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. 2d ago

    Justification According to St. Thomas - Prof. Erik Dempsey

    Prof. Erik Dempsey explains St. Thomas Aquinas’s account of justification as God’s free gift of grace, which heals sin, moves human freedom, and forms believers in faith working through charity. This lecture was given on March 21st, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Professor Erik Dempsey an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Departments of Government, Classics, and Religious Studies, and is the Assistant Director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He has taught at the University of Texas at Austin for over ten years, during which time he has offered classes in the history of political philosophy, on the Bible and its interpreters, on American political thought, on classical philosophy and literature, and others. His favorite classes to teach are Jerusalem and Athens, a class comparing the political, moral, and theological ideas of the Hebrew Bible to Aristotle's, and the Question of Relativism, a class on what he considers the central quandary of our time. He writes primarily about Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, and he is currently studying John Locke's commentaries on St. Paul's epistles. Last but not least, he is an Eagle Scout. Keywords: Baptism, Charity, Faith and Works, Grace, Holy Spirit, Incarnation, Justification, Merit, Original Sin, St. Thomas Aquinas

    Justification According to St. Thomas - Prof. Erik Dempsey

  2. 3d ago

    Shakespeare and Aquinas on Kinds of Knowing - Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak, O.P.

    Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak shows how Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure exposes the limits of abstract knowledge and reveals why some truths can only be known through love, experience, and particular relationship. This lecture was given on April 11th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak is a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist and an Assistant Professor of English at the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Her dissertation was on player-dramatists present in William Shakespeare's plays, though she has published on Tolkien and Belloc as well. In addition to her academic work, her devotional writing regularly appears in Magnificat. Keywords: Abstract Knowledge, Aquinas, Connaturality, Love, Measure For Measure, Particulars, Shakespeare, Theater, Truth, Universals

    Shakespeare and Aquinas on Kinds of Knowing - Sr. Maria Frassati Jakupcak, O.P.

  3. 4d ago

    Shakespeare and Aquinas on Prudence, Part Two - Fr. Jordan Zajac

    Fr. Jordan Zajac takes Shakespeare’s most morally charged characters and Aquinas’s deepest insights on love, hatred, and prudence to show why holiness sometimes means not just loving the good, but fiercely refusing what corrupts it. This lecture was given on April 10th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Fr. Jordan is from New Bedford, MA and graduated from Providence College in 2004, majoring in English and minoring in Political Science. He went on for an MA at the University of Virginia and a PhD at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was during doctoral studies that he discovered a calling to religious life and the priesthood. Upon completion of his PhD in 2013, he entered the Order of Preachers. After studying Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), he served as associate chaplain at PC (2019-2020) and was ordained a priest here on campus in May, 2020. He has taught in the English Department since August, 2020. Keywords: Aquinas, Charity, Cordelia, Hate, Holy Hatred, King Lear, Prince Hal, Prudence, Shakespeare, Virtue

    Shakespeare and Aquinas on Prudence, Part Two - Fr. Jordan Zajac

  4. 5d ago

    Shakespeare and Aquinas on Prudence, Part One - Fr. Jordan Zajac

    Fr. Jordan Zajac uses Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Aquinas’s account of prudence to show how a person can know the good, reject it in imagination, and still fall into action through an inner collapse of judgment and will. This lecture was given on April 10th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Fr. Jordan is from New Bedford, MA and graduated from Providence College in 2004, majoring in English and minoring in Political Science. He went on for an MA at the University of Virginia and a PhD at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst. It was during doctoral studies that he discovered a calling to religious life and the priesthood. Upon completion of his PhD in 2013, he entered the Order of Preachers. After studying Philosophy and Theology at the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), he served as associate chaplain at PC (2019-2020) and was ordained a priest here on campus in May, 2020. He has taught in the English Department since August, 2020. Keywords: Aquinas, Choice, Command, Imprudence, Macbeth, Passion, Prudence, Shakespeare, Tragedy, Will

    Shakespeare and Aquinas on Prudence, Part One - Fr. Jordan Zajac

  5. 6d ago

    St. Leo the Great on Love of the Poor and the Weak - Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.

    Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., presents St. Leo the Great’s theology of mercy, showing how love for the poor and weak flows from Christ’s Incarnation, affirms the dignity of every human person, and calls Christians to become merciful as God is merciful. This lecture was given on May 3rd, 2026, at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P., (Ph.D. Notre Dame) is professor of patristics and ancient languages at the Pontifical Faculty of the Dominican House of Studies where he serves as the director of the doctoral program. He authored Christ in the Life and Teaching of Gregory of Nazianzus (Oxford University Press, 2013) and The Power of Patristic Preaching: The Word in Our Flesh (Catholic University of America, 2023). He co-authored A Living Sacrifice: Guidance for Men Discerning Religious Life (Vianney Vocations, 2019). Editor-in-chief of the academic journal The Thomist, Hofer is editor or co-editor of several volumes including The Oxford Handbook of Deification, The Cambridge Companion to Augustine's Sermons, and Thomas Aquinas and the Greek Fathers. He enjoys speaking with students about their theological and spiritual questions. Keywords: Almsgiving, Beatitudes, Christian Mercy, Dignity Of The Human Person, Incarnation, Love Of The Poor, Matthew 25, Mercy, St. Leo The Great, Weakness

    St. Leo the Great on Love of the Poor and the Weak - Fr. Andrew Hofer, O.P.

  6. 6d ago

    The Priesthood of Christ and Your Beatitude - Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P.

    Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P., explains how Christ’s eternal priesthood fulfills the human desire for beatitude by reconciling humanity to God through his self-offering and drawing believers into the life of heaven. This lecture was given on March 28th, 2026, at St. Albert's Priory. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P. is an Assistant Professor of Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology. His research interests include St. Thomas Aquinas, the priesthood and religious life, and virtue ethics. He delights in leading students through the insights of St. Thomas Aquinas so that they may develop their confidence in and love of sacred doctrine. Keywords: Beatitude, Christ The High Priest, Grace, Jesus Christ, Melchizedek, Priesthood Of Christ, Sacrifice, Sanctifying Grace, St. Thomas Aquinas, Supernatural Happiness

    The Priesthood of Christ and Your Beatitude - Fr. Thomas Aquinas Pickett, O.P.

  7. Aug 21

    Words Matter: Thomas Aquinas on the Philosophy of Language - Prof. Catherine Peters

    Prof. Catherine Peters unpacks Thomas Aquinas’s philosophy of language and reveals how the words we use do more than describe reality: they shape what we understand, how we judge, and how we act. This lecture was given on April 1st, 2026, at University of California, Los Angeles. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Catherine Peters is an associate professor of medieval philosophy at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. Her work centers on issues of philosophical anthropology, metaphysics, and natural theology. She is passionate about translating medieval thought into modern terms and applying its insights to perennial questions such as “Who am I?” “What should I do?” and “Is there a God?” A frequent presenter in both the United States and Europe, her scholarship has been published in numerous volumes and journals, including The Thomist, New Blackfriars, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, The Journal of Islamic Philosophy, European Journal for the Study of Thomas Aquinas, Lex Naturalis, and Jesuit Higher Education. When not in the classroom, she can often be found in local coffee shops, at the dog park, or in a HIIT class. Keywords: Analogy, Communication, Concepts, Language, Intellect, Reality, Signification, Thomas Aquinas, Truth, Words

    Words Matter: Thomas Aquinas on the Philosophy of Language - Prof. Catherine Peters

  8. Aug 20

    If God Doesn’t Exist, Science is Impossible - Dr. Wes Siscoe

    Dr. Wes Siscoe tackles a big question in science and philosophy, arguing that the very fact that nature follows stable, intelligible laws points beyond brute fact and toward God as the deeper explanation. This lecture was given on April 14th, 2026, at University of Wisconsin-Madison. For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events About the Speaker: Wes Siscoe is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at The Ohio State University. He is also a Thomistic Institute alum, having founded the TI chapter at the University of Arizona. With a passion for making philosophy accessible to college students and the general public, Wes founded the Philosophy Teaching Library at the University of Notre Dame and participated in the Philosophy as a Way of Life Project. When he isn’t doing philosophy, he’s hanging out with his family and two miniature dachshunds. Keywords: Aristotle, Classical Theism, Fine Tuning, God, Laws Of Nature, Naturalism, Scientific Explanation, Thomas Aquinas, Theology, Truth

    If God Doesn’t Exist, Science is Impossible - Dr. Wes Siscoe
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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
    2K
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved 183125
  • Show Website
    The Thomistic Institute

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