Faith & Reason

Behavioral geneticist Dr. Daniel Toma discusses questions of the order and structure of the universes in light in John Arintero's notion of Theosis. he also expounds on the significance and purpose of the Incarnation.Dr. Daniel Toma is behavioral geneticist from Minnesota State University Mankato and is professor in the department of Biology. He is author of the book Vestige of Eden, Image of Eternity.

Dr. R.V. Young reflects on the influences of tyranny throughout Shakespeare's play, most uniquely seen in Macbeth. In Macbeth, the protagonist  is entangled by his own tyranny and destroys his character and freedom. R.V. Young is Professor of English Emeritus, North Carolina State University and former editor of the quarterly review, Modern Age.  He co-founded and for 25 years co-edited The John Donne Journal.  His books include At War With the Word: Literary Theory and Liberal Education, and Doctrine and Devotion in Seventeenth-Century Poetry: Studies in Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan. In addition to academic work, he has published articles and reviews in such journals as The National Review, The Human Life Review, The Weekly Standard, First Things, and Touchstone, of which he is a contributing editor.

Dr. Michael Zuckert presents Lincoln's theory of democratic statesmanship and the reasoning behind his political propositions. Dr. Zucket also discusses the waves of praise and criticism that has been raised throughout the years. Dr. Zuckert is an accomplished author and the department chair of political science at the University of Notre Dame. A scholar of political philosophy and theory, American political thought, American constitutional history, and more, Zuckert co-authored and co-produced the public radio series Mr. Adams and Mr. Jefferson: A Nine Part Drama for the Radio, and was the senior advisor for the television series Liberty! And the senior advisor for the PBS series Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton. He is currently the head of the new Tocqueville Center for the Study of Religion in American Public Life.

Linguist Christophe Rico explains on the difficulties that often arise in translating complicated texts, and how to translate while still preserving the original meaning ad weight of the text. He discusses the different linguistic levels of the texts, and Biblical texts in particular pose a special difficulty due to the richly layered meaning behind the word choice.  Christophe Rico is a linguist (Ph.D. Greek Linguistics, University of Paris-Sorbonne, 1992; Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, University of Strasbourg, 2012) and belongs to the Faculty of the University of Strasbourg. He teaches ancient Greek at the Polis Institute and at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem. Since 2001, Professor Rico has been applying the teaching methods commonly used for modern languages to ancient Greek. He has also published a method for learning ancient Greek.

Dr. Robert Louis Wilken discusses the issues of faith and reason within the early Christian Church, as well as the meaning of virtue. He delves into the categories the early Christians placed different virtues, which came to be known as the cardinal virtues. 

Renowned Byzantine priest and liturgist Fr. David E. Anderson delivered a series of lectures at Christendom College beginning on February 4, focusing on the liturgical traditions of the Eastern Churches. This is the third of Fr. Anderson's series, titled A Walk Through the Byzantine Divine Liturgy. In this lecture, Fr. Anderson delves into an extensive discussion of the divine liturgy of St John Chrysostom. Fr. David E. Anderson, a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago, was born in 1953 in Jamestown, N.Y. Educated at Wadhams Hall and St. Vladimir's Seminary, where he was a student of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, he was ordained in 1983 and has served as a parish priest for 31 years, the last 15 of which have been at St. Peter's Church in Ukiah, California. From before his ordination until now, he has been both a teacher and a translator of patristic and Byzantine liturgical texts.

Byzantine priest and liturgist Fr. David E. Anderson delivered a series of lectures at Christendom College focusing on the liturgical traditions of the Eastern Churches. This is the second of Fr. Anderson's series, titled The Words of Institution of the Eucharist. Fr. Anderson reflects on the central expression of Christian life found in the words of Jesus Christ in the institution of the Eucharist.  He also discusses the historical circumstances and religious crisis that formed the differences between the Eastern and Western Church. Fr. David E. Anderson, a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago, was born in 1953 in Jamestown, N.Y. Educated at Wadhams Hall and St. Vladimir's Seminary, where he was a student of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, he was ordained in 1983 and has served as a parish priest for 31 years, the last 15 of which have been at St. Peter's Church in Ukiah, California. From before his ordination until now, he has been both a teacher and a translator of patristic and Byzantine liturgical texts.

