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Intellectual Life Events
Conferences and Lectures sponsored by the Theology Department and its Faculty
Why Major or Minor in Theology or Religious Studies?
Theological thinking seeks not only an understanding of the nature of religion. It also seeks an understanding of the relationship of religion to a contemporary world where social, political, and economic structures are often unjust; where secular faiths arise; and where scientific and technological advances pose new problems for human self-understanding.
Karl Rahner
“In the ultimate depths of his being man knows nothing more surely than that his knowledge, that is, what is called knowledge in everyday parlance, is only a small island in a vast sea that has not been travelled. It is a floating island, and it might be more familiar to us than the sea, but ultimately it is borne by the sea and only because it is can we be borne by it. Hence the existentiell question for the knower is this: Which does he love more, the small island of his so-called knowledge or the sea of infinite mystery?”
The Role of the Catholic Church in the Democratization Process in Poland from 1989 - 2024
Stanley Obirek of the University of Warsaw will give this year’s 2024 McCormick Chair Lecture on “The Role of the Catholic Church in the Democratization Process in Poland from 1989 – 2024. The lecture will be held on Thursday, September 19, in Coffey Hall – McCormick Lounge from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. All are welcome.
Prof. Obirek is a cultural anthropologist, theologian, historian, publicist. He works at the Institute of the Americas and Europe at the University of Warsaw. He was a visiting professor at the College of the Holy Cross and a fellow at St. Louis University. His books include: The Jesuits in the Commonwealth of Poland-Lithuania, 1564-1668 (1996); Winged Mind. Walter Ong’s Anthropology of Word (2010); with Zygmunt Bauman, On God and Man. Conversations (2013); with Arno Tausch, Global Catholicism, Tolerance and Open Society. An Empirical Study of the Value Systems of Roman Catholics (2020). He is currently working on a book dealing with a global understanding of postsecularism. He is interested in the place of religion in modern cultures, interreligious dialogue, and strategies for overcoming conflicts between different civilizations and cultures.