The Thomistic Institute

Dr. Erik Dempsey explores the positions of Martin Luther and Thomas Aquinas against Pelagianism, highlighting their shared rejection of justification by human effort and their nuanced theological differences on grace, merit, and free will.

This lecture was given on March 18th, 2024, at Regent University.

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

About the Speaker:

Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout.

Keywords: Augustinian Theology, Christian Anthropology, Ecumenical Dialogue, Galatians Commentary, Grace and Merit, Justification Doctrine, Liberal Modernity, Martin Luther, Original Sin, Pelagianism

Fr. Dominic Legge delves into the philosophical and moral considerations that determine whether laws are truly just, highlighting the ongoing relevance of these questions in contemporary society.

This lecture was given on March 26th, 2025, at Harvard University.

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About the Speaker:

Fr. Dominic Legge is the Director of the Thomistic Institute and Associate Professor in Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.  He is an Ordinary Member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, and holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, a Ph.L. from the School of Philosophy of the Catholic University of America, and a doctorate in Sacred Theology from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. He entered the Order of Preachers in 2001, after having practiced constitutional law for several years as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice. He has also taught at The Catholic University of America Law School and at Providence College. He is the author of The Trinitarian Christology of St. Thomas Aquinas (Oxford University Press, 2017).

Keywords: Aristotelian Philosophy, Catholic Ethics, Contemporary Legal Theory, Incarnation, John Finnis, Jurisprudence, Natural Law Tradition, Saint Augustine, Summa Theologiae, The Metaphysics of Morals

Prof. Matthew Shea examines the classic philosophical question “Can we be happy without God?” by analyzing historical and contemporary perspectives on happiness, ultimately contrasting the limitations of atheistic views with the theistic argument for true human fulfillment in God.

This lecture was given on April 22nd, 2025, at Franciscan University of Steubenville.

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

About the Speaker:

Matthew Shea is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He specializes in moral philosophy and bioethics, with additional interests in philosophy of religion and epistemology. He did his undergraduate studies at Boston College, received a PhD in philosophy from Saint Louis University, and completed a fellowship in clinical health care ethics at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of God and Happiness (Cambridge University Press, 2024).

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Augustine, Atheism, Bertrand Russell, Boethius, Human Flourishing, Perfectionism, Plato, Schopenhauer, The Consolation of Philosophy

Prof. Timothy J. Pawl examines the nature, divisions, and cultivation of virtue, harmonizing Christian moral wisdom with contemporary psychological research and offering eight practical steps to growing in virtue.

This lecture was given on April 24th, 2025, at North Dakota State University.

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About the Speaker:

Timothy J. Pawl is Professor of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and holds a Ph.D. from Saint Louis University in philosophy.  He specializes in the philosophy of religion, metaphysics, Thomistic philosophy, analytic theology, and moral psychology. His books include In Defense of Conciliar Christology (Oxford, 2016), In Defense of Extended Conciliar Christology (Oxford, 2019), The Incarnation (Cambridge, 2020), and Jesus and the Genome: The Intersection of Christology and Biology (Cambridge, 2024), co-authored with a philosopher of science and an evolutionary biologist. 

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Augustine, Cardinal Virtues, Christian Moral Wisdom, Habit Formation, Intellectual Virtues, Nicomachean Ethics, Self-Control, Situational Self-Control, Theological Virtues

Prof. Thomas Ward explores the resurgence of Stoicism in modern culture and critically contrasts it with Christian philosophy, especially through the lens of Boethius' The Consolation of Philosophy, advocating for divine providence and the Christian virtues of hope and charity in place of Stoic apathy.

This lecture was given on May 4th, 2025, at Stanford University.

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: Apathy, Boethius, Christian Philosophy, Divine Providence, Fatalism, Hope, The Consolation of Philosophy, Stoicism, Tranquility, Virtue

Prof. Raymond Hain examines the four cardinal virtues—prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance—tracing their philosophical and theological roots while exploring their essential role in living a morally excellent and flourishing human life.

This lecture was given on March 27th, 2025, at University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

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

About the Speaker:

Raymond Hain is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Humanities Program at Providence College in Providence, RI. Educated at Christendom College, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oxford, he is the founder of the PC Humanities Forum and Humanities Reading Seminars and is responsible for the strategic development of the Humanities Program into a vibrant, world class center of teaching, research, and cultural life dedicated to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His scholarly interests include the history of ethics (especially St. Thomas Aquinas), applied ethics (especially medical ethics and the ethics of architecture), Alexis de Tocqueville, and philosophy and literature (especially Catholic aesthetics). His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Charles Koch Foundation. His essays have appeared in various journals and collections including The Thomist, International Journal of Applied Philosophy, and The Anthem Companion to Tocqueville. He is the editor of Beyond the Self: Virtue Ethics and the Problem of Culture and is currently working on a monograph titled The Lover and the Prophet: An Essay in Catholic Aesthetics. He joined Providence College in 2011 and lives just across the street with his wife Dominique and their five children.

