This lecture was given on April 25th, 2025, at University of North Texas.

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About the Speaker:

Paul Gondreau is professor of theology at Providence College, where he has taught for 26 years. He received his doctorate in theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, doing his dissertation on Christ's full humanity (Christ's human passions/emotions) under the renowned Thomist scholar Jean-Pierre Torrell. He specializes in the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and has published widely in the areas of Christology (focusing on Christ’s full humanity and his maleness), Christian anthropology, the moral meaning and purpose of human sexuality and sexual difference, the biblical vision of Aquinas' theology, the theology of disability, the sacrament of the Eucharist and the priesthood, and the Catholic vision of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. 

This lecture was given on October 25th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P. entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2015. From 2015 to 2018, Fr. Innocent served as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena in New York City. From 2018 to 2021, he lived in Munich while completing a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg. From 2021 to 2023, Fr. Innocent served as Assistant Professor of Homiletics at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. In 2023, he joined the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception.

Fr. Innocent’s teaching and research interests include liturgy, homiletics, sacramental theology, ecclesiology, and sacred music. His S.T.L. thesis, “In Collecta Dicitur: The Oration as a Theological Authority for Thomas Aquinas,” explored the importance of the liturgy as a source for scholastic theology. His monograph Bible Missals and the Medieval Dominican Liturgy focuses on medieval manuscripts of the Bible that also contain liturgical texts for the celebration of Mass.

This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

This lecture was given on February 11th, 2025, at Cornell University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Fr. Innocent Smith, O.P. entered the Order of Preachers in 2008 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2015. From 2015 to 2018, Fr. Innocent served as parochial vicar at the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena in New York City. From 2018 to 2021, he lived in Munich while completing a doctorate in liturgical studies at the University of Regensburg. From 2021 to 2023, Fr. Innocent served as Assistant Professor of Homiletics at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore. In 2023, he joined the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception.

Fr. Innocent’s teaching and research interests include liturgy, homiletics, sacramental theology, ecclesiology, and sacred music. His S.T.L. thesis, “In Collecta Dicitur: The Oration as a Theological Authority for Thomas Aquinas,” explored the importance of the liturgy as a source for scholastic theology. His monograph Bible Missals and the Medieval Dominican Liturgy focuses on medieval manuscripts of the Bible that also contain liturgical texts for the celebration of Mass.

Prof. Gary Anderson examines how the Christian practice of adoring the Blessed Sacrament is deeply rooted in the scriptural tradition, particularly through the Old Testament themes of God's indwelling presence in the tabernacle and the dual spiritual practices of visual contemplation and sacrificial offering.

This lecture was given on February 7th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Professor Gary Anderson is the Hesburgh Professor of Catholic Theology at Notre Dame University. Prof. Anderson has won numerous awards including most recently grants from the American Philosophical Society, Lilly Endowment and the Institute for Advanced Study at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Prof Anderson’s is well known for his books Sin: A History and Charity: The Place of the Poor in the Biblical Tradition (Yale University Press, 2009 and 2013). His newest book, That I May Dwell among Them: Incarnation and Atonement in the Tabernacle Narrative appeared in 2023. Some recent articles include: “To See Where God Dwells: The Tabernacle, Temple, and the Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition;” “The Roman Church as Casta Meretrix;” and “God Doesn’t Break Bad in the Old Testament.” 

Keywords: Adoration, Eucharistic Theology, Exodus, Indwelling Presence, Levitical Priesthood, Old Testament Interpretation, Psalms, Tabernacle Narrative

Prof. Bruce Marshall examines the fundamental Christian doctrine of the Incarnation, explaining how the New Testament and Catholic tradition affirm that Jesus is truly God in the flesh, as confessed by Thomas in the Gospel of John and articulated in the Nicene Creed and the Definition of Chalcedon.

This lecture was given on April 7th, 2025, at University of Tulsa.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speaker:

Bruce D. Marshall is Lehman Professor of Christian Doctrine at Southern Methodist University, and in 2023 he held the Aquinas Chair in the Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum in Rome.  He is the author of Trinity and Truth and Christology in Conflict, and at present he is completing a book entitled The Primacy of Christ: Faith, Reason, and the Cross.  Marshall has written extensively on the doctrines of the Trinity, the person and redemptive work of Christ, the Eucharist, the Catholic Church and non-Christian religions, and the relationship between faith and reason.  He received his B.A. from Northwestern University and his Ph.D. from Yale University, and is a past President of the Academy of Catholic Theology.

This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Keywords: Chalcedonian Definition, Christology, Gospel of John, Incarnation, St. Thomas the Apostle, Nicene Creed, Scripture

Prof. Thomas Ward explores the Thomistic concept of the convertibility of being and goodness, examining how the privation theory of evil and the essential natures of things underpin the intrinsic goodness of all that exists, drawing on insights from Aristotelian and Thomistic philosophy.

