| home |
current schedule |
email listserv signup |
| info and press |
schedule archive | paper archive |
| DATE |
SPEAKER / RESPONDENT |
TOPIC |
| Wed Sept 19 |
Doug Kries, Philosophy, Gonzaga Michael Maher, SJ, History, Gonzaga |
“St. Thomas for Zags?
Why Friar Thomas Should Teach the Bulldogs” (talk outline) From the beginning, Ignatius of Loyola and his companions regarded education as central to the preparation of men for the service of God in the Society of Jesus. The educational program set out for members of the Society, which in time became the plan for a mission work of the Jesuits to lay people, included a significant component of philosophy and theology, and highlighted the systematic philosophical theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Is there still a place for St. Thomas in the curriculum of a Jesuit university? Dr. Kries will argue that St. Thomas' virtues as a questioner and reader, and his wisdom on the relationship between faith and reason, make him a central figure for Jesuit, Catholic, humanist education, and therefore continue to justify his place in the curriculum of a university such as Gonzaga. |
| Wed Oct 10 |
Eric Cunningham, History, Gonzaga Tim Clancy, SJ, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Zen Buddhism and Christianity in
Dialogue: Nishida Kitaro's Dialectics of Divine Love and History" In this talk Dr. Eric Cunningham, Gonzaga University Professor of History and author of the recent Hallucinating the End of History: Nishida, Zen, and the Psychedelic Eschaton (Bethesda: Academica Press, 2007), examines the historical philosophy of Nishida Kitaro (1870-1945), Japan's first and foremost modern philosopher. Looking specifically at Nishida's historical philosophy, Cunningham will argue that Nishida's historical dialectics, rooted in earlier formulations of experience, and consciousness, constitutes a valid "postmodern" historical process. Not only does Nishida's historical philosophy creatively synthesize two distinct philosophical traditions (Zen Buddhism and western philosophy), it also opens the possibility for resolving the fundamental conflict between spirit and matter, leading human consciousness beyond modern materialism into a post-historical world of divine love and "absolute nothingness." Some of the topics and themes discussed in Dr Cunningham’s Socratic Club talk are treated in his article “The Self Determination of Absolute Nothingness: The Origins and Implications of Nishida Kitarô's Historical Philosophy, E-ASPAC Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast, 2007. |
| Wed Nov 14 |
Christopher Sparks, Philosophy
student, Gonzaga Anna Gonzales, Intercultural Relations, Unity House, Gonzaga |
"The Catholic Identity of
Gonzaga: A Student View" (talk
text / PowerPoint
presentation / mp3 audio) The Gonzaga Socratic Club welcomes its first-ever student presenter on Wednesday, November 14, from 4:00-5:30 pm in College Hall Room 203. Mr. Chris Sparks, a Gonzaga junior majoring in Philosophy with a minor in Religious Studies and concentration in Catholic Studies, will address the question of Catholic identity and higher education. In his talk “Ad Fontes! Gonzaga’s Catholic Identity from the Church’s Documents,” Sparks argues that key documents of both Gonzaga University and the Catholic church, including Gonzaga’s Mission Statement, Canon Law, the Vatican II declaration Gravissimum Educationis, and the Papal encyclical Ex Corde Ecclesiae, provide a road map for understanding and implementing Catholic identity. In Sparks’ view, these documents not only spell out the basic structure of the religious character of a Catholic university, they address practical questions about research emphasis, academic freedom, the special role of theology in studies, and the relationship between intellectual inquiry, faith, and science. Mr. Sparks is a staff writer for the Gonzaga Witness, opinion contributor to the Gonzaga Bulletin, regular writer for Charter, and an active member of several campus clubs and the Gonzaga Pep Band. |
| Wed Dec 5 |
David H. Calhoun, Philosophy,
Gonzaga Richard McClelland, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Aristotle in Narnia: Virtue
and Character in C. S. Lewis' Voyage
of the Dawn Treader" (PowerPoint
