Senior Fellows
Andrew Seeley
PresidentAndrew Seeley is co-founder and President of the Boethius Institute for the Advancement of Liberal Education. He also serves as the Director of Advanced Formation for Educators at the Augustine Institute. He received a Licentiate from the Pontifical Institute in Medieval Studies in Toronto and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. Over his three decades as a Tutor at Thomas Aquinas College in California, Dr. Seeley completed teaching every subject in its demanding, integrated Great Books curriculum. He is co-author of Declaration Statesmanship: A Course in American Government. Desiring to share his love of learning and teaching, Dr. Seeley co-founded the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education in 2005, where he served as Executive Director for 12 years, and continues to contribute as a board member and a Faculty Consultant. He became Executive Director of the Arts of Liberty Project in 2021. In recognition of his work in the renewal of liberal education, he has been named as the 2023 recipient of the Circe Institute’s Paideia Prize.
Publications
Classic Hymns for Catholic Schools (editor), Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, April, 2021.
Golden Treasures: Notes and Commentary on Classic English Hymns, Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, 2021.
Renewing Catholic Schools: How to Regain a Catholic Vision in a Secular Age (contributor). Catholic University of America Press, 2020.
Declaration Statesmanship: A Course in American Government (with Dr. Richard Ferrier), 2002; republished by TAN Books, 2021.
Papers and Essays
“Numbers Make Me Sad: A Mathematical Account of Music’s Emotional Power”, The National Conference of the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education, July 2021.
“The Declaration of Independence: Shadow or Image?” Thomas Aquinas College, February 2021.
“The Gravity of Gravity: Astronomy and its Relevance”, Imaginative Conservative, January 2021.
“Hamlet and the Problem of Conscience”, St. Austin Review, March/April 2016.
“A Wise and Understanding People”, presented to Authenticum, Grand Rapids, Michigan, April
2015.
“The Education of the Hobbits in the Lord of the Rings”, The Imaginative Conservative, August
2014.
“The Blessings of Liberty: Reminders from Aristotle and Livy For Our Troubled Times”: Arts
of Liberty: A Journal on Liberal Arts and Liberal Education, Summer 2014.
“Cassius and the Tragedy of Rome”, in Julius Caesar, Ignatius Critical Editions: San Francisco,
CA, 2012.
“Aristotelian Matter in an Evolutionary Cosmos”. Presented at the Society for Aristotelian Studies conference, June 2011.
Blog
Jeffrey Lehman
Dean of FellowsJeffrey S. Lehman is co-founder and Dean of Fellows at the Boethius Institute and Professor of Philosophy and Theology and Director of the M.A. in Catholic Education program at the Augustine Institute’s Graduate School of Theology. He earned a B.A. in Biblical Literature and Philosophy from Taylor University, an M.A. in Philosophy of Religion and Ethics from Biola University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Dallas. He is the founder and President of the Arts of Liberty Project, a Founding Fellow of the Center for Thomas More Studies, and he has served on the teaching faculty at Biola University, Thomas Aquinas College, Hillsdale College, and the University of Dallas, where he received the Haggerty Award for Excellence in Teaching. While at the University of Dallas, he also served as director of the Classical Education Graduate Program and executive director of the St. Ambrose Center for Catholic Liberal Education. He has several publications on a wide array of authors, including Augustine: Rejoicing in the Truth and Socratic Conversation: Bringing the Dialogues of Plato and the Socratic Tradition into Today's Classroom.
