Spring 2021 Speakers
How to Sin Like a Wizard (or what Harry Potter can teach Christians about sin)
March 24, 2021 (Virtual Lecture) | Dr. Sarah Borden, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Fordham University) at Wheaton College
Eating as an Act of Justice: From Religious Food Ethics to Climate Action
April 21, 2021 (Virtual Lecture) | Dr. Matthew Halteman, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Calvin University
Fall 2020 Speakers
Hell: Why It's There, and Who's in It: An Opinionated Philosophical Tour
October 1, 2020 | Dr. Adam Wood, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Fordham University) at Wheaton College
Kierkegaard on Faith, Doubt, and Uncertainty
Annual Kierkegaard Lecture
October 14, 2020 (Virtual Lecture) | Dr. C. Stephen Evans, Professor of Philosophy and the Humanities (Ph.D., Yale University) at Baylor University
Grace, Predestination, and Free Will
November 11, 2020 (Virtual Lecture) | W. Matthews Grant, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Fordham University) at University of St. Thomas
Spring 2020 Speakers
Doing Nature: The Art of Real Places
2019-20 Aesthetics Lecture
February 13, 2020 | Joel Sheesley ('72), Professor of Art Emeritus (M.F.A., University of Denver) at Wheaton College
An Optimistic Pessimism
2019-20 McManis Lecture
March 4, 2020 | Dr. Hud Hudson, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Rochester) at Western Washington University
Law, Variation, and the Stamp of Thought: The Importance of Reason in Kierkegaard
Annual Kierkegaard Lecture
POSTPONED | Dr. Eleanor Helms, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Fordham University) at California Polytechnic State University
Fall 2019 Speakers
Puzzles of Petitionary Prayer
September 17, 2019 | Dr. Scott Davison, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Morehead State University
Transformative Religious Experience and Empathy for Future Selves
2019-20 McManis Lecture
October 24, 2019 | Dr. L.A. Paul, Professor of Philosophy and Cognitive Science (Ph.D., Princeton University) at Yale University
Philosophizing by Listening to the Past
November 12, 2019 | Dr. David Vessey, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Grand Valley State University
Spring 2019 Speakers
Toward Clarity on Kierkegaard's Contributions to the Church
Annual Kierkegaard Lecture
February 7, 2019 | Dr. Mark Tietjen, Chaplain and Grace Palmer Johnston Chair of the Bible (Ph.D., Baylor University) at The Stony Brook School
Suffering and Flourishing
March 21, 2019 | Dr. Eleonore Stump, Robert J. Henle Chair in Philosophy (Ph.D., Cornell University) at St. Louis University
The Love Imperative: A Defense
April 11, 2019 | Dr. Meghan Sullivan, Professor of Philosophy and the Rev. John A. O'Brien Collegiate Chair (Ph.D., Rutgers University) at University of Notre Dame
Fall 2018 Speakers
The Good Life
September 13, 2018 | Dr. Dan Haybron, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Rutgers University) at St. Louis University
"Turn Us to You": Augustine's Confessions for the 21st Century
2018-19 Core Book Symposium
October 10, 2018 | Dr. Joseph Clair, Dean of the College of Christian Studies, Liberal Arts, and Honors, and Associate Professor of Theology (Ph.D., Princeton University) at George Fox University
Co-sponsored by Core Studies; English, Modern and Classical Languages, and Philosophy Departments; and the Wheaton Center for Early Christian Studies
Insane Emotions?
