The Thomistic Institute

This lecture was given on March 6th, 2025, at Farm Street Church.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Dr. Robert McNamara is an associate professor of philosophy at Franciscan University of Steubenville, associate series editor of Edith Stein Studies, associate scholar of the Hildebrand Project, associate member of faculty at the International Theological Institute and the Maryvale Institute, and a founding member of the Aquinas Institute of Ireland. Robert researches anthropological and metaphysical questions in medieval and phenomenological thinkers, especially as both bear reference to philosophical personalism. He has studied physics and computing, philosophy and theology, and received his Ph.D. for research in the thought of Edith Stein and Thomas Aquinas. Robert is originally from Galway, Ireland and now lives in Steubenville, Ohio (though currently residing in Gaming, Austria) with his wife, Caroline, and their four children, Vivian, John, Catherine, and Oran.

Prof. W. Scott Cleveland explains how food and alcohol can either undermine or promote true happiness, arguing that gluttony is a disordered desire for the pleasures of eating and drinking that disrupts health, friendship, and virtuous living rather than their proper role in a flourishing, festal life.

This lecture was given on November 13th, 2025, at University of Alabama.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Professor Scott Cleveland received his PhD in philosophy (Baylor University) and is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Catholic Studies at the University of Mary (Bismarck, ND). His research interests are in ethics, moral psychology, and philosophy of religion. He is especially interested in the study of virtues and emotions, the relation between the two, and the role of each in the moral and intellectual life. His thought is deeply influenced by Aristotle and Aquinas and his work has appeared in journals such as American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Res Philosophica, Religious Studies, Religions, and the Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. He is the co-editor with Adam Pelser of Faith and Virtue Formation: Essays in Aid of Becoming Good with Oxford University Press.

Keywords: Alcohol And Sobriety, Aquinas On Gluttony, Aristotelian Eudaimonia, Ethics Of Eating, Feasting And Festivity, Food And Friendship, Gluttony And Virtue, Vices Of Eating And Drinking

Dr. R.J. Snell argues that the real epidemic behind student anxiety, boredom, and frenzied achievement is not laziness but sloth—a refusal of responsibility and a sadness at the divine good—that resists joy, commitment, and genuine happiness.

This lecture was given on December 1st, 2025, at New York University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

R. J. Snell is Editor-in-Chief of Public Discourse and Director of Academic Programs at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, NJ. He has been a visiting instructor at Princeton University, where he is also executive director of the Aquinas Institute for Catholic Life. He's written books and articles on Natural Law, Education, Bernard Lonergan, Boredom, Subjectivity, and Sexual Ethics for a variety of publications.

Keywords: Acedia And Sloth, Aquinas On Joy, Boredom And Busyness, Contemporary Student Anxiety, Contemplation And Leisure, Judge Holden in Blood Meridian, Sloth As Sadness At The Good, Thomistic Spiritual Theology, True Festivity And Eucharist

Fr. Gregory Pine shows how money, pleasure, and influence all fail as ultimate goals and argues that true happiness comes from living in accord with our nature as creatures made for communion with God through the theological virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

This lecture was given on November 19th, 2025, at University of South Florida.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly and Your Eucharistic Identity: A Sacramental Guide to the Fullness of Life, and is co-author of Credo: An RCIA Program and Marian Consecration with Aquinas.

His writing also appears in Aleteia, Magnificat, and Ascension’s Catholic Classics series. In addition to the TI podcast, he regularly contributes to the podcasts Godsplaining and Pints with Aquinas, and Catholic Classics.

Keywords: Charity And Happiness, Faith Hope And Charity, Fulfillment, Happiness, Human Nature, Natural Law And Teleology, Money Pleasure And Influence, Theological Virtues, True Happiness In God, University Student Life

Prof. Jerome Foss argues that what Americans call the “Bill of Rights” is not a true bill of rights but a set of constitutional amendments best understood within a Federalist—and broadly Thomistic—vision of law, liberty, and the common good that resists reducing politics to individual rights talk.

This lecture was given on November 4th, 2025, at Washington & Lee University.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events.

About the Speakers:

Jerome C. Foss is Professor of Politics, Endowed Director of the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture, and Director of the SVC Core Curriculum at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Foss earned his BA from the University of Dallas and his MA and PhD from Baylor University. His research focuses on Catholic political thought, American political thought, and literature and political philosophy. His most recent book, Flannery O'Connor and the Perils of Governing by Tenderness, brings these interests together. He has also published on the history of political philosophy, the U.S. Constitution, Constitutional Law, James Madison, and Abraham Lincoln. He is currently working on a scholarly book on the first ten amendments to the Constitution (commonly known as the Bill of Rights) and a book for a more general Catholic audience on the Declaration of Independence. Foss enjoys teaching a variety of courses, including courses on the Constitutional Convention and Shakespeare as a political thinker. As Director of the CCTC, Foss helps administer the college's Benedictine Leadership Studies Program, has developed and led the colleges summer program in Rome, founded and edits an academic journal entitled Conversatio, and organizes conferences, seminars, and other events.

Keywords: American Constitutionalism, Anti Federalists And Rights, Bill Of Rights, Federalist Political Theory, James Madison, Natural Law And Natural Rights, Republican Government Thomistic Political Thought, United States Constitution