The Thomistic Institute

The Thomistic Institute
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The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone. The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events,  and much more.  Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.

  1. Is There a Right to Steal? – Prof. Michael Krom

    19 hrs ago

    Is There a Right to Steal? – Prof. Michael Krom

    Prof. Michael Krom uses Aquinas to argue that while stealing is always morally wrong, urgent need can change what counts as rightful use of superabundant goods, revealing how private property is meant to serve the common good. This lecture was given on February 12th, 2026, at Georgia Institute of Technology. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Michael Krom started reading Aquinas’s Summa Theologiae shortly after his conversion at the end of college. Upon learning about Flannery O’Connor’s “hillbilly Thomist” habit of reading Aquinas every night, he started studying two articles a day and completed the Summa while in graduate school at Emory University. As a professor at Saint Vincent College, he saw the urgent need for collegians and seminarians to receive a solid foundation in Aquinas’s philosophical theology. In 2020, he published Justice and Charity:  An Introduction to Aquinas’s Moral, Economic, and Political Thought (Baker Academic Press), and teaches a Thomistic philosophy course each fall. In addition to continuing work on the moral, economic, and political topics covered in the book, his current research is on the influence of monastic spirituality on Aquinas; he is working on a monograph tentatively entitled Aquinas Among the Benedictines. Keywords: Adverse Possession, Common Good, Divine Law, Human Law, Natural Law, Private Property, Robin Hood, Stealing, Theft, Urgent Need

    47 min
  2. The Mystical Body of Christ: What Does Jesus Have to Do with Me? – Dr. Edmund Lazzari

    1d ago

    The Mystical Body of Christ: What Does Jesus Have to Do with Me? – Dr. Edmund Lazzari

    Dr. Edmund Lazzari explains how Christ’s divinity and humanity make the sacraments, grace, confession, purgatory, and the communion of saints all part of one living mystical body in which every Christian is united to every other in Jesus. This lecture was given on February 11th, 2026, at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Edmund Lazzari is Teaching Fellow in the Department of Catholic Studies at Duquesne University. Dr. Lazzari is also a member of the Aquinas and 'the Arabs' International Working Group and affiliated faculty of the Carl G. Grefenstette Center for Ethics in Science, Technology, and Law. A former Basselin Fellow, he earned an ecclesiastical licentiate degree in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, as well as a doctorate in systematic theology and ethics from Marquette University. He has previously taught philosophy and theology at Mount St. Mary's University, Marquette University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and other universities not starting with the letter "M." Dr. Lazzari has published on a wide variety of topics in theology, such as theology and science, the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, Catholic-Muslim dialogue, liturgical theology, machine learning/AI, Catholic ethics, and extraterrestrial intelligence. He is the author of two books: Why Nature Matters: Unlocking Catholic Doctrine through Commonsense Philosophy (2022) and Miracles in Said Nursi and Thomas Aquinas (Routledge, 2024). Keywords: Baptism, Confession, Communion of Saints, Grace, Mystical Body of Christ, Purgatory, Sacraments, Sanctifying Grace, Suffering, Union with Christ

    39 min
  3. The Creator of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence: Natural Law, Inalienable Rights, and a Just Political Order – Prof. Christopher Kaczor

    2d ago

    The Creator of Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence: Natural Law, Inalienable Rights, and a Just Political Order – Prof. Christopher Kaczor

    Prof. Christopher Kaczor takes Jefferson’s famous declaration apart piece by piece to ask what it really means to say that all people are created equal, why those words still matter, and how natural law and inalienable rights shape a just political order. This lecture was given on April 9th, 2026, at Indiana University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Dr. Christopher Kaczor (rhymes with razor) 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 eighteen books include Is Belief Believable? 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: Declaration Of Independence, Inalienable Rights, Jefferson, Justice, Natural Law, Political Order, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson, United States

    34 min
  4. Rights, Liberties, and the Nature of Medicine – Prof. Christopher Tollefsen

    5d ago

    Rights, Liberties, and the Nature of Medicine – Prof. Christopher Tollefsen

    Prof. Christopher Tollefsen argues that medicine is fundamentally ordered to health, not preference satisfaction, and he shows why that matters for abortion, euthanasia, physician authority, and conscience. This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at University of Scranton. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Christopher Tollefsen is Professor of Philosophy at the University of South Carolina. He has published over 100 articles in journals and edited collections, and a similar number of popular essays in venues such as Public Discourse, First Things, and National Review.  He is the author of Lying and Christian Ethics and the forthcoming Killing and Christian Ethics, and is co-author of The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession (with Dr. Farr Curlin) and Embryo: A Defense of Human Life (with Robert P. George).  In 2019-20, he served as a Commissioner on the State Department’s Commission on Unalienable Rights.  He has twice been a Visiting Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University, and in 2024-25 was a Visiting Fellow at the DeNicola Center for Ethics and Culture at the University of Notre Dame. Keywords: Abortion, Conscience, Ethics, Euthanasia, Health, Medicine, Physician Authority, Patient Authority, Rights, Services

    48 min
  5. Aquinas' Philosophy of the Angels – Prof. Gregory Doolan

    6d ago

    Aquinas' Philosophy of the Angels – Prof. Gregory Doolan

    Prof. Gregory Doolan explains how Aquinas uses philosophy to show that angels are real immaterial beings—pure forms with intellect and will—whose place in creation can even be understood in relation to the famous “head of a pin” question. This lecture was given on February 5th, 2026, at Harvard University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Gregory T. Doolan is Associate Professor in the School of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America (CUA). His research interest is in the area of Aquinas’s metaphysics, in particular themes concerning Aquinas’s natural theology as well as those concerning the intersection between his semantic theory and his account of metaphysics. Prof. Doolan received his B.A. in political theory from Georgetown University in 1993 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from CUA in 2003. He taught philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C. from 2004–05 and joined the faculty of the School of Philosophy at CUA in 2005.  A native of Philadelphia, Prof. Doolan currently lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife, three children, two cats, dog, and a bearded dragon. Keywords: Aquinas, Angels, Hylomorphism, Immateriality, Intellect, Metaphysics, Separate Substances, Spiritual Beings, Universal Hylomorphism, Virtual Presence

    58 min
  6. Private Property and the Universal Destination of Goods: How a Right to Private Possessions Serves the Common Good – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.

    Jun 17

    Private Property and the Universal Destination of Goods: How a Right to Private Possessions Serves the Common Good – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.

    Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P. explores how the Catholic tradition understands ownership as a moral relation that binds persons together rather than isolating them, and why that matters for families, society, and human flourishing. This lecture was given on February 4th, 2026, at Stanford University. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002. After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson. After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA. In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023. Keywords: Common Good, Law, Private Property, Political Friendship, Rule of Law, Rational Dominion, Relative Dominion, Social Trust, Universal Destination of Goods, Virtue

    43 min
  7. Thomistic Sacramental Theology – Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

    Jun 16

    Thomistic Sacramental Theology – Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

    Fr. Thomas Joseph White brings Aquinas and Flannery O’Connor into conversation to ask what sacraments do, how grace reaches us through visible signs, and why O’Connor’s fiction can reveal that same divine work even in the lives of people without sacraments. This lecture was given on February 6th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Thomas Joseph White is the Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. Originally a native of southeastern Georgia in the US, Fr. White studied at Brown University, where he converted to Catholicism. He did his doctoral studies in theology at Oxford University, and is the author of various books and articles including Wisdom in the Face of Modernity, A Thomistic Study in Natural Theology (Sapientia Press, 2016), The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (The Catholic University of America Press, 2015), The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Catholic University of America Press, 2022), Principles of Catholic Theology Book III: On God, Trinity, Creation, and Christ (Catholic University of America Press, 2024) and Contemplation and the Cross (The Catholic University of America Press, 2025). With Matthew Levering he is the co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera. In 2011 he was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and in 2019 was named a Distinguished Scholar of the McDonald Agape Foundation. He held the 2018-2019 McInnes Chair for theological inquiry at the Angelicum. In 2022, he was granted an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of America, and in 2023 he was elected President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. In 2023, Fr. White was also awarded the title Master of Sacred Theology, one of the highest academic awards in the Dominican Order. Keywords: Eucharist, Flannery O’Connor, Grace, Revelation, Sacraments, Sacramental Theology, Thomas Aquinas, Thomism

    55 min
  8. Pope Leo XIII and Communism – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.

    Jun 15

    Pope Leo XIII and Communism – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.

    Fr. Brad Elliott shows how Leo’s Rerum Novarum responds to Marx and Engels by grounding property rights in the father’s duty to provide, the family’s priority over the state, and the Church’s vision of human flourishing. This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory. To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod. About the Speaker: Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002. After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson. After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA. In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023. Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Communism, Family, Marx, Engels, Pope Leo XIII, Private Property, Property Rights, Rerum Novarum, Social Justice

    42 min
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The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone. The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events,  and much more.  Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.

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  • Creator
    The Thomistic Institute
  • Years Active
    2014 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1.9K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved 183125
  • Show Website
    The Thomistic Institute

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