Monographs & Edited Volumes
Author: Socratic Conversation: Bringing the Dialogues of Plato and the Socratic Tradition into Today’s Classroom, Classical Academic Press, 2021 (front matter and first chapter)
Author: Augustine: Rejoicing in the Truth, Classical Academic Press, 2018 (front matter and first chapter)
Editor: Life of John Picus Earl of Mirandola: 500th Anniversary Edition, Center for Thomas More Studies, 2010 (entire work published online)
Articles in Academic Journals & Essays in Collections
Article: "The Cave and the Quadrivium: Mathematics in Classical Education," Principia: A Journal of Classical Education, Vol. 1. Iss. 1, 2022 (article)
Essay in Collection: "Book 3: Augustine's Pedagogy of Presence, Truth, and Love," in Augustine's Confessions and Contemporary Concerns, edited by Fr. David Vincent Meconi, SJ, Catholic University of America Press [Imprint: St. Paul Seminary Press], 2022 (table of contents and introduction to collection of essays)
Essay in Collection: "Passing Strange, Yet Wholly True: On the Political Tales of Plato’s Critias and More’s Hythlodaeus," in Thomas More: Why Patron of Statesmen?, edited by Travis Curtright, Rowman & Littlefield, 2015 (table of contents)
Article: "Seeing Tyranny in More’s History of King Richard III," Moreana, June 2013, Vol. 50, No. 191-192 (abstract)
Article: “'As I read, I was set on fire'": On the Psalms in Augustine's Confessions,” Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, Vol. 16, No. 2., Spring 2013 (entire article)
Essays & Excerpts: "Chapter 3: Aristotle" and "Chapter 4: Virgil", in The Great Books Reader, Excerpts and Essays on the Most Influential Books in Western Civilization, edited by John Mark Reynolds, Baker Publishing, 2011 (table of contents)
Public Lectures & Podcasts
Podcast: "Episode 1: Plato's Apology," The Examining Life: A Podcast of the Arts of Liberty Project (recording)
Podcast: "Episode 3: Raphael's School of Athens," The Examining Life: A Podcast of the Arts of Liberty Project (recording)
Podcast: "Episode 8: Anselm's Proslogion," The Examining Life: A Podcast of the Arts of Liberty Project (recording)
Public Lecture: “On the Psalms in St. Augustine’s Confessions," St. Vincent de Paul Lecture & Concert Series, Thomas Aquinas College, Santa Paula, CA, 2015 (recording)
Teaching Awards and Commendations
"Educating by Example: A Tribute to Dr. Lehman," by Avery Lacey, Hillsdale College, 2019 (article)
Haggerty Award for Excellence in Teaching, University of Dallas, 2022 (press release)
Erik Ellis
Assistant Professor of Education and Classical Learning at the University of DallasErik Ellis is Assistant Professor of Education and Classical Learning at the University of Dallas. He earned a B.A. in the University Scholars Program at Baylor University with major concentrations in Greek and Latin and a minor concentration in History. He stayed at Baylor to earn an M.A. in History. Upon graduation, worked as a teacher for five years. He next received master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Notre Dame’s Classics Department and Medieval Institute. He then traveled to Chile’s Universidad de los Andes to teach Latin, Greek, and Literature courses before returning to the US. As a researcher, Dr. Ellis focuses his efforts on tenth-century Byzantium and sixteenth-century Northern Europe, spending much time on Constantine Porphyrogennitos, Thomas More, Erasmus, and Juan Luis Vives, although he often allows himself to be distracted by J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis. He is enthusiastic about sacred choral music, visiting remote places, and speaking classical and modern foreign languages.
Education
The University of Notre Dame
2019 Ph.D., Medieval Studies
Dissertation: The Language of Order: Latin, Greek, and Roman in the Byzantine Book of
Ceremonies. Hildegund Müller (co-dir.), Alexander Beihammer (co-dir.), Peter Jeffery,
Aldo Tagliabue
2016 M.A., Classics
2015 M.M.S., Medieval Studies
Baylor University
2007 M.A., History, summa cum laude
Thesis: Petrarch’s Africa I-IV: A Translation and Historical Commentary. Jeffrey
Hamilton (dir.), Eric Rust, Antonios Augoustakis
2006 B.A. as a University Scholar, magna cum laude with major concentrations in Greek and
Latin and a minor concentration in history
Peer-Reviewed Publications
“Augustine on the Katechon: A Lesson from De Civitate Dei,” with Patricio Domínguez, Scripta
Medievalia 16.1 (Forthcoming 2023).
“Iterative amplificatio: a new way to read the ‘Lame Beggars Sequence’ in More’s
Epigrammata,” Moreana 59.2 (2022): 220–232.
