Bicentennial: Highlights of his Life and Legacy Lumen Christi Institute 2022-12-21 | A lecture by Professor Daniel J. Fairbanks (Utah Valley University), Mendel biographer and author of "Gregor Mendel: His Life and Legacy" (Prometheus Books 2022). ---As we celebrate the bicentennial of Gregor Mendel’s birth, a few highlights of his life and legacy illustrate the breadth of his contributions and his genius. Born into poverty, he excelled in education in his youth. He entered the St. Thomas Monastery as an Augustinian friar where he joined an extraordinary community of scholars. At the University of Vienna, he studied with some of the world’s finest scientists, especially in mathematics, physics, botany, and evolution, and published his first research papers there. His famous experiments led him to an enduring theory that is more expansive than often portrayed. As Darwin’s contemporary, his annotations in Darwin’s books and Darwinian comments in letters reveal much about his understanding of the role of hybridization in evolution. He was elected as prelate and abbot of the St. Thomas Monastery in 1868, honorably serving in this role until his death in 1884. The neglect and rediscovery of his theory constitute one of the most intriguing stories in the history of science. At the bicentennial of his birth, his theory endures essentially unchanged as the foundation of genetics.---Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and sponsored by the Morris Fishbein Center for the History of Science and Medicine and the Seminary Co-op Bookstore. This program is made possible through the support of ‘In Lumine: Supporting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide’ (Grant #62372) from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this video are those of the presenter and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.This lecture was originally presented at the University of Chicago on November 16, 2022.
The Future of Christian Art Lumen Christi Institute 2022-11-17 | A symposium featuring Fr. Stephen Fields, S.J. (Georgetown University), Karin Krause (University of Chicago), and John David Mooney (Chicago-based sculptor and environmental artist), held on-campus at the University of Chicago, on October 20, 2022. This event was presented by The Lumen Christi Institute and co-sponsored by the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.–Is there a future for Christian Art? Can beauty save a “modern” world? In this presentation, Fr. Stephen Fields distinguishes between modernity and previous periods of the Western Christian experience and draws upon the work of Hans Urs von Balathasar to argue that Christians must reconceive the meaning of “beauty.” Responses follow from University of Chicago art historian Karin Krause and Chicago artist John David Mooney. –This event was supported by funds from the Fr. Paul V. Mankowski, S.J. Memorial Fund for Jesuit Scholarship. Fr. Paul, former Jesuit Scholar-in-Residence for the Lumen Christi Institute and trained biblicist, was also a humanist with wide ranging interests in art and literature. For more info, see our website lumenchristi.org/christian-art
The Synod of 2023: Process and Prospects Lumen Christi Institute 2022-11-15 | A dialogue with Bishop Oscar Cantú (San Jose, CA) and Sr. Nathalie Becquart, XMCJ (General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops), moderated by Peter Casarella (Duke Divinity School).
The Future of Natural Law Lumen Christi Institute 2022-11-11 | A symposium with Fr. Kevin Flannery, S.J. (Pontifical Gregorian University), John Bowlin (Princeton Theological Seminary), and Scott Roniger (Loyola Marymount University), held in Swift Hall, at the University of Chicago, October 27, 2022.---Natural law theory has long been a central tenet of Christian philosophical and theological reflection on the relationship between God, the moral life, and society, and it has played an important historical role in shaping the political life of the United States and many other nations. The topic of natural law has also been the subject of many disputes and disagreements, both in the contemplative and practical orders. It is therefore important to take stock of this rich and complex history if we are to understand the current state of natural law thinking so as to ascertain what role it may play in the future.This event is the public portion of an invite-only faculty colloquium in honor of Russell Hittinger. Hittinger has articulated many of the deepest Augustinian and Thomistic sources of natural law theory, given an influential critique of certain trends in contemporary natural law thinking, and shown how various conceptions of natural law have been embraced or rejected in American political debates since the middle of the twentieth century. Finally, his most recent work has shown how natural law principles have been integrated into Catholic social teaching since the French Revolution. This discussion will use Hittinger’s writings as a springboard to explore these perennial and timely topics in order to see where the potential for future developments and applications of natural law theory may be found.
Pope Francis Vision of a Synodal Church: CELAM and Ignatian Tradition Lumen Christi Institute 2022-10-25 | For more information about the entire series, including other upcoming sessions, visit lumenchristi.org/event/2022/09/synodality-in-perspective-traditions-past-presentAbout Session 5 | A dialogue exploring the roots of Pope Francis’s appeal to synodality, featuring Maria Clara Bingemer (Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro) and Austen Ivereigh (Campion Hall, Oxford University), moderated by Peter Casarella (Duke Divinity School).
Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Christians: Contexts and Dialogue Lumen Christi Institute 2022-10-11 | A dialogue featuring Jaisy Joseph (Seattle University) and Cyril Hovorun (Sankt Ignatius Theological Academy), moderated by Aristotle Papanikolaou (Fordham University).This online symposium is the fourth in a series organized by the American Cusanus Society, the Nova Forum, and the Lumen Christi Institute. Additional Cosponsors include Commonweal, the Harvard Catholic Forum, America Media, the Collegium Institute, and the St. Anselm Institute for Catholic Thought.For more information, visit lumenchristi.org/event/2022/09/synodality-in-perspective-traditions-past-present
Synodality and the Roots of Vatican II Lumen Christi Institute 2022-09-28 | A dialogue on the synodality models which emerged from Vatican II, featuring Shaun Blanchard (National Institute for Newman Studies) and Kristin Colberg (St. John’s School of Theology), moderated by Kathy Sprows Cummings (Notre Dame).This online symposium is the third in a series organized by the American Cusanus Society, the Nova Forum, and the Lumen Christi Institute. Additional Cosponsors include Commonweal, the Harvard Catholic Forum, America Media, the Collegium Institute, and the St. Anselm Institute for Catholic Thought.For more information, visit lumenchristi.org/event/2022/09/synodality-in-perspective-traditions-past-present
Synodality and Medieval Reform Lumen Christi Institute 2022-09-28 | A dialogue exploring the connection between conciliarism and synodality cum et sub petro, featuring Margaret Meserve (Notre Dame) and Rick Serina (Concordia Seminary), moderated by Christopher Bellitto (Kean University).This online symposium is the second in a series organized by the American Cusanus Society, the Nova Forum, and the Lumen Christi Institute. Additional Cosponsors include Commonweal, the Harvard Catholic Forum, America Media, the Collegium Institute, and the St. Anselm Institute for Catholic Thought.For more information, visit lumenchristi.org/event/2022/09/synodality-in-perspective-traditions-past-presentFor more information, visit lumenchristi.org/event/2022/09/synodality-in-perspective-traditions-past-present
Synodality in the Ancient Church Lumen Christi Institute 2022-09-19 | A dialogue investigating the synodal way in the early church, featuring Robin Darling Young (Catholic University of America) and Christopher Bellitto (Kean University), moderated by Nathan Tilley (Dumbarton Oaks).This online symposium is the first in a series organized by the American Cusanus Society, the Nova Forum, and the Lumen Christi Institute. Additional Cosponsors include Commonweal, the Harvard Catholic Forum, America Media, and the St. Anselm Institute for Catholic Thought.For more information, visit lumenchristi.org/event/2022/09/synodality-in-perspective-traditions-past-present
A Marion Moment in Catholic Thought: a Conversation with Jean-Luc Marion and Ken Woodward Lumen Christi Institute 2022-06-14 | An interview of Professor Jean-Luc Marion (University of Chicago), with former Newsweek religion editor Kenneth Woodward.Originally recorded May 31, 2022, at the Lumen Christi Institute's Gavin House.For more information on this event and our speakers, see the event webpage:lumenchristi.org/event/2022/05/a-marion-moment-in-catholic-thought-a-conversation-with-jean-luc-marion-ken-woodward-jean-luc-marion-kenneth-woodwardSupport our work in making events and recordings such as this free and available to the public: www.lumenchristi.org/donate
The Catholic Imagination in Modern American Poetry - James Matthew Wilson Lumen Christi Institute 2022-06-13 | A lecture with James Matthew Wilson. Originally delivered May 11, 2022 as part of the Lumen Christi Institute's 2022 Western Suburban Catholic Culture Series, held in Hinsdale, IL.At the turn of the twentieth century, the American Historian Henry Adams wrote admiringly of the Catholic mind as it found expression in the medieval world. It was beautiful, it was good, but, alas, could not be true. Within a generation, younger American writers were impelled by that same beauty but dared to ask whether they might be equally impelled by the Catholic vision of the world as true. Thus began a great literary adventure, as American poets entered into the Catholic tradition and sought to make poems that conveyed the depth and power of an encounter with the Catholic proclamations of faith as the truth of the world.For more information on our event and speaker, see the Lumen Christi Institute website: lumenchristi.org/event/2022/05/catholic-imagination-in-modern-american-poetry-james-matthew-wilson
Singing the Sacred: Music and the Holy in Ancient Christianity Lumen Christi Institute 2022-05-23 | A lecture with Professor Susan Ashbrook Harvey (Brown University), delivered at the University of Chicago on May 15, 2022. This keynote lecture opened a two-day “Recovering Hymnography Symposium,” presented by the Lumen Christi Institute, the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies, and the Fordham Center for Orthodox Christian Studies. Why were hymns important for ancient Christianity? What did music add to poetry? Singing was an indelible part of daily life in the ancient Mediterranean world: in household and civic spaces, in celebrations, in mourning, and in religious devotions of all kinds. In the New Testament, singing hymns was fundamental to early Christian worship. Why did hymns matter? How did Christians in antiquity render singing sacred for their own purposes, able to articulate their own distinctive religious truths? What could make music “holy”? And how?---This program was made possible through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. This program was cosponsored by the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Theology Department at the University of Notre Dame.For more information on the Recovering Hymnography Symposium, see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2022/05/a-symposium-on-recovering-hymnography-brian-dunkle-s-j-ashley-purpura-fr-andrew-summerson-s-th-d-erin-walsh-jeffrey-wickes
Symposium on The Light that Binds: A Study in Thomas Aquinass Metaphysics of Natural Law Lumen Christi Institute 2022-04-25 | A symposium on "The Light that Binds: A Study in Thomas Aquinas's Metaphysics of Natural Law," by Fr. Stephen Brock (Pontifical University of the Holy Cross / University of Chicago). This symposium features Fr. Brock, Russell Hittinger (Lumen Christi Institute), Candace Vogler (University of Chicago), and Matthew Levering (University of St. Mary of the Lake).For more information, see our website: lumenchristi.org/the-light-that-bindsABOUT THE BOOKIf there is any one author in the history of moral thought who has come to be associated with the idea of natural law, it is Saint Thomas Aquinas. Many things have been written about Aquinas's natural law teaching, and from many different perspectives. The aim of this book is to help see it from his own perspective. That is why the focus is metaphysical. Aquinas's whole moral doctrine is laden with metaphysics, and his natural law teaching especially so, because it is all about first principles. The book centers on how Aquinas thinks the first principles of practical reason, which for him are what make up natural law, function as laws. It is a controversial question, and the book engages a variety of readers of Aquinas, including Francisco Suarez, Jacques Maritain, prominent analytical philosophers, Straussians, and the initiators of the New Natural Law theory. Among the issues addressed are the relation between natural law and natural inclination, how far natural law depends on knowledge of human nature, what its obligatory force consists in, and, above all, how it is related to what for Aquinas is the first principle of all being, the divine will.