Keywords: Aquinas' Moral Philosophy, Cardinal Virtues, Common Good, Formation of Virtue, Les Misérables, Moral Exemplars, Peter Geach, Prudence and Practical Wisdom, Smith of Wootton Major, Virtue Ethics

Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., delves into St. Augustine's understanding of love for "confused lovers," drawing from the Confessions to explore the transformative power of God's grace and the ordering of human loves toward divine union.

This lecture was given on April 4th, 2025, at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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 the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions.

Keywords: Augustine’s Confessions, Christian Friendship, Divine Grace, Disordered Love, Eucharist Theology, Grace and Conversion, Incarnational Love, On Christian Teaching, Restless Heart

Prof. Gina Noia explores the Catholic Church's nuanced teachings on birth control, responsible parenthood, and the moral distinctions between natural family planning, direct contraception, and sterilization, rooted in theological and philosophical reasoning.

This lecture was given on October 1st, 2024, at North Carolina State University.

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

About the Speaker:

Gina Maria Noia, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Theology at Providence College. She received her PhD in Theology and Health Care Ethics from Saint Louis University. She has served as a clinical ethicist for OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, IL and St. Alexius Hospital in St. Louis, MO, and she is published in Christian Bioethics and the Journal of Moral Theology. Outside of academia, you’ll find her spending time outdoors with her (philosopher) husband, Justin Noia, PhD, and their vivacious children.

Keywords: Catholic Marriage, Catholic Moral Theology, Contraception Ethics, Double Effect Principle, Gaudium et Spes, Humanae Vitae, John Paul II, Natural Family Planning, Responsible Parenthood, Theology of the Body

Prof. Christopher Kaczor critically examines the ethics of abortion by exploring whether the unborn are alive and human, whether killing is justified, and whether bodily autonomy overrides other moral considerations.

This lecture was given on April 14th, 2025, at Duke University.

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About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) graduated from the Honors Program of Boston College and earned a Ph.D. four years later from the University of Notre Dame. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Kaczor is a former Federal Chancellor Fellow at the University of Cologne and William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University and Honorary Professor in Bishop Barron's Word on Fire Institute. His seventeen books include The Gospel of Happiness, The Seven Big Myths about Marriage, A Defense of Dignity, The Seven Big Myths about the Catholic Church, The Ethics of Abortion, O Rare Ralph McInerny: Stories and Reflections on a Legendary Notre Dame Professor, Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues; Life Issues-Medical Choices; Thomas Aquinas on Faith, Hope, and Love; The Edge of Life, and Proportionalism and the Natural Law Tradition. Dr. Kaczor’s views have been in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Huffington Post, National Review, NPR, BBC, EWTN, ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, MSNBC, TEDx, and The Today Show.

Keywords: Abortion Ethics, Bodily Autonomy, Don Marquis, Human Rights, Justice, Judith Jarvis Thomson, Moral Philosophy, Personhood, Science and Ethics, Women's Rights

Prof. Jordan Wales offers a theological critique of artificial intelligence, examining the limitations of computational and behaviorist definitions of intelligence and emphasizing the need for intentionality, interior experience, and a Christian understanding rooted in Augustine.

This lecture was given on April 4th, 2024, at Hillsdale College.

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

About the Speaker:

Jordan Wales is Associate Professor and John and Helen Kuczmarski Chair in Theology at Hillsdale College, where he teaches historical theology. His scholarship—appearing in journals such as Augustinian Studies, the Journal of Moral Theology, and AI & Society—focuses on early Christianity as well as theology and Artificial Intelligence. Holding degrees in Engineering (B.S.), Cognitive Science (M.Sc.), and Theology (Dip.Theol., M.T.S., Ph.D.), he is a member of the AI Research Group for the Centre for Digital Culture, under the Dicastery of Culture and Education at the Holy See; a fellow of the International Society for Science and Religion; and a fellow of the Centre for Humanity and the Common Good.

Keywords: Augustinianism, Behavioral Definition of Intelligence, Christianity and AI, Computationalism, Ethics, Francis Bacon, Intentionality, Machine Consciousness, René Descartes, Encountering Artificial Intelligence