presentation / mp3 audio) Several generations of readers have found C. S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia to be engaging stories of fantasy and adventure that are rooted in a distinctively Christian worldview. In this talk, David Calhoun, Gonzaga philosophy professor and director of the Gonzaga Socratic Club, will argue that an important dimension of Lewis' Narnia stories is their articulation of a Christian conception of moral character. Drawing on the classic account of virtue ethics offered by Aristotle, Calhoun will sketch a basic account of a character approach to ethics and will explain how this approach is adapted by Christian thinkers. Using the Narnia story Voyage of the Dawn Treader for illustration, Calhoun will show how Lewis' depictions of the characters in the book highlight virtues or character excellences and demonstrate the nature of character formation. As a particular example, Calhoun will argue that the peculiar hyper-courtly talking mouse Reepicheep is intended by Lewis to capture a particularly Christian notion of virtuous self-understanding. |
| DATE |
SPEAKER / RESPONDENT |
TOPIC |
| Mon Jan 29 |
Tim Clancy, SJ, Philosophy, Gonzaga Richard McClelland, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
“Panentheism: Romantic
Religion” (talk) response by Richard McClelland One of the perennial puzzles of theism is how to think about God's relationship to the world. In traditional Christianity, God is the creator and source of all things, and so is distinct from creation--"transcendent," to use the traditional term. At the same time, God is involved with creation in a way distinct from the Deist conception of a divine clock-maker who winds up the universe and then leaves it to run on its own. Some modern theists have found the notion of panentheism a fruitful way to think about God's relationship with the world, especially as a way to capture the vulnerability and intimacy of God's love for the creation. Tim Clancy, SJ., a member of the Gonzaga University Philosophy Department and Director of the Gonzaga Honors Program, finds the concept of panentheism helpful for balancing our understanding of God's transcendence with the intimacy of his relationship with creation. He will offer a personal account of panentheism that links it to a relational view of religion, which he calls "Romantic Catholicism." A response will be offered by Richard McClelland of the Gonzaga Philosophy Department. |
| Fri Feb 9 | Ralph Wood, Theology and Literature,
Baylor Patricia Terry, English, Gonzaga |
"Walker Percy's The Moviegoer: Binx Bolling's Quest
for Vocation in Purposeless America" Catholic novelist Walker Percy (1916-1990) was a keen chronicler of the deranged condition of modern human life. After tuberculosis interrupted his residency in pathology at New York's Bellevue Hospital, he read voraciously and turned his attention to being a "physician of the soul," analyzing and naming the strangeness of being human in the twentienth century. Percy's first published novel was The Moviegoer, for which he won the National Book Award. Dr. Ralph Wood, University Professor of Theology and Literature at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, argues that we should note the important difference between vocation and profession, and realize that in addition to questions about how we will make our living, we must decide how we will live as human beings. In Wood's interpretation, the question of vocation--how to live--is at the heart of Percy's Moviegoer, illustrated by the sense of the main character, Binx Bolling, that his life has no real purpose. According to Wood, Binx is dealing with what Albert Camus called the authentic question for our time: Why should I do anything at all? Why should I not kill myself? And if I don¹t blow my brains out (as Walker Percy¹s father and grandfather had done), then why not "pleasure myself with the pretty young women"? As Wood sees it, the arc of the novel describes one person's attempt to answer this question in a serious way. A response will be offered by Patricia Terry of the Gonzaga English Department. |
| Fri Mar 23 |
Michael Maher, SJ, History and
Catholic Studies, Gonzaga Bill Ryan, SJ, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Ignatius of Loyola's Idea
of a Jesuit University" (talk
outline) Questions of mission and identity are a perennial topic of discussion at Jesuit universities. Michael Maher, SJ, of the Gonzaga University History Department and Catholic Studies program, contends that this discussion can and should be grounded in principles drawn from Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, and documents from the early history of the Society. According to Fr. Maher, “The establishment of a school designated as Ignatian must not be simply a return to the past but rather an assimilation of the tradition and its adaptation to present needs and problems. Such a school, however, must embrace the fundamental characteristics identified by Ignatius and establish means by which these can be implemented and evaluated. Thus an ‘Ignatian school’ has its roots nourished by past experience and insight whereas its branches are constantly exposed to the ever changing climate of our world today.” As a member of the Society of Jesus since 1975, a member of the Jesuit Historical Institute (appointed by Society of Jesus Superior-General Peter Hans Kolvenbach in 1997), and a scholar of Jesuit practices and principles in organizations, Fr. Maher has a particularly helpful perspective on the Ignatian vision for higher education. A response to the talk will be offered by Bill Ryan, SJ, of the Gonzaga University Philosophy Department. |
