Upcoming Conference: 52nd International Congress of Medieval Studies

The 52nd International Congress of Medieval Studies will be held at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from May 11th to the 14th, 2017.

The Kalamazoo conference is the largest congress for Medieval Studies in the world.  The cost of room and board is quite moderate, and the atmosphere is congenial to those interested in Aquinas.

There will be a total of 6 sessions devoted to Medieval philosophical and theological thought, especially that of Aquinas, sponsored by:

• The Center for Thomistic Studies, c/o S.J. Jensen, Center for Thomistic Studies, University of St. Thomas (TX), 3800 Montrose, Houston, TX77006-4696. FAX: (713) 942-3464. email:  jensensj@stthom.edu. Three sessions will be devoted to any topic about the philosophy of Aquinas, his sources, or contemporary applications of his thought.
• The Thomas Aquinas Society, c/o John F. Boyle, Department of Catholic Studies, 55-S, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave, St. Paul, MN 55105.  Fax: (651) 962-5710, email: jfboyle@stthomas.edu. For these three sessions, proposals on any topic dealing with Aquinas are welcome.

Those interested in submitting proposals for papers may send them to either Dr. Steven Jensen or Dr. John Boyle. The submission details:

• Papers are 20 minutes in length
• Paper submissions must include a 300 word abstract and a completed Participant Information Form (which may be downloaded here).
• The Deadline for submissions is September 15, 2016.

Be sure to act quickly if you wish to have your proposal considered!  

Summer Program in Norcia on St. Thomas's Commentary on Hebrews

Since 2012, the Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies, in cooperation with the Benedictine Monks of Norcia, has offered a two-week summer theology program at the birthplace of SS. Benedict and Scholastica.

This year, for their fifth summer, the Center has planned a truly marvelous program: “The Transcendent Christ: St. Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews.” Participants will study St. Thomas Aquinas’s Commentary on Hebrews, exploring its rich doctrine on Christology, priesthood, sacrifice, sacraments, and worship. The Epistle offers the opportunity to explore the mystery of grace in its source, Jesus Christ, the Head of the Mystical Body, and how the excellence of the work of Christ has a threefold extension: to the whole of creation, to the rational creature, and to the justification of the saints. Seminars and lectures culminate in a full-scale scholastic disputation, with arguments offered on both sides by participants and an authoritative determination given by the appointed magister.

This will be the first year that I will be on the faculty of the summer program. Other faculty members include Fr. Cassian Folsom, OSB, Fr. Thomas Crean, OP, John Joy, Christopher Owens, Daniel Lendman, and Br. Evagrius Hayden, OSB.

The goal of the AMCSS is to offer a meaningful academic experience of scholastic theology in its original fullness: studying Sacred Scripture, St. Thomas Aquinas, and the Fathers of the Church, in the peaceful and enchanting setting of a medieval Italian town, imbued with the spiritual and liturgical life of the Benedictine monks (daily High Mass in the usus antiquior, fully chanted monastic office), and all the culinary delights of the prosciutto and black truffle capital of Italy — in other words, a Catholic feast for mind, soul, and body. This year the course dates include Norcia’s festive celebration of the feast of St. Benedict on July 11th. Pilgrimages to the nearby towns of Assisi and Cascia are included in the cost, with the option of participating in a weekend trip to Rome at the end.

The dates for the Summer program are July 10–24, 2016. Most remarkably, the cost for tuition, room, and half-board (a light breakfast and a five-course Italian dinner every day) is 900 Euros. Tuition includes a hardcover bilingual edition of the Commentary on Hebrews as well as any other course materials. A background in academic theology is not required. (Students working towards degrees may request a summary of the program with faculty credentials and a certificate of completion that they may submit for possible course credit elsewhere.)

For more information, please click here. I recommend exploring the site and letting other folks know about it. The AMCSS has a great thing going, and each year they seem to gain momentum. In addition to the (relatively few) departments of theology out there that engage seriously with the great medieval minds, we also need grassroots initiatives that offer a lively engagement with scholastic authors in a Catholic environment such as those authors enjoyed and presumed. For this, Norcia is an ideal setting.

December 2015 conference in Utrecht: call for papers

In from Harm Goris is news of a December, 2015 conference in Utrecht on "The Virtuous Life: Thomas Aquinas on the theological nature of moral virtues." The conference takes place from 16–19 December 2015, and abstract submissions are due by June 1, 2015. Here's a short scrape from the conference's site:

The teachings of the moral part of Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae continue to inspire and to enlighten theologians and ethicists. Especially for those who are interested in a specifically Christian account of human moral and spiritual life, Aquinas’ ethical investigations in the Summa are an inexhaustible source. In his rich and detailed treatment of both the moral and the theological virtues, however, Aquinas fails to explain unambiguously to what extent the Christian faith determines human moral life. As a result, this topic is the subject of an ongoing debate in the literature.

For more information on this excellent opportunity, go to the conference's website.

Thomas and Thomisms

This came in from father Richard Conrad O.P.

The Aquinas Institute at Blackfriars Hall in Oxford organizes an interesting colloquium on March 7, 2015, entitled "Thomas and Thomisms". Speakers include Reinhard Hütter, John O'Callaghan and Jeremy Wilkens from the US. Here is the PDF.

ACPA Meeting "Dispositions, Habits, and Virtues" (October 10-12, 2014)

The preliminary conference schedule is now online for the 2014 annual meeting of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. The conference will meet in Washington, D.C., hosted by The Catholic University of America, with the theme “Dispositions, Habits, and Virtues”. Registration information is here. Plenary speakers are Susan Haack, Timothy B. Noone, Daniel Dahlstrom, Marilyn McCord Adams, and the Aquinas Medalist is John Rist. For the second year, the conference has expanded its offerings, and there many satellite sessions on a variety of topics.

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.

Conference program for Utrecht Conference on Aquinas

I received the final conference program from Prof. Dr. Henk Schoot, director of the Thomas Instituut in Utrecht (The Netherlands) (see our earlier post here). The Institute organizes its fourth international conference on the theological virtues in Aquinas from 11-14 December 2013.

Speakers include Eleonore Stump, Michael Sherwin O.P. and John O'Callaghan and many other contributors from North America.

You can download the conference program here!

The volumes 1-25 (1981-2006) of their yearbook are now available in pdf-format here. Although initially written in Dutch, they include contributions written in other languages as well.