Events
Previous Events
What Makes a Person: Moira, Persona, Ethos with Dr. Gregory Roper
Wednesday, April 28, 12:00- 1:00 pm CST, on zoom
The ancient Greeks had three interesting words for describing the human person: moira, prosopa, and ethos. Moira meant both “fate” and “character”; prosopa (later, in Latin, persona) was the word for the masks that the actors wore in the drama; ethos comes from Aristotle and suggests that we build our character every day by the choices we make. All of these contribute to the Christian concept of the person, but they leave out the crucial Christian contribution: the gift of grace.
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
America, Liberalism, and Catholicism
Thursday, April 15 and Friday, April 16
How should Catholics evaluate liberalism as a political philosophy, and as a political project?
Featuring keynotes on:
"Was American Liberalism Doomed to Fail?”
(Patrick Deneen, Notre Dame)
"Catholic Ideas Versus Catholic Realities?”
(Ross Douthat, New York Times)
This conference is organized by the St. John Paul II Fellow in Social Thought, Ryan Anderson, and the American Public Philosophy Institute, and is co-sponsored by Liberal Learning for Life.
Action, Contemplation, and the Liberal Arts
Wednesday, April 14, 2:00- 3:00 pm CST, on zoom
Which is superior: the life of action or contemplation? Join us for a conversation about the past and present of this question, which appears in Plato and the Fathers of the Church as well as in conversations today about the “value” of the liberal arts, paid meditation apps, and the promise of finding peace in “deep work.”
Speakers:
Jonathan Sanford (University of Dallas)
Jennifer Summit (San Francisco State University)
Blakey Vermeule (Stanford University)
Hildegard of Bingen and Tuning the Soul to God with Dr. Ivan Eidt
Wednesday, March 31, 12-1 pm CST
Have you ever wondered why certain pieces of music affect you the way they do, and why they have the same effect on others? Dr. Ivan Eidt explains how the medieval mystic Hildegard of Bingen saw music as a mode of connection between the human person and the cosmos — and, more intimately, between the human person and God. After the presentation, Dr. Eidt will join us for a live conversation, moderated by Dr. Michael West.
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
The Scandalous Holy: Orthodox Imagination in Vodolazkin's "Laurus with Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson
Friday, March 26, 2021, 7 pm CST, on zoom
Dr. Jessica Hooten Wilson, the Louise Cowan Scholar-in-Residence at the University of Dallas and author of several award-winning books including Giving the Devil his Due: Flannery O’Connor and The Brothers Karamazov, will give a lecture based on a portion of her forthcoming book, The Scandalous Holy.
This event is cosponsored by the Cowan Chair in Literature, the Braniff Graduate School, and Liberal Learning for Life.
Translation: Appropriation or Appreciation?
Thursday, March 25, 11 am - 12 pm CST, on zoom
Amid concerns about damages wrought by cultural appropriation, how does translation—as a practice and an idea—help us understand the risks and rewards of crossings, borrowings, and interactions between cultures and languages?
Speakers:
Jose Espericueta (University of Dallas)
Janet Hendrickson (University of Dallas)
Jeannine Pitas (University of Dubuque)
This event is co-sponsored by Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry.
History, Tradition and Hope with Dr. Jonathan Sanford
RESCHEDULED FOR
Wednesday, March 17, at 12 pm CST, on zoom
We all long for good things: money, health, a happy family. But the virtue of hope involves more than mere longing for these things: it is directed toward a difficult good pursued through work. If all human things fail and pass away, what should be our proper response? It is our destination in eternity and friendship with God that teaches us the proper orientation and destination of our hope.
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
Newman and the Limits of Dogma
with Eamon Duffy
Friday, March 19, 11 am CST, on zoom
In his Apologia (1864), John Henry Newman emphasized his life-long commitment to the centrality of dogma to authentic Christianity. A fierce opponent of heresy while an Anglican, in the 1860s and 1870s the Catholic Newman dedicated much of his energy and considerable public prestige to combatting what he perceived as the inflationary and excessive dogmatism which threatened the intellectual and spiritual integrity of the Church under Pope Pius IX. In this talk, Professor Duffy considers the fundamental consistencies underlying the apparent contradictions in Newman’s developing understanding of the relation between revealed truth and intellectual freedom.
This event is hosted by the Collegium Institute and is co-sponsored by the Studies in Catholic Faith and Culture Program.