| Fri Apr 13 |
Richard McClelland, Philosophy, Gonzaga | "Perfect Being Theology: A
Tool for Theological Thinking" Philosophers and theologians in the Christian tradition over the past two millennia have employed three main models for understanding God's nature and relationship to the created universe: neo-Platonism, Aristotelian-Thomistic First-Cause philosophical theology, and Perfect Being Theology (PBT). PBT has its origins in the biblical concept of God as "perfect" or "flawless," the ideal standard of goodness (see, e.g., Psalm 18:30, Matthew 5:48), and is famously expressed in the definition of God offered by St. Anselm of Canterbury as "that being than which none greater can be conceived." However, PBT has assumed a position of central importance in philosophical theology in the past half-century, in the attempt to explain the divine nature in terms of compossible perfect-making attributes such as omnipotence, omniscience, and omnibenevolence. According to Dr. McClelland, Christians should appreciate the value of PBT as a tool for articulating the Christian conception of God in a philosophically and theologically rigorous way. |
| DATE |
SPEAKER / RESPONDENT |
TOPIC |
| Fri Sept 8 |
Michael J. Maher, SJ, History,
Gonzaga Kevin Connell, SJ, President, Gonzaga Prep |
Due to sudden illness, Fr. Maher's talk
had to be postponed. See March 23, 2007 for the reschedule
of his talk. |
| Fri Oct 13 |
Doug Geivett, Philosophy, Talbot
School of Theology, Biola University Debby Hutchins, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Miracles: Two
Philosophical Questions" |
| Wed Nov 8 |
Douglas Kries, Philosophy, Gonzaga | “Tocqueville and Benedict
XVI on Catholicism and Politics” |
| Fri Dec 1 |
Forrest Baird, Philosophy, Whitworth College | "C.S. Lewis and The Abolition of Man.” |
| DATE |
SPEAKER / RESPONDENT |
TOPIC |
| Fri Jan 20 |
Michael Collender, The Oaks Academy
and Philosophy, Gonzaga Quanhua Liu, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
“Comparative Religious
Epistemology: Can We Judge Whether Christianity or Buddhism is True?” (presentation outline) response by Quanhua Liu Many people today think of religions as equally true, or perhaps equally false, or they think that religious claims cannot be judged as true or false at all. The problem of judging religious claims as true or false is even more acute when one recognizes the reality of religious pluralism, and appreciates that religions involve competing “worldviews,” or ways of understanding reality, meaning, and truth. If different religions are rooted in different worldviews, each with competing ways of conceiving of what is true and the criteria by which one judges truth claims, it would seem that a religion can be judged only by the standards of its own worldview. If this is true, religions are “incommensurate”—they are distinct from one another and cannot be judged by any common set of standards of truth or value. Michael Collender, Instructor at The Oaks Academy and an adjunct instructor in the Gonzaga University Philosophy Department, argues that while it is true that competing religions are rooted in distinct worldviews, there are transcendent standards that can be employed to judge their truth. In order to make the problem concrete, Collender will consider Christianity and Buddhism as religious systems with competing claims to the truth. |
| Fri Feb 10 | Catherine Tkacz, independent scholar Fr Pat Hartin, Classical Civilizations and Religious Studies, Gonzaga Fr Paul Vevik, Pastor, Mary Queen Parish, Spokane, WA |
"Typology and Realism: Moses, Jesus, and
Reality" (PowerPoint /
outline pdf) Many modern Christians think of the Christian worldview as a construction patched together from disparate, even contradictory, experiences of an almost chaotically diverse group of people. By contrast, Dr Catherine Tkacz argues that classical realism—the view that reality is coherent, intelligible, and independent of knowing human minds—is critical to Christianity as a systematic outlook. She argues that realism is inherent to the Jewish scriptures and to the metaphysical and epistemological foundations of Christianity. Tkacz further argues that the interpretive method of typology is fundamental to the conception of truth advanced in Christian thought and that typology requires a realist outlook as well. Tkacz’s position therefore a via media between non-realist views of Christianity on one side and unreflective forms of uncontextualized realism on the other. Tkacz is a Spokane-based independent scholar of early and medieval Christianity. |
