St. Anselm Institute - Past Public Lectures
The great Summa Theologca is one of the most important works of theological wisdom ever written, a masterwork for the ages that continues to influence Western religion and philosophy. Despite its intellectual importance, many know far too little about the original purpose, the structure of the text, the historical reception over the past 700 years, and the continued relevance of the wisdom offered by the Summa Theologica. This public lecture by the eminent scholar of historical theology and Christian mysticism Bernard McGinn is free and open to all, so invite a friend and/or colleague.
November 5 (1:00pm): Reinhard Hütter (Catholic University of America), "The Development of Doctrine and Why it Matters: The Ongoing Relevance of John Henry Newman's Thought"
Cosponsored with The Thomistic Institute and St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish, Location: 401 Alderman Rd., St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish Hall.
140th Anniversary of Arcanum Divinae (1880)
Monday, December 21, 2020 (7:00-8:15pm) via Zoom
Emmanuel Falque
"The Dance of the Fertile Universe: Science and
the Search for God"
George V. Coyne, S.J.
"Speaking of the Other:
On the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate (1965)"
most important (and shortest!) works of the Second Vatican Council, and its immediate and enduring significance rests in its open and thoughtful discussion of the relationship of the Church to other religions, most especially our older Jewish brothers and sisters. Catholic University of America Professor of Theology Michael Root discussed the historical origins and text of Nostra Aetate and how its content continues to be influential for the Church and others 50 years later.
"God as Infinite"
Fr. David Tracy
How ought we to think of God? Christians have long believed in the deeply radical idea of God as the Creator of all things visible and invisible, but is God also infinite and does it make a difference if He is?
One of the leading theologians of our time, University of Chicago Professor David Tracy discussed the various meanings of the 'Infinite' as they relate to our understanding of God. He began by drawing a distinction between the modern mathematical concept of infinity and what the 'infinite' meant among the ancients, especially what it meant philosophically for Plato, Aristotle, and Plotinus. For Plato, the ultimate grounding of Reality was what he referred to as "The Good." The Platonic idea of the Good transcends beyond Being--that is, beyond the limits of all existing things--and, therefore, it is beyond our capacities to grasp directly through our powers of reasoning. As a result, this ultimate Good was unknowable except only partially by the divinely-inspired philosopher or Truth-seeker. For Aristotle, infinity was a deep and especially unintelligible imperfection because it lacked the necessary boundary conditions associated with a distinct and, therefore, knowable form. For Plotinus, the ultimate grounding of Reality could be glimpsed and referred to as the all encompassing "Oneness" of Being. The "One" was both simple and an infinite overflowing Good, and yet it was an impersonal (and, therefore, unloving) Good. For early Christian thinkers, these Greek philosophical resources offered only a fragmented and an inadequate image of God as unknowable, inaccessible, unintellible, impersonal and unloving. Not surprisingly, early Christian descriptions of God did not commonly include the infinite as a Divine attribute. Yet as Prof. Tracy explained,
Wolfgang Koch
"Charlemagne, Adenauer, and the Crisis of European Union"
"St. Hildegard's Hexaemeron in Art and Music"