The Thomistic Institute

Prof. George Corbett presents Dante’s Divine Comedy as a transformative “journey of desire” in which the passionate intellect—shaped by Virgil (reason) and Beatrice (grace)—leads the sinner from the dark wood of sin and ignorance through Hell and Purgatory to the ordered love and beatific hope of Paradise.

This lecture was given on November 20th, 2025, at Trinity College Dublin.

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

About the Speakers:George Corbett is Professor of Theology at the University of St Andrews, and the Director of Cephas (a Thomistic Centre for Philosophy and Scholastic Theology). He researches and teaches theology and the arts (with specialisms in Dante studies, sacred music, and theological aesthetics) and historical theology (with specialisms in medieval theology, Aquinas’s theology and its influence, and Catholic theology). His books include Dante’s Christian Ethics (2020), Dante and Epicurus (2013), and, as editor or co-editor, Vertical Readings in Dante’s ‘Comedy’ (2015-18), Annunciations: Sacred Music for the Twentieth-Century (2019), and Music and Spirituality: Theological Approaches, Empirical Methods, and Christian Worship (2024).

Keywords: Dante’s Divine Comedy, Desire And Beatitude, Free Will, Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso, Passionate Intellect, Pilgrims Of Hope, Reason And Grace, Thomistic Readings Of Dante, Virgil And Beatrice, Virtue and Vice

Dr. Robert McNamara presents Edith Stein and Thomistic personalism as a unified vision in which the human face reveals the mystery of the person as both substantial “what” and subjective “who,” integrating Aquinas’s account of rational nature with phenomenological insights into consciousness, interiority, and personal encounter.

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.

Keywords: Aquinas On The Person, Carol Wojtyła And Personalism, Consciousness And Self-Awareness, Edith Stein, Imago Dei And Personalism, Interior Castle Of The Soul, Phenomenology, Thomistic Personalism, The Human Face

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