Person, Soul, & Consciousness - Berkeley Dominicans, Summer 2017

The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology is hosting its 2nd Triennial Dominican Colloquium in Berkeley on the intersection between Philosophy & Theology July 12-15, 2017; the theme will be Person, Soul and Consciousness. Philosophers and Theologians will engage this topic exploring questions of contemporary importance. The event will involve a significant engagement with the thought of St. Thomas, as the list of plenary-session speakers suggests: Lawrence Feingold, Thomas Hünefeldt, Steven Long, Nancey Murphy, David Oderberg, Ted Peters, Markus Rothhaar, Richard Schenk, OP, D.C. Schindler, Michael Sherwin, OP, Eleonore Stump, and Thomas Weinandy, OFM. Cap. The deadline for the Call for Papers is in March, 2017. A $500 award is available to the best graduate student submission. More information is available at www.dspt.edu/conversation2017. Sponsored by the DSPT and the Friars of the Dominican Province of the Most Holy Name of Jesus (Western USA).

Aquinas on Beauty - in Berkeley

Fran O'Rourke, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy from University College Dublin, will present "Aquinas on Beauty" on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 7:30 pm at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology, 2301 Vine Street, Berkeley, California. Visit www.dspt.edu/aquinas-on-beauty for information and to RSVP; seating is limited.

New Translation of St. Thomas's Commentary on Job

A new Latin-English facing-page edition of St. Thomas Aquinas's Commentary on the Book of Job, translated by Fr. Brian Mullady, OP, is now available from The Aquinas Institute for the Study of Sacred Doctrine, Lander, Wyoming.

A Word about the Word - DSPT Aquinas Lecture 2016

Fr. Olivier-Thomas Venard, OP, Professor of New Testament and Vice Director of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem, will deliver the 2016 Aquinas Lecture at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology in Berkeley, California. In his presentation, “Life, Language and Christ: A Thomistic Approach,” Venard will posit that Aquinas sees a deep analogy, even a participation, between the Word and our words. The event, to be held Tuesday, February 23rd, at 7:30 pm PST (10:30 pm EST), will be available via live-streaming.

Thomism Conference by Dominican Friars Postponed

The friars of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) have held conferences on Thomism in 2010 (Warsaw) and 2013 (Washington, D.C.), with plans (as I had earlier noted) for another in 2016, to be hosted by the Toulouse Province of friars (publishers of the Revue Thomiste). However, due to several events already scheduled for 2016, including those connected with the 800th Jubilee of the Order, the conference has been postponed until 2017. 

While conference attendance has been restricted to Dominican friars, some of the presentations have been published, both for the 2010 conference (Dominicans and the Challenge of Thomism) and for the 2013 event (Nova et Vetera 12.4, Autumn 2014).

Aquinas at Liturgy Conference

The 2015 Annual Conference of the Society of Catholic Liturgy, “The Liturgy: It is Right and Just,” is to take place October 1-3, 2015, at the Sheen Center and the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral, New York City. At least three of the papers to be presented (including mine) will involve significant recourse to St. Thomas’s thought.

Thomistic Circles: Christology & Exegesis

The Thomistic Institute at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC, will be hosting the Fall 2015 Thomistic Circles in DC, "The Mind of Christ: Christology and Contemporary Exegesis," October 2-3. Speakers include Dr. Ben Witherington III from Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Bruce D. Marshall from Southern Methodist University, Dr. R. Trent Pomplun from Loyola University Maryland, Fr. Simon Gaine, OP from University of Oxford, and Fr. Anthony Giambrone, OP from the Dominican House of Studies.

Saint Thomas & Eschatology in Toulouse

A symposium, “Saint Thomas et l’Eschatologie,” sponsored by the Revue Thomiste and the Institut Saint-Thomas d’Aquin in Toulouse, France, will take place April 24-25, 2015. The event will feature over a dozen presenters (full disclosure: including moi) from institutions of higher learning in France, the United States, Belgium, Italy, and Israel.

St. Thomas in Art & Legend - Lecture in Berkeley

The 25th Annual Aquinas Lecture at the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology, Berkeley, California, will be delivered by DSPT Professor of Religion and the Arts Michael Morris, OP. In his illustrated presentation, Saint Thomas Aquinas in Art and Legend: An Iconographic Study of the Angelic Doctor, Fr. Morris, an art historian, will examine the iconography of the saint and explore the fables and the facts behind the Church’s most honored theologian. The event, scheduled for Wednesday, March 18 at 7:30 pm PDT (10:30 pm EDT), will be live-streamed.

Dominican Colloquium in Berkeley Concludes

A colloquium sponsored by the Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology in Berkeley, on the intersection between philosophy and theology has just concluded.  Each main presenter was paired with a respondent in theology. Main talks by Msgr. Robert Sokolowski, Linda Zagzebski, Edward Feser, Fr. Michael Dodds, John Searle, Fr. Michał Paluch, Allred Freddoso, and John O’Callaghan received responses from Fr. Richard Schenk, Fr. Bernhard Blankenhorn, Fr. Simon Gaine, Steven Long, Fr. Michael Dodds, Matthew Levering, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, and Fr. Michael Sherwin, respectively. Over fifty breakout-session papers were also delivered. The main papers and responses, and a selection from the breakout papers, are to appear later in Nova et Vetera. The organizers consider this colloquium to be the first of an ongoing series, to be held every three years.

Perfect Hatred? Aquinas Lecture in Berkeley

The 24th Annual Aquinas Lecture at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, CA, will be given by Dr. Diana Fritz-Cates, Associate Professor of Religious Ethics at The University of Iowa, on Wednesday, March 12, at 7:30 pm PST (10:30 pm EST). Entitled “Hatred in the Light of Love: A Thomistic Analysis,” the live-streamed presentation will present a conceptual and ethical analysis of hatred, based on the moral psychology of St. Thomas Aquinas.

Registration Open for Berkeley Colloquium

Registration is now open for "What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?", a colloquium concerning the intersection between philosophy and theology, July 16-20, 2014, in Berkeley, California. Hosted by The Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, the event will gather scholars from academia and from the Dominican Order throughout the world, putting Thomism and other traditions into dialogue with more recent schools of thought. Plenary session presenters include Fr. Michael Dodds, OP, Edward Feser, Alfred Freddoso, John O’Callaghan, Fr. Michał Paluch, OP, John Searle, Msgr. Robert Sokolowski, and Linda Zagzebski. This is to be the first of a triennial series (Dominican Colloquia in Berkeley). Details, including the call for papers (deadline, Feb. 7) and registration page, may be found at www.dspt.edu/conversation2014.