Religion
With summer now fully underway, we return to ordinary life. Yet, moments and ideas drawn from the Portsmouth Institute’s conference on “Newman and the Intellectual Tradition” linger, and one needn’t but scoop away life’s loose gravel to find the undercurrents that run through thought and living both. Something in the structure of Catholicism and in…
The final lecture of the Portsmouth Institute’s 2010 conference on “Newman and the Intellectual Tradition” was given by Oxford Theology Professor Rev. Ian Ker, on “Newman’s (and Pope Benedict XVI’s) Hermeneutic of Continuity.” Introducing Rev. Ker was frequent Providence Journal contributor and Providence College Professor Fr. David Stokes. (The remainder of Rev. Ker’s speech is…
According to its Web site, the Cardinal Newman Society works to “renew and strengthen Catholic identity in Catholic higher education.” To that end, the organization’s president spoke on “Newman and the Renewal of Catholic Identity in Higher Education” at the Portsmouth Institute’s 2010 conference, here introduced by Portsmouth Abbey Headmaster James DeVecchi: (The remainder of…
In a brief review of Alasdair MacIntyre’s God, Philosophy, Universities: A Selective History of the Catholic Philosophical Tradition (try here without a subscription), Ryan Anderson makes a point that echoes in a Portsmouth Institute speech by Patrick Reilly that I’ll be posting tomorrow: Scholars once sought unified knowledge of all being, in pursuit of which…
The Saturday session of the Portsmouth Institute conference on Cardinal John Henry Newman began with a speech concerning Newman’s view of American religion. (The remainder of Mr. Short’s speech is available in the extended entry of this post.) As one finds with a great many authors of the past few centuries, Newman treated the United…
J.H.H. Weiler makes a mighty effort, in First Things, to argue that both Jesus and the Jewish leaders whom He faced in His culture-defining trial were innocent, within the boundaries that God had set for each. The core of Weiler’s argument derives from Deuteronomy 13:1-5, which foretells of a prophet who, acting on God’s behalf,…
The after-dinner speech of the Portsmouth Institute’s Friday, June 11, session centered around Cardinal John Henry Newman’s residence, the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, in Birmingham, England, and efforts to collect and preserve his writings. With a video about the effort, Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly introduced the Oratory’s current provost, Fr. Richard Duffield,…
The third lecture of this year’s Portsmouth Institute conference, on Newman and the Intellectual Tradition, was an overview of Cardinal John Henry Newman’s famous poem, “The Dream of Gerontius,” by Boston College Philosophy Professor Peter Kreeft, with Portsmouth Abbey Chaplin Dom Julian Stead introducing the speaker: (The remainder of Dr. Kreeft’s speech is available in…
The lecture on Cardinal John Henry Newman’s Grammar of Assent, by Duke Divinity School Professor Paul Griffiths, reminded me what I miss about college. To think of such high and fundamental reasoning being a subject of everyday contemplation and discussion! (We strive for some small taste of that, on Anchor Rising, but it’s just not…
As with last year, Rev. George Rutler — pastor of the Church of Our Savior in New York City and well-known author — gave the opening speech of the Portsmouth Institute’s annual conference, although this year, his wasn’t a lone Thursday speech, limiting his audience, but a fully attended Friday morning affirmation of anticipation. Introducing…