Aquinas Lecture, 2 March
Our annual Aquinas Lecture will be delivered at 5.00pm on Thursday 2 March, by Prof Candace Vogler of Chicago. She has announced the title, which is: “The Intellectual Animal”. There will be the usual short wine reception afterwards. You are all most welcome; if you plan to come it would be helpful, but not essential, to email me on richard.conrad@bfriars.ox.ac.uk [1]
Aquinas Colloquium, 4 March
As already mentioned (I hope) one-day conference will be held on Saturday 4 March from 9.30am – 5.00pm, on the theme “Aquinas and Newman on Conscience”. Cost including lunch: £10 (£5 unwaged). To book a place email richard.conrad@bfriars.ox.ac.uk [1]
Freedom of Conscience is a right widely promoted, and widely withheld. If, as Elizabeth Anscombe remarked, “a man’s conscience may tell him to do the vilest things,” how absolute are its rights? Do we need to clarify what conscience is, and how it follows from our creation in God’s image, if we are to state its duties, privileges and limitations, and cherish it without idolising it? This forms one strand of a joint research project of the Aquinas and Las Casas Institutes: Human Nature & Dignity: Resources for the 21st Century. The 2017 Colloquium launches this strand of research. By contrasting Aquinas and Newman we will sharpen the question what conscience is; bringing out common elements in the two theologians will promote precision on its rights, and on its responsibilities which Church and State must foster. A paper contrasting Aquinas and Calvin will illustrate the range of accounts Newman inherited.
Main Speakers:
- Candace Vogler (David B. & Clara E. Stern Professor of Philosophy, Chicago) – Aquinas on Synderesis
- Frederick Aquino (Professor of Theology, Abilene Christian University) – Newman on Conscience
- Aaron Taylor (DPhil student, Oxford) – Aquinas and Calvin on Conscience
A Disputation on Conscience will be held between someone representing Newman, and a fictitious 19th -Century Dominican
Fee for the day, including lunch: £10 (£5 students/unwaged)
The Colloquium is made possible by a generous donation from Prof. Barbara R. Walters-Doehrman and Steven R. Doehrman, in memory of, and with gratitude to, the late Eugene Walters and the late Virginia and Ralph Doehrman, for which the Institute is very grateful.
Further information, & to register:
Richard Conrad, O.P., Blackfriars, St. Giles’, Oxford, OX1 3LY
01865 278444
richard.conrad@bfriars.ox.ac.uk [1]
Download the flyer for this event here [2].
Aquinas in China, 8 March
Dr William Carroll, one of our research fellows, will give an informal talk on “Thomas Aquinas in China” on Weds. 8 March at 8.00 p.m. Last November he lectured at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and spoke to a group of 800 students at Shanghai High School; he organised a workshop on the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas sponsored by the School of Philosophy of Wuhan University, which was attended by 25 official participants from 12 different Chinese universities. In previous years he has lectured in several different places in China. The talk will cover the growing Chinese interest in Aquinas and the traditions of Western philosophy.
For more information on forthcoming events, see here [3].
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