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 has contributed over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters to these fields of study. Ward is the author of After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher (Word on Fire, 2024), Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus (Angelico, 2022), Divine Ideas (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and has translated, with commentary, John Duns Scotus’s Treatise on the First Principle (Hackett, 2024). He has been a NEH Fellow (2022) and Harvey Fellow (2009-2011), and is a past winner of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Founder's Award (2013) and the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Rising Scholar Essay Contest (2018). Before taking up his current post at Baylor, Ward taught in California at Azusa Pacific University (2011-2012) and Loyola Marymount University (2012-2017). He studied philosophy at Biola University (BA 2004) and theology at Oxford University (M.Phil 2006), where he was Head Resident at the Kilns, the former residence of C.S. Lewis. His  PhD in philosophy is from UCLA (2011). Ward is married with six children and is a member of St. Peter Catholic Student Center in Waco.

This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Convertibility Of Being And Goodness, Creation, Essence And Existence, Evil As Privation, Nature, Perfection, Teleology

Fr. Timothy Bellamah explores how the problem of evil emerged as a distinct theological issue within the Judeo-Christian tradition, contrasting it with ancient mythologies and examining historical responses from Gnosticism to Augustine and Aquinas.

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 Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (M.Div. and S.T.B., 1997; S.T.L, 1999) and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, (Ph.D., Section des sciences Religieuses, 2008). He has previously taught at Providence College in the Department of Theology and the Department of the Development of Western Civilization. From 2010 to 2018 he served as editor of The Thomist and is a member of the Leonine Commission, a team of Dominican scholars responsible for the production of critical Latin editions of the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas. He is also currently preparing a critical Latin edition of the Commentary on John’s Gospel by one of St. Thomas’ Dominican contemporaries, William of Alton.

Keywords: Aquinas, Augustine, Catharism, Gnosticism, Greek Mythology, Manichaeism, Marcionism, Metaphysical Dualism, Problem Of Evil, Theodicy

Prof. Candace Vogler analyzes the concept of the highest good in metaethics, comparing the views of Mill, Kant, and Aquinas, and explores how the pursuit of the highest good shapes moral philosophy and practical reasoning.

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 work by G. E. M. ('Elizabeth') Anscombe, St. Thomas Aquinas, and Immanuel Kant, and sometimes she teaches work by John Stuart Mill. She also works on psychoanalysis (primarily Freudian work and the work of Jacques Lacan), and at the intersections of philosophy and literature and philosophy and film. Vogler is interested in questions about the highest good, about sin, and about moral self-improvement. 

This project/publication was made possible through the support of Grant 63391 from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Keywords: Aquinas, Christology, Eudaimonia, Highest Good, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Metaethics, Moral Philosophy, Practical Reason, Virtue Ethics

Prof. Stephen Meredith examines why a good and all-powerful God would allow horrible diseases, weaving together scientific explanations, philosophical arguments from figures like Boethius and Aquinas, and personal anecdotes to address the problem of evil.

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 in the University of Chicago Divinity School. He has published more than 100 journal articles, focusing on the biophysics of protein structure. Much of his work has been the application of solution and solid-state NMR to the study of amyloid proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease. He has also published articles on literature and philosophy in diverse aspects of medical humanities and bioethics. His teaching includes courses to graduate students in biochemistry and biophysics, medical students, and undergraduates and graduate students in the humanities, including courses on James Joyce’s Ulysses, St. Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Dostoevsky (focusing on Brothers Karamazov), Thomas Mann and David Foster Wallace. He is currently working on a book examining disease and the theological problem of evil. Other current writing projects include a study of James Joyce and the problem of evil.

Keywords: Balanced Polymorphism, Boethius, Disease and Evil, Evolutionary Biology, The Consolation Of Philosophy, Philosophy Of Religion, Problem of Evil, Sickle Cell Anemia, Theodicy

Prof. Thomas Ward explains the classical Christian theory that evil is not a real entity but a privation of goodness, drawing from thinkers like Augustine, Aquinas, and Boethius to address philosophical and theological challenges about the nature of evil.

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 has contributed over thirty peer-reviewed articles and book chapters to these fields of study. Ward is the author of After Stoicism: Last Words of the Last Roman Philosopher (Word on Fire, 2024), Ordered by Love: An Introduction to John Duns Scotus (Angelico, 2022), Divine Ideas (Cambridge University Press, 2020), and has translated, with commentary, John Duns Scotus’s Treatise on the First Principle (Hackett, 2024). He has been a NEH Fellow (2022) and Harvey Fellow (2009-2011), and is a past winner of the Society for Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy Founder's Award (2013) and the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly Rising Scholar Essay Contest (2018). Before taking up his current post at Baylor, Ward taught in California at Azusa Pacific University (2011-2012) and Loyola Marymount University (2012-2017). He studied philosophy at Biola University (BA 2004) and theology at Oxford University (M.Phil 2006), where he was Head Resident at the Kilns, the former residence of C.S. Lewis. His  PhD in philosophy is from UCLA (2011). Ward is married with six children and is a member of St. Peter Catholic Student Center in Waco.

Keywords: Augustine, Boethius, Consolation Of Philosophy, Evil As Privation, Moral Philosophy, Ontology Of Evil, Privation Theory, Problem Of Evil, Theodicy, Wickedness