Renowned Byzantine priest and liturgist Fr. David E. Anderson focuses his series of lectures at Christendom College on the liturgical traditions of the Eastern Churches. The liturgy is an encounter and expression of the Kingdom of God. This is the first of Fr. Anderson's series, titled An Introduction to the Eastern Churches and Their Liturgical Traditions.Fr. David E. Anderson, a priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Chicago, was born in 1953 in Jamestown, N.Y. Educated at Wadhams Hall and St. Vladimir's Seminary, where he was a student of Fr. Alexander Schmemann, he was ordained in 1983 and has served as a parish priest for 31 years, the last 15 of which have been at St. Peter's Church in Ukiah, California. From before his ordination until now, he has been both a teacher and a translator of patristic and Byzantine liturgical texts.

An exceptionally popular speaker and teacher, Dr. Scott Hahn delves into the famous Bible passage of The Road to Emmaus, discussing the continuity of the scriptures, and how the Old Testament is fulfilled in the New Testament. By understanding the liturgical context of the Scriptures the sacramental quality of the written text is revealed.A profound author of many books, Hahn received his Bachelor of Arts degree with a triple-major in Theology, Philosophy, and Economics from Grove City College, Penn., in 1979, his Masters of Divinity from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1982, and his Ph.D. in Biblical Theology from Marquette University in 1995.  He has ten years of youth and pastoral ministry experience in Protestant congregations (in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Kansas and Virginia) and is a former Professor of Theology at Chesapeake Theological Seminary.  He was ordained in 1982 at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Fairfax, Va.  He entered the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, 1986.

Dr. Ken Grasso, a professor of political science at Texas State University, delivered a lecture entitled “The Freedom of the Church and the Taming of the State.” Grass examines the role of Christianity in the development and the future of modern democracy. He argues that Christianity transformed western political life, and that liberal modernity is attempting to set form a purely secular understanding of freedom. 

Dr. Harry Veryser, author and professor of economics at the University of Detroit Mercy, delivered a lecture at Christendom College entitled “Thomism and Austrian Economics” on March 18. Veryser discussed how the foundational principles of the Austrian school of economics capture St. Thomas Aquinas's understanding of the nature of man.Dr. Veryser graduated from the University of Detroit, where he received his undergraduate degree in Philosophy and Economics and two Master of Arts degrees in Economics and Religious Studies.  He is the author of the book Our Economic Crisis: Sources and Solutions, as well as numerous other articles that have been published in such magazines as The Detroit News, and Intercollegiate Review.

Historian Dr. Emmet Kennedy delivered a lecture entitled The Survival of a Non-Juror: the Abbé Sicard and the Founding of the National Institute of Deaf-Mutes during the Reign of Terror. He explored the life of Roch-Ambroise Sicard, a priest who educated the deaf and mute during the Reign of Terror. Sicard avoided execution twice during the tumultuous times of the French Revolution. Kennedy examined whether Sicard was a “girouette,” that is, a turncoat who changed with every regime and tailored himself to meet the new requirements.  Kennedy is a world-renowned expert on the French Revolution and author of many celebrated works on it, including A Cultural History of the French Revolution.

A professor in the English Department at the University of Dallas and author of several books on Thomas More, Dr. Gerard Wegemer presented Thomas More as an example for all who strive to be a positive force in their families and country. It was More's dedication to self-cultivation and the liberty of the human person that made him the great man that he was, Wegemer said.  More believed that the liberty of a person or a nation is possible only with the cultivation of four major arts: the liberal arts, virtue, law, and rhetoric.

Author and Professor Dr. Susan Hanssen delivered a lecture entitled “Henry Adams on the Sanity or Suicide of America” to the students and faculty of Christendom College on February 27. The lecture examined the history of education in America and Henry Adam's perception of it.Henry Adams voiced concerned over the choices the nation would face, and spoke of the special importance of young woman in the future of America.  Hanssen, an associate professor of history at the University of Dallas, received her doctorate from Rice University in Houston, Texas. She was the 2010-2011 Garwood Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, where she prepared her forthcoming book on The Education of Henry Adams and the role of education in maintaining cultural identity in America.

Author and Professor of Literature Dr. Michael Mack delivered a lecture entitled “Hamlet: Shakespeare's Mousetrap?” to students and faculty at Christendom College on February 7. The talk was the first in the College's new Faith & Reason Lecture Series.In his lecture, Mack reveals how Shakespeare uses one of his most famous plays to cause the audience to examine their own conscience. In the play itself, Hamlet uses a play,The Mousetrap, to cause the villain, Claudius, to examine his conscience.Mack is an Associate Professor of English and the Dean of the Undergraduate Program at The Catholic University of America. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. His research interests include Shakespeare, sixteenth and seventeenth-century English poetry, and Renaissance literary theory. In 2005, CUA Press published Mack's book, Sidney's Poetics: Imitating Creation. He is currently working on a book on Shakespeare.