St. Thomas Lecture, New York City: “Two Modernisms and the Thomistic Response”
January 3rd, 2008 by Fr. Pius, OP
On Monday January 28, the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Church of St. Vincent Ferrer will host a public lecture. In his address, Prof. Russell Hittinger, the Warren Chair of Catholic Studies at the University of Tulsa and Robert J. Randall Distinguished Visiting Professor in Christian Culture, Providence College, will remind us of the perennial need for Catholic theologians to employ sound philosophy when clarifying the truths of the faith. To this end, Prof. Hittinger will commemorate the centenary of Pope St. Pius X’s anti-Modernist documents, Lamentabili sane and Pascendi dominici gregis. Though a hundred years old, these texts remain relevant in the post-Vatican II era, for many of the philosophical issues raised during the Modernist Crisis remain unresolved. Prof. Hittinger will outline some of these important issues and their effects on the Church’s life today. He will also explain how certain Thomistic theses can point us forward to greater theological clarity and precision.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 7:30pm. It will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a light reception. For more information, please call St. Vincent Ferrer’s Parish Office at (212) 744-2080.
St. Thomas’ Day Lecture
with Professor Russell Hittinger
“Two Modernisms and the Thomistic Response:
Reflections on the Centenary of Pius X’s Condemnation of Modernism”
January 28, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Vincent Ferrer Church
Between east 65th & 66th on Lexington
New York City
Professor F. Russell Hittinger
Robert J. Randall Distinguished Visiting Professor in Christian Culture, Providence College (2007-08)
Warren Professor of Catholic Studies, Department of Philosophy and Religion, and Research Professor of Law, University of Tulsa (1996-present)
Russell Hittinger is an internationally recognized contributor to major contemporary debates in jurisprudence, law, and ethics and has held professorships at the Catholic University of America, Princeton University, Fordham University, and New York University. He has served on the Virginia Governor’s Council for Self-Determination and State Sovereignty and is currently a member of the Ethics Task Force of the St. Francis Health Care System in Tulsa. He also serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Jurisprudence and First Things. His many honors include the Josephine Yalch Zekan Award for the best scholarly article in faith and law and a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship for university teachers. Professor Hittinger spent his time at the Center researching the development of papal views of modern political, legal, and cultural liberties from the French Revolution to the present day. His books include The First Grace: Rediscovering Natural Law in a Post-Christian Age (ISI, 2003) and A Critique of the Natural Law Theory (University of Notre Dame Press, 1987). Meanwhile, his essays on papal social doctrine appeared in a two-volume work, Law and Human Nature: Teachings of Modern Christianity (Columbia University Press, 2005).
