The Thomistic Institute

This lecture was given on September 21st, 2024, at University of South Florida.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-eventsAbout the Speaker: Sister Elinor Gardner, O.P., is Affiliate Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Dallas. Prior to arriving at UD, she taught at Aquinas College (Nashville, TN) and at The Catholic University of America, and spent one year assisting in formation at her Congregation’s Novitiate. She has a PhD from Boston College with a doctorate titled “St Thomas Aquinas on the Death Penalty.” Besides the ethical and political philosophy of Aquinas, her other research interests include the Christian anthropology of Robert Spaemann and Edith Stein.

What does it really mean to say the world is "created," according to St. Thomas Aquinas? Join Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. of Aquinas 101, Godsplaining, and Pints with Aquinas for an off-campus conversation with Dr. William Carroll about what "creation" really means, St. Thomas Aquinas on creation and time, cosmology, understanding science and creation, the harmony of science and faith, and more!You can watch this interview on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mZIcosauUU.About the speaker: Professor William E. Carroll has recently retired from research and teaching at the Aquinas Institute of Blackfriars in the University of Oxford. For the past two years he has been a Visiting Professor at the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law (Wuhan, China), and at the Hongyi Honor College of Wuhan University. He is a European intellectual historian and historian of science whose research and teaching concern: 1) the reception of Aristotelian science in mediaeval Islam, Judaism, and Christianity, and the development of the doctrine of creation, and 2) the encounter between Galileo and the Inquisition. He has also written extensively on the ways in which mediaeval discussions of the relationship among the natural sciences, philosophy, and theology can be useful in contemporary questions arising from developments in biology and cosmology.He is the author of four books: Aquinas on Creation; La Creación y las Ciencias Naturales: Actualidad de Santo Tomás de Aquino; Galileo: Science and Faith; and Creation and Science (with translations in Slovak, Spanish, and Chinese). His published work has appeared in 12 languages.Over many years he has written more than 25 op-ed pieces for Public Discourse, the web site of the Witherspoon Institute at Princeton.

Fr. Gregory Pine discusses the pitfalls of undisciplined thinking, advocating for a return to structured thought guided by the Catholic intellectual tradition, particularly the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas. He highlights how Aquinas offers a coherent and organized approach to reality that integrates faith and reason, helping Catholics make sense of their experiences and choices.This lecture was given on October 3rd, 2024, at University of Michigan.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speaker:Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. (Dominican House of Studies) is from Pennsylvania and graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville. He previously served as the Assistant Director of Campus Outreach for the Thomistic Institute in Washington, DC, and associate pastor of St. Louis Bertrand Catholic Church in Louisville, KY where he also taught at Bellarmine University. He currently serves as an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is a contributor on the Pints with Aquinas show and a co-host of the Catholic Classics podcast.Fr. Gregory is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly (Our Sunday Visitor, 2022) and co-author with Matt Fradd of Marian Consecration With Aquinas: A Nine Day Path for Growing Closer to the Mother of God (TAN Books, 2020).

Dr. R.J. Snell explores the contemporary Western world's struggle with disenchantment, loneliness, and lack of purpose, exemplified through Elena Ferrante's fiction. He contrasts this with the Christian concept of personhood, derived from Trinitarian theology, which emphasizes communion and the diffusion of goodness. Snell suggests practical ways to recover a sense of communion and meaning, particularly through observing the Sabbath and engaging in study and storytelling.This lecture was given on October 18th, 2024, at Thomistic Institute in New York City.For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.About the Speaker:R. J. Snell is Editor-in-Chief of Public Discourse and Director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, NJ. He has been a visiting instructor at Princeton University, where he is also executive director of the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life. He's written books and articles on Natural Law, Education, Bernard Lonergan, Boredom, Subjectivity, and Sexual Ethics for a variety of publications.