November 7, 2018 | Dr. Agnes Callard, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley) at The University of Chicago
Spring 2018 Speakers
Reason and Conscience: The Double Ground of Religious Toleration in Pierre Bayle
February 13, 2018 | Dr. Kristen Irwin, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of California, San Diego) at Loyola University
Aquinas on Omnipresence
March 20, 2018 | Dr. Jeffrey Brower, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Iowa) at Purdue University
Gratitude: An Ancient Virtue for the Modern World
April 12, 2018 | Dr. Jed Atkins, Assistant Professor of Classical Studies (Ph.D. University of Cambridge) at Duke University
Fall 2017 Speakers
A “Post-Racial America”? White Gazes and Black Bodies
September 14, 2017 | Dr. George Yancy, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Duquesne University) at Emory University
Eternal Fulfillment? Some Thoughts on the Afterlife
October 4, 2017 | Dr. Kevin Hector, Associate Professor of Theology and the Philosophy of Religions (Ph.D., Princeton Seminary) at The University of Chicago Divinity School
“Six or Seven Life Lessons That I Have Drawn from Kierkegaard”
Annual Kierkegaard Lecture
November 16, 2017 | Dr. Gordon Marino, Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Hong Kierkegaard Library (Ph.D., University of Chicago) at St. Olaf College
Spring 2017 Speakers
Pride - Both Good and Bad
February 16, 2017 | Dr. Kevin Timpe, W. H. Jellema Chair in Christian Philosophy (Ph.D., Saint Louis University) at Calvin College
The Return of the Natural Law
March 2, 2017 | Dr. J. Budziszewski, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Yale University) at University of Texas at Austin
The Strange Uses of Political Religion
March 13, 2017 - McManis Lecture | Dr. Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy (Ph.D., Oxford University) at McGill University
The Socratic Idea That Reason Should Rule the Whole Soul--and Its Freudian Fate
April 18, 2017 | Dr. Jonathan Lear, the John U. Nef Distinguished Service Professor (Ph.D., Rockefeller University) at the Committee on Social Thought and at the Department of Philosophy at The University of Chicago
Fall 2016 Speakers
A Postmodern Saint? Augustine in France
August 31, 2016 | Dr. James K.A. Smith, Professor of Philosophy and Gary & Henrietta Byker Chair in Applied Reformed Theology & Worldview (Ph.D., Villanova University) at Calvin College
Can Christ be Kant's Rational Person?
September 28, 2016 | Dr. Thomas McCall, Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology and the Director of the Carl F. H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding (Ph.D., Calvin Theological Seminary) at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
Specifically Christian Sins: Thomas Aquinas on Malitia, Acedia, and the Sins against the Holy Spirit
November 15, 2016 | Dr. Colleen McCluskey, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Iowa) at Saint Louis University
Spring 2016 Speakers
Rethinking Art
March 1, 2016 | Dr. Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus Philosophical Theology Divinity School and Religious Studies (Ph.D., Harvard University) at Yale University
Is the Incarnation of God Impossible?
March 23, 2016 | Dr. Tim Pawl, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Saint Louis University) at University of St. Thomas
Rethinking 'One Thought Too Many'
April 7, 2016 | Dr. Marcia Baron, Rudy Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of North Carolina) at Indiana University
Fall 2015 Speakers
Are We Harming the Global Poor?
September 16, 2015 | Dr. Steven Daskal, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Michigan) at Northern Illinois University
Does Suffering Provide a Good Reason for Atheism? A Skeptical Theist’s Analysis
November 5, 2015 | Dr. Michael Bergmann, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Purdue University
Revisiting Thomas Aquinas on Human Creativity and the Environment
December 1, 2015 | Dr. Therese Scarpelli-Cory, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Catholic University of America) at University of Notre Dame
Spring 2015 Speakers
The Mercy-Justice Paradox in Historical Perspective
January 22, 2015 | Dr. Alex Tuckness, Assistant Professor of Political Science (Ph.D., Princeton University) at Iowa State University
Turning to Aquinas in Moral Philosophy
Orientations to the Good: Beyond Consequentialist and Retributivist Theories of Blame
March 24, 2015 | Dr. Christopher Franklin, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of California-Riverside ) at Grove City College
Fall 2014 Speakers
Need As a Reason To Believe In God
September 17, 2014 | Dr. Cliff Williams, Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Wheaton College & Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Ph.D., Indiana University) at Trinity International University
The Trouble With Talking About God
October 14, 2014 | Dr. Jonathan Jacobs, Associate Professor of Classical and Medieval Philosophy (Ph.D., Indiana University) at Saint Louis University
Hope As a Christian Theological Virtue
November 19, 2014 | Dr. Nancy Snow, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Marquette University
Spring 2014 Speakers
Repentance in Human Experience: On Interpersonal and Historical Turning
January 23, 2014 | Dr. Anthony Steinbock, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., SUNY Stony Brook) at Southern Illinois University
Morality and Blame
March 19, 2014 | Dr. George Sher, Herbert S. Autrey Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Columbia University ) at Rice University
Fall 2013 Speakers
Kant, Hegel and the Fate of Reason
September 26, 2013 | Dr. Merold Westphal, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Ph.D., Yale University) at Fordham University
To Be or Not To Be: The Avicennian Distinction between Essence and Existence and Its Repercussions in the Thought of Thomas Aquinas
October 16, 2013 | Dr. Jon McGinnis, Professor of Classical and Medieval Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania) at University of Missouri-St. Louis
Ibn Rushd Averroes and Aquinas on Ultimate Human Happiness
November 12, 2013 - McManis Lecture | Dr. Richard C. Taylor, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Toronto) at Marquette University
What Makes Our Actions Right or Wrong? Al-Ghazali's Islamic Virtue Ethics
December 3, 2013 | Dr. Luke Yarbrough, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Princeton University) at Saint Louis University
Spring 2013 Speakers
Edward, Bella, and Aquinas: Resurrected Bodies that Sparkle in the Sun
January 24, 2013 | Dr. Christina Van Dyke, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Cornell University) at Calvin College
The Stories of Our Lives: Personal Identity and Narrative
Dr. Marya Schechtman, Professor of Philosophy and Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience (Ph.D., Harvard University) at University of Illinois at Chicago
Fall 2012 Speakers
God and Evil: What NOT to Say?