| Fri Mar 31 in AD 203 |
Erik Schmidt, Philosophy, Gonzaga Shalon Parker, Art, Gonzaga |
"Finding a place for beauty
and aesthetics in a Christian worldview" (talk) response (PowerPoint presentation) by Shalon Parker Contemporary philosophers and Christians are ignorant or embarrassed by the idea of beauty. In the view of Erik Schmidt, this is unfortunate. As he sees it, aesthetics ought to play a more important role in philosophical efforts to articulate and defend a Christian worldview. To make the case for this view, Schmidt first will offer an account of why aesthetics has been generally neglected by examining recent trends in both art history and philosophy. Next, he will offer a general defense of the importance of aesthetics by explaining how it relates to various issues that tend to play a more prominent role in recent defenses of the Christian worldview. Finally, Schmidt will provide an example of what Christian aesthetics might look like by defending the value and importance of beauty as a category of aesthetic appraisal. |
| Fri Apr 21 | Lyra Pitstick, independent scholar David Calhoun, Philosophy, Gonzaga John Wagner, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Why Christ's Descent into
Hell Matters for Christians" (presentation
outline) Holy Saturday is overshadowed by the visible drama of Christ’s crucifixion on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday. What is the significance of this day, when all the world is holding its breath? How can we approach a mystery to which there were no living witnesses? Does it have continuing significance for our lives and, if so, what? Addressing these questions from the perspective of the ancient universal Christian tradition, we will find that Christ’s descent into hell is as rich and meaningful a mystery of faith as the other aspects of Jesus’ life and death. It has great potential to enrich our appreciation of what He has done for our salvation, to serve as material for meditation and prayer, and to strength our Christian hope and zeal in a world ever in need of the Gospel. |
| DATE |
SPEAKER / RESPONDENT |
TOPIC |
| Fri Sept 9 |
Michael Tkacz, Philosophy,
Gonzaga |
"Thomas Aquinas vs. The
Intelligent Designers (and The Materialists) What is God's Finger Doing in my Pre-Biotic Soup?" summary of talk (.pdf format) / extended remarks (.html format) |
| Fri Oct 14, 3:45-5:15 pm |
Hugh Lefcourt, Biology, Gonzaga Mike Carey, Organizational Leadership, Gonzaga |
Catholic Mission and Identity: The Case of
Gonzaga Whither a Sectarian Institution in a Secular World? questions to consider (.html format) |
| Fri Nov 11 |
Tom Jeannot, Philosophy, Gonzaga Doug Kries, Philosophy, Gonzaga Ron Large, Religious Studies, Gonzaga |
Panel Discussion: "Should a
Christian Be a Pacifist? Thoughts on Peace and Just-War Theory" prepared remarks by panel members |
| Fri Dec 9 AD 203 |
David
Calhoun, Philosophy, Gonzaga Brian Clayton, Philosophy, Gonzaga Richard McClelland, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"A Christian in Narnia: Thoughts on the
New Film Version of The Lion, the
Witch, and the Wardrobe" |
| DATE |
SPEAKER / RESPONDENT |
TOPIC |
| Fri Jan 14 |
Mark Alfino, Philosophy,
Gonzaga |
"Magic and Christianity" |
| Fri Feb 11 |
a panel discussion with: Mike Cook, SJ, Religious Studies, Gonzaga Mike Stebbins, Religious Studies, Gonzaga Eric Kincanon, Physics, Gonzaga Michael Tkacz, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
God,
Suffering and Evil |
| Fri Mar 18 |
Robert Prusch, Biology and Dean of
the College of Arts and Sciences, Gonzaga David Calhoun, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Biology and Religion" (outline). |
| Fri Dec 9 |
Joel
Steinmetz, Philosophy, Catholic University Jason Williams, Psychology, Gonzaga |
"The Problem of Intentionality: A Cardinal Problem for Physicalism, OR, What Happens to the World When a Mind Shows Up?" (outline). |
| DATE |
SPEAKER |
TOPIC |
| Fri Sept 10 |
David Calhoun, Philosophy,
Gonzaga |
" 'Follow the Argument' and Two Other Socratic Principles for the Christian Academic". |
| Fri Oct 8 |
Doug Kries, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Romans
2:14-15, Natural
Law, and the Naturalist Fallacy". |
| Fri Nov 12 |
Brian Clayton, Philosophy, Gonzaga | "Night Light: Beauty and Truth in the Films of M. Night Shyamalan". |
| Fri Dec 10 |
Richard
McClelland, Philosophy, Gonzaga |
"Mythological Truths". |
INFORMATION
For
information about the Gonzaga Socratic Club or to propose topics or
speakers for future meetings, contact the Club Director: