51С�Ƴ�

Fall 2024

Fr. Bryan Lobo, S.J. | Jesus Christ and Other Religions: Problems and Perspectives

Monday, September 9, 2024
This lecture welcomed Fr. Bryan Lobo, S.J., a Jesuit from Mumbai, India, to campus, where he will serve for the 2024-2025 academic year as a McFarland Center International Visiting Jesuit Fellow.

Leo Guardado | The Church as Refuge and Asylum for Migrants

Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Leo Guardado, Assistant Professor of Theology at Fordham University, examines the tradition of the church as a site of refuge and protection, focusing on the 1980s sanctuary movement in the United States. 

Dr. Jim O'Connell | Continuity within Chaos: Caring for Individuals Living Chronically in Shelters and on the Streets

Monday, September 23, 2024
Recounting his forty years of serving Boston’s most vulnerable population, Dr. Jim O’Connell, President and Founder of Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program, illuminates the history of homelessness and the undue burden of co-occurring disorders among chronically homeless persons. He also reflects on the many lessons he’s learned while caring for his patients.

Brent Howitt Otto, S.J. | There’s Something About Mary: Devotion, Pilgrimage & Belonging in Colonial & Post-Colonial India

Wednesday, September 25, 2024
Throughout history, the fortunes of political organizations have often been linked to the cosmic patronage of gods and saints. Yet some saintly devotions begin and flourish despite disinterest from the state; such is the case with a Marian figure of devotion in South India, Our Lady of Vailankanni. Neglected by the colonial state(s), she has in the 20th century become for Indian Catholics a figure of devotion and an icon of their belonging as a minority in India.

Daniel Hungerman | Every Day Is Earth Day: Understanding the Long-Term Impacts Of April 22, 1970

Monday, October 7, 2024
Daniel Hungerman, Professor of Economics at the University of Notre Dame and Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar, considers the history of Earth Day and presents evidence showing how actions on the original Earth Day, April 22, 1970, led to transformed communities years and even decades later. 

Joy Connolly | All the World’s Pasts: The Case for a New Field

Thursday, October 24, 2024
Joy Connolly, President of the American Council of Learned Societies and renowned Classics scholar, argues that creating a new field of global ancient studies is the most effective way forward to study the world’s premodern cultures. This new field would focus on improving mutual understanding between peoples, interpreting evidence using various disciplines, and studying the full plurality of human activity, including under-studied periods and regions.

David C. Wilson | The Desire for Division: A Political Psychology Framework for the 2024 Election

Wednesday, October 30, 2024
American politics requires candidates to separate “us” from “them,” motivating people to look for differences rather than commonalities. Dr. David C. Wilson, dean of the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Professor of Public Policy, argues that polarization across a host of dimensions—including racial, gender, partisan, religious, and ideological groupings—results from what people want from candidates more so that who candidates are.

Mayra Rivera | Sea, Sand, and Rocks: Regarding the Social-Materiality of Time

Thursday, November 14, 2024
Dr. Mayra Rivera is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Religion and Latinx Studies at Harvard University. Drawing from Caribbean decolonial thought, this lecture will propose that climate change calls for rethinking our conceptions of time.

Dominik Markl SJ | Deuteronomy, Trauma, and Politics

Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Moses’ farewell discourses in the book of Deuteronomy present a program for constituting Israel as a ‘nation’ in political terms and, at the same time, as the ‘people of God’. In this talk, Dr. Dominik Markl SJ, Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament studies at Innsbruck University, Austria, will reflect on how trauma theory can help us understand both the political and religious dimensions of Deuteronomy. 

Fall 2023

Mary-Jane Rubenstein | Infinite Canaan: The NewSpace Race in Colonial Context

Monday, November 6, 2023
As the era of “NewSpace” takes hold, corporations and private capital are increasingly involved in space science, exploration, and conquest. Mary-Jane Rubenstein, Professor of Religion and Science in Society at Wesleyan University, explains the escalating NewSpace race as a mythological project. Is there a way to visit or even to live on multiple planets without ransacking them? And might we find ways to heal our ravaged Earth in the process?

Fr. Daniel Groody, C.S.C. | A Theology of Migration, The Bodies of Refugees, and the Body of Christ

Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Fr. Daniel Groody, C.S.C., professor of theology and global affairs, is the vice president and associate provost for undergraduate education at the University of Notre Dame. An internationally recognized expert on migration and refugee issues, he is the author of Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice: Navigating the Path to Peace and Border of Death, Valley of Life: An Immigrant Journey of Heart and Spirit.

Christina Swarns and Marvin Anderson | Wrongful Convictions: Working for Justice in Modern America

Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Christina Swarns, Executive Director of the Innocence Project, and Marvin Anderson, exoneree and member of the Innocence Project's Board of Directors, talk about the challenges we face to prevent wrongful convictions and how we can create fairer, more compassionate, and equitable systems of justice for everyone.

W. Ralph Eubanks | Vocation of the Writer

Thursday, October 19, 2023
The latest Vocation of the Writer Lecture features W. Ralph Eubanks, the author of A Place Like Mississippi. The book takes readers on a tour of real and imagined landscapes that have inspired generations of writers. 

Panel | Rethinking the Ethics of War in the Face of the Invasion of Ukraine

Thursday, October 19, 2023
Catholic and other Christian traditions have tried for centuries to develop ethical norms for when it could be just to go to war and how we are obliged to behave during war.  Does the invasion of Ukraine require us to rethink some of the priorities and directions of Catholic Just War Theory and/or Christian non-violence?  Does either tradition give us adequate guidance in the face of the reality of invasion?
This panel features David O'Brien, Professor Emeritus and Loyola Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at 51С�Ƴ�, Andrea Bartoli, a Senior Fellow at the Center for Peacemaking Practice and President of the Sant’Egidio Foundation for Peace and Dialogue, and Laurie Johnston, Associate Professor of Theology at Emmanuel College and co-author of Can War be Just in the 21st Century?. 

Claudia Goldin | Why Women Won

Tuesday, September 26, 2023
How, when, and why did women in the US obtain legal rights equal to men’s, decades after they gained the right to vote? Of the 155 critical moments in women’s rights history from 1905 to 2023, almost half occurred between 1963 and 1973. Claudia Goldin, the winner of the 2023 Nobel Prize for Economics and Henry Lee Professor of Economics at Harvard University, explains how the civil rights movement and the somewhat fortuitous nature of the early and key women’s rights legislation were behind the advances and then how a substantial group of women emerged in the late 1970s to champion a different vision for women.

Andrea Borghini | Bots in the Kitchen: A Philosophical Take on the Digital Food Transformation

Friday, September 22, 2023
The digital food transformation promises to rationalize food systems, forge ahead with healthy eating, swiftly create food cultures, and much more. Andrea Borghini, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Milan, Italy, unearthes the ethical and theoretical perils and prospects that digital food transformation creates.

Daniel Okrent | When Immigration Was Stopped by Eugenics: A Dark Chapter in American History

Thursday, September 21, 2023
At the turn of the last century, a movement to stop immigration from southern and eastern Europe began to take shape. Daniel Okrent, a prize-winning author of six books, talks about how this movement united with the simultaneous development of the false science of eugenics. This convergence resulted in 1924 laws that effectively stopped immigration from several European countries for the next four decades.

Panel | Close and Apart: Collaboration, Connection, and Community

Tuesday, September 12, 2023
When Christopher Gregory got his driver’s license in 2008, he registered as an organ donor. Soon afterward, Chris died from a brain aneurysm—and six desperate strangers received his organs. Eric Gregory, Chris’s father, wrote a memoir about his son and the friendships the family developed with his organ recipients.
What are the ethics of making art inspired by someone else's story? This question is just one of the many considerations that went into Close and Apart, the song cycle inspired by Eric's memoir. Join collaborators Matthew Jaskot, composer and Professor of Music, and Susan Elizabeth Sweeney, poet and Professor of English, along with Eric Gregory, author of All My Tomorrows: A Story of Tragedy, Transplant, and Hope, and Grace Gregory, for this conversation. 

Spring 2024

Rev. Marcel Uwineza, SJ | Theology and Ecclesiology from Wounds of the Genocide 

Thursday, April 18, 2024
Rev. Marcel Uwineza, SJ, a Rwandan genocide survivor, considers the historical, social, political, and theological circumstances that led to the genocide and proposes a different way forward. Part of the conference "Thirty Years Beyond the Genocide: Lessons for the Global Church."

Jennifer L. Koosed | Feminist Rage and the Book of Judith

Thursday, April 11, 2024
Jennifer L. Koosed, Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Albright College in Reading, Pennsylvania, examines the multivalent violence wielded against and by Judith, focusing especially on the ways this scene has become a site of female resistance and feminist rage, from Artemisia Gentileschi to #MeToo. This lecture is in memory of Alice Laffey, a long-time professor of Religious Studies at 51С�Ƴ� who passed away in 2023. 

Heather Cox Richardson | The Future of the Humanities: A Talk and Conversation

Wednesday, April 10, 2024
Heather Cox Richardson, Professor of History at Boston College, delivers the annual Thomas More Lecture in the Humanities. Then, she joins President Vincent D. Rougeau and Provost Elliott Visconsi '95 for a conversation about the future of humanities. 

Ann Lipton | Value vs. Values: ESG Investing and the Social Responsibility of Business

Thursday, April 4, 2024
Ann M. Lipton, Michael M. Fleishman Associate Professor in Business Law and Entrepreneurship and Associate Dean for Faculty Research at Tulane University, situates ESG investing within the broader field of corporate & securities law and explores the controversies surrounding its use.

