“Saint Thomas, who was as simple as he was wise,” wrote Jacques Maritain, “defined the beautiful as that which, being seen, pleases: id quod visum placet. These four words say all that is necessary: a vision, that is to say, an intuitive knowledge, and a delight.”
At this summer’s Wyoming School of Catholic Thought, we began by looking at the Medieval cosmos. It is a beautiful vision that, alas, turns out not to be true. Then we looked at the modern vision—the vision of scientism—in which the universe is nothing but a randomly constituted result of elementary particles bumping into each other. It is a universe without goodness, beauty, or truth—save the truth (maybe) of mathematics and physics.
Yet the topic of our week together was, “Beauty is Truth: Science and the Catholic Imagination.”
After we reduced the Medieval cosmos to “fermions and bosons,” Dr. Jeremy Holmes began putting the world back together arguing that beauty is a necessary part of the scientific endeavor. His lecture was over an hour long, but will, I think, be well worth your time and concentration. Hearing it again brought great delight so, using Thomas' definition, it can be called a beautiful lecture.
On the Anointing of the Sick with Dr. Kent Lasnoski
Lifting Our Eyes to the Hills and Studying the Rocks with Prof. Lauren Heerschap
"Shakespeare's Rome": The 2021 Wyoming School of Catholic Thought with Dr. Glenn Arbery
Taming the Christmas Rush with Fr. David Anderson
Time, Space, and Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity with Dr. Michael Bolin
"This Holiday of Spirits": Jane Austen, Courtly Love, and Happy Endings with Dr. Tiffany Schubert
Fear and Kingship: The Life of Saul with Dr. Jeremy Holmes
Advent: Season of Waiting with Msgr. Daniel Seiker
The Civic Virtue of Thanksgiving with Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos
Carpe Diem: The Poetry of Horace with Prof. Eugene Hamilton
Euclid: From a Point to "The Death Star" with Dr. Henry Zepeda
Hospitality in Homer's "Odyssey" with Prof. Adam Cooper
Why Sacred Art is Necessary to the Faith with Prof. David Clayton
Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life at Wyoming Catholic with Msgr. Daniel Seiker
Pursuing Poetic Knowledge with Dr. Jim Tonkowich
The Constitution, Philosophy, and Pope John Paul II with Judge Leon Holmes
The Founding of Rome and the Question of Honor with Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos
The Wrath of Achilles: Reading Homer's Iliad with Dr. Glenn Arbery
Lecture: "Beauty is Truth: How Poetry Enriches Science" by Dr. Tiffany Schubert
Copyright © 2006-2021 Podbean.com