4 Thursdays/Sept. 7, 14, 21 and 28, 2023
Free Box Lunch (@12:00pm) 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 4 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. 7, 2023: Seminar 1
What is Faith beyond Pizza and Grade-School Catholicism?: The Long Tradition of Catholic Thinking about Faith and Reason
Ratzinger, "Faith and Theology" [pp. 17-28]
Sept. 14, 2023: 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. 21, 2023: 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. 22, 2023: Seminar 4
On Faith Seeking Understanding and Reason’s Endless Pursuit of the Wisdom of Faith
• St. Anselm: Proslogion [25pp]