Rachel Swarns | The 272

Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Rachel Swarns, President Vincent D. Rougeau, Board of Trustees Chair Helen W. Boucher, M.D. '86, and Jesuit Provincial Joseph M. O'Keefe, S.J., '76 discuss Swarns' research on the families who were enslaved and sold to fund the American Catholic Church, as well as the impact of this history on 51С�Ƴ�' mission and values.

Nikhil Pal Singh | How Did War Become Permanent?

Tuesday, March 19, 2024
In recent years, concepts like permanent war, civil war, and even genocide have become ubiquitous. Nikhil Pal Singh, Professor and Chair of the Department of Social & Cultural Analysis at New York University, reflects on the recent history of permanent war, considers how these ideas have morphed into the notion of a permanent civil war "at home," and suggests steps we might take to break from this logic.

Alan Rosen | The Survivors Among Us: Today and Tomorrow 

Monday, March 18, 2024
There is considerable discussion about what to do now that we are on the verge of having Holocaust survivors disappear from our midst. To Alan Rosen, Kraft-Hiatt Scholar in Residence, this preoccupation with the so-called disappearance of survivors is misguided. This talk examines what might lie behind this focus and sets out a different way to think about the survivors among us, highlighting the lessons we continue to glean from them. 

Gloria Chien | Contemplation in the Classroom: Adaptations of Ignatian Spirituality and Buddhist Meditation

Thursday, March 14, 2024
Gloria Chien, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Gonzaga University, explains how she integrates Contemplative Pedagogy and the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigm in her Asian religious studies courses using insights derived from three years of study at a Chan Buddhist monastery in Taiwan, certification in Cognitively-Based Compassion Training, and the Ignatian Spiritual Exercises. 

John McGreevy | Catholicism Represented: Catholicism and Democracy from 1789 to the present

Thursday, February 29, 2024
John McGreevy, distinguished historian, Provost at the University of Notre Dame, & author of Catholicism: A Global History from the French Revolution to Pope Francis, explores how transnational political and ecclesial networks between Europe, Africa, and the Americas shaped Catholic attitudes toward democracy in the last two centuries.

Emmanuel Katongole | Just Peace: Ecology, Economics, and Education in Africa

Thursday, February 15, 2024
Drawing on his work in Uganda at Bethany Land Institute, Fr. Emmanuel Katongole, Professor at the University of Notre Dame's Kroc Institute for Internal Peace Studies, explores the connections between peace, ecology, and the notion of human development within the Catholic Social Tradition. He points to ways in which young people are leading efforts in the search for just peace and the care of our common home. 

Phil Klay | The Unlearned Lessons of War: American Citizenship and Global Conflict 

Monday, February 5, 2024
As wars rage around the world, Americans find themselves insulated from the consequences of these conflicts, yet citizens of a country regularly employing lethal force around the globe. How do we make sense of ourselves, both as citizens and as human beings? Author Phil Klay, winner of the National Book Award for his essay collection Uncertain Ground: Citizenship in an Age of Endless, Invisible War, discusses these questions with the 51С�Ƴ� community. 

Fall 2022

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò | Being in the Room Privilege: Elite Capture and Epistemic Deference

November 17, 2022
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, associate professor of philosophy at Georgetown University, discusses problems of elite capture and deference epistemology and proposes constructive epistemology as an approach to organize new rooms that focus on structural, practical change.

Ido Koch | Home in a Distant Land: Archaeology and the Study of Uprooted Communities in Israel

November 15, 2022
Ido Koch, senior lecturer in archaeology at Tel Aviv University and co-director of the Tel Hadid Expedition, describes forced migrations in the Assyrian Empire in the first millennium BCE, focusing on their experience of those being deported, how they rebuilt their life in a new place, and how archaeologists can find them. Supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding.

Shannen Dee Williams | Confronting America's Real Sister Act: Black Catholic Nuns in United States History

November 10, 2022
Shannen Dee Williams, associate professor of history at Dayton University, shares the little known story of a radical group of Black women and girls who fought against racism, sexism, and exclusion to become and minster as consecrated women of God in the Roman Catholic Church. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Amy Gajda | Privacy's Tangled History and Its Tenuous Post-Dobbs Future

October 26, 2022
Amy Gajda, The Class of 1937 Professor of Law at Tulane University Law School, considers, in a world in which the right to privacy is contested from many angles, how might we attempt to define privacy today in a way that defends democracy but also protects the people?

Brian Robinette | Contemplation in an Age of Anger

October 20, 2022
Brian Robinette, associate professor of theology at Boston College, explores the importance of contemplative practice in the midst of widespread social upheaval. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Joseph McCartin '81 | Confronting the 21st Century Labor Question: Catholic Social Teaching, Work Relations, and the Deepening Crisis of Democracy

October 18, 2022
Labor expert Joseph McCartin ‘81, professor of history and executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University, traces the rise and fall of democratic and workers' rights over the 20th century and explains how Catholic social teaching can help point the way forward.

Craig Rood | Reimagining Protection from Gun Violence

October 3, 2022
Craig Rood, associate professor of English at Iowa State University, explains both the power and problems with the rhetoric used in the gun violence debate. He discusses the dominant narrative of protection and argues that personal stories about gun suicide and domestic gun violence reimagine human character, guns, and moments of gun violence.

Kate Manne | What Is Misogyny? Concepts, Targets, and Triggers

September 29, 2022
Kate Manne, associate professor at the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, offers her definition of misogyny, as distinct from sexism, and describes applications including violence by incels, online media harassment, healthcare disparities, and the difficulty women have attaining leadership positions.

Building the Political Will & Moral Courage to End Hunger in America

September 26, 2022
Previewing the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, this forum addresses the problem of hunger, our moral imperative to end it, and ways the 51С�Ƴ� community, as individuals and as an institution, can affect change. With Congressman Jim McGovern; Erin McAleer '02, CEO and president of Project Bread; Jean McMurray, executive director of the Worcester County Food Bank; Winton Pitcoff, director of the Massachusetts Food System Collaborative; and Phoebe Wong '26, a FoodCorps service member.

Rev. T. Nishaant, S.J. | The Oppression and Resilience of India's Musahars

September 20, 2022
Rev. T. Nishaant, S.J., an International Visiting Jesuit Fellow at 51С�Ƴ� for 2022-2023, describes the culture of India's Musahars, some of the poorest people in the world, and considers how we might remedy the generations-deep injustices done to them.

Spring 2023

Alan Rosen | Torah and Mitzvahs in Hell: What can we learn from the astonishing Jewish religious activity in Auschwitz?

March 20, 2023
Kraft-Hiatt Scholar-in-Residence Alan Rosen, a renowned scholar of Holocaust literature, shares stories from Holocaust survivors who found ways to pray, do mitzvahs, keep calendars and observe Judaism while prisoners in Auschwitz.

Sylvia Chan-Malik | Race/Religion: Ethnic Studies, Religious Studies, and the Case of Islam

March 16, 2023
Through a focus on Islam and Muslims in the United States, Sylvia Chan-Malik, associate professor in the departments of American and women’s and gender studies at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, explores the intersections, evasions, omissions, and errors that occur in the study of race and religion in ethnic studies and religious studies. 

Nina Pavcnik | How Globalization Shapes Inequality: Lessons from 40 Years of Trade Liberalizations

March 15, 2023
Phi Beta Kappa Visiting Scholar Nina Pavcnik draws on empirical evidence from a wide range of countries to discuss how trade liberalizations implemented since the 1980s shaped inequality within countries. Pavcnik is Niehaus Family Professor in International Studies and professor of economics at Dartmouth College. 

Kristy Nahbhan-Warren | Heartland Catholicism: How Faith and Migration in Rural America are Reshaping Parishes and Communities

February 27, 2023
Kristy Nabhan-Warren, Professor, V.O. and Elizabeth Kahl Figge Chair in Catholic Studies at the University of Iowa, draws on her recent book, "Meatpacking America: How Migration, Work, and Faith Unite and Divide the Heartland" (UNC Press, 2021), to dig below the stereotypes to reveal the grit and grace of a heartland that is a major global hub of migration and food production—and also, it turns out, religion.

Lewis Gordon | What does it mean to decolonize philosophy?

February 17, 2023
Lewis Gordon, professor and head of philosophy at the University of Connecticut-Storrs, explores ways in which philosophy, at least as understood in its Euromodern form, is colonized. Through a reflection from an East African philosopher from 4,000 years ago, he explains that philosophy originated as a liberatory project devoted to knowing as a practice of freedom and love in a courageous relationship with reality. Cosponsored with the Department of Philosophy.

Lawrence Joseph | Vocation of the Writer Annual Lecture

February 16, 2023
Acclaimed poet and lawyer Lawrence Joseph talks about the vocation of writing, reflecting on personal stories as the grandson of Lebanese and Syrian Catholic immigrants. He reads several of his poems. Part of the Creative Writing Program's Working Writers Series.

Rev. Joachim Zoundi, S.J. | Evil and Sin in African Traditional Religion and Christian Revelation

February 14, 2023
An International Visiting Jesuit Fellow at 51С�Ƴ� this semester, Rev. Joachim Zoundi, S.J. explores the problem of sin and evil, their sources and consequences, and how they are addressed by both African Traditional Religions and Christian revelation. 