“Performing Acclamation in Tenth-Century Byzantium: De Cerimoniis between Roman Practice
and Christian Theory,” Studia Patristica 130 (2021): 403-423.
“The Utopia Correspondence of 1515,” Moreana 58.2 (2021): 137-162.
“Dissent from Mt. Ventoux: Between Christian and Secular Humanism in Petrarch’s de Ascensu
Montis Ventosi,” Scripta Medievalia 14.1 (2021): 71-95.
“A True Knowledge of Theology: Self-Fashioning and Typological Emulation in the ErasmusDorp Affair,” Moreana 56.2 (2019): 161-176.
“Talis erat: The Continental Reputation of Thomas More in the Latin Epigrams of Stapleton’s
Vita Thomae Mori,” Moreana 55.2 (2018): 211-250.
Essays, Reviews, and Interviews
“Notes from the Quad: Hillsdale College,” CiRCE Institute Quiddity Podcast, December 12th,
2022.
Review of Pádraig Lenihan and Keith Sidwell, Poema de Hibernia: A Jacobite Epic on the
Williamite Wars, Neo-Latin News 70.3-4 (2022): 193-198.
“Mortimer Adler: Champion of Great Books Education,” Real Clear Education, March 14th,
2022.
Review of Andrew Dinan, Americana Latine, Neo-Latin News 69.3-4 (2021): 159-162.
“Leading Figures in Education: Mortimer Adler,” Hillsdale College Classical Education
Podcast, November 20th, 2020.
“What is Classical Education?,” The Imaginative Conservative, May 12th, 2020.
“Are the Great Books Enough to Revive Our Education System?,” The Imaginative
Conservative, April 30th, 2020.
John Boyle
Director of the Catholic Studies Program at University of St. Thomas, St. PaulJohn Boyle is Chairman of the Department of Catholic Studies at University of St. Thomas, St. Paul. He holds a Licentiate in Mediaeval Studies from the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies in Toronto and a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Toronto. Dr. Boyle writes on Thomas Aquinas and Thomas More. He is editor, with the late Leonard E. Boyle, of St. Thomas Aquinas’ recently discovered Lectura Romana in Primum Sententiarum Petri Lombardi. He has received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship and the Aquinas Medal from the University of Dallas. He also delivered the Aquinas Lecture at the National University of Ireland. He is a Senior Fellow, Center for Thomas More Studies, University of Dallas, and Associate Editor of Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and Culture, and a member of the editorial boards of the Thomas Aquinas in Translation series for the Catholic University of America Press and the Theology and Law Series, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies Publications, Toronto. His latest book, Aquinas on Scripture: A Primer, has been published by the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology.
Books
Aquinas on Scripture: A Primer (Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, 2023)
The Order and Division of Divine Truth: St. Thomas Aquinas as Scholastic Master of the Sacred Page (Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, 2021). A collection of my essays on St. Thomas Aquinas
Master Thomas Aquinas and the Fullness of Life, Dallas Aquinas Lecture Series 1 (South Bend, IN.: St. Augustine’s Press, 2014).
Editor with L. E. Boyle of Thomas Aquinas, Lectura romana in primum Sententiarum Petri Lombardi (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 2006).
Selected Essays
“Formation of Judgment in Thomas More’s Letter 106 to Margaret,” Moreana 59.2 (2022), 233-42.
“Thomas More’s Letter to William Gonell and the Goal of Education,” Moreana 57 (2020), 11-22.
"Thomas More as Theologian in his Dialogue of Comfort Against Tribulation," Moreana 52 (2015), 11-43.
“Counsel, Comfort and Conscience in More’s Letters to Fellow Prisoner Nicholas Wilson,” Moreana 46, n. 176 (2009), 49-64.
“The Reading of Scripture in Thomas More’s Dialog Concerning Heresies,” Thomas More Studies 3 (2008).
On St. Thomas Aquinas
“Introduction,” St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Romans (Steubenville: Emmaus Academic, 2020), 1-17.
“St. Thomas, Job, and the University Master,” in M. Levering, P. Roszak, and J. Vijgen eds., Reading Job with St. Thomas Aquinas (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2020), 21-41.
“Aquinas on the Procession of the Holy Spirit,” in Matthew L. Lamb, ed., Theology Needs Philosophy (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2016), 202-208.
“St. Thomas Aquinas on Creation, Processions, and the Preposition per,” Quaestiones Disputatae 6 (2015), 90-101.
“On the Relation of St. Thomas’s Commentary on Romans to the Summa theologiae,” in Reading Romans with St. Thomas Aquinas (Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America Press, 2012), 75-82.
“Aquinas’ lost Roman commentary: an historical detective story,” in Thomas Aquinas: Teacher and Scholar: The Aquinas Lectures at Maynooth, volume 2: 2002-2010 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012), pp. 71-84.
“Analogy, Necessity, and an Editor’s Anxiety,” in Reason and the Rule of Faith: Conversations in the Tradition with John Paul II (Lanham: University Press of America, 2011), 55-62.
“Thomas Aquinas and his Lectura romana in primum Sententiarum Petri Lombardi," in Mediaeval Commentaries on the Sentences of Peter Lombard, vol. 2 (Leiden: Brill, 2010), 149-73.
“St. Thomas Aquinas on the Anointing of the Sick (Extreme Unction),” in Rediscovering Aquinas and the Sacraments: Studies in Sacramental Theology (Chicago: Hillenbrand Books, 2009), 76-84.
“The Analogy of ‘Homo’ and ‘Deus’ in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Lectura romana,” Nova et Vetera 6 (2008), 663-67.
“Aquinas’ Roman Commentary on Peter Lombard,” Anuario Filosofico 39 (2006), 477-96.
Portuguese translation of above: “Commentário Romano de Tomás de Aquino a Pedro Lombardo,” in E. Alarcón, ed. Atualidade do Tomismo (Rio de Janeiro: Sétimo Selo, 2008), 21-36.
“Authorial Intention and the divisio textus,” in Reading John with St. Thomas Aquinas: Theological Exegesis and Speculative Theology (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2005), 3-8.
“The Theological Character of the Scholastic ‘Division of the Text’ with Particular Reference to the Commentaries of St. Thomas Aquinas,” in With Reverence for the Word: Medieval Scriptural Exegesis in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), 276-83.
“St. Thomas Aquinas and the analogy of potentia generandi,” The Thomist 64 (2000), 581-92
"The Two-fold Division of St. Thomas' Christology in the tertia pars," The Thomist 60 (1995), 439-447.
"The Ordering of Trinitarian Teaching in Thomas Aquinas' Second Commentary on Lombard's Sentences," Recherches de Théologie ancienne et médiévale, Supplementa 1 (1995), 125-36.
“Thomas Aquinas and Sacred Scripture," Pro Ecclesia 4 (1995), 92-104.
“Is the tertia pars of the Summa theologiae misplaced?” in Proceedings of the PMR Conference 18 (1993-1994), 103-109.
Podcast Episodes
“Sigrid Undset’s Kristin Lavransdatter” on Well Read Mom Podcast
“Reading the Right Books” on the JSerra Podcast
“Thomas Aquinas: The Office of the Wise Man” on Arts of Liberty Podcast: The Examining
“Navigating the Higher Education Decision” on Mary, Mother of Fairest Love Podcast (Season 3, Episode 8)
“How Does St. Thomas Help Us Read the Bible?” on Catholic Theology Show
Other
Introduction to new edition of Christopher Dawson, Medieval Essays, part of the Collected Works of Christopher Dawson (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2002), vii-xviii.
“True Fiction” (not my title) – an essay on the late Spanish novelist Jose Maria Gironella, Commonweal, June 20, 2003, p. 30.
Matthew Walz
Matthew Walz was born in New York, but grew up mostly in Ohio. He completed undergraduate studies at Christendom College, double-majoring in philosophy and theology and graduating as the valedictorian of the class of 1995. He did graduate studies in the School of Philosophy at The Catholic University of America (CUA). