Podcast
The Thomistic Institute
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The Thomistic Institute exists to promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square. The thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Universal Doctor of the Church, is our touchstone.
The Thomistic Institute Podcast features the lectures and talks from our conferences, campus chapters events, intellectual retreats, livestream events, and much more.
Founded in 2009, the Thomistic Institute is part of the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC.
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Episodes
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Thomistic Sacramental Theology – Fr. Thomas Joseph White
2d ago00:54:58Tap to summarizeThis lecture was given on February 6th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Thomas Joseph White is the Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in Rome. Originally a native of southeastern Georgia in the US, Fr. White studied at Brown University, where he converted to Catholicism. He did his doctoral studies in theology at Oxford University, and is the author of various books and articles including Wisdom in the Face of Modernity, A Thomistic Study in Natural Theology (Sapientia Press, 2016), The Incarnate Lord, A Thomistic Study in Christology (The Catholic University of America Press, 2015), The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (Catholic University of America Press, 2022), Principles of Catholic Theology Book III: On God, Trinity, Creation, and Christ (Catholic University of America Press, 2024) and Contemplation and the Cross (The Catholic University of America Press, 2025). With Matthew Levering he is the co-editor of the academic journal Nova et Vetera. In 2011 he was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas and in 2019 was named a Distinguished Scholar of the McDonald Agape Foundation. He held the 2018-2019 McInnes Chair for theological inquiry at the Angelicum. In 2022, he was granted an honorary doctorate from the Catholic University of America, and in 2023 he was elected President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. In 2023, Fr. White was also awarded the title Master of Sacred Theology, one of the highest academic awards in the Dominican Order.
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Pope Leo XIII and Communism – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
3d ago00:41:46Tap to summarizeFr. Brad Elliott shows how Leo’s Rerum Novarum responds to Marx and Engels by grounding property rights in the father’s duty to provide, the family’s priority over the state, and the Church’s vision of human flourishing.This lecture was given on November 1st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002.After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson.After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA.In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023.Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Communism, Family, Marx, Engels, Pope Leo XIII, Private Property, Property Rights, Rerum Novarum, Social Justice
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Nagasaki Prays, Hiroshima Rages: God's Providence and Narratives of Suffering – Prof. James Nolan
6d ago00:51:14Tap to summarizeProf. James Nolan argues that Nagasaki’s prayerful response to the atomic bomb can only be understood through the city’s long Christian history, especially the witness of the hidden Christians and Takashi Nagai.This lecture was given on January 29th, 2026, at Florida State University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Professor James L. Nolan, Jr. is the Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Sociology at Williams College, where he has been teaching since 1996. Professor Nolan’s teaching and research interests fall within the general areas of law and society, culture, technology and social change, and historical comparative sociology. His most recent book, Atomic Doctors: Conscience and Complicity at the Dawn of the Nuclear Age, was published with Harvard University Press in 2020. His previous books include What They Saw in America: Alexis de Tocqueville, Max Weber, G.K. Chesterton, and Sayyid Qutb (2016); Legal Accents, Legal Borrowing: The International Problem-Solving Court Movement (2009); Reinventing Justice: The American Drug Court Movement (2001); and The Therapeutic State: Justifying Government at Century’s End (1998). He is the recipient of several grants and awards including National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships and a Fulbright scholarship. He has held visiting fellowships at Oxford University, Loughborough University, the University of Notre Dame, Catholic University of America, and Nagasaki Junshin Catholic University.Keywords: Atomic Bomb, Christian History, Forgiveness, Hidden Christians, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Providence, Suffering, Takashi Nagai, Urakami Cathedral
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What is Catholic Social Teaching? – Fr. Brad Elliott, O.P.
1w ago01:01:51Tap to summarizeFr. Brad Elliott argues that it is really a theological vision of the human person as a social being ordered to God through family, polity, and Church, showing how the common good, friendship, and the distinct missions of these three societies shape both public life and spiritual life.This lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at Vanderbilt University.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Fr. Brad Elliott was raised in Dayton Ohio and studied Jazz percussion at the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music. After being raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran he entered the Catholic Church in 2002.After moving to California, Fr. Brad became an active, performing musician, with a reputation as a highly sought after drummer on the international scene. Working in Los Angeles, CA, he performed and recorded various styles of modern music from Rock to jazz and big band. During his time in Los Angeles he performed and toured extensively with artists such as Annie Stela and Brie Larson.After ten years as a professional drum set player and feeling a call to commit himself entirely to Jesus Christ, Fr. Brad chose to leave the music industry and become a Dominican friar within Western Dominican Province. After completing theological studies, he was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ on June, 22nd 2018 at St. Dominic’s Church in San Francisco, CA.In 2014 Fr. Brad received an MA in philosophy from the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley CA. In 2021 he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in Washington DC. In 2025 he completed a Doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC focusing on the role of human craft and participatory governance in the social doctrine of the Church. He is currently a professor of Moral Theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He authored the book The Shape of the Artistic Mind published by Pontifex University Press in 2023.Keywords: Catholic Social Teaching, Common Good, Church, Family, Friendship, Holiness, Polity, Rerum Novarum, Society, Subsidiarity
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Mercy and Justice in Political Life: Augustine, Seneca, and Nussbaum – Prof. Sarah Byers
1w ago01:06:23Tap to summarizeThis lecture was given on January 23rd, 2026, at University of Toronto.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Sarah Byers is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. Her interests include St. Augustine, Hellenistic philosophy, and the history of ancient and medieval ethics and metaphysics. She is responsible for many publications, including Perception, Sensibility, and Moral Motivation in Augustine: A Stoic-Platonic Synthesis, a book that argues that Augustine assimilated the Stoic theory of perception into his philosophy.Keywords: Augustine, Compassion, Justice, Mercy, Martha Nussbaum, Neoplatonism, Political Life, Seneca, Stoicism, Virtue Ethics
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The University and the Search for Wisdom in the Middle Ages – Dr. Brian FitzGerald
1w ago00:54:46Tap to summarizeDr. Brian FitzGerald explores how the first universities emerged from cathedral schools and monastic learning, and why they were built not just to transmit information, but to cultivate wisdom, practical judgment, and a love of learning. This lecture was given on January 15th, 2026, at Dartmouth College.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:Brian FitzGerald is Lecturer on Medieval Studies and the Study of Religion at Harvard University. A scholar of medieval history, his research focuses on the intellectual and religious culture of Europe from the twelfth to the fourteenth century. His first book, Inspiration and Authority in the Middle Ages: Prophets and their Critics from Scholasticism to Humanism (Oxford University Press, 2017) examined how medieval intellectuals in France, England, and Italy sought to understand and resolve competing claims of divine inspiration or prophecy. His other interests include medieval historical consciousness, the history of education, and relations between eastern and western Christianity. Before coming to Harvard, he taught in the Humanities program and served as Academic Dean at Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts.Keywords: Cathedral Schools, Collegiate Principle, Disputation, Liberal Arts, Medieval University, Practical Wisdom, Scholasticism, Thomas Aquinas, University Of Paris, Wisdom
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The Good Citizen: Lessons from Tocqueville on Democratic Citizenship in the 21st Century – Prof. Raymond Hain
1w ago00:46:36Tap to summarizeProf. Raymond Hain argues that Tocqueville’s insights show democratic citizenship depends on stable attachments, shared social life across class lines, and a willingness to let citizens practice freedom through responsibility.This lecture was given on December 4th, 2025, at University of Tulsa.