Sylvester Johnson | Can Robots Feel Pain? Theorizing AI from Ibn Rushd's 'Science of the Soul'

February 13, 2023
Sylvester Johnson, associate vice provost for public interest technology and founding director of the Center for Humanities at Virginia Tech, interprets theoretical claims about the “science of the soul” in the work of 12th century Islamic scholar Ibn Rushd and leverages Rushd’s distinction between sensing and knowing in order to examine contemporary, sensory-driven AI technology. One of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity.

Rev. Angus Ritchie | Beyond Activism: Building Broad-based Alliances to Tackle the Climate Crisis

February 9, 2023
Rev. Angus Ritchie, director of the Centre for Theology and Community and a priest in the Anglican Diocese of London, explains the harm of "fake" populism employed by the political right and left and advocates for an "inclusive populism," as embraced by Pope Francis, to address environmental injustice. Cosponsored with the Office of the President.

Rev. Selva Rathinam, S.J. | Suffering, Resistance and Freedom: A Postcolonial Subaltern (Dalit) Study of Isaiah 52:13-53:12

February 6, 2023
Rev. Selva Rathinam, S.J., an International Visiting Jesuit Fellow at 51С�Ƴ� for 2023, applies concepts of the postcolonial method to interpret the text of the last Servant Song from the point of view of the Dalits, the oppressed people of India’s lowest caste.

Fall 2021

Dr. Sandro Galea | Priorities for Post-COVID-19 Public Health Research, Education and Practice
November 17, 2021

What has American Politics done to the Catholic Church?
November 16, 2021
Featuring 51С�Ƴ� President Vincent Rougeau with Ross Douthat and Matthew Sitman

Film Premiere and Discussion of "Pakachoag: Where the River Bends"
November 10, 2021

Rev. Greg Boyle, S.J. | Be Fearless for Me: Courage and the Gospel of the Marginalized
November 9, 2021

Kalpana Jain | Politics in the Name of Lord Rama in Narendra Modi's India
November 8, 2021

Mehnaz M. Afridi | Muslims and the Holocaust
November 2, 2021

Laura Briggs | America's Long History of Child Taking
October 27, 2021

Rev. Dan Corrou, S.J. | From Justice to Reconciliation: A Jesuit Response to the Refugee Crisis in the Middle East
October 19, 2021

Karsten Stueber | Polarizing Disagreements: Philosophical and Psychological Reflections on a Political Conundrum
October 1, 2021

Tanya Golash-Boza | Before Gentrification: Race and Dis/Investment in the Nation's Capital
September 27, 2021

Teresia Mbari Hinga | African, Christian, Feminist, and More
September 16, 2021

Congressman Jim McGovern | 9/11 and Twenty Years of War in Afghanistan
September 14, 2021

Spring 2022

The Ukraine War and Prospects for Democracy
April 21, 2022
Featuring Viktor Lutsyshen '23, Professor Nina Barzachka, Soviet historian Markian Dobczansky, and Roman Zaviyskyy, Ukrainian Catholic University.

The Pope's Rabbi, Abraham Skorka, on Meaningful Interfaith Dialogue
April 11, 2022

Greening Cities from Plan to Practice
April 6, 2022
Featuring John Fernández, MIT; Karin Valentine Goins, UMass Medical School and WalkBike Worcester, and John Odell '88, City of Worcester.

Rhiannon Graybill | How to Read a Biblical Rape Story
April 4, 2022

Rev. Hans Zollner, S.J. | Justice and Care: Reflections around Clergy Abuse and Safeguarding in the Church
March 31, 2022

Thomas Kohut | Empathy and Historical Understanding
March 30, 2022

Jodi Mikalachki | Fraternity, Martyrdom, and Peace in Burundi: The Forty Servants of God of Buta
March 24, 2022

Curing Injustice: The Living Legacy of Dr. Paul Farmer
March 22, 2022
Featuring professors Judith Chubb, Tsitsi Masvawure, Mary Doyle Roche, Susan Rodgers, and Ann Sheehy.

Brenna Moore | Fragments of Friendship: Spiritual Undercurrents of the Global Catholic Resistance to Fascism
March 16, 2022

Dan-El Padilla Peralta | Tell Me How I Conquered You: Clues from the Second Century BCE Mediterranean
February 28, 2022

Russia at War: What Does It Mean?
February 25, 2022
Featuring professors Amy Singleton Adams, Nina Barzachka, Judith Chubb, Diana Dukhanova, Cynthia Hooper, and Olga Partan.

Eric S. Maskin | How Should We Elect Presidents?
February 17, 2022

Gustavo Morello, S.J. | Untidy, Eclectic, and Diverse: Lived Religion in Latin America Today
February 9, 2022

Chris Mooney | Revealing the Truth about the World's Greenhouse Gas Emissions
February 1, 2022

Summer 2020

Dismantling Structural Racism: Conversations with 51С�Ƴ� Alumni
Moderated discussions with 51С�Ƴ� alumni Malik Neal '13, Rashaunda Tyson '04, and Jerry Dickinson '09 identify structural barriers that disproportionately affect Black and Brown communities, explore actions that can help to close the racial gap, and help students think about how they can do the same.

Fall 2020

Student Forum with Dr. Anthony Fauci '62
October 6, 2020

1620/2020 Speaker Series
This series explores past and contemporary Indian/New England/U.S. relations in conjunction with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower at Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Michael Martinez, S.J. |
November 17, 2020

Teaching for Better Humans
October 22, 2020
Featuring Sonia Nieto and Jesse Hagopian

Spring 2021

Repairing the Fabric of Our Nation
Triggered by the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, this series engages the community in exploring the causes of our multilayered political crisis, the fragmentation of American politics and society, and how to rebuild.

Truth, Skepticism, Complexity: Thinking in a Post-Truth Age
This series began in Spring 2021 to address the epistemic crisis of our society and how it relates to what we do as scholars and teachers. The first two events focused on the ethics of vaccine dissemination and public health reporting in a pandemic. Additional programs in the series are in development.

James A. Welu |
April 7, 2021

March 24, 2021
Featuring Cynthia Hooper, Erina Megowan and Nina Barzachka

Aaron Tugendhaft |
March 8, 2021

Deaf Catholics Shaping the Church Today
February 24, 2021
Featuring Lana Portolano, Stephanie Clark and Fr. Joseph Bruce, S.J. '73

Fall 2019

Rafael Luciani | A New Way of Being Church: Latin American Roots of Pope Francis Reforms
December 4, 2019

Holland Cotter | Believe in Belief: Looking at Religous Art
November 14, 2019

Alan Rosen | Memory as Protest: How and Why We Remember the Holocaust
November 13, 2019

Juliana Flinn | Mary in Micronesia: Breadwinner, Protector, and Strong Model for Women
November 11, 2019

Andrew Kolodny | Responding to the Opioid Epidemic
November 7, 2019

Wrestling with the Word: Moral Ambiguity in the Hebrew Bible
November 6, 2019
Mahri Leonard-Fleckman and Andrew Davis

Pietro Ameglio | Civil Disobedience as a Moral Weapon for Inhuman Times
October 28, 2019

Panel Discussion: Anne Frank, Otto Frank and the Creation of Memory
October 23, 2019
Roger Guenveur Smith with 51С�Ƴ� faculty members

A Fishbowl Discussion: The Uninhabitable Earth
October 21, 2019
Kendy Hess, Ellis Jones, Katherine Kiel, Renee LeBlanc '21, Sara Mitchell

Erin Kelly | The Failure of Retributive Justice
October 9, 2019

John Guy | Crowns of Transformation: How Vajrācāryas become Bodhisattvas
September 26, 2019

James Nickoloff | "Gay" and "Catholic": Evolving Identities
September 23, 2019

Daniel Philpott | The Islam Question: Why Religious Freedom is the Answer
September 19, 2019

Erika Spanger-Siegfried | Killer Heat in the United States: Climate Choices and the Future of Dangerously Hot Days
September 10, 2019

Spring 2020

James Chappel | Sex, Capitalism, and the Making of Modern Catholicism
February 19, 2020

Thea Riofrancos | A Green New Deal for Climate Safety and Social Justice
February 17, 2020

Vocation of the Writer Lecture: Joshua Wolf Shenk
February 13, 2020

Ingrid Rowland | A Roman Rivalry: Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini on the Strada Pia, 1634-1680
February 13, 2020

International Visiting Jesuit Fellow Rev. Peter Dubovsky, S.J. | Hope in Times of Crisis
January 29, 2020

Fall 2018

Willie Jennings: Finding the Essence of Christianity in Racial America
November 28, 2018

Thomas I. White '69 | Dolphins, Captivity, and the Challenge of Interspecies Ethics 
November 15, 2018

Betting on Sports: The Ethics and Economics of Legalized Sports Gambling
Rev. Richard McGowan, S.J. and Victor Matheson
November 7, 2018

Alan Rosen | Holocaust Witness: Back to Basics
October 30, 2018

Accounting for History: Race, Slavery and Institutional Memory
October 25, 2018
Deborah Gray White and Robert Patterson

Dipayan Ghosh | Digital Deceit: The Economics of Internet Platforms, the Spread of Disinformation, and the Way Forward
October 17, 2018

Fenggang Yang | Is China the New Roman Empire? Christian Growth in China and Its Global Implications
October 15, 2018

Charles Asher Small | Contemporary Global Antisemitism as Rejection of the Other: Implications to Human Rights and Democratic Principles
September 20, 2018

Robin M. Jensen | The 51С�Ƴ�: Symbol of Victory and Sign of Salvation
September 17, 2018

