Call for Papers: Fr. Dewan Symposium

Dominican University College in Ottawa is hosting its annual Symposium from Thursday, September 19 to Friday, September 20 in honor of the great Dominican scholar, Fr. Lawrence Dewan. Fr. Dewan was an incredibly gifted teacher whose impact on the study Thomistic metaphysics, natural philosophy, and ethics cannot be overstated. This year’s Symposium takes as its theme, The Study of Philosophy, and will feature Gregory T. Doolan as its keynote speaker. “The specific theme of The Study of Philosophy is intended in part to elicit thinking on the personal contribution of Father Lawrence Dewan to Thomistic philosophical thinking.” The organizers have issued a call for papers in either English or French, requesting full-page abstracts to be submitted to rene.fehr@dominicanu.ca by Friday, August 2. More information can be found on the Symposium webpage here.

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Memorial Symposium for Fr. Lawrence Dewan, O.P. (November 5-7, 2015, Ottawa, Ontario)

Dominican University College has issued a call for papers for an upcoming memorial symposium for Fr. Lawrence Dewan, O. P.:

"The Philosophy of Lawrence Dewan: Metaphysics and Ethics. Professor Lawrence Dewan, O.P., enriched the areas of Thomistic metaphysics, natural philosophy and ethics for over forty years. With the outstanding lucidity, depth and comprehensiveness of his work, Father Dewan’s research has become a point of reference for scholars working on various aspects of the legacy of Thomas Aquinas. The specific theme of the Metaphysics and Ethics symposium is intended in part to elicit thinking on the personal contribution of Father Lawrence Dewan to both areas of philosophical research."

On a related note, a memorial notice for Fr. Dewan written by Steven Baldner was just published in The Review of Metaphysics.

Fr Dewan is ill and declining

Maxime Allard, OP, of the Dominican University College in Ottawa, is sharing news that Fr Lawrence Dewan, OP, is in the hospital, and his health is rapidly declining. Please storm heaven with your prayers for him.

Dewan Project in Spanish produces more publications

Under the editorship of Liliana Irizar, the “Dewan Project in Spanish” has borne fruit in the form of two distinct books.

1. Santo Tomás y la Forma como algo Divino en las Cosas is a Spanish translation of Fr Dewan’s 2007 Saint Thomas and Form as Something Divine (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2007). Ilizar’s volume is a coedition between Sergio Arboleda University (Bogatà) and Dominican University College (Ottawa). See the volume’s cover here.
2. Lecciones de Metafísica II Tomo I: Sobre la Existencia de Dios is also a Spanish translation of many of Dewan’s articles concerning God. This volume is a coedition of the Sergio Arboleda University (Bogotá) and Universidad del Norte Santo Tomás de Aquino (Argentina). See its cover here.

The latter carries an Introduction that I wrote, mirroring its predecessor, for which Fr Stephen L. Brock wrote the Introduction.

¡Get your Spanish on! Big things are happening in South American Thomism.

Update on Dewan in Spanish project

Following up on the news from a year or so back, Liliana Irizar provided the following update:

I am writing to you because I would like you to have some news on the Dewan Project in Spanish before 2010 finishes. We are planning to publish Metaphysical Lessons II (Natural Theology). I think that this book will be coming out in mid 2011. We also hope to publish Conversations with Lawrence Dewan. This booklet will content the conversations that we have had (both by e-mail and personally) since January 2008 until now. Besides this, I am attaching the video trailer of the Dewan Seminar which was given in his visit to Colombia (September-October 2008): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViyFZ5ZtQ8o

A Thomist on youtube, in hi-def; does it get any better?

Three happy words: Lawrence. Dewan. iTunes.

Here are three words that made my day: Lawrence. Dewan. iTunes.

The Dominicans are hard at work bringing the recorded contents of their recent conference in Warsaw to iTunes. As of this writing at least three are available. To make sure that I get it all I’ve simply subscribed to the entire podcast feed for the Dominican House of Studies - Priory (Washington, DC, USA). This morning I discovered that the presentation at the conference of my teacher and mentor from PIMS in Toronto, Lawrence Dewan, O.P., has been inserted into the podcast stream. His paper was entitled “Saint Thomas and Philosophia perennis.”

While you’re at the iTunes podcast section don’t forget to subscribe to the equally informative Lectures in Dominican History podcast stream, which contains lectures given by Fr. John Frederick Hinnebusch, O.P.

Dewan books in Spanish

This in, from Liliana Irizar of the Universidad Sergio Arboleda in Columbia:

I am writing to you to tell you that two books, Fundamentos metafísicos de la ética and Lecciones de metafísica have just come out! The first contains Fr. Dewan’s lessons of the Seminar which was given by him here, in Colombia, during his stay in September 2008. The second is a compilation of some of his Metaphysics’ classes and several relevant Metaphysical articles.

It’s important to note that Fr. Stephen L. Brock wrote the prologue for the Lecciones de metafísica and Professor Jason West wrote prologue for the second book.

Liliana also provided pictures of the covers for each book (click on the pictures below for the original resolution).