Book Release: Ethics, by Dietrich von Hildebrand
Thursday, March 11, 2021, 8 pm CST, on zoom
With the release of our new edition of Hildebrand's "Ethics," readers can now discover for themselves why Pope John Paul II called Dietrich von Hildebrand "one of the great ethicists of the twentieth century."
Join us for a special book release event to present and discuss major themes in the Hildebrand's "Ethics."
The conversation will be led by John F. Crosby, Beth Rath, and Jonathan J. Sanford, and moderated by John Henry Crosby.
This event is hosted by the Hildebrand Project and is co-sponsored by the Liberal Learning for Life Program at the University of Dallas.
Frederick Douglass & the Philosophy of Religion with Dr. Timothy J. Golden
Wednesday, February 24, 5 - 6:30 pm CST, on zoom
This book claims that the reformed epistemology of analytic theism, when viewed in an incarnational framework of word and flesh, is morally deficient as compared with the narrative methodology of Frederick Douglass. In support of this claim, the book argues that analytic theism's moral deficiency results from a rational preoccupation with abstraction that prevents meaningful social and political engagement; a rational preoccupation that Douglass's narrative methodology does not indulge. To make this case, the book presents an interpretation of Douglass with Kierkegaard and Kafka on narrative, with Kant on artistic creativity and aesthetic judgment's deep connection to the political, and with Levinas on art, the social, and the political.
Timothy J. Golden, J.D., Ph.D. is Professor of Philosophy, Legal Studies Program Coordinator, and founder of the Donald Blake Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington.
This event is co-sponsored by the University of Dallas Philosophy Department and the Department of Human and Social Sciences.
What It Means to be Human:
A Conversation About the Body, Medicine, and Bioethics
Thursday, February 11, 2021, 2-3 pm CST, on zoom
In O. Carter Snead’s new book, What It Means to Be Human: The Case for the Body in Public Bioethics, he recasts debates over abortion, reproduction, and end-of-life decisions and situates them within a framework of embodiment and dependence. Avoiding typical dichotomies of conservative-versus-liberal and secular-versus-religious, Professor Snead rethinks how the law represents human experiences so that it might govern more wisely, justly, and humanely.
Professor Snead (Notre Dame) will be joined by pediatrician and philosophy professor Dr. William Stigall (University of Dallas) in this conversation at the intersection of law, philosophy, and medicine. The conversation will be moderated by Dr. Michael West of the Liberal Learning for Life Program.
This event is hosted by the Liberal Learning for Life Program at the University of Dallas.
Series Launch
The Person: Action & Influence:
The Two Questions of A Liberal Education
Tuesday, January 19, 2021, 12-1 pm CST
There are two central questions of any liberal education: What is true? And how should I live?
These are the guiding questions of our new video series: The Person: Action and Influence. Join us as we together watch the first session together; after the presentation, the series director, Dr. Shannon Valenzuela, will join us for a live conversation, moderated by Dr. Michael West.
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
"Bricks & Clouds: The Monastic Search for God" with Fr. John Bayer O. Cist.
November 17, 2020, 12 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
Towards Fraternity:
Reflections on Fratelli Tutti
November 12, 2020, 6 pm CST
Featuring:
Louis Brown (University of Dallas Trustee, Christ Medicus Foundation)
Erika Bachiochi (Ethics and Public Policy Center)
Kim Daniels (Georgetown University)
Timothy P. O’Malley (University of Notre Dame)
Moderated By:
Elise Ureneck (Catholic communications strategist)
This event is co-sponsored with the Portsmouth Institute for Faith and Culture.
Writing Between Cultures: Exploring the Catholicism of Endō, Greene, McKay & Su
September 17, 2020, 6 pm CST
This event is co-sponsored with the Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought & Culture.
"The Postmodern Bind and John Paul II's Response of Love with Dr. Irene Alexander
September 15, 2020, 12 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
“Dante and the Journey to God” with Dr. Anthony Nussmeier
August 11, 2020, 12 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
"The Res Christiana: Tradition and History," with Dr. Ron Rombs
July 21, 2020, 12 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
"The Aeneid, History, and Tradition" with Dr. Andrew Moran
July 14, 2020, 12 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
“Maimonides and Abraham: What is the Beginning of Wisdom?” with Dr. Joshua Parens
June 22, 2020, 7 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.
"Thomas More, Laughter, and Fatherhood" with Dr. Gerard Wegemer
June 18, 2020, 12 pm CST
This is a Virtual Encore event, co-sponsored by the UD Office of Alumni Affairs.