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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Call for Papers: Thomas Aquinas & the Crisis of Christology

The Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal (at Ave Maria University) and the Thomistic Institute (at the Dominican House of Studies) are teaming up once again for a February 2020 academic conference to be held in Ave Maria. This year’s theme is, “Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology.” The Sacra Doctrina Project’s own Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., will be featured as one of two keynote speakers.

A call for papers is open, but the deadline for abstracts is August 1, 2019. More information can be found on AMU’s Graduate Theology blog and at the Ave Conferences page.

Thomistic Symposium "Thomas Aquinas on Creation and Nature", Rome, October 3-5, 2019

The Thomistic Institute at the Angelicum in Rome has announced a Symposium, entitled “Thomas Aquinas on Creation and Nature” which will be held October 3-5, 2019 in Rome.

Keynotes will be given by Eleonore Stump, Serge-Thomas Bonino O.P. and Paul Clavier. Other speakers include Michael Dodds O.P., Kevin Flannery S.J., Dominic Legge O.P., John O’Callaghan and many others.

Proposals for papers can be submitted by March 1, 2019. For more information, click here

St. Thomas Aquinas and Hagiography, January 18, 2019

Father Innocent Smith O.P. informs us of a session on St. Thomas and Hagiography he is organizing on January 18, 2019 at the Antonianum in Rome. He writes:

“In this session, we will consider the hagiographical sources and writings of Thomas Aquinas from the perspectives of systematic, historical, moral, and liturgical theology, considering his treatment of saints from the New Testament period as well as early Christian saints and martyrs. Through this panel, we hope to demonstrate the significance of Thomas Aquinas as hagiographer and to show the fruitfulness of multi-disciplinary inquiry into the treatment of saints by authors beyond the recognized canon of hagiographical writers.”

The contributors and topics treated are:

AUSTIN DOMINIC LITKE (Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum, Roma) St. Thomas Aquinas and the Vitae Patrum

INNOCENT SMITH (Universität Regensburg) St. Thomas Aquinas and the Early Christian Martyrs

JOHN BAPTIST KU (Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, Washington) John the Baptist in the Theology of Thomas Aquinas

EZRA SULLIVAN (Pontificia Università S. Tommaso d’Aquino, Roma) Imperfect but Exemplary Saints: Paul and Mary Magdalene in the Theology of Aquinas

More information can be found here.

Aquinas the Biblical Theologian Conference

Registration is now open for the 2019 Aquinas the Biblical Theologian conference at Ave Maria University (February 7-9, 2019), co-sponsored by The Aquinas Center for Theological Renewal and The St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.

Scott Hahn and Matthew Levering will be featured as keynote speakers. Featured Thomistic speakers include John Boyle, Randall Smith, Jörgen Vijgen, Michael Dauphinais, and Michael Waldstein. Members of The Sacra Doctrina Project will also present, including Steven Long, Taylor Patrick O’Neill, Daniel Lendman, Brandon L. Wanless, Sean Robertson, and Daniel Garland, Jr.

See the Ave Maria conferences website (below) for more information about the conference, including a tentative schedule of presentations.

Call for Papers: Utrecht December 2018

From the Thomas Institute at the Tilburg School of Catholic Theology (the Netherlands) comes a Call for Papers for an International Conference entitled: “Initiation and Mystagogy in Thomas Aquinas: Theological, Philosophical, Liturgical, and Pedagogical Perspectives” to be held December 13-15, 2018 in Utrecht (the Netherlands). Keynote speakers include Bernard Blankenhorn O.P., Matthew Levering and Daria Spezzano. Those interested in presenting a paper should submit an abstract (including a title, a summary of their proposed paper, and their institutional affiliation) to J.I.M.Vijgen@uvt.nl by March 1st, 2018. Notification of acceptance will be given by April 15, 2018. For further information please check the website of the Thomas Institute, http://www.thomasinstituut.org/nws.php?nws_id=164, or download the PDF

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).

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.