Negotiating Tragedy and the Tragic in Late Ancient Christian Literature, with Prof. Paul Blowers Lumen Christi Institute 2022-04-21 | Full Title: Negotiating Tragedy and the Tragic: Discursive, Performative, and Interpretive Strategies in Late Ancient Christian LiteratureA lecture with Prof. Paul Blowers (Milligan Univrsity)Early Christian authors rarely composed tragedies, but they did discern elements of “the tragic” both in the background of sacred history and in the foreground of mundane experience. As a rhetorical, literary, and even theological artform, the mimesis of tragedy took shape concurrently in biblical interpretation and preaching, in autobiographical and hagiographical writing, in the framing of Christian moral response to human anguish and indignities, and in theological reflection on interrelated issues of providence, freedom, fate, and hope.This lecture samples each of these dimensions, concentrating especially on works of the Cappadocian Fathers, John Chrysostom, and Augustine, in texts ranging from Gregory of Nyssa’s ascetical works, to Gregory Nazianzen’s autobiographical poetry and select orations, to Chrysostom’s expository sermons and Letters to Olympias, to Augustine’s Confessions. Blowers also treats the enduring question of the meaning of “the tragic” in an early Christian lens. Christian authors, while keen to uphold the unique perspectives of Scripture, could hardly ignore the definition of the tragic in classical Greek and Roman tragedies and in the long wake of Plato’s criticism of the poets and tragedians as hucksters and traffickers in emotion who subverted the philosophical quest. Could Christianity accommodate the idea of existential “dead ends”? Could it abide the prospect of irredeemable and uncompensated evils? By way of conclusion the lecture will address, albeit concisely, the state of the question of the utility (or not) of tragical mimesis in constructive Christian theology.
Walker Percy on the Pursuit of Happiness in Apocalyptic Times Lumen Christi Institute 2022-03-08 | A Lecture with Prof. Jennifer Frey (University of South Carolina). Originally presented Feb 23, 2022 at the Ruth Lake Country Club in Hinsdale, IL.In Walker Percy's novel, Love in the Ruins, the narrator, a wealthy and successful denizen of American suburbia, admits that " everyone is happy, but our hearts broke with happiness." In this lecture, Dr. Jennifer Frey will discuss what Percy's novel can teach us about the pursuit of happiness in contemporary American life, and why the novel's biting satire is relevant to our contemporary political and religious moment.For more information on the event and our speaker, see our webpage: lumenchristi.org/event/2022/02/freyTo support our work and ensure recorded programming such as this can remain available and free to the public, donate today at: lumenchristi.org/donate
Ecumenical Panel on For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church Lumen Christi Institute 2022-03-07 | An ecumenical panel on "For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church," with Aristotle Papanikolaou (Fordham University), William Schweiker (University of Chicago), Stephen Meawad (Caldwell University), and Msgr. Peter Schallenberg (Katholische Sozialwissenschaftliche Zentralstelle). Moderated by Perry Hamalis (North Central College) and Helen Theodoropoulos (St. Sava Serbian Orthodox School of Theology).Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Fordham Orthodox Christian Studies Center. Cosponsored by the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion and the Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies. Presented Feb 17, 2022, at the University of Chicago Divinity School. ---“As we make this journey towards full communion, we already have the duty to offer common witness to the love of God for all people by working together in the service of humanity”—Common Declaration of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Francis, May 2014.This panel examines the recent social document "For the Life of the World: Toward a Social Ethos of the Orthodox Church," published with the approval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in 2020. The fruit of critical reflection by Orthodox Christian lay scholars and Church leaders, For the Life of the World offers guidance to navigate contemporary challenges faced by the Orthodox Christian on a wide range of social issues—including racism, bioethics, ecology, and human rights. The document also gives a synthetic presentation of the Orthodox Christian perspective to the wider Christian world.
