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Cassandra Sever, Joseph E. Davis, Laurie Zoloth, and Paul Scherz on October 7, 2026 at the University of Chicago's Swift Hall. A new economy of “grief-tech” has arisen to confront the old problem of death. Changing social norms and advances in artificial intelligence have made it possible to ask, “Can we disrupt death?” Are grief-bots and simulated grandpas the solution to the anxieties of the human condition? This symposium explores technology and our changed circumstances, and asks what disrupting conceptions of death through technology might mean for vital aspects of human self-understanding, mourning, care relationships, and the social order in which we are born, live, and pass away. --- This project was made possible through the support of "In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide" (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors. The opinions expressed in this publication ​are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John ​Templeton Foundation.

Daniel Wasserman-Soler on September 23, 2026 at Ruth Lake Country Club. Have you wondered about how to pray — whether to recite a traditional prayer or just say what is on your mind? whether to sit, kneel or stand? whether to pray silently or aloud? The wide range of self-help books related to prayer suggests that many people today are looking for guidance. This is not new. Even before the printing press developed in the fifteenth century, Catholic writers published books to assist both lay people and clergy with their prayer lives. This talk provides an overview of Catholic prayer traditions in the Middle Ages and the Reformation era. It focuses on the work of one Dominican friar from Spain — Louis of Granada (1504-1588) — who made it his life’s work to help his fellow Catholics to pray. Though they lived centuries before us, the spiritual writers of the Middle Ages and Reformation still can teach us how to pray as Catholics.

Joseph Vukov and Michael Murphy on May 13, 2026 at Ruth Lake Country Club. Pope Leo XIV has already spoken movingly about the isolation and stress, especially for the young, of modern life. In a different format from our normal West Suburban Catholic Culture Series lecture, philosophers Joe Vukov and Mike Murphy dialogue as they consider the prospects for the future as the Church confronts challenges such as social media, cyberreality and artificial intelligence.

Marc DeGirolami, Darrell Miller, Judge Martha Pacold, Richard W. Garnett, and Samuel Bray on April 23, 2026 at the University of Chicago Law School. The American experiment depends on the people holding something in common. But what was once taken for granted is now up for debate, as all sorts of norms and established beliefs are under attack. Is this the result of an improper intrusion of politics and morality into the legal realm? Should the law aspire to be morally naked? Or does the law depend upon a particular set of moral and political virtues? What makes for a good constitutional judge? Are personal and professional virtues necessary to good judgment? Or do they inhibit it? Is thinking in these terms helpful to address alienation, lack of trust, and institutional collapse? Or does it distract from the real issue? In this spirited conversation, law faculty from a number of philosophical positions come together to discuss the relationship between law, politics, tradition, and virtue. --- This project was made possible through the support of "In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide" (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors. The opinions expressed in this publication ​are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John ​Templeton Foundation.

Marc DeGirolami, Richard W. Garnett, and Jennifer Newsome Martin on April 22, 2026 at Jenner & Block Law. This American moment is one of alienation and dislocation. In personal relations, an “epidemic of loneliness” has emerged as in-person friendships dwindle. Politically and morally, what once seemed to be long-held convictions seem suddenly up for debate. Is there still a “We the People,” as the Constitution attests? Does anything still hold this people together? It is at this moment that “tradition” has made a return. From the New York Times to the Supreme Court to the Hallmark Christmas movie, tradition is now being presented as a cure for what ails us. But what is tradition, and what can development in religious tradition tell us about development of legal tradition? In this conversation among cutting edge legal and philosophical minds, Marc DeGirolami lays out some major themes of his new book "The Constitution of Practice: On Law and Tradition." Richard W. Garnett and Jennifer Newsome Martin join him in conversation on the nature of tradition, law, and religion.

David Cloutier on April 8, 2026 at Ruth Lake Country Club. In this lecture, David Cloutier traces the development of Catholic social teaching (CST) from Rerum Novarum through Quadragesimo Anno to Centesimus Annus and beyond. Through many papacies and much change in the world, CST develops a unique and distinctive social vision that speaks to both the hopes and the perils of the contemporary world.

Scott Roniger on March 18, 2026 at Ruth Lake Country Club. In this lecture, Prof. Scott Roniger outlines the historical context that instigated the development of modern Catholic social doctrine during the pontificate of Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903). He discusses some of Leo’s most important contributions to Magisterial teaching on social issues, contributions that illuminate perennial principles that transcend the circumstances prompting their articulation. He focuses on Leo’s presentation of the dignity of society in all its complementary forms – a social dignity based upon the truth of the human person, created in the image and likeness of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Finally, he briefly shows how these principles have already been put to good use in the nascent pontificate of Pope Leo XIV.

