The Thomistic Institute

Prof. Joshua Hochschild explores the philosophical and theological dimensions of the Barbie movie, analyzing its narrative through the lens of storytelling, existentialism, and the thought of Aquinas, while engaging with diverse critical interpretations.

This lecture was given on September 20th, 2024, at North Carolina State University.

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About the Speaker:

Joshua Hochschild is Professor of Philosophy at Mount St. Mary’s University, where he also served six years as the inaugural Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. His primary research is in medieval logic, metaphysics, and ethics, with broad interest in liberal education and the continuing relevance of the Catholic intellectual tradition. He is the author of The Semantics of Analogy: Rereading Cajetan’s De Nominum Analogia (2010), translator of Claude Panaccio’s Mental Language: From Plato to William of Ockham (2017), and co-author of A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction (2017). His writing has appeared in First Things, Commonweal, Modern Age and the Wall Street Journal. For 2020-21 he served as President of the American Catholic Philosophical Association.

Keywords: Adultery, Aristotle, Catholic Personalism, Culture, Existentialism, Feminism, Gabriel Marcel, Pinocchio, Plato, Storytelling

Sr. Elinor Gardner explores the Christian understanding of virtue, emphasizing the theological and cardinal virtues as foundational to human excellence and the restoration of the image of God in man and woman.

This lecture was given on February 21st, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.

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About 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.

Keywords: Aristotelianism, Beauty, Cardinal Virtues, Catechism of the Catholic Church, Christian Anthropology, Divine Grace, Gregory of Nyssa, Summa Theologiae, Temperance, Virtue Ethics

Prof. Christopher Kaczor rigorously defends the inclusive interpretation of the Declaration of Independence, arguing that "all men are created equal" refers to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, or status, drawing on historical documents, the founders' intentions, and philosophical influences.

This lecture was given on March 27th, 2025, at University of South Carolina.

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About the Speaker:

Dr. Christopher Kaczor 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: Abraham Lincoln, American Founding, Declaration of Independence, Equality, First Treatise On Government, Inalienable Rights, John Locke, Race and Gender, Slavery, Thomas Jefferson

Prof. Bruce Marshall explores the complex theological and philosophical challenges of predestination, examining its biblical foundations, Catholic doctrinal teachings, and the relationship between divine will, human freedom, and universal salvation.

This lecture was given on February 28th, 2024, at University of Texas Austin.

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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.

Keywords: Biblical Election, Catholic Doctrine, Council of Trent, Divine Foreknowledge, Ephesians, Free Will, Gaudium Et Spes, Jansenism, Predestination, Romans

Fr. Gregory Pine explains the Catholic doctrine of predestination, distinguishing it from Calvinist interpretations by emphasizing God’s gratuitous initiative, human participation through grace, and the ultimate purpose of creation as sharing in divine life.

This lecture was given on May 8th, 2025, at Universidad Panamericana.

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About the Speaker:

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P. is an adjunct professor of dogmatic theology at the Dominican House of Studies and an Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He is the author of a few books including Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly. His writing also appears in Ascension’s Catholic Classics, Magnificat, and Aleteia. He is a regular contributor to the podcasts Pints with Aquinas, Catholic Classics, The Thomistic Institute, and Godsplaining.

Keywords: Augustine, Calvinism, Creation, Divine Foreknowledge, Free Will and Grace, Four Quartets, Human Participation in Salvation, Molinism, Predestination Doctrine, Single Predestination

Dr. Nathaniel Peters examines how young adults can make life-changing decisions by applying philosophical and theological frameworks, particularly drawing on Aristotle and Aquinas, to overcome paralysis, weigh competing goods, and move beyond the allure of endless options.

This lecture was given on April 10th, 2025, at Williams College.

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About the Speaker:

Nathaniel Peters is the Director of the Morningside Institute. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College in linguistics, with a focus on French and Latin, his M.T.S. from the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. in theology from Boston College. He has published articles and reviews on many topics in historical theology and ethics and serves as a contributing editor at Public Discourse.

Keywords: Aristotelian Ethics, Decision Paralysis, Life-Changing Decisions, Mark Edmundson, Mihir Desai, Nicomachean Ethics, Optionality Culture, Restlessness

Fr. Anselm Ramelow explores the philosophical and scientific debates surrounding free will, examining cultural attitudes, neuroscience experiments like Benjamin Libet's, and the necessity of free will for rational thought and moral responsibility.

This lecture was given on September 14th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speaker:

Fr. Anselm Ramelow, O.P., a native of Germany, teaches philosophy at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California, where he is also currently the chair of the philosophy department. He is also a member of the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and the Academy of Catholic Theology. He obtained his doctorate under Robert Spaemann in Munich on Leibniz and the Spanish Jesuits (Gott, Freiheit, Weltenwahl, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997) and did theological work on George Lindbeck and the question of a Thomist philosophy and theology of language (Beyond Modernism? - George Lindbeck and the Linguistic Turn in Theology, Neuried: Ars Una 2005). Other works include Thomas Aquinas: De veritate Q. 21-24; Translation and Commentary (Hamburg: Meiner, 2013) and God: Reason and Reality (Basic Philosophical Concepts) (Munich: Philosophia Verlag, 2014), as editor and contributor. Articles appeared in Historisches Wörterbuch der Philosophie, Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, Nova et Vetera, American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly and Angelicum. Areas of research and teaching include Free Will, the History of Philosophy and Philosophical Aesthetics. He has worked on a philosophical approach to Miracles and other topics of the philosophy of religion, and more recently the philosophy of technology. 

Keywords: Aristotle, Augustine, Benjamin Libet, Brain Science, C.S. Lewis, Culture and Autonomy, Ethics and Moral Responsibility, Free Will Debate, Minority Report, Neuroscience Experiments

Prof. Paul Gondreau explores whether God could truly experience human emotions and suffering by examining Christ’s full humanity, the Church’s response to heresies like docetism and monophysitism, and the Aristotelian-Thomistic understanding of human nature and passions.

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

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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 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: Animal Nature, Aristotelianism, Christology, Concupiscence, Council of Chalcedon, Council of Constantinople, Docetism, Gospel of John, Incarnation, Monophysitism

Fr. Thomas Petri explores the profound meaning of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection, emphasizing humanity’s original condition and ultimate end, the consequences of sin, and God’s redemptive plan culminating in the Incarnation.

This lecture was given on April 10th, 2025, at University of Scranton.

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

About the Speaker:

Father Thomas Petri, O.P. is the President of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies, where he also serves as an assistant professor of moral theology and pastoral studies. Ordained a priest in 2009, he holds a Doctorate in Sacred Theology from The Catholic University of America.

Keywords: Abraham, Divine Providence, Ethics, Incarnation, Jeremiah, Original Sin, Pentecost, Philippians, Redemption, Suffering

Prof. Steven Jensen analyzes the complexity of the human heart by distinguishing the interplay between emotions and will, drawing on Aquinas and Aristotle to explain how passions like love, desire, sorrow, anxiety, guilt, vainglory, and pride shape human behavior and moral decision-making.

This lecture was given on September 6th, 2024, at Dominican House of Studies.

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

About the Speaker:

Steven J Jensen, who holds the Bishop Nold Chair in Graduate Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, Houston, teaches in The Center for Thomistic Studies. His fields of research include bioethics, moral psychology, the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, human nature, and natural law. He is the author of several books, including Living the Good Life: A Beginner’s Thomistic Ethics and The Human Person: A Beginner’s Thomistic Psychology.

Keywords: Aristotle, Emotions and Will, End-of-Life Ethics, Human Passions, Moral Psychology, Virtue Ethics