Redeeming Punishment: Catholic Approaches to Criminal Justice Reform Lumen Christi Institute 2022-02-15 | A panel discussion with Dean Strang (Loyola University of Chicago Law School), Cecelia Klingele (University of Wisconsin Law School), Fr. Javier del Castillo (Prelature of Opus Dei), Kevin Carr (Wisconsin Department of Corrections), and moderated by Thomas Donnelly (Circuit Court of Cook County) held at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on February 10, 2022.The Lumen Christi Institute's Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network and the Catholic Social and Political Thought Initiative of the UW-Madison Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy present Catholic Perspectives on Criminal Justice Reform: a Scholarly Colloquium. This three-day public lecture and workshop series gathers a diverse array of legal scholars and ethicists to explore how Catholic tradition and social thought can inform the many challenges confronting today’s American criminal justice system. This panel serves as the keynote event for the colloquium.More info here: lumenchristi.org/event/2022/02/catholic-perspectives-on-criminal-justice-reform-a-scholarly-colloquiumSupport our work: lumenchristi.org/donate
Is the Universe Made for Life? Anthropic Coincidences and Multiverse Ideas Lumen Christi Institute 2022-02-14 | A lecture by Stephen M. Barr (University of Delaware) delivered on February 7, 2022 at the University of Chicago.The late Stephen Hawking wrote, “Our universe and its laws appear to have a design that is both tailor-made to support us and, if we are to exist, leaves little room for alteration.” What lies behind such a claim? And what might explain such a remarkable fact (if it is a fact)? Join us as Dr. Stephen Barr speaks on both the science and the speculations surrounding anthropic coincidences. More info here: lumenchristi.org/event/2022/02/is-universe-made-for-life-anthropic-coincidences-multiverse-ideas-stephen-m-barrSubscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/LumenChristiIntSupport our work: lumenchristi.org/donate
A conversation on Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life Lumen Christi Institute 2022-02-04 | A conversation on "Lost in Thought: The Hidden Pleasures of an Intellectual Life" (Princeton University Press, 2020) with author Zena Hitz (St. John's College) and Prof. Erin Walsh (University of Chicago). Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute. Cosponsored by the Undergraduate Program in Religious Studies at the University of Chicago. Copies of the book will be available for sale by the Seminary Co-op Bookstore at the event. This program will be held as a hybrid, in-person and online event.
Promoting Integral Human Development: Challenges and Opportunities for Catholic Organizations Lumen Christi Institute 2021-12-16 | Full title: Promoting Integral Human Development: Challenges and Opportunities for the Church and Catholic OrganizationsA presentation by Quentin Wodon (World Bank; International Office of Catholic Education), followed by discussion with Katherine Marshall (Georgetown University), Patrizio Piraino(University of Notre Dame), and Diana Filatova (International Catholic Child Bureau).The concept of integral human development (IHD) is fundamental for the Catholic Church, and the role played by the Church in promoting IHD is essential to its mission. The term IHD emerged from Populorum Progressio, the encyclical on the development of people in which Pope Paul VI stated that “the development of peoples must be well rounded; it must foster the development of each man and of the whole man.” This webinar will feature a conversation on challenges and opportunities for the Church and Catholic organizations to promote IHD. This event will feature a presentation of the Global Report 2021 on Integral Human Development prepared by Quentin Wodon and soon to be available on the Global Catholic Education website, followed by a discussion with a panel of experts – Katherine Marshall, Patrizio Piraino, and Diana Filatova – and a question and answer session with participants.This event is presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Catholic Research Economists Discussion Organization (CREDO), and is cosponsored by Global Researchers Advancing Catholic Education (GRACE), the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC), the International Federation of Catholic Universities (IFCU), the World Organization of Former Students of Catholic Education (OMAEC), the World Union of Catholic Teachers (UMEC-WUTC), the International Catholic Child Bureau (BICE), the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame, America Media, the Collegium Institute, the Harvard Catholic Forum, the Nova Forum, the Saint Anselm Institute, and the Saint Benedict Institute.---Data presented is from the Global Report 2021 on Integral Human Development, to be made available on the Global Catholic Education website. For more information:(EN) globalcatholiceducation.org(ES) es.globalcatholiceducation.org(FR) fr.globalcatholiceducation.orgFor more information about the Lumen Christi Institute, see our website: lumenchristi.orgFor more information about the Catholic research Economist Discussion Organization, see the organization's website: credo-economists.org
Michelangelos Women: Feminine Genius in the Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel Lumen Christi Institute 2021-11-22 | A lecture by Elizabeth Lev (Duquesne University) delivered at the University of Chicago on November 17, 2021.Dr. Elizabeth Lev received her undergraduate degree in art history from University of Chicago, and her doctorate from University of Bologna specializing in the art of the Counter Reformation. She has been living in Rome since she completed her studies in 1997 and teaching art history for Duquesne University’s Italian Campus since 2002. She has also taught at John Cabot University and the Pontifical University of Thomas Aquinas. She is a didactic consultant for the Vatican Museums and her articles have appeared in First Things, the College Art Association, and the Sacred Art Journal. Her books include The Tigress of Forlì (Harcourt Mifflin 2012), and A Body for Glory (Vatican Museums Press 2014). She has lectured world-wide and her TED talk on the Sistine Chapel has garnered over 1.8 million views.Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/LumenChristiIntSupport our work: lumenchristi.org/donate
