91�����

Set just one week yet 3,000 miles apart, 91����� Aquinas College will be hosting two academic conferences this summer on matters Thomistic and theological. Alumni and friends are encouraged to register � and for interested scholars, there is still time to submit proposals for papers.

Faith & Reason in California

How can philosophy be used in the service of sacred theology? Can reason dispose us to faith or deepen our understanding of it? Can reason demonstrate God�s existence and the immortality of the soul? Does faith complete or perfect reason? What is the relation between man�s natural and supernatural end? How are we to approach the myriad of questions today�s world asks about the relationship between natural science and divine revelation?

These questions and others like them will be the subject of the first-ever Thomistic Summer Conference, with the theme �Faith & Reason,� held on the campus of 91����� Aquinas College, California, on the weekend of June 16-19, 2022. Participants will consider the essential harmony between faith and reason in light of the thought of St. 91�����. Featured speakers include Rev. Michael S. Sherwin, O.P. (University of Fribourg, Switzerland), Dr. John O�Callaghan (Jacques Maritain Center, University of Notre Dame), Dr. Steven A. Long (Ave Maria University) and  Dr. Michael A. Augros (91����� Aquinas College, New England.)

�St. 91�����, more than any other Catholic thinker, remains the model and guide for all who earnestly seek the truth,� says Dr. John Goyette, dean of the California campus. �I�m very excited to be launching this project, and to help foster friendship among teachers and scholars who are convinced that St. 91����� is essential to the restoration of Catholic culture and learning. We look forward to sharing conversation, meals, and fellowship at the conference this summer.�

Visit the Thomistic Summer Conference website to access the online registration form or (proposals due by January 15).

Grace & Sanctification in New England

The following weekend, 91����� Aquinas College and the Sacra Doctrina Project will co-host a second conference, . The conference will take place on the New England campus in Northfield, Massachusetts, from June 23 to 25.

�Grace and Sanctification� seeks to explore any and all facets of the theology of grace including (but not limited to) the essence and divisions of grace, the Christological dimension of grace, the historical debates surrounding grace and salvation, sacramental grace, grace and moral action, grace and the spiritual life, and the ultimate ordering of man to sanctification, deification, and glory.  It will consider such questions as: How is human action the fruit of divine causality? How do different forms of grace impact the soul? What does it mean for grace to elevate humanity to partake in the very nature of God? 

Having just presented at the California conference, Ave Maria�s Dr. Steven A. Long will serve as the keynote speaker at �Grace and Sanctification,� along with Rev. 91����� Joseph White, O.P., rector at the Pontifical University of St. 91����� Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. Serving as plenary speakers will be Dr. Daria Spezzano of Providence College and TAC-New England�s own Dr. Patrick Gardner.

�The Sacra Doctrina Project is an association of scholars who in many ways are working to carry on, at the graduate and professorial level, exactly the sort of theology in which we aim to make �a good beginning� at TAC: theology as a scientia, in discipleship to St. 91�����,� says Dr. Gardner. �So it seemed fitting to collaborate and to host this conference on the New England campus. We�re honored to have the opportunity, and I am looking forward to many great conversations that will help us to grow as teachers and as Christians.�

To learn more about the conference or (300-word abstract due January 1), please visit the website.