Lumen Christi Institute Lectures
March 21, 2013
Recently, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., Assistant Professor of Systematic Theology at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception and Director of the Thomistic Institute, gave two lectures at the Lumen Christi Institute:
“The Careful Rationality of Monotheism: Thomas Aquinas on Analogical Knowledge of God”
How can philosophers speak about God in a reasonable fashion? Does speech about God exceed the capacities of human reason? In responding to these questions, Thomas Aquinas develops a path between the extremes of apophaticism (rejecting the applicability of human language to God) and rationalistic optimism. This lecture will argue for the validity of Thomist doctrine of divine naming and its relevance to contemporary debates in analytic theism and to Heidegger’s critique of “onto-theology” (the theology of being). [vimeo 60664952 w=500 h=281] “The Careful Rationality of Monotheism: Thomas Aquinas on Analogical Knowledge of God” from The Lumen Christi Institute on Vimeo.
“The Virgin Mary as Model of the Church: From Vatican II to Thomas Aquinas”
The Second Vatican Council insisted that the Virgin Mary is to be understood in light of the Church, and the Church is to be understood in light of the Virgin Mary. Why should the Church seek to recover today a greater emphasis on Marian devotion? How is the Virgin Mary a model of the faith and spiritual life of Christians? Thomas Aquinas provides the basis for a contemporary interpretation of the Council’s Marian teachings. [vimeo 60918255 w=500 h=281] “The Virgin Mary as Model of the Church: From Thomas Aquinas to Vatican II” from The Lumen Christi Institute on Vimeo.