A Life in Service of the Truth: The Legacy of Fr. Paul Mankowski, SJ Lumen Christi Institute 2021-11-22 | A conversation with Gary A. Anderson (University of Notre Dame) and Fr. Kevin Flannery, SJ (Pontifical Gregorian University).Fr. Paul Mankowski (1953 – 2020) was a brilliant essayist, a singular wit, and a devoted son of the Church. Born in South Bend, Indiana, he put himself through the University of Chicago while working summers in a steel mill. Called to a vocation with the Society of Jesus, Fr. Paul entered the novitiate in 1976 before studying Classics at Oxford and Semitic languages at Harvard.Though lacking all instincts for self-promotion, Fr. Paul quickly gained a reputation for his erudition and his razor-sharp intellect. He suffered greatly for his loyalty to the Church before finding a home at the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago. Having returned to his alma mater, he served as a fulcrum of intellectual and spiritual formation for countless students. In passing away unexpectedly on September 3, 2020, Fr. Paul Mankowski left a legacy of principled and courageous allegiance to the Church and her tradition of integrated intellectual and spiritual life.This event will celebrate the life and legacy of Fr. Paul Mankowski through a conversation with Professor Gary Anderson (University of Notre Dame), who will comment on Fr. Paul’s work as a scholar. and Fr. Kevin Flannery, SJ ( Pontifical Gregorian University), who will reflect on Fr. Paul’s life as a Jesuit (with Fr. Paul’s letters as a point of departure).Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/LumenChristiIntSupport our work: lumenchristi.org/donate
Saint Among the Skyscrapers: The American Afterlife of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini Lumen Christi Institute 2021-11-12 | A luncheon lecture with Professor Kathleen Sprows Cummings (University of Notre Dame). Originally delivered at the University Club of Chicago, June 10, 2021Presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and cosponsored by the University of North Carolina Press.Drawing on the recent book, "A Saint of Our Own: How the Quest for a Holy Hero Helped Catholics Become American" (University of North Carolina Press, 2019), this lecture will focus on St Frances Cabrini, an Italian missionary who arrived in New York in 1889 and died in Chicago in 1917. Cabrini and the congregation she founded, the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, made their mark on Chicago and her other foundations throughout the United States, South America, and Europe. Cabrini progressed quite rapidly through the process of canonization, the elaborate series of steps through which the Catholic Church affirms that a holy person entered God’s eternal presence at the moment of death. This lecture explores her “afterlife” in historical memory, examining the role that Chicago played in presenting her as a saint for their city, the nation, and the world.For more info about our event and speaker: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/06/saint-among-the-skyscrapersSupport our work at lumenchristi.org/donate
Conscience and Human Rights in Thomas Aquinas and Some Predecessors Lumen Christi Institute 2021-10-20 | A lecture by Fr. Kevin Flannery, SJ (Pontifical Gregorian University) delivered on October 7, 2021 at the University of Chicago.In discussions of the history of the philosophy of human rights, typically a distinction is made between theories that understand rights as objective and those that understand them as subjective (or, to use a more contemporary term, more “personalistic”). This talk relates this issue to the history of reflection, especially by Christian thinkers leading up to the thirteenth century, regarding conscience. It argues ultimately that Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of conscience, influenced as it is by Aristotle, entails an understanding of human rights that is primarily objective. It concludes with a few remarks about the advantages of such an understanding. Subscribe to our channel: youtube.com/user/LumenChristiIntSupport our work: lumenchristi.org/donate
Conversation on The Rage of Innocence Lumen Christi Institute 2021-10-14 | A discussion of The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth with author and Professor Kris Henning in conversation with Pulitzer Prize winning author of Locking Up Our Own, Professor James Forman, Jr. Presented by the Loyola University Chicago Law School and the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network.In January 2019, Pope Francis told the detainees at a Panamanian youth prison: “You are part of [God’s] family; you have a lot to share with others.” A fruitful society, he said, “is able to generate processes of inclusion and integration, of caring and trying to create opportunities and alternatives that can offer new possibilities to the young, to build a future through community, education and employment. Such a community is healthy.” Unfortunately, our communities fail to offer a healthy, inclusive, and caring environment for court-involved youth--particularly youth of color--as Professor Kris Henning dramatically reveals. In a searing and clear indictment of the juvenile and criminal legal system, Kris Henning draws on her 25 years of representing young people accused of crimes to show the day-to-day brutalities endured by Black youth growing up under constant surveillance and persistent threat of physical and psychological abuse by police. Join Profs. Henning and Forman in a discussion of her critical and timely new book.More info: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/10/rage-of-innocence-how-america-criminalizes-black-youthYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Justice and Peace: A Radical Reconsideration of Public Safety Lumen Christi Institute 2021-10-08 | A roundtable discussion with Herschella Conyers (University of Chicago Law School), Michael Jaycox (Seattle University), Michael Scott (Arizona State University), Tobias Winright (Saint Louis University). Presented by Seattle University and The Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network. Nearly fifty years ago, Pope St. Paul VI said, “If you want Peace, work for Justice.” Echoing his words, “No Justice, No Peace” has become the chant of protesters from Seattle to Atlanta seeking freedom not only from excessive use of force by police but also from unjust inequities across social and political structures. This roundtable presentation invites policing scholars in the fields of law, criminology, and theological ethics to explore how we might build peace on a foundation of justice. The interdisciplinary panel will address the future of public safety through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching.This panel serves as the keynote event for a three-day colloquium addressing Catholic perspectives on criminal justice reform. The workshops and public lectures include leading scholars examining how Catholic tradition and social thought might inform the challenges confronting today’s American criminal justice system. To learn more about the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network visit lumenchristi.org/ccjrn