Martin Shaw on February 4, 2026 at the Lumen Christi Institute. Drawing on his experience as a professor, mythographer, and widely respected storyteller, Martin Shaw locates us in the deeper dimensions of how a modern person approaches an ancient story through the telling of "The Birth of Ossian," an Irish fairy tale. This story is the second part of Shaw's event titled "Mythopoetics and Faerie Stories: Theory and Practice of Mythmaking." To listen to the full event audio, click here: https://soundcloud.com/lumenchristi/mythopoetics-and-faerie-stories-theory-and-practice-of-mythmaking

Martin Shaw on February 4, 2026 at the Lumen Christi Institute. In his newly published "Liturgies of the Wild," acclaimed mythographer and storyteller Martin Shaw argues that we live in a myth-impoverished age and that such poverty has left us vulnerable to stories that may not wish us well. Drawing on the “ancient technologies” of myths and initiatory rites, Shaw provides a road to wholeness, maturity and connection. In this event for UChicago students, Dr. Shaw explores both the theory and practice of mythmaking. In the first section Shaw guides us through myth’s relationship to initiation rites and oral storytelling, explaining these “ancient technologies.” In the second we tilt directly into the telling of an Irish fairy tale, The Birth of Ossian. Drawing on his experience as a professor and widely respected storyteller, Shaw locates us in the deeper dimensions of how a modern person approaches an ancient story.

Dr. Martin Shaw on February 5, 2026 at the Graduate by Hilton Evanston Hotel. There’s an old Irish belief that if you aren’t wrapped in a cloak of story you will be unprepared for what the world will hurl at you. You remain adolescent at just the moment a culture worth its salt requires you to become a real, grown, human being. Myths from antiquity are vivid in describing the conditions of life. Christianity goes a step further in providing the most extraordinary example of how to live that life. Working out of examples from Arthurian and fairy tale motifs, acclaimed mythographer Martin Shaw shows how, if ‘all true is God’s truth’, profound Christian resonances can be found in many mythic traditions. How do stories assist us in the making of a real human being? In troubled times how could we forge a deeper life? In this event, we welcome Dr. Martin Shaw to celebrate the release of his new book "Liturgies of the Wild."

Erika Kidd on November 12, 2025 at Ruth Lake Country Club. Doctor of the Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo, has a lot to say about teaching. He writes memorably about the way his early teachers failed him, teaching him to love praise and worldly success. He writes too about the vocation of the teacher, a vocation he lived in many different ways as rhetorician, father, priest, and bishop. In his early work “On the Teacher” he insists teaching is not a matter of passing along information. Instead, he writes, true teaching is an invitation to attend to the voice of Christ. Join Dr. Erika Kidd to learn more about Augustine’s timeless teaching wisdom and its continued relevance today.

Season Finale - Special Episode by The Lumen Christi Institute

Carlos Eire on October 30, 2025 at Saint Ignatius College Prep. Two of the most significant features of Catholic Christianity are its focus on holy men and women and the miracles ascribed to them. What is it that makes saints and miracles so significant? What difference does this characteristic of Catholicism make, not just for its history, but for us, here and now? Asking such questions is absolutely necessary for Catholics, and in this talk we explore why this is so. --- This project was made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of the Bollandist Society and St. Ignatius College Preparatory School. The opinions expressed in this publication ​are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Carlos Eire and Kirsten Macfarlane on October 29, 2025 at the University of Chicago's Swift Hall. Levitation. Bilocation. Witchcraft. Demonic Possession. Europe in the early modern era was simultaneously the site of Kepler, Newton, Copernicus–and of eyewitness accounts of levitating saints and nocturnal witches’ sabbats. In his history of the impossible, award-winning historian Carlos Eire mines the firsthand accounts and archival evidence of the miraculous and demonic. How did an increasingly skeptical and scientific culture account for events deemed impossible by its leading intellectuals? What does this say about the supposed boundaries between the natural and supernatural that marked the transition to modernity? In this lecture, Carlos Eire explores the major themes of "They Flew" and asks: what makes something impossible? And is there more to reality than meets the eye? University of Chicago Divinity School professor Kirsten Macfarlane offers a response and engages Eire in a conversation. --- This project was made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of the University of Chicago Divinity School and the Workshop on the Early Modern World. The opinions expressed in this publication ​are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Romans (Episode 3/3) by The Lumen Christi Institute