Rev. Lawrence Fernandes, S.J. | Lived Catholicism, An Indian Experience
September 5, 2018

Spring 2019

Glenn C. Loury | The Ethics of Affirmative Action Policies in Higher Education
April 11, 2019

Derek Chang | A New Curve in the Well-Known Color Line: Race, Respectability and the Multi-Racial South
April 1, 2019

Peter C. Phan | Church of Migrants and Migrant Church: Theology of the Church in the Age of Migration
March 28, 2019

Maeve Lewis | Breaking the Cycle of Child Sexual Abuse
March 20, 2019

Rev. Agbonkhianmeghe Orobator, S.J. | Of Ancient Deities and Modern Gods: Making sense of the promises and pathologies of religion and faith in Africa
March 19, 2019

Samuel Moyn | The Christian Invention of Human Dignity
February 26, 2019

Omer Bartov | Holocaust on the Local Level: Coexistence and Genocide in One Galician Town
February 20, 2019

Laura van den Berg | Vocation of the Writer
February 11, 2019

Denis McDonough | Meeting Our Responsibilities to Refugees on the Global, National and Local Levels
February 6, 2019

Fall 2017

Seth Stephens-Davidowitz | Anti-Semitism on the Web
November 6, 2017

Alan Rosen | 'Out of the Depths': Jewish Religious Life and Practice During and After the Holocaust
November 1, 2017

Charles Camosy | Beyond the Abortion Wars: Finding a Way Forward in a Time of Polarization October 24, 2017

Book Launch: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Jesuits
October 23, 2017
Featuring Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., Alison Fleming and Rev. James Corkery, S.J.

Conference | Rethinking the Afropolitan: The Ethics of Black Atlantic Masculinities on Display
October 19-21, 2017

Richard Higgins '74 | 'Blown on by God's Breath': The Riddle of Thoreau's Religion
October 17, 2017

Kevin Esvelt | When Should We Edit Nature? Moral Questions Raised by Gene Drive Research
October 16, 2017

Julie Hanlon Rubio | Dare We Hope for Common Ground?
October 4, 2017

Jalane Schmidt | Our Lady of the Slaves: Marian Devotion in Cuba, Race and Revolution
October 2, 2017

Spring 2018

Randy Boyagoda | My Flannery O'Connor Problem, and Yours: Being a Catholic Novelist in 2018
April 23, 2018

Georges Dreyfus | Tradition and Inquiry in Tibetan Buddhism: An Examination of Tibetan Debate Practices
April 20, 2018

Katya Gibel Mevorach | Jews, Intersectionality and Contemporary Anti-Semitism
April 19, 2018

Conference | Francis the Pilgrim: From Personal Devotion to Papal Diplomacy
Featuring Austen Ivereigh, Rev. Thomas Reese, S.J., Elise Harris and Inés San Martín
April 11-12, 2018

Andrea James | Nothing About Us Without Us: The State of Incarceration for Women
March 20, 2018

Stan Chu Ilo | Pentecostal and Charismatic Catholic Movements in Africa: The Search for Human and Cosmic Flourishing
February 26, 2018

Tricia Bushnell | Race, Poverty and Criminal Justice: Lessons Learned from Wrongful Conviction Cases
February 12, 2018

Fall 2016

Mark K. Shriver '86 | Finding Pope Francis on Mount St. James
​ November 30, 2016

John T. McGreevy | American Jesuits and the World: How an Embattled Religious Order Made Modern Catholicism Global
​November 29, 2016

Miguel De La Torre | A Latinx Political Ethics for the Hopelessness of Our Community
November 16, 2016

Ambassador David N. Saperstein | In Pursuit of Global Religious Freedom
​November 14, 2016

Rabbi Joseph A. Polak | After the Holocaust the Bells Still Ring
​November 9, 2016

Eric Adler | Classics, the Culture Wars, and Beyond
​October 21, 2016

Jurgen Brauer | Supply and Demand in the U.S. Firearms Industry: A Data-Based Exploration
​October 18, 2016

Jonathan Zimmerman | You Can't Say That! Teaching Controversial Issues in the Age of Trump
​ September 29, 2016

Bernadette J. Brooten | How Catholicism Changed: From Official Approval of Slavery to Prohibiting It
​September 19, 2016

Kristin Heyer | Kinship with Migrants in the Year of Mercy
​ September 14, 2016

Rupert Shortt | Christianophobia: A Neglected Genocide in the Church's Biblical Heartlands?
​ September 12, 2016

Spring 2017

Robert Frank | Why Luck Matters More than You Might Think
April 24, 2017

Mikhail Shishkin | But to Continue the Life — For What Purpose?
April 21-22, 2017
Opening address at the conference "Tolstoy and Spirituality"

Joerg Rieger | What Does Jesus Have to Do with Wall Street?
April 20, 2017

Cyril O'Regan | The Gift of Modernity
April 6, 2017

Calling Ourselves Crusaders: What's in a Name?
April 11, 2017
Featuring Rev. John F. Baldovin, S.J., ’69, Sahar Bazzaz,  Mark P. Freeman, Kendy M. Hess, Vickie Langohr, and Mathew Schmalz

Samuel Kassow | Time Capsules Under the Rubble: The Secret Archive of the Warsaw Ghetto
April 5, 2017

Danna Nolan Fewell | Does the Bible Really Say That? Reading Religiously in a Bible-Thumping, Bible-Tweeting Culture
April 3, 2017

Carla Nappi | Look at the Fish: Decomposing Global Histories of Science
March 24-25, 2017
Keynote at the conference "The Globalization of Science in the Middle East and North Africa, 18th-20th Centuries"

Kevin Madigan '82 | The Crusades and Crusaders: History and Historiography
March 23, 2017

Joshua Sobol | Theatre as a Form of Resistance to Oppression and Genocide
March 21, 2017

Andrew Delbanco | What is College For?
March 1, 2017

George Weigel | St. John Paul II on the Free and Virtuous Society: Democracy, the Market, and Culture
February 21, 2017

Daniel Byman | Understanding the Islamic State
February 16, 2017

International Visiting Jesuit Fellow Rev. George Karuvelil, S.J. | God: Idea and Experience
February 14, 2017.

Rev. Gregory Boyle, S.J. | Lessons from the Field: Kinship as an Intervention
February 6, 2017

Margaret Gray | Forgotten by the Food Movement?
February 2, 2017

Fall 2015

Mary Jo Bane | Bringing Equal Opportunity for Children to an Unequal Society
​November 18, 2015

Wendy Brown | Cultures of Capital Enhancement
​November 12, 2015

Rev. James Bernauer, S.J. | Jesuit Kaddish: Encounters Between Jesuits and Jews and Why These Might Matter to Us
​October 26, 2015

Frank Graziano | Miraculous Images and Votive Offerings in Mexico
​October 5, 2015

Denise Buell | Fleshy Passages: How Feminist Biblical Studies Can Contribute to Rethinking Health and Illness
​ September 29, 2015

Paul Walker '68 | Abolition of Weapons of Mass Destruction: Building a Secure and Sustainable World
​ September 28, 2015

Paul Bloom | Against Empathy
​September 24, 2015

Pope Francis on the Globalization of Environmental Responsibility
September 21, 2015
Featuring 51С�Ƴ� faculty Kelly Wolfe-Bellin, Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., Matthew Eggemeier, Katherine Kiel, Daina Harvey, and Loren Cass

Yochai Benkler | The Idea of the Commons and the Future of Capitalism
​ September 18, 2015

Spring 2016

Psaltikon | Six Days Before the Passover: A Concert of Byzantine Chant for Passion Week
​April 21, 2016
Preconcert Lecture | Spyridon Antonopoulos

Jay Carney | The Politics and Praxis of Mercy: Ambassadors of Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda
​April 14, 2016

Alan Mittleman | Philosophy and Theology or Philosophy vs. Theology: Lessons from Jewish Thought
​April 11, 2016

Winnie Byanyima | Building a Better World: A More Human Economy
​April 8, 2016

Rev. David Brown, S.J. | Catholicism and Science in the Modern Era: A New Rapprochement
​April 6, 2016

Broderick Johnson '78 | My Brother's Keeper: Closing the Opportunity Gap for Young Men of Color
March 30, 2016
With students Greyson Ford ’16, Jewel Duberry-Douglas ’18, Lance Madden ’18, Isaiah Baker ’16, and Marcellis Perkins ’19.

Elisa von Joeden-Forgey | Gender and Genocidal Violence
March 16, 2016

Dorothy Day: A Saint for Today
March 15, 2016
With Robert Ellsberg and George Horton '67

Ethan Hutt | Equity, Schools and Testing: The Challenge of the American School "System"
March 2, 2016

Shaji George Kochuthara | Patriarchy and Gender: Understanding the Spiraling Incidences of Sexual Violence on Women in India
​February 29, 2016

David Kyuman Kim | Choosing Love: Bearing the Weight of the Other
​February 25, 2016

Adele Reinhartz | Jesus: Bad Jew or Good Jew?
​ February 10, 2016

Douglas Gagnon | Equity, Schools and the American Dream: What the Data Tell Us About the Future of Equity-Oriented Policy
​February 9, 2016

William Cavanaugh | Does Religion Promote Violence?
​February 4, 2016

Fall 2014

Cinthia Gannett | Eloquence for Everyone: The Past, Present and Future of Eloquentia Perfecta in Jesuit Higher Education
​ November 13, 2014

Paula M. Kane '80 | Stigmata on the Hudson: The Strange Tale of Sister Thorn
​November 12, 2014

Adjudicating Sexual Assault on Campus: A Fishbowl Discussion
November 10, 2014

Alan Rosen | To Capture the Fire: The Life and Works of Elie Wiesel
​November 3, 2014

Maureen O'Connell | Coloring Outside the Color-line: Community Muralism and Racial Justice
​October 30, 2014

Rev. Bryan Massingale | Unconscious Racial Bias and the Challenge of Solidarity: Catholic Social Thought Post Trayvon Martin (and Michael Brown and...)
​October 28, 2014

David Yamane | How Do People Become Catholic? Formation, Incorporation, and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults
 October 23, 2014

Vern Bengtson | Millennials, Parents and Grandparents: Are families still passing on the faith?
​ October 2, 2014

Rabbi Eric Yoffie | Understanding American Jews: demographically complicated, religiously diverse, stronger than ever, and still at risk
​  October 6, 2014

Rachel Delphia | "Most Wonderfully Deceitful to the Eye": The Art and History of the Neapolitan Presepe
September 25, 2014

James Waller | Genocide Awareness Lecture
​September 22, 2014

Trigger Warnings in the Classroom: A Fishbowl Discussion
September 16, 2014

Heinrich Watzka, S.J. | Embodied vs. Bodily Existence
​September 11, 2014

Spring 2015

Vincent J. Miller | Consumerism, the Architecture of Indifference, and the Work of Solidarity
​April 23, 2015

Maggie Popkin | The Roman Triumph in its Urban Context: Building Memories and Identities in Republican Rome
​April 20, 2015

Susan Zuccotti | Père Marie-Benoît and Jewish Rescue 
​April 15, 2015

Karsonya Wise Whitehead | From the Civil War to Ferguson: The Role of the Black Church as a Training Ground for Activism
​March 25, 2015

Luc Bonaventure Amoussou, S.J. | Caesar or God? The Source of Authentic Power According to Matthew 22:15
​March 19, 2015

David Kertzer | The Pope and Mussolini
​February 24, 2015

Conference | Adam Smith: Moral Philosopher and Economic Theorist
April 3-4, 2014
With Charles Griswold and Ryan Patrick Hanley

Jorge Gracia | Affirmative Action for Latinos
April 15, 2014

Siri Hustvedt: Vocation of the Writer
​April 10, 2014

Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza | The Apocalypse of John: Its World of Vision and Our Own?
April 10, 2014

Cathleen Kaveny | Prophetic Rhetoric in the Public Square
​April 8, 2014

Lisa Dodson | American Poverty and the Rise of a Moral Underground
March 27, 2014

Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus | Food that Divides, Food that Unites: Food Metaphors for the Experience of the Divine in Jewish and Christian Tradition
​March 20, 2014

Robert Maryks | The Jesuit Suppression
March 13, 2014

Samuel Martinez | Anti-Haitian Exclusionism in the Dominican Republic: A Biopolitical Turn
​March 12, 2014

Dacia Maraini | 'Clare of Assisi: In Praise of Disobedience'
​March 11, 2014

Joshua Greene | Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them
February 27, 2014

Philip Kitcher | The Scientist's Role
January 30, 2014

Mark Murcko | The Quest for Health: Hunting for Drugs in Large Pharmas and Tiny Biotechs
​November 13, 2013

Mary McAleese | Shared Responsibility: Re-imagining the Future of Governance in the Church
October 29, 2013

Mark Kroll | Jewish Music and Musicians from 17th-Century Italy to 21st-Century America: The Sounds of Faith, Perseverance and Optimism
October 24, 2013

Stephen Selka | Our Lady of the Good Death: Afro-Catholicism and the Brazilian Cultural Heritage
​October 23, 2013

Richard Murphy '66 | The Changing Face of Biomedical Research, Challenges and Opportunities
​October 22, 2013

Padre Melo | The Price of Truth in Honduras: Human Rights Since the Coup
​October 9, 2013

James J. Collins '87 | Synthetic Biology and Redesigning Life, Hopes and Challenges
October 2, 2013

Edward Snowden: Whistleblower? Traitor? A Campus Fishbowl Discussion
September 19, 2013

Julia Finomo | The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Oil Drilling in the Niger Delta: An Ethical Perspective
​September 12, 2013

The Status of Our Civil Rights: A Fishbowl Discussion
September 11, 2013

James J. O'Connor '58 -

​A graduate of the 51С�Ƴ� Class of 1958, James J. O'Connor is the retired chairman and CEO of Commonwealth Edison, Illinois' largest utility company, and is co-chairman of the Big Shoulders Fund, a charity that supports 93 Catholic schools and 24,000 students in inner-city Chicago. He reflects on his 51С�Ƴ� days, lessons learned in the corporate world, and the importance of giving back. April 29, 2013
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Robert Audi - The Problem of Evil: Can Faith Be Rational in the Face of the Horrific Evils of this World?

​Robert Audi, the John A. O'Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame, draws on epistemology, ethics and metaphysics to argue that moral wrongs and natural disasters are rational under God. He is author of 16 books, including "Moral Perception" (Princeton University Press, 2013) and "Rationality and Religious Commitment" (Clarendon Press, 2011).
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Juliet Schor - Climate Responsibility and New Cultures of Consumption

​Professor of sociology at Boston College and former associate professor of economics at Harvard University, Juliet Schor is working on issues of sustainable consumption and production, with particular emphasis on political consumption, new patterns of time-use, and alternative economic structures. As a member of a MacArthur Research Network she is studying the emergence of collaborative consumption, the re-use and sharing of local resources. This lecture, held April 17, 2013, was co-sponsored by Sociology and Anthropology, the McFarland Center, and Montserrat.
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Anya Peterson Royce -  Journeys of Transformation: Isthmus Zapotec beliefs and rituals surrounding death, healing and pilgrimage

​Chancellor's professor of anthropology and comparative literature at Indiana University, Anya Peterson Royce has for four decades studied the Isthmus Zapotec, an indigenous people comprising 70 percent of the population of Juchitan in the south of Mexico. She is author of "Becoming an Ancestor: The Isthmus Zapotec Way of Death." In this lecture, she talks about their unique blending of Catholic and indigenous spiritual rituals in death, healing and pilgrimage. The lecture, held April 4, 2013, is part of , understanding the religious lives and practices of Catholics around the world.
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Yaakov Katz - Israel's Security in a Changing Middle East

​Israeli military reporter Yaakov Katz offers an analysis of "Israel's Security in a Changing Middle East." Katz is military correspondent and defense analyst for the Jerusalem Post,  Israel's correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly, and author of "Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War." He is a 2012-2013 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. His talk, held March 21, 2013, is supported by the .
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Martin Nowak - God and Evolution

​Professor of biology and of mathematics at Harvard University, Martin Nowak also directs Harvard's Program for Evolutionary Dynamics. In this talk, on "God and Evolution," Nowak shares his groundbreaking work on the role of cooperation in evolution and his theological argument that the tension between science and religion is unnecessary. One of the . March 18, 2013
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Rabbi Abie Ingber - From Tolerance to Celebration: Confessions of a Jewish Bridge Builder

​Recognized for his work advancing Catholic-Jewish dialogue, Rabbi Abie Ingber is executive director of the Center for Interfaith Community Engagement at Xavier University. His talk offers possibilities for interfaith collaboration and celebration at 51С�Ƴ� across all religions. Supported by the . March 14, 2013
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U.S. Use of Drones: Moral, Legal or Effective? A Panel Discussion

In brief presentations and moderated discussion, panelists David Cole, Avery Plaw and Gregory Johnson consider the wisdom of the Obama Administration's policy on drone warfare. Cole is professor of law at Georgetown University and author of "The Torture Memos: Rationalizing the Unthinkable" (2009). Plaw is associate professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where he co-created the UMass DRONE Targeted Killing Database, an online resource that tracks casualties by U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan. Gregory Johnson is Near East Studies Scholar at Princeton University and a former Fulbright Fellow in Yemen. He is author of "The Last Refuge: Yemen, al-Qaeda, and America's War in Arabia," published last year.
Watch the video: Stream online» |
This discussion was also recorded by C-SPAN.