Cruel But Usual: Solitary Confinements Tortured History Lumen Christi Institute 2021-10-01 | A panel discussion with Andrea Armstrong (Loyola University New Orleans), David Shapiro (Northwestern University), John Stinneford (University of Florida). Presented by the Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network and cosponsored by the Catholic Mobilizing Network.Pope Francis has denounced the use of solitary confinement. He describes it as “torture” employed under the “pretext of offering greater security to society or special treatment for certain categories of prisoners, its main characteristic is none other than external isolation.” The result is the degradation of the human person through the imposed “lack of sensory stimuli, the total impossibility of communication and the lack of contact with other human beings induce mental and physical suffering such as paranoia, anxiety, depression, weight loss, and significantly increase the suicidal tendency.”Our panel of legal scholars will discuss solitary confinement in light of history and contemporary practice. Professor Andrea Armstrong, whose work was highlighted in the August 16, 2021 issue of the New Yorker, will discuss contemporary conditions of solitary confinement, including its effects on healthcare and mortality in the Louisiana prison system. Her presentation will include art, pictures, and video of solitary cells used recently in Louisiana. Professor David Shapiro will take us back to the beginning of solitary confinement in the United States, discussing his important work on early use of solitary confinement in the Walnut Street Jail. This groundbreaking work was published in the Harvard Law review. Finally, Professor John Stinneford will endeavor to tie present and past together by discussing the relationship between solitary confinement and the American punishment tradition. The panelists will also discuss constitutional, statutory, and administrative approaches to solitary confinement However, we must discuss these varied views regarding the the legality of solitary confinement in light of Pope Francis's question: Can depriving a human being of the company of other humans ever be just?---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/09/cruel-but-usualYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
The Christological Structure of Spiritual Growth In the Thought of St. Bernard Lumen Christi Institute 2021-09-27 | A lecture by Fr. Roch Kereszty, O. Cist. (Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey). Part of a webinar series on "Wisdom from the Heart of the Cistercian Tradition," co-presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/09/compassion-of-a-miserable-heart-love-of-others-according-to-st-bernard-of-clairvaux-fr-roch-kereszty-o-cistYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Francis & Francis: Encountering Muslims, Past & Present Lumen Christi Institute 2021-09-09 | A lecture by Fr. Jason Welle, OFM (Pontifical Institute for Arabic & Islamic Studies, Rome)This session will consider two Christian-Muslim encounters: the first between St. Francis of Assisi and Sultan al-Malik in 1219 in Egypt during the Crusades, and the second between Pope Francis and Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb in Abu Dhabi eight centuries later, on Feb. 4, 2019, when they co-signed the historic “Document on Human Fraternity.” How have personal relationships between Christians and Muslims affected both the practice of interreligious dialogue and the Catholic theology of Islam?Part of a webinar series, "Catholics & Muslims: History, Theology, Encounters," presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Cusanus Society.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/09/francis-francis-encountering-muslims-past-presentYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
The Monastics Before the Scholastics: An Introduction to Medieval Monastic Theology Lumen Christi Institute 2021-08-23 | A lecture by Fr. John Bayer, O. Cist. (Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey). What is monastic theology? Is it just an alternative to Thomism or the more “philosophical” (or more serious?) tradition of theology? Should the works of monastic theologians be relegated, as Thomas Merton feared they were, to the shelves of “spiritual” or devotional literature, as pious options extrinsic to theological discipline? With St. Anselm as our guide, Fr. John will discuss how theological method must include a properly “monastic” element.Part of a webinar series on "Wisdom from the Heart of the Cistercian Tradition," co-presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/08/monastics-before-scholastics-an-introduction-to-medieval-monastic-theology-fr-john-bayerYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Mary & Muslims: Bridge or Barrier? Lumen Christi Institute 2021-08-19 | A lecture by Rita George-Tvrtković (Benedictine University) with response from Zeki Saritoprak (John Carroll University).In 1965, Nostra Aetate 3 acknowledged that Christian and Muslims share a devotion to Mary. But did Christians always view Mary as a bridge? A few medieval Latins stressed concord between the two Marys, but others raised the Virgin on military standards in battles against Muslims. This talk will consider the myriad ways in which Mary’s role in Christian-Muslim relations has shifted back and forth from bridge to barrier and back again. The lecture with Dr. Rita George-Tvrtković will be followed by a response from a Muslim scholar, Dr. Zeki Saritoprak, and further dialogue.Part of a webinar series, "Catholics & Muslims: History, Theology, Encounters," presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Cusanus Society.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/08/mary-muslims-bridge-or-barrierYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
A School for the Lord’s Service: A Meditation on the Rule of St. Benedict Lumen Christi Institute 2021-07-26 | A lecture by Abbot Peter Verhalen (Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey). Written for monks living in Italy almost 1600 years ago, The Rule of St. Benedict is remarkable for its wisdom, its discretion, and its clarity. St. Benedict draws on Scripture and the theological tradition that preceded him to craft a text that combines both detailed prescriptions for daily life in a monastery and the principles of a spiritual theology. All these prescriptions and theological principles he sees as foundation of a School for the Lord’s Service. In this webinar we will look at several elements of that “school” that guide any Christian to “run along the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing wit the inexpressible delight of love” (Rule of St. Benedict, Prologue 49).Part of a webinar series on "Wisdom from the Heart of the Cistercian Tradition," co-presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/07/a-school-for-lord-s-service-a-meditation-on-rule-of-st-benedict-fr-peter-verhalenYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Nicholas of Cusa & Qur’anic Exegesis Lumen Christi Institute 2021-07-22 | A lecture by Wilhelmus (Pim) Valkenberg (Catholic University of America). This session will focus on "faithful interpretation" (pia interpretatio) as characteristic of Nicholas of Cusa's approach to the Qur'ān as a book that claims to be revealed by God. He argues that it is possible to take the Qur'ān seriously as a theological source for Christian faith. Following Nicholas of Cusa's example he will also talk about his own experiences as a Christian theologian reading the Qur'an as confirmation and critique of Jews and Christians as "People of Scripture" (ahl al-kitāb). Part of a webinar series, "Catholics & Muslims: History, Theology, Encounters," presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and the Cusanus Society.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/07/nicholas-of-cusa-qur-anic-exegesisYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