September 6, 2012 | Dr. Samuel Newlands, Director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion and Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Yale University) at the University of Notre Dame
Hell and How to Get There
October 9, 2012 | Dr. Charles Taliaferro, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Brown University) at St Olaf University
Divine Hiddenness
November 27, 2012 | Dr. Michael Rea, Co-Director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion and Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at University of Notre Dame
Spring 2012 Speakers
Divine Elusiveness, Reasonable Nonbelief, and the Existence of God
February 9, 2012 | Dr. Chad Meister, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Marquette University) at Bethel College (Indiana)
The Dignity of the Human Person
March 20, 2012 | Dr. Gilbert Meilaender, Professor of Theology (Ph.D., Princeton University) at Valparaiso University
Philosophical Hermeneutics as the Postmodern Turn
April 17, 2012 | Dr. Merold Westphal, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus (Ph.D., Yale University) at Fordham University
Fall 2011 Speakers
What's Wrong with Lying?
September 21, 2011 | Dr. Thomas Carson, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Brown University) at Loyola University Chicago
How to Abandon Hope
Emotions & Moral Knowledge
Dr. Robert Roberts, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Yale University) at Baylor University
Spring 2011 Speakers
Kant on Morality, Religion, and Purpose in Life
Tuesday January 25, 2011 | Dr. Kyla Ebels-Duggan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Harvard University) at Northwestern University
Is Buddhist Enlightenment Salvation?
Wednesday February 16, 2011 | Dr. Keith Yandell, Professor of Philosophy of Religion (Ph.D., Ohio State University) at University of Wisconsin, Madison
Anselm on Free Will
Tuesday March 22, 2011 - McManis Lecture | Dr. Katherin Rogers, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at University of Delaware
Aquinas on Human Personhood and Death
Tuesday April 12, 2011 - McManis Lecture | Dr. Jeffrey Brower, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Iowa) at Purdue University
Fall 2010 Speakers
Explaining God Away?
Tuesday September 14, 2010 | Dr. Kelly Clark, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Calvin College
Disagreeing about the Weather, God, and Other Important Topics
Wednesday October 13, 2010 | Dr. Ted A. Warfield, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Rutgers University) at University of Notre Dame
Exploring C. S. Lewis' Many Loves
Tuesday November 16, 2010 | Dr. Caroline Simon, John and Jeanne Jacobson Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Washington) at Hope College
Medieval Philosophy and the Foundations of Christian Intellectualism: How Augustine Made it Safe for Smart People to be Christians
Thursday December 2, 2010 - McManis Lecture | Dr. Scott MacDonald, Professor of Philosophy, Chair of the Sage School of Philosophy, and Norma K. Regan Professor in Christian Studies (Ph.D., Cornell University) at Cornell University
Spring 2010 Speakers
Animal Welfare and Global Sustainability: Eating as an Act of Christian Discipleship
Thursday January 28, 2010 | Dr. Matthew Halteman, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Notre Dame) at Calvin College
What's So Bad about Stealing? Augustine and the Theft of the Pears
Thursday February 25, 2010 | Dr. Susan Brower-Toland, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Cornell University) at St. Louis University
Can There Be a Complete Explanation of Everything?
Tuesday March 30, 2010 | Dr. Timothy O'Connor, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Cornell University) at Indiana University Bloomington
Science and Religion: The Alleged Evolutionary Divide
Wednesday April 21, 2010 | Dr. Del Ratzsch, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts) at Calvin College
Fall 2009 Speakers
Who's Afraid of Philosophical Realism: Taking the Emerging Church to Task
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 | Dr. Kevin J. Corcoran, Associate Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., Purdue University) at Calvin College
Edith Stein's Value Theory
Tuesday October 13, 2009 | Dr. Mette Lebech, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Copenhagen) at National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Moral Objectivity without God
Thursday November 5, 2009 | Dr. Russ Shafer-Landau, Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., University of Arizona) at University of Wisconsin