Kelly Askin - Rape as a Weapon of War

​Senior legal officer for international justice at the Open Society Justice Initiative, Kelly Askin has spent the last 15 years as a legal consultant for international criminal tribunals and special courts addressing mass atrocities in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, East Timor, Cambodia and elsewhere. In this talk, she explains the historical treatment and recent progress in redressing rape as a weapon of war. February 26, 2013
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Dalia Mogahed - Women After the Arab Spring: Rights and Religion

​Executive director and senior analyst at the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Dalia Mogahed offers Muslims' attitudes on the Arab Spring revolution, what they want from a new government, the role of religion, and women's rights. Mogahed is co-author of "Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think." February 21, 2013
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After Sandy Hook: How do we prevent similar forms of violence?
A Fishbowl Discussion

In the wake of the massacre of 26 children and adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., on December 14, 2012, a group of 51С�Ƴ� students, faculty and staff discuss the possible causes and measures to reduce the incidence of gun violence in America. The participants consider: firearm regulations and the Second Amendment, the mental health care system, cultural and sociological indicators for violence, and the promotion of nonviolence. February 19, 2013
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Robert George - Natural Law, God, and Human Dignity

​One of the nation's leading conservative Christian thinkers, Robert George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and founder and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is author of "Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality," "In Defense of Natural Law," and "The Clash of Orthodoxies." February 18, 2013
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Pericles Lewis - Burial of the Dead in the Modern Novel

​An expert in literary modernism at Yale University, Pericles Lewis explores the treatment of death rituals in the work of authors such as James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Virginia Woolf, Franz Kafka, and Thomas Mann. He finds a fascination with Pagan and especially Homeric accounts of death as an alternative to Christianity, and considers the potential of the novel form for ironic treatment of rites surrounding death. Lewis, author of "Religious Experience and the Modernist Novel," is founding president and professor of the humanities at the new Yale-NUS College in Singapore. February 12, 2013
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The Vatican and the Nuns

​�ċThis panel discussion explores the issues behind the recent conflict between the Vatican and the leadership community for American sisters. The conversation looks at the contributions of women religious in shaping American Catholic life, the changes they have undergone since Vatican II, and strategies for moving forward. Panelists are Sr. Jane Morrissey, of the Sisters of Saint Joseph of Springfield, who is co-founder and executive director of Homework House, Inc. and Sr. Donna Markham, of the Adrian Dominican Sisters, who is vice president of behavioral health services at Catholic Health Partners in Cincinnati and former president of the Leadership Conference of the Women Religious. Virginia Ryan, visiting assistant professor of religious studies at 51С�Ƴ�, moderates. February 5, 2013
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Rebeca Pabon - How A Female-Dominated Labor Sector Organized to Win International Rights

​Rebeca Pabon is a union organizer for domestic workers in FNV Bondgenoten in the Netherlands. She has worked closely with union members to coordinate the campaign for domestic workers' rights in the Netherlands and she serves on the steering committee of the International Domestic Workers Network to campaign for more countries to ratify the International Labour Organization's domestic workers Convention 189. November 15, 2012
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Kenneth Parker - Coming to Terms with the Past:How Our Understanding of the Christian Past Shapes Our Future

​Kenneth Parker is associate professor of historical theology at Saint Louis University. In this talk, "Coming to Terms with the Past," he uses his own experience and the teachings of Vatican II to explore four metanarratives of Christian history that shape our understanding of the Church today. November 7, 2012
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Ervin Staub — Passivity of bystanders in genocide and mass killing and generating active bystandership

​Ervin Staub is professor of psychology emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and founding director of its Ph.D. concentration in the Psychology of Peace and Violence. He has worked in the field to develop training programs after the Rodney King riots, Hurricane Katrina, and in Rwanda, and served as an expert witness in the Abu Ghraib trials. In a lecture at 51С�Ƴ� on November 5, 2012, Professor Staub talks about the passivity of bystanders in genocide and mass killing, and ways to promote active bystandership.
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Mark Shriver '86 — A Good Man, and a Great Man

​Mark Shriver '86 is senior vice president of U.S. programs for Save the Children and author of the 2012 memoir "A Good Man: Rediscovering My Father, Sargent Shriver." In this talk, he tells personal stories about his dad, who is known for founding the Peace Corps, Jobs Corps, VISTA and Head Start, and directing the War on Poverty in the 1960s. Rev. Anthony Kuzniewski, S.J., professor of history at 51С�Ƴ�, offers a historical account of Sargent Shriver's life. November 1, 2012

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Or watch this lecture on .

Bishop Robert McElroy - Catholicism, Citizenship and Conscience: What Does it Mean to Be a Faith-filled Voter in Our Polarized Society?

​Auxiliary Bishop of San Francisco, Robert McElroy explores the nature of conscience and our obligation to call upon conscience in our voting decisions. Bishop McElroy holds degrees from Harvard, Stanford and the Pontifical Gregorian University and is the author of "Morality and American Foreign Policy: The Role of Ethics in International Affairs." October 16, 2012
Listen online:

Affirmative Action at 51С�Ƴ�: A Fishbowl Discussion

51С�Ƴ� students, faculty members, and an alumnus weigh the benefits and trade-offs of affirmative action policies at 51С�Ƴ�. October 1, 2012
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Randall Kennedy — The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action

​Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy highlights key decisions in race-based affirmative action in higher education over the past 34 years and previews the upcoming Supreme Court case Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin. Many observers believe the Court's ruling could effectively end the use of affirmative action in college admissions programs nationwide. Kennedy, who studies the intersection of racial conflict and legal institutions in American life, is completing a book on affirmative action. September 17, 2012
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Rev. Paul Mariani, S.J. - Living in China's Highly Politicized Church of Today

​Author of "Church Militant: Bishop Kung and Catholic Resistance in Communist China" (Harvard University Press, 2011), Rev. Paul Mariani, S.J. uses the stories of four bishops in Shanghai to explore the divide between state-sanctioned "patriotic" churches and underground churches in China. He is assistant professor of history at Santa Clara University, focusing on religious policy and conflict in China since 1950. October 3, 2012
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Nancy Scheper-Hughes — A World Cut in Two: Global Justice and the Traffic in Humans for Organs

​Medical anthropologist Nancy Scheper-Hughes is the Chancellor's Professor at University of California at Berkeley and the co-founder and director of Organ's Watch, a medical human rights project that tracks the organ trafficking trade. In this lecture, she shares case studies of the global networks that facilitate organ trafficking and considers the complex ethics involved. September 24, 2012
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Rev. A. Maria Arul Raja, S.J. - From Culture of Fragmentation to Culture of Communion

​An at 51С�Ƴ� this year, Rev. A. Maria Arul Raja, S.J. shares his study of India's Dalit and theologies of the oppressed in this public lecture. Fr. Raja is director of Studies in the Theologate at Vidyajyoti College's Arul Kadal Centre and supervisor of Doctoral Studies at the Institute of Dialogue with Cultures and Religions at Loyola College in Chennai. September 11, 2012

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William Julius Wilson

Keynote speaker at the conference commemorating the 50th anniversary of the landmark analysis of poverty, The Other America by Michael Harrington '47, William Julius Wilson speaks on "Toward a Holistic Study of Urban Poverty: Why Both Social Structure and Culture Mattter." Wilson is the Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and the author of The Declining Significance of Race; The Truly Disadvantaged; and When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor.
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More Videos from , March 22-23, 2012

Maurice Isserman
Publius Virgilius Rogers Professor of American History at Hamilton College and author of The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington
Watch the video: |

David J. O'Brien
Professor Emeritus of History and Loyola Professor of Roman Catholic Studies at the College of the 51С�Ƴ�
Watch the video: |

Thomas J. Sugrue
David Boies Professor of History and Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of The Origins of the Urban Crisis
Watch the video: |

Alan Wolfe
Professor of Political Science and Director of The Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College
Watch the video: |

Michael Kazin
Professor of History at Georgetown University and co-editor of Dissent
Watch the video: |

Peter Dreier
E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Political Science and director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Program at Occidental College
Watch the video: |

Annette Lareau
Stanley I. Sheerr Term Professor in the Social Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania
Author of Unequal Childhoods: Race, Class, and Family Life
Watch the video: |

Timothy Black
Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Hartford
Author of When a Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers on and off the Streets
Watch the video: |

Bruce Western
Professor of Sociology at Harvard University and author of Punishment and Inequality in America
Watch the video: |

Dave McMahon
Co-executive director of Dismas House of Massachusetts, Inc. Followed by Arthur Rosenberg, a former prisoner and Dismas House resident who is now its director of operations.
Watch the video: |

Zama Coursen Neff
Deputy director of the children's rights division of Human Rights Watch and author of Fields of Peril: Child Labor in US Agriculture, a Human Rights Watch report. Followed by Norma Flores Lopez, a former child farm worker who is now director of the Children in the Fields Campaign, Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
Watch the video: |

Marion Kaplan

Skirball Professor of Modern Jewish History and professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University, Marion Kaplan talks about "Jewish Life in Nazi Germany" — focusing on how women and families struggled with the social ostracism, economic hardship and segregation under Nazi oppression in the years leading up to the 1938 pogrom, Kristallnacht. Her talk, given April 25, 2012, was the annual Derrick Lecture, sponsored by the Department of History with support from Peace and Conflict Studies, Philosophy and the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.
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Rena Finder

​When the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, Rena Ferber Finder was a Jewish girl living in Kracow. In this oral history, she shares her stories of life before the war, being relocated to the ghetto, time spent in Auschwitz, and working for German industrialist Oskar Schindler, who ultimately saved her. April 24, 2012
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Eliza Griswold

​Journalist and poet Eliza Griswold spent seven years traveling and researching in regions of North Africa and Central Asia where the highest concentrations of Christians and Muslims live together. She talks about her experiences, documented in her New York Times best selling book, "The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam." April 19, 2012
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Gabriella Petrick '89

​An alumna of 51С�Ƴ�, Gabriella Petrick '89 is associate professor at George Mason University and an expert on the history of industrial foods and food technology. Her talk traces the development of canned food and the processing of fresh vegetables through much of the 20th century and questions, "Can Industrial Food Be Ethical?" April 12, 2012
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Donna Winn '76

​Past president and CEO of OFI Investments, Inc., a subsidiary of Oppenheimer Funds, Donna Winn '76 talks about perseverance in the face of adversity. She was a member of the first co-ed class to graduate 51С�Ƴ�, she became a pioneer in the male-dominated finance industry, she survived the 9-11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and she is battling ovarian cancer. Winn, a member of the 51С�Ƴ� Board of Trustees, gave the on March 20, 2012.
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Tamara Vukov

​Tamara Vukov, visiting research professor and a postdoctoral scholar at the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy in the Department of Culture and Communication at Drexel University, talks about art and media activities in migrant justice movements such as Kein Mensch Ist Illegal (No One Is Illegal) in Germany; Sans Papier in France; and the Transborder Immigrant Tool in the U.S. She spoke at 51С�Ƴ� on March 14, 2012.
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Alan Rosen

​A renowned scholar of Holocaust literature and a lecturer at Yad Vashem, Alan Rosen gives a talk on poetry written during the Holocaust and after. Can it be considered a form of spiritual resistance? If so, what and how does it resist? "'The Words, Too, Will Nourish': Poetry and Resistance," explores the poetry of Avraham Sutzkever and others. Supported by the , the lecture was given February 28, 2012.
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Lisa Sowle Cahill

​Theological ethicist Lisa Sowle Cahill, the J. Donald Monan Professor of Theology at Boston College, talks about access to health care in the United States and globally, and explores the positions and priorities expressed by the U.S. Catholic Bishops, the Catholic Health Association, and Catholic voters. Her talk, titled  "Catholic Social Teaching, Bioethics and Justice," was given February 2, 2012 and was one of the .
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The Contours of Catholic Life and Practice Today

​Video is now available from the inaugural colloquium on Catholics and Cultures held at 51С�Ƴ� December 9, 2011. The Colloquium, which introduced the challenges and opportunities in the study of global Catholicism,  included an introduction of the global initiative on Catholics and Cultures by Thomas M. Landy, director of the McFarland Center; a talk on Indian Catholicism by Rowena Robinson of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay; a panel of 51С�Ƴ� seniors who share their lived experiences of global Catholicism; and a talk on "Reimagining Catholic Theology" by Rev. Thomas G. Casey, S.J., of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

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Paula Fredriksen

​Paula Fredriksen, Aurelio Chair Emerita of the Appreciation of Scripture at Boston University, talks about her latest book, Augustiine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism. Her talk, held November 16, 2011, was co-sponsored with the and supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding, the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts and the Jewish Book Council.
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(pdf)

Rev. Francis Britto, S.J.

​An International Visiting Jesuit Scholar with the McFarland Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture for the Fall 2011 semester, Rev. Francis Britto, S.J.,  draws connections between current trends in Christianity and the basic tenets of Hinduism in a talk titled, "Are We All Hindus Now?" Fr. Britto, a native of India, is a professor at Sophia University, Tokyo. This talk was held November 15, 2011.
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Lisa Ruddick

​Associate professor of English at the University of Chicago, Lisa Ruddick talks about her current book project which makes the case that the ways we approach literature in academe can elicit or negate a feeling of aliveness. She spoke at 51С�Ƴ� on November 14, 2011
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Congressman Jim McGovern and Matthew Hoh

​U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) and Matthew Hoh, a former Foreign Service officer and former Marine Corps captain, discuss "Ten Years of War in Afghanistan: The Costs, Consequences and a Way Out." McGovern has been a leading critic of U.S. military policy in Afghanistan, coordinating bipartisan initiatives focused on the human and financial costs of the war, proposals for safely withdrawing U.S. forces from the country, and promoting a political solution for Afghanistan and the region. Hoh was the first U.S. official known to resign his post in protest over the Afghan war. Today, he is a senior fellow with the Center for International Policy. November 9, 2011
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Rev. Philip Endean, S.J.

​Rev. Philip Endean, S.J. gives a lecture on "Ignatius Loyola, and Why It's Not Quite Enough to Do What Jesus Would Do." Tutor of theology at Campion Hall, University of Oxford, Fr. Endean suggests that knowledge of God is more than any encounter with Jesus Christ and that Ignatian spirituality calls on believers to continue where Jesus left off. Held November 8, 2011, the talk is one of the .
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Esther Duflo

​Professor of Poverty Alleviation and Development Economics at MIT, Esther Duflo explains how randomized trials of strategies to address poverty yield proven outcomes that sometimes contradict anti-poverty policy and popular thinking. She is co-author of Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. October 27, 2011
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Monica Duffy Toft

​Co-author of God's Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics, Monica Duffy Toft explains how — despite predictions for a secular society — modernization, democratization and globalization have actually increased religion's influence on global politics. Toft is associate professor of public policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and director of the Initiative on Religion in International Affairs. She spoke at 51С�Ƴ� on October 18, 2011 as one of the.
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Nir Eisikovits

​Nir Eisikovits, who teaches legal and political philosophy at Suffolk University, gives a talk on Israel titled "Stuck: Why Israel is in so much trouble and how it can dig out." He is a senior fellow at the International Center for Conciliation and author of Sympathizing with the Enemy: Reconciliation, Transitional Justice, Negotiation. His talk at 51С�Ƴ�, held October 17, 2011, was supported by the and co-sponsored with Peace and Conflict Studies.
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E. Benjamin Skinner

​Author of A Crime So Monstrous: Face-to-Face with Modern-Day Slavery, E. Benjamin Skinner talks about the atrocities of human bondage and slave trafficking today in Haiti, South Africa, and other parts of the world. Skinner is a fellow at the at Brandeis University. He spoke at 51С�Ƴ� on October 5, 2011.
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Rev. George Pattery, S.J.

​The author of two books on Gandhi, Rev. George Pattery, S.J., talks of "Memory, Politics and Forgiveness: A Gandhian Perspective" on September 22, 2011. Pattery is a native of India and former Provincial Superior of the Jesuits in Calcutta and Bangladesh. He is an International Visiting Jesuit Scholar and teaching a course on "Gandhi and Religion" at 51С�Ƴ� for the Fall 2011 semester.
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Maria Eugenia Ferré Rangel​

In the , Maria Eugenia Ferré Rangel '89 explains how her family history and 51С�Ƴ� experience gave her the ethical foundation and business acumen to successfully lead Puerto Rico's largest daily newspaper, El Nuevo Dia, and to find ways to serve the greater good. September 8, 2011
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Diana Hayes — Standing in the Shoes My Mother Made: My Journey to Womanism

​Professor of systematic theology at Georgetown University, Diana Hayes talks about her experience as a black, Catholic womanist theologian. Her talk, April 26, 2011, is one of the and co-sponsored by Africana Studies and Women and Gender Studies. Supported by the Rehm Family Endowment.
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Mark Warren — Keynote for "Let Justice Roll Down" - A Conference on the Practice and Pedagogy of Organizing in the 21st Century

​Mark Warren, associate professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is a sociologist concerned with the revitalization of American democratic and community life. He studies efforts to strengthen institutions that anchor inner city communities - churches, schools, and other community-based organizations - and to build broad-based alliances among these institutions and across race and social class. April 1, 2011
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Joanne Pierce, Edward Foley, John Baldovin — New Words for Worship: Coming Changes to the Catholic Liturgy

A panel of experts on liturgy — including Joanne Pierce, associate professor of religious studies at 51С�Ƴ�; Edward Foley, Capuchin, Duns Scotus Professor of Spirituality and professor of liturgy and music at the Catholic Theological Union; and Rev. John Baldovin, S.J., '69, professor of historical and liturgical theology at Boston College — discuss coming changes to the liturgy of all English-spoken Masses and the implications for clergy and all practicing Catholics. March 22, 2011
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James McCartin '96 — Spirituality and the Transformation of 20th-Century American Catholicism

​James McCartin, an alumnus of 51С�Ƴ� and associate professor of history at Seton Hall University, explores the themes in his recent book Prayers of the Faithful: The Shifting Spiritual Life of American Catholics. March 21, 2011
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J. Matthew Ashley — Living with Hope in a Crucified World: Resurrection Faith, Ignatian Spirituality and Liberation Theology

​Chair of Theology at the University of Notre Dame, J. Matthew Ashley explores the impact of Ignatian spirituality on three 20th-century Jesuit theologians. His talk, March 16, 2011, was one of the .
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James Carroll — Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World

​Best-selling author and Boston Globe columnist James Carroll talks about his latest book, which offers a historical account of Jerusalem, a city at the crossroads of deep faith and violence. The lecture, given March 15, 2011, was presented with the Worcester JCC, Temple Sinai, Temple Emanuel and Congregation Beth Israel. It was supported by the Jewish Federation of Central Massachusetts and the .
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Alan Rosen — Killing Time, Saving Time: Defying the Holocaust by Counting the Days

​Renowned Holocaust scholar and educator Alan Rosen explains how and why Holocaust victims in hiding and in ghettos would use both Gregorian and Jewish calendars to keep track of time. His lecture, on March 2, 2011, is supported by the .
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Dennis Golden '63 — From NFL Prospect to University President

​In the Thomas More Lecture on Faith, Work and Civic Life, Dennis Golden '63 talks about his path from 51С�Ƴ� student-athlete to president of Fontbonne University and offers advice for students exploring vocation. February 22, 2011
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Paul Starr — Moralities in Conflict: How Health Care Became Such a Hard Problem for America

​Pulitzer and Bancroft prize-winning author Paul Starr, co-founder and editor of The American Prospect, explores why the American people are so bitterly divided on health care policy while other wealthy western democracies are not. February 22, 2011
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Rev. Lloyd Baugh, S.J. — Jesus De-constructed and Re-constructed: Political, Cultural and Personal Subtexts in the Gospel Films

​Rev. Lloyd Baugh, S.J., the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture's International Jesuit Visiting Fellow for the spring 2011 semester, examines the Jesus film genre from late-19th century silent pictures to Mel Gibson's controversial Passion of the Christ to illustrate that the same Gospel scene can take on very different meanings, according to the subtexts at work in the films. February 10, 2011
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Nancy Sherman — The Untold War: Inside the Hearts, Minds and Souls of Our Soldiers

​University Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown, Nancy Sherman talks about the moral burdens borne by soldiers returning from war and suggests that feelings of guilt may actually be a therapeutic part of their re-integration in civilian life. Sherman, who is author of The Untold War, spoke at 51С�Ƴ� on November 18.
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Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., and Rev. James Corkery, S.J. — The Modern Papacy: Five-hundred years of change

Co-editors of the recent book, The Papacy since 1500: From Italian Prince to Universal Pastor, Rev. Thomas Worcester, S.J., professor of history at 51С�Ƴ�, and Rev. James Corkery, S.J., associate professor of theology at the Milltown Institute, Dublin, Ireland, talk on November 10, 2010 about the major changes in the Papacy over the last half-millennium.
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Stanley Hauerwas — Sacrifice and the Sacrifices of War

​Distinguished theologian and Christian ethicist Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics at Duke University Divinity School, asserts that the greatest sacrifice of war may be sacrificing our unwillingness to kill. The talk was given as part of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity on November 8, 2010.
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Steven Shapin — The Scientific Life: Moral Enterprise or Value Free?