The Song of Songs in Monastic Interpretation Lumen Christi Institute 2021-06-28 | A lecture by Fr. Joseph Van House (Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey). The Song of Songs is the Bible’s treasure-house of love poetry, a cycle of songs sung between a man, a woman, and their friends, lush with the imagery of nature and of intense human longing. In it the name of God nowhere to be seen; believers have always, however, cherished it as a figurative representation of the ideal love between God and humanity; indeed, one of history’s most forceful movements for Christian celibacy – the Cistercian renewal of the twelfth-century – was famous for tending to treat the Song of Songs as the very heart of the Bible. This challenges us with the following very basic question: what does it mean to speak of God in romantic terms?Part of a webinar series on "Wisdom from the Heart of the Cistercian Tradition," co-presented by the Lumen Christi Institute and Our Lady of Dallas Cistercian Abbey.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/06/song-of-songs-in-monastic-interpretation-fr-joseph-van-houseYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Race and Justice in America Lumen Christi Institute 2021-06-24 | A webinar conversation with Professors Brandon Vaidyanathan (Catholic University of America), Herschella Conyers (University of Chicago Law School), and Darren Davis (University of Notre Dame), moderated by Cook County Judge Thomas More Donnelly---National conversation about racial bias in law enforcement has become increasingly polarized over the last year. Some deny the existence of any widespread discrimination, while others see systemic racism as an inextricable part of American criminal justice, and call for defunding or even abolishing police forces. Professor Brandon Vaidyanathan says that racial bias in the criminal justice system is more complicated. A number of factors, including personal prejudice, laws and policies with racist origins, and broader cultural disparities that reflect the history of American racial discrimination, all contribute to a system that is neither irredeemably racist nor free from racial bias. Recognizing this complex interplay of problems, says Vaidyanathan, can help us move toward solutions.Join our panelists Brandon Vaidyanathan, Herschella Conyers, and Darren Davis for a conversation on race in contemporary American criminal justice and how we might find a path to equality in a fractured nation. This event is part of the Lumen Christi Institute's Catholic Criminal Justice Reform Network, and is cosponsored by the Institute for Human Ecology.More info here: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/06/race-justice
Future Directions of Hispanic Theology Lumen Christi Institute 2021-06-02 | A discussion with Peter J. Casarella (Duke Divinity School) and Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado (University of Scranton), moderated by Horacio Vela (University of the Incarnate Word)Where do we go from here? Concluding our spring Hispanic Theology Series, Professor Peter Casarella and Dean Michelle Maldonado will discuss the current landscape of Hispanic Theology, considering the most pressing needs and most promising opportunities in the field. Join us for this lively conversation.This event is part of a webinar series on Hispanic Theology.More info here: lumenchristi.org/hispanic-theologyFor bios of our speakers and to register on Zoom, see our website lumenchristi.org/future-directions
René Girard, Conversion, and the Present Media Moment Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-28 | A conversation with Grant Kaplan (Saint Louis University), Carly Osborn (University of Divinity), Fr. Steve Grunow (Word on Fire Catholic Ministries), moderated by Cynthia Haven (National Endowment for the Humanities). This event is co-sponsored by Word on Fire Catholic Ministries and America Media.While social media has become a source of meaning and identity formation for many, its dangers have become clear in recent years, from promoting disinformation to algorithm-aided polarization. Despite these dangers, can social media be a medium for the Gospel? Does a model for discipleship within social media exist?René Girard’s theory of mimesis or imitation provides a powerful diagnostic for analyzing aspects of human behavior and culture that contribute to the current media climate, including rivalry, escalation, and scapegoating. It also points towards the fragile possibility of positive mimesis: imitation of Christ. Join us for a panel drawing together Girard scholars and Catholic media experts to explore how Girard’s analysis can inform our understanding of the current media climate and how we might approach social media as a space for evangelization and conversion.---For full bios of our speakers, see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/05/girard-conversion-present-media-moment
The Ethics of Immigration Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-26 | A webinar lecture with Nichole Flores (University of Virginia) and Victor Carmona (University of San Diego)The U.S. Catholic Bishops have lobbied for and spoken eloquently about the need for a comprehensive immigration reform and have done so over the course of multiple administrations. These Latinx experts in moral theology will not only speak to the fact that this call to action remains unheard, even by some Catholics, but to the question of the principles in the Catholic tradition and beyond that can serve as resources for a Latinx theology of migration. Carmona has looked to St. Thomas Aquinas as a starting point and Flores to the Latinx experience of being familia. A rich conversation will ensue.---This event is part of a webinar series on Hispanic Theology.More info here: lumenchristi.org/hispanic-theologyFor more info on our speakers, and to join us on Zoom, see our webpage: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/05/ethics-of-immigration
Latino Christology Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-19 | A webinar lecture with Roberto Goizueta (Boston College) and Neomi De Anda (University of Dayton)Two experts on Latinx Christology will share their perspectives on the uniqueness as well as the universality of the Latinx spirituality of the crucified Christ. Beyond the stereotypical and often caricatured “bloody crucifix,” these scholars will lay out their complementary visions of how in the Hispanic Catholic tradition and in daily life today this Hispanic practical theology and cultural reality address the solidarity with the poor, the struggle to be a Church of the poor, and the transformative vulnerability and unheeded voices of lay and religious women.---This event is part of a webinar series on Hispanic Catholic Theology.More info here: lumenchristi.org/hispanic-theologyFor more information about our speakers, and to join us on Zoom, see our event page : lumenchristi.org/latino-christology
