Christendom College Lectures

Virtue has never been more maligned and misunderstood than in our age. Between movies that celebrate antiheroes and corporations that “virtue signal” about false values, we must revisit the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas to reclaim a true understanding of virtue and strategies for how we can acquire it in our age. This Principles Live Lecture will be delivered by Dr. Andrew Whitmore, assitant profes...

This lecture will be given by Dr. Daniel McInerny, a professor of philosophy at Christendom College and faculty moderator of the on-campus drama club, the Christendom Players. Dr. McInerny also teaches an upcoming Principles class on The Philosophy of Art and Beauty and has a book coming out next year from Word on Fire Academic entitled The Way of Beauty .  When we hear the word “entertainment,” w...

In this Principles Live Lecture, Christendom professor Dr. Kurt Poterack will help you understand the beautiful theology behind Catholic teaching on sacred music. These days, many people think "sacred music" can be any sort of music played in a religious setting. However, the Catholic Church has a long and rich tradition of carefully delineating just what sacred music means.

This lecture will be given by Dr. Trey Stanford, a professor in the Department of English Literature & Language at Christendom College. Dr. Stanford's lecture is entitled "'Terrificalest Freezing Magics': The Gift of Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas" and will be a part of Christendom College's annual day-long Christmas at Christendom event for our President's Council benefactors, many o...

Why read Jane Austen? She makes us smile and laugh through her beautifully written works of literature, but she also helps orient our imagination, intellect, and will towards virtue. Dr. Sullivan earned her Ph. D. in English from The Catholic University of America and serves as an assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature at Christendom College. She specializes in Ja...

Dr. Vyner serves as the chairman in the Department of Theology at Christendom College, where he teaches classes on Scripture, the Sacraments, the Domestic Church, Fundamentals of Catholic Doctrine, and more.   Today's Principles Live Lecture will present the Holy Family, referred to in the early Church as the "earthly Trinity," both in Scripture and Tradition. Such a topic is extremely relevant to...

Christendom’s Tocqueville Forum hosted a talk by Notre Dame Professor Phillip Muñoz titled “Natural Rights, Natural Law, and the American Founding” on September 29, 2022. Muñoz addressed the question of whether traditional religious beliefs are compatible with a political order based on natural rights principles. He defended natural rights as part of the natural law, and that Catholics can be fait...

Dr. Cuddeback holds a PhD from the Catholic University of America and has taught for 25 years here at Christendom College in the Philosophy Department. He is the author of the book, "True Friendship", where virtue becomes happiness, and a lay Dominican. He is an avid gardener and hunter. In this Principles Live Lecture, Dr. Cuddeback explains that life is about relationship. One of the most import...

Canadian by birth, Conor Sweeney obtained a licentiate and doctorate in Sacred Theology from the John Paul Institute for Marriage and the Family in Rome. He taught and researched in areas of Evangelization, continental philosophy, the Theology of Joseph Ratzinger, and John Paul II's Theology of the Body, and much more. Dr. Sweeney joined the theology faculty in 2020 here at Christendom College. Dr...

Dr. Mark Wunsch received his undergraduate degree in Denver, and pursued his graduate degree in the Angelicum in Rome. Since 2005, he has taught and served in multiple administrative roles, associate professor of philosophy, academic dean, director of Rome academics, and chair of the philosophy department. He has taught all six of our core Philosophy classes here at Christendom.  In this Principle...

Dr. Joseph Brutto serves as associate professor of Political Science, Chairman of the Political Science and Economics department, and Director of the Advanced Studies program at Christendom College. He teaches classes on the origin of political thought, Catholic Social Doctrine, and Ancient and Political Philosophy, and more. Today's Principles Live Lecture will focus on Machiavelli. Dr. Brutto wi...

Christendom's Tocqueville Forum welcomed Dr. Lynn Uzzell of the University of Virginia and Washington & Lee University to campus for a lecture on March 24 titled "James Madison's Antislavery Constitution." For more information on the Tocqueville Forum, visit here: https://www.tocquevilleforum.com .

Pro-life advocate and author of the best-selling book Unplanned Abby Johnson delivered an address at Christendom College on Monday, March 28, encouraging the college’s students to take an even greater role in the pro-life movement during this critical moment in America’s history. Johnson spoke directly about the Jackson v. Dobbs case during her address, touching upon what could happen if Roe v. Wa...

Associate Professor of Philosophy Dr. Daniel McInerny delivered a talk entitled “Festivity as Evangelization” as a part of the Principles Lecture during the Christmas at Christendom event held annually at Christendom College.

Christendom’s Tocqueville Forum hosted a talk by Professor James Stoner titled “Can Religion be Legislated?” in November of 2021. He discussed the role of religion and its legislators in civilizations throughout history.

For the last installment of the Beato Fra Angelico Fine Arts series in 2021, Professor Kathleen Sullivan gave a talk discussing the positive impact literature can have in our lives. Her lecture focused on how literature “helps restore joy and wonder in our lives.”

Professor Sharon Hickson of Christendom College delivered a talk on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. The talk touches on the paradoxes in the novel, the season of Advent as a season of hope, as well as a reflection and commentary on the Victorian Age.

Dr. McInerny delivered a talk in the final installment of the Beato Fra Angelica Fine Arts events entitled: “The Longing for Beauty in Our Age of Anxiety”. The talk discussed “the transcendent nature of beauty and the desperate need of our anxious, attention-fractured culture to experience this transcendence. As well as how more and more our culture is defined by the metaphor of the machine and th...

Sara Pecknold delivered a talk titled: "Pietoso Medico": Giovanni Teipolo, Claudio Monteverdi, and Devotion to the Most Precious Blood in 17th Century Venice to the faculty and students of Christendom College.

On Monday, March 22 in Killian’s Cafe, Christendom College welcomed Richard Reinsch to give a lecture on Catholic political thinker Orestes Brownson, titled “Orestes Brownson's Unwritten Constitution.”  Reinsch applied Brownson's major philosophical ideas to contemporary  challenges upon American Constitutionalism. 

Behavioral geneticist Dr. Daniel Toma discusses questions of the order and structure of the universes in light in John Arintero's notion of Theosis. he also expounds on the significance and purpose of the Incarnation. Dr. Daniel Toma is behavioral geneticist from Minnesota State University Mankato and is professor in the department of Biology. He is author of the book Vestige of Eden, Image of Ete...

On January 27th, 2020 Christendom College hosted Dr. Daria Spezzano to give a talk for the 2020 Thomas Aquinas Lecture. Dr. Spezzano demonstrated the elements of eros in St. Thomas Aquinas's understanding of the Eucharist. Thomas Aquinas also applied elements of eros more broadly to his theology of charity in a distinctly Dominican way.  Dr. Daria Spezzano is an associate professor of Theology at...

For a special edition of Into the Deep, Father Sean Kilcawley, a nationally known Integrity Restored speaker and a diocesan priest of the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska gave a dynamic address on the practicals of living a life free of pornography.

Dr. Bronwen McShea delivered a talk titled “One World Was Not Enough for Her”: Cardinal Richelieu’s Heiress and Her Missionary Empire to the faculty and students of Christendom College on April 15, 2019. McShea discusses how Marie Madeleine de Vignerot vivaciously used her abilities and position to expand the French Church.

Mother Olga of the Sacred Heart, the founder and mother servant of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth, delivered a talk titled, “In the Church, With the Church, For the Church,” to the Christendom community as part of the Major Speakers Program on Monday, March 25, 2019.