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:Raymond Hain is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Associate Director of the Humanities Program at Providence College in Providence, RI. Educated at Christendom College, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Oxford, he is the founder of the PC Humanities Forum and Humanities Reading Seminars and is responsible for the strategic development of the Humanities Program into a vibrant, world class center of teaching, research, and cultural life dedicated to the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. His scholarly interests include the history of ethics (especially St. Thomas Aquinas), applied ethics (especially medical ethics and the ethics of architecture), Alexis de Tocqueville, and philosophy and literature (especially Catholic aesthetics). His work has been supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Templeton Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, and the Charles Koch Foundation. His essays have appeared in various journals and collections including The Thomist, International Journal of Applied Philosophy, and The Anthem Companion to Tocqueville. He is the editor of Beyond the Self: Virtue Ethics and the Problem of Culture and is currently working on a monograph titled The Lover and the Prophet: An Essay in Catholic Aesthetics. He joined Providence College in 2011 and lives just across the street with his wife Dominique and their five children.Keywords: Citizenship, Democracy in America, Democratic Citizenship, Family Formation, Religion, Robert Putnam, Tocqueville, Subsidiarity, Stability, Strong Gods
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How John Paul II Used the Saints Against the Communists in Poland – Prof. James Felak
2w ago00:46:36Tap to summarizeProf. James Felak shows how John Paul II used the saints in his pilgrimages to communist Poland to challenge atheistic rule, strengthen Catholic identity, and encourage resistance and hope.This lecture was given on October 31st, 2025, at St. Albert's Priory.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:James Felak is a Professor of History and current holder of the Newman Center Term Professorship in Catholic Christianity at the University of Washington. He specializes in Catholicism in East Central Europe and has authored two books on Catholic politics in Slovakia, and a book on Pope John Paul II and his visits to his native Poland during and after Communist rule there. This latter work is based on hundreds of pages of papal speeches and sermons, and the records of the Communist government and secret police as they monitored the Pope during his visits. Besides courses on modern Europe, Felak teaches “The History of Christianity” and “Catholic Classics in Historical Context.” The latter course covers the major Catholic writers and thinkers from St. Augustine and St. Benedict through G. K. Chesterton and Flannery O’Connor. Felak is from southwestern Pennsylvania, received his doctorate from Indiana University, and has resided in Seattle since 1989.Keywords: Catholic Identity, Communion Of Saints, Communist Poland, John Paul II, Maximilian Kolbe, Polish History, Saint Stanislaus, Saint Wojciech, Sacred Space, Solidarity Movement
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Musical Dependence: What's Behind It and How We Can Move Beyond It – Sr. Anna Wray, O.P.
2w ago00:45:23Tap to summarizeSr. Anna Wray argues that many people are caught in a “musical dependence” that uses music to make ordinary life merely tolerable, a mere toleration which can transformed into true enjoyment by means of asceticism and an education in genuine enjoyment.This lecture was given on November 12th, 2025, at Catholic University of America.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speaker:Sister Anna Wray is a native of Connecticut and a member of the Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia of Nashville, TN. Sister received her PhD in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, having written her dissertation on Aristotle’s account of the activity of contemplation. Sister is an assistant professor on the faculty of CUA's School of Philosophy in Washington, DC, where she regularly teaches courses in rhetoric, philosophy of religion, and philosophical psychology. She is also an adjunct professor for Aquinas College, where she teaches metaphysics and epistemology to her sisters in formation. Her research and conversational interests include imagination and attention in human agency and speech, the effects of technology on human agency, and form as function and unifying activity.Keywords: Asceticism, Aristotle, Delight, Entelechaic Activity, Liturgy, Music, Musical Dependence, Silence, Thomistic Anthropology, Worship
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Silence, Contemplation, and Non-Being – Fr. Ephrem Reese O.P.
2w ago00:55:46Tap to summarizeFr. Ephrem Reese argues that silence is not mere absence but a fertile, hidden potency through which contemplation, devotion, and the word of God can come to life.This lecture was given on November 8th, 2025, at Dominican House of Studies.To make a gift this June, visit https://truth.thomisticinstitute.org/pod.About the Speakers:Fr. Ephrem Reese was born in Harrisburg, PA, and has family in Philadelphia, New Jersey and California. He received a BA from St John’s College in Annapolis, MD in 2010, and was confirmed in the Catholic Church at that year’s Easter Vigil. He lived for a year in DC, a few blocks from the Dominican House of Studies, and attended the nearby parish, St Anthony of Padua. While in DC, he was an intern for Pax Christi USA, promoting Just War teaching. “Dominican life has finally given me a picture of what it means for my own soul to be saved. This is a joy worth preaching: loving Jesus Christ, united with the Brethren in one heart and mind.”Keywords: Contemplation, Devotion, Grace, Hiddenness, Non-Being, Prayer, Silence, Thomism, Womb, Word Of God
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