The St. Anselm Institute is offering free, non-credit, faculty-led minicourses for UVA students regardless of their areas of study. The readings are short; there are no papers, quizzes or exams; and a box lunch or morning Bodos are on us! Prior experience is not expected, but space is limited, so registration is strongly encouraged. Students may attend in both the Fall and Spring semesters, as each minicourse is unique. Our 2 Spring 2023 minicourses are: 1) Beauty & the Catholic Imagination! and 2) Faith & Reason as a Pathway to a Meaningful Life!*Spring 2023: Beauty and the Catholic Imagination
4 Fridays 10:30-11:30am (Minor Hall Auditorium), with Bodos bagels and coffee at 10:15am!
The goal of our Spring 2023 minicourse is to sharpen our capacities to see more: more in our studies of past, present and future things, more in each other, and more in ourself. To learn how to see more, we will draw upon both familiar and unfamiliar Catholic resources that reveal something more about our experiences of Beauty. We all have these experiences, but what exactly are they? and why do our experiences of Beauty come and go in quite mysterious ways? Sign-up with this form or by emailing Charles Kromkowski (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Jocelyn Moore at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Feb. 3: Our Experiences of Beauty. Dana Gioia, “Why Beauty Matters”; Wilbur, “Hamlen Brook,” Hopkins, "God’s Grandeur"
Feb. 10: Who is the Artist? Why Art? JPII, "Letter to Artists"
Feb. 17: Revelation of Beauty in Christ & the Eucharist. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, "The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty" (2002); Selections from Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis (2007)
Feb. 24: How Can an Image of a Crucifixion be Beautiful? Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, “The Question of Images" (2000)
March TBD: Sacramental Beauty in the "Ordinary" Moments of a Life Well-Lived
*Spring 2023: Faith, Reason and a Meaningful Life
4 Thursdays: Feb. 2, 9, 16, 23, 2023 (12:00 lunch; 12:30-1:30 seminar)
We all seek “meaningful work” and a "successful career," but will work and career satisfy our deepest desire for the meaning of our existence? This Spring 2023 minicourse will offer UVA students and faculty a shared opportunity to consider how Faith and Reason work together to reveal great truths and wondrous mysteries about God, nature, society, and ourselves. This 6-hour commitment just might change how you understand your life! UVA students and faculty are invited to register by filling out this form or by emailing Dr. Anna Stelow This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Feb. 2, Undivided Logos and Our Understanding of the Radiance of Epiphanies
Edith Stein, "The Hidden Life and Epiphany" [3pp]
Edith Stein, "The Hidden Life and Epiphany" [3pp]
Supplemental Reading: Wilken,"The Reasonableness of Faith"
Feb. 9, Understanding Meaningmaking and the Christian Difference
Fr. Robert Sokolowski, "Christian Experience"
Fr. Robert Sokolowski, "Christian Experience"
Feb. 16, Understanding the Imperfections of Freedom: The Natural Pursuit of Happiness and the Problem of Justice
St. Anselm, "On the Fall of the Devil"
St. Anselm, "On the Fall of the Devil"
Feb. 23, The Meaning of the Lay Vocation in the Modern World
Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, "The State of Lay Persons in the World," and selections from Gaudium et Spes
Fr. Hans Urs von Balthasar, "The State of Lay Persons in the World," and selections from Gaudium et Spes
This program is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide."
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"Faith & Reason in the Modern University" (Fall 2022)
4 Thursdays/Sept. 8, 15, 22 and 29, 2022
Free Box Lunch (12-12:30) Seminar 12:30-1:30PM
Location: UVA Clark Library 156
This St. Anselm Institute minicourse provides an introduction to the origins and history of the Catholic intellectual tradition. It is no secret that many within secular universities believe that faith and reason are opposed or that authentic faith commitments require a deep partitioning and privatization of these commitments from one's intellectual and professional pursuits. Before sheepishly free-ranging on the authority of these conventional narratives, join us to ponder for yourself, as St. Pope John Paul II did, that "Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth." Prior experience NOT expected, so join us for interesting 1-hour discussions and a free lunch with faculty and other UVA students.
This seminar is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide."
Sept. 8, 2022: Seminar 1
Beyond Pizza, Frisbees, and Grade-School Catholicism: The Long Tradition of Catholic Thinking about Faith and Reason
Sept. 15, 2022: Seminar 2
Why am I Here? The Distractions of Life and the Distortions of the Modern University
• Plato, Apology [4pp] • St. Augustine and the Drunken Beggar [2pp] • Reinhard Huetter, “Polytechnic Utiliversity: Putting the Universal Back in University” [10pp]
Sept. 22, 2022: Seminar 3
Our Choices, Our Habits and Our Vocations as Students
• Matthew Lu, “Getting Serious about Seriousness: On the Meaning of Spoudaios in Aristotle’s Ethics” [6pp] • Simone Weil, “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God” [8pp] • St. Augustine's Conversion in the Garden [2pp]
Sept. 29, 2022: Seminar 4
On Faith Seeking Understanding and Reason’s Endless Pursuit of the Wisdom of Faith
• St. Anselm: Proslogion [25pp]
This program is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide."
Faith & Science Minicourse: Catholic Engagement with the Modern Sciences (Fall 2022)
5 Fridays 10:00am-11:00am
(Coffee/bagels @ 9:45am)
Sept. 9, 16, 23, 30/Oct. 7, 2022
Location: UVA Clark Library 156
This free, non-credit, faculty-led minicourse is designed for interested UVA students regardless of their study area. Selected readings are short, and there are no papers, quizzes or exams. The course instead invites you to engage with us in thinking across the content of both the Catholic intellectual tradition and the contemporary sciences. Each seminar will begin with brief framing remarks followed by open discussion of a short common reading. Prior experience is NOT expected; only an openness to considering the shared truths of faith and science in new ways. This 5-hour commitment may very well change the way you think about God, yourself, others and the great sciences of the universe! Interested? We hope so, but there’s limited space so register today by filling out this online form!
This seminar is made possible through the support of grant #62372 from the John Templeton Foundation, “In Lumine: Promoting the Catholic Intellectual Tradition on Campuses Nationwide."
Sept 9, 2022: Session 1
Debunking the Conflict Narrative and Other Caricatures of Catholicism and Science
• Avery Dulles, S.J., “Science and Theology,” (1990) pp. 9-16
September 16, 2022: Seminar 2
Why Something and Not Nothing? The Science of Physics and the Metaphysics of Creation ex Nihilo
• Adam D. Hinks, S.J., “What Does Physical Cosmology Say about Creation from Nothing?” (2018) pp. 319-345
September 23, 2022: Seminar 3, Truth is One: The Sciences of Evolution and Neuroscience, The Emergence of Human Consciousness, and the Doctrine of Original Sin
• Nicanor Austriaco, O.P. “The Historicity of Adam and Eve,” pp. 159-181
September 30, 2022: Seminar 4
Parrhesia and Christian Truth-telling: Who is Responsible for the Misuses of Science at UVA?
Additional reading: Dorr, "Assuring America's Place in the Sun: Ivery Foreman Lewis and the Teaching of Eugenics at the University of Virginia, 1915-1953"
October 7, 2022: Seminar 5
Caring Not Discarding: Human Personhood Without Exception or Equivocation
• Dignitatis Personae (2008); John Paul II, “Life Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State: Scientific Advances and Ethical Dilemmas” (2004); Francis I, "Address to Delegation of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty" (2018)