From 92 Pages to More than 60,000: How the Bollandists Created the Science of the Saints Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-15 | A lecture by Fr. Robert Godding, SJ (Bollandist Society). This event is co-presented with the Bollandist Society.For many centuries the Church has been venerating the saints. During Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, thousands of Lives have been written in Greek, in Latin and in the languages of the Christian East. Very soon wonderful and imaginary elements were mixed with historical ones, creating “legends”. If the awareness appeared quite early that all Lives of saints were not equally trustworthy, it is only at the beginning of the 17th century that scientific criteria were applied for the first time to that literature. Critical hagiography is the “science of the saints”, a discipline which was created by Jean Bolland, a Belgian Jesuit, who initiated the publication of what would become the largest ever collection of Lives of saints: the Acta Sanctorum. Through the following three centuries, this unique enterprise would not proceed unchallenged given the attachment of many to the wonderful elements related to their patron saints. Nowadays a scientific approach commands the inquiries for beatification, and critical hagiography has become an intensively cultivated field in universities.---For the full bio of our speaker, please see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/05/from-92-pages-to-more-than-60-000-how-bollandists-created-science-of-saints-robert-godding-sjYou can support the work of the Bollandist Society by donating on the Society's website: bollandistes.org/support-usYou can support the work of Lumen Christi by donating today at lumenchristi.org/donate
Beauty and Justice in the City: the Restoration of St. Adalberts, in Pilsen Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-12 | A webinar lecture with Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado (University of Scranton) and Juan Soto (Gamaliel), moderated by Peter J. Casarella (Duke Divinity School)Latinx Theology has always had a dual focus on the beauty of the symbols of Popular Catholicism and the cry of the poor in urban settings. In this session, one of the premier Latina voices on beauty and justice, Dr. Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, will have a discussion with a long-time community activist in Chicago about the application of this dyad to the concrete setting of Latinx Catholic life in the city of Chicago. The ongoing discussion of the proposed restoration of St. Adalbert’s will serve as a case study for thinking about how “God lives in the city” (Pope Francis).This event is part of a webinar series on Hispanic Theology.More info here: lumenchristi.org/hispanic-theology
The Crisis of Mysticism: Quietism in 17th Century Spain, Italy, and France Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-07 | A conversation with Bernard McGinn (University of Chicago), David Tracy (University of Chicago), and Sandra Schneiders (Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University), moderated by Willemein Otten (University of Chicago). ---The Crisis of Mysticism (Herder & Herder, 2021), by Bernard McGinn is the first book in English in seventy years to give a full account of the struggle over mystical spirituality that tore the Catholic Church apart at the end of the seventeenth century, resulting in papal condemnation of some mystics and the decline of mysticism in Catholicism for almost two centuries. Join Professors McGinn (University of Chicago), David Tracy (University of Chicago), and Sandra Schneiders (Jesuit School of Theology at Santa Clara University), for a conversation on The Crisis of Mysticism, moderated by Willemein Otten (University of Chicago).This event is co-sponsored by the Collegium Institute, the Martin Marty Center for the Public Understanding of Religion, and Herder & Herder.For more information, see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/05/crisis-of-mysticism-quietism-in-17th-century-spain-italy-france-bernard-mcginn-rev-david-tracy
Latino Youth and Evangelization Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-05 | A webinar lecture with Dr. Claudia Herrera-Montero (ACHTUS) and José Matos Auffant (St. Mary's University)Current research shows that almost half of Catholics in the United States self-identify as Hispanic, and that more than half of those Hispanic Catholics are young. To better understand the religious dynamics of young Latinx, we first must identify those who are affiliated as Catholics and those who are not, and examine how they understand their relationship with the faith. This requires a process of listening, reflection and participatory-action. There is a large group of young Latinx who self-identify as Catholics and no longer affiliate nor participate in a local church or any form of pastoral activity. In some cases, their faith identity and daily practice as Catholics is a pilgrimage where the Church is home, the streets, and other spaces, and the practices of their everyday life represent Catholicism. This conversation aims to provide both practical and theological insight emerging from the particularities of pastoral and research work with young Latinx and their familias/comunidades. There is a great need to open concrete spaces in which young Latinx are listened to as they name themselves and are affirmed as active agents in the sharing of the good news of the Gospel. Let’s continue the conversation!---This event is part of a webinar series on Hispanic Catholic Theology. This event and series is made possible by a generous grant from the Our Sunday Visitor Institute.Join the live conversation on Zoom: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_euxeUuFNT1a68XXMd9I9Jg
United by Their Loves: Deciphering Augustine’s Understanding of a People Lumen Christi Institute 2021-05-01 | A discussion with Russell Hittinger (Lumen Christi Institute), Michael Sherwin, O.P. (University of Fribourg), and Jennifer Frey (University of South Carolina). Cosponsored by America Media. ---The president in his inaugural address quoted Augustine of Hippo’s definition of a people as “a multitude defined by the common objects of their love.” This surprising event offers us the occasion to consider Augustine’s definition and its implications for our understanding of life in society: what role do our loves play in fashioning us as people? Can disparate loves divide a people? What does Augustine think we should love in order to belong to the people who inhabit the City of God? Join us for a moderated conversation between Profs. Russell Hittinger, Michael Sherwin, O.P., and Jennifer Frey on Augustine and the loves that form a People.This event is cosponsored by America Media.For more information about this event, see our website: lumenchristi.org/event/2021/05/united-by-their-loves
Automation and the Future of Work: Insights from Economics and Catholic Social Thought Lumen Christi Institute 2021-04-29 | A panel discussion with Christos Makridis (National Artificial Intelligence Institute), Edward Hadas (Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University), and Luis Valenzuela (Austral University of Chile), moderated by William R. Hauk Jr. (University of South Carolina), and organized by Carola Binder (Haverford College) This event is co-presented with the Catholic Research Economist Discussion Organization (CREDO) and cosponsored by the Las Casas Institute and Catholics at Booth.