​Steven Shapin, the Franklin L. Ford Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University, talks about his book The Scientific Life: A Moral History of a Late Modern Vocation, and explains why personal qualities like virtue, trust, reliability and the familiarity continue to matter in science, perhaps more than ever. October 28, 2010
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Eugene Pogany — From Brother to Other and Back

​Psychologist Eugene Pogany, author of In My Brother's Image: Twin Brothers Separated by Faith After the Holocaust, tells how the disparate experiences of his father and uncle during the Holocaust irreparably severed their twin bond. His lecture, held October 25, 2010, is supported by the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish Christian Understanding.
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Florence Hsia — Saints and Mandarins: Science, religion and Jesuits in late imperial China

​Florence Hsia, associate professor of the history of science at University of Wisconsin-Madison, talks about her book Sojourners in a Strange Land: Jesuits and Their Scientific Missions in Late Imperial China as part of the Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts, held September 30, 2010. Janine Shertzer, a physics professor at 51С�Ƴ�, will be the respondent.
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Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J. — Two Cardinals: John Henry Newman, Henry Edward Manning and the Victorian Church

​Rev. Jeffrey von Arx, S.J., president of Fairfield University and an expert in the field of 19th-century British history, commemorates the September 19 beatification of John Henry Newman with a talk on September 13, 2010 about Newman and his contemporary, and sometimes adversary, Henry Edward Manning.
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Biological Foundations of Morality? Neuroscience, Evolution and Morality

Video is now available from this popular two-day conference, held March 18-19, 2010, exploring the roles of emotion, intuition and reasoning in moral decision making and the implications for moral theology, philosophy and virtue ethics. Biological Foundations of Morality? Neuroscience, Evolution and Morality features some of the biggest names in brain science, including Michael Gazzaniga, Patrick Haggard, Joshua Greene and James Blair, along with esteemed philosophers and thinkers Robert Kane, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Jeanette Kennett, Stephen Pope and Rachana Kamtekar. Read more about the conference here.
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Christian Smith — Understanding the Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults

​Christian Smith, director of the National Study of Youth and Religion, reports on the third wave of data collection of 18-23 year olds. This Deitchman Family Lecture on Religion and Modernity was held April 7, 2010.
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Patricia Omidian — Women in Afghanistan, From the Taliban Until Today

​Civilian anthropologist Patricia Omidian, based in Pakistan and Afghanistan since 1997, speaks about the situation in Afghanistan duringt the Taliban and after spoke on April 12, 2010.
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Paula Newberg — Political Belief and Political Reconciliation: Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Problem of the Taliban

​Paula Newberg, director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at Georgetown University and a former advisor to the United Nations, spoke on April 6, 2010.
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Dermot Quinn and Rev. Ian Boyd — Chesterton in America and at 51С�Ƴ�

​Dermot Quinn and Rev. Ian Boyd, of the G.K. Chesterton Institute for Faith and Culture at Seton Hall University, reflect on the British convert and writer's two American tours and his 1930 visit to 51С�Ƴ�. The event, sponsored with the G.K. Chesterton Society of Worcester, was held March 25, 2010.
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Rev. Sidney Griffith — Christians and Muslims Together: Lessons from Yesterday for Today

​Rev. Sidney Griffith, professor and chair of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America, spoke on February 22, 2010.
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Mahmoud Ayoub — The Place of Revelation in Christian-Muslim Dialogue

​Mahmoud Ayoub, professor of Islamic studies and Christian-Muslim relations at the Hartford Seminary and professor emeritus at Temple University, spoke on April 8, 2010.
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Trent Pomplun - Inter-Religious Dialogue in Tibet: The Example of Ippolito Desideri, S.J.

​Trent Pomplun, associate professor of theology at Loyola University Maryland, talked about his book, Jesuit on the Roof of the World: Ippolito Desideri's Mission to Tibet, as part of the Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts, February 18, 2010.
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Peachy Myers

​Peachy Myers, White House Liaison to the Corporation for National and Community Service, speaks about her calling to community service and legislative achievements, including the passage of the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act. The lecture, held January 28, 2010, was presented by the Donelan Office of Community-Based Learning.
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Susannah Heschel - The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany

​Susannah Heschel, a scholar of Jewish-Christian relations and the history of anti-Semitism, and the Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College, talked about her recent book, The Aryan Jesus: Christian Theologians and the Bible in Nazi Germany, as part of the Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish-Christian Understanding, November 18, 2009.
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Peter C. Phan - Mission of the Church in the Asian Context

​Peter C. Phan, the Ignacio Ellacuria Chair of Catholic Social Thought at Georgetown University, spoke October 5, 2009 in a Deitchman Family Lecture on Religion and Modernity.
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Smita Lahiri - Mystical Transfers, Local and Global

​Anthropologist and associate professor at Harvard University, Smita Lahiri discussed her research at Mt. Banahaw, a major center of folk-Catholic pilgrimage in the Philippines, as part of the Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity, September 28, 2009.
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Paul Mariani - What Hopkins Can Teach Us

​Noted poet, literary biographer and Boston College professor Paul Mariani talked about the life and work of Jesuit priest and poet Gerard Manley Hopkins in the Presidential Colloquium on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts, September 21, 2009.
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Rev. James Corkery, S.J. - Sent to the Frontiers: Jesuits, Alumni/ae and the Work of the Church

​Fr. Corkery, an Irish Jesuit who participated in the General Congregation and helped draft some of its statements, discusses the larger context for the Congregation and its outcomes in the keynote speech of the Alumni/ae Colloquium, on September 26, 2009.
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B.J. Cassin '55

​Philanthropist and venture capital investor B.J. Cassin '55 gives the Thomas More Lecture on Faith, Work and Civic Life, September 24, 2009.
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Colm Toibin

Leading contemporary Irish writer Colm Tóibín reads from his new novel, Brooklyn, April 16, 2009
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Rev. James Keenan, S.J.

"How Jesuitical Were the Jesuits? A brief encounter with the morality of the Jesuits," March 26, 2009
As part of the Presidential Colloquia on Jesuits and the Liberal Arts, Fr. Keenan, who holds the founder's chair in theology at Boston College, traces the history of Jesuit casuistry.
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​Professor Karen Ober

"An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles: Darwin and Discovery," March 25, 2009
As part of the "Last" Lecture Series, Karen Ober, assistant professor of entomology and evolutionary biology, explains how tiny beetles kindled her passion for science.
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​Chief Justice John T. Broderick, Jr., '69

The Thomas More Lecture on Faith, Work and Civic Life, March 23, 2009
Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court, John T. Broderick, Jr., a member of the 51С�Ƴ� Class of 1969, shares lessons learned on his life's path.
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​Professor Daniel Bitran

"Lessons from the Shoah: Why we teach the Holocaust at 51С�Ƴ�," March 17, 2009
With support from the Kraft-Hiatt Fund for Jewish-Christian Understanding, Daniel Bitran, associate professor of psychology, participated in an educators' conference and seminar at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem in July 2008. Here, he talks about the life-changing experience and his redefined purpose.
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​David Sorkin

"The Religious Enlightenment," March 16, 2009
In a Deitchman Family Lecture on Religion and Modernity, David Sorkin, professor of history and Frances and Laurence Weinstein Professor of Jewish Studies at University of Wisconsin-Madison, suggests that the Enlightenment, which gave birth to Modernity, should best be understood as a religious, not an anti-religious, project.
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​Marvin Meyer

"The Gospels of Judas, Mary and Thomas: The Good News About Marginalized Disciples in Early Christian Literature," March 12, 2009
Marvin Meyer is one of the foremost scholars on early Christianity and texts about Jesus outside the New Testament. He is Griset Professor of Bible and Christian Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, where he is also director of the Albert Schweitzer Institute.
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​Archbishop Agostino Marchetto

Deitchman Family Lectures on Religion and Modernity, February 2, 2009
Vatican secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
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​Paul La Camera, '64

Thomas More Lecture on Faith, Work and Civic Life, October 2008
Paul LaCamera '64, general manager of the WBUR group, and a 51С�Ƴ� trustee, shares insights on his career, politics, faith and more.

Craig-Ehrman Debate: Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?

March 28, 2006
William Lane Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology, and Bart D. Ehrman, James A. Gray Distinguished Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, debate at 51С�Ƴ�.
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