The Thomistic Institute

Dr. Jan Bentz argues that utopias are dangerous because they promise a perfected society by denying human fallenness, replacing Christian hope and grace with man-made salvation, and turning politics into a counterfeit religion. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at Thomistic Institute in Limerick. To make a gift this June, visit  https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod . About the...

Professor James Felak argues that Catholic social teaching presents a holistic vision of the human person and society, insisting that rights and duties belong together, the market must serve the common good, and neither socialism nor unchecked capitalism can satisfy human dignity. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. For more information on upcoming events, visit u...

Joe Grabowski presents Chesterton’s philosophy as a disciplined recovery of wonder, arguing that reality is not exhausted by habit, utility, or material explanation but should be seen with childlike astonishment and gratitude. This lecture was given on March 30th, 2026, at the University of Kansas. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About...

Fr. Jordan Schmidt says that vocation is a grace-filled cooperation with God’s kingdom, where renewed discernment helps us choose our way of life and embrace suffering with Christ for the salvation of ourselves and others. This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About th...

Fr. Gregory Pine teaches that discernment is less about forcing certainty and more about entering the way Christ reveals himself: gradually, trustingly, and through prayerful relationship. This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P....

This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribou...

Sr. Mary Madeline Todd argues that Christ calls us not merely to survive but to thrive, and that “life to the full” comes through meaning, suffering united to love, disciplined commitment, wonder, prayer, and sacramental life. This lecture was given on March 27th, 2026, at University of South Alabama. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . Abo...

Prof. Alexander Pruss argues that science is powerful but limited, because it depends on presuppositions about logic, rationality, uniformity of nature, and value judgments that science itself cannot justify, and because human fulfillment ultimately points beyond reason to faith in an infinite being. This lecture was given on April 14th, 2026, at Florida State University. For more information on u...

Prof. Gaven Kerr argues that Aquinas is central to Catholic theology because Thomas provides the systematic, deductive, and scripturally grounded framework needed to articulate doctrine about God, Trinity, and salvation. This lecture was given on March 26th, 2026, at Maynooth University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speaker...

Prof. Paul Scherz argues that AI-driven precision medicine and genetic risk prediction can undermine human dignity by turning health into an endless management of risk, increasing anxiety, weakening prudence, and subordinating both patients and clinicians to institutional control. This lecture was given on March 26th, 2026, at New York University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us...

Prof. Raymond Hain presents John Henry Newman’s Idea of a University as a powerful defense of liberal education, arguing that a university should include theology because all knowledge forms one interconnected whole, yet also insisting that intellectual excellence is not the same as moral holiness. This lecture was given on March 26th, 2026, at University of Alabama. For more information on upcomi...

Prof. Christopher Malloy argues that Vatican II does not permit a hermeneutic of rupture but demands one of continuity and reform, as Benedict XVI taught, rejecting both progressive over-spiritualization and traditionalist rejection of post-conciliar developments. This lecture was given on March 24th, 2026, at Franciscan University of Steubenville. For more information on upcoming events, visit us...

Fr. Brad Elliott traces the Church's evolving use of the soul-body metaphor for her relation to the state, purifying it in modern social teaching to affirm the Church as a distinct perfect society ordered to supernatural ends while leavening the temporal order. This lecture was given on March 24th, 2026, at Cornell University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute...

Prof. James Nolan argues that Tocqueville, Weber, and Chesterton offer contrasting foreign views on American secularism, with Tocqueville and Chesterton seeing religion as essential to democracy and predicting its persistence, while Weber views Protestantism as inevitably fueling disenchantment. This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2026, at New York University. For more information on upcoming ev...

Prof. Giuseppe Pezzini argues that Oscar Wilde's aestheticism and life journey reveal a Catholic imagination, where art confronts suffering and beauty leads to embracing the full reality of pain, culminating in his final reconciliation with faith. This lecture was given on March 23rd, 2026, at University of Galway. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcomin...

Prof. James Felak traces Catholic social teaching from Leo XIII to Francis, showing how the popes defend human dignity, a just wage, solidarity with the poor, subsidiarity, and the balance between rights and duties against both unchecked capitalism and collectivist ideologies. This lecture was given on March 5th, 2026, at University of Washington. For more information on upcoming events, visit us...

Fr. John Mark Solitario argues that Mary's role in the spiritual life is necessary because she uniquely forms disciples into Christ's life through her graces as new Eve, spiritual mother, and intercessor who draws us to her Son. This lecture was given on March 20th, 2026, at Vanderbilt University. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About t...

Dr. Nathaniel Peters argues that Thomas Aquinas teaches marriage is the greatest friendship, uniting spouses in a sacramental bond ordered to mutual virtue, children’s generation and formation, and sharing in God’s fatherhood and Christ's priesthood. This lecture was given on March 19th, 2026, at Universidad Panamericana. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/...

Prof. Christopher Tomaszewski argues that Thomas Aquinas teaches lying is intrinsically evil because it uses the faculty of speech against its natural purpose, even in difficult cases often thought to justify deception. This lecture was given on March 19th, 2026, at University of Toronto. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speake...

Prof. Thomas Hibbs argues that Newman exposes the dangers of liberal education when intellectual refinement is detached from moral and spiritual formation, producing not saints but “gentlemen” who can become self-enclosed, proud, and oddly shallow. This lecture was given on January 17th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.or...

Prof. Thomas Hibbs argues that John Henry Newman sees human development as a lifelong process of integrating the cognitive, moral, and spiritual dimensions of the person, so that faith and intellect, growth and identity, and knowledge and character are not split apart but brought into a unified life under grace. This lecture was given on January 17th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more...

Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell argues that the Christian life under grace is a journey of being reordered from within—through a formed conscience, rightly governed desires, and a humble acceptance of God’s love—so that the soul can move from vulnerability and disorder toward purity of heart, virtue, and union with Christ. This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more i...

Dr. Carl Vennerstrom argues that the capital vices are best understood as a path of disordered desires that Christ exposes and heals, with pride standing at the root and humility as the chief remedy. This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About the Speakers: Dr. Venners...

Fr. Gabriel O’Donnell argues that the Christian life is not mainly about rule-following or behavior modification, but about becoming a whole, Godward person through self-knowledge, acceptance, and relationship with Christ. This lecture was given on March 14th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . About th...

Dr. Carl Vennerstrom argues that Christ’s temptation in the desert is a perfect temptation: it reveals every major kind of temptation, shows the devil’s weakness, and becomes a means of salvation rather than merely an obstacle. This lecture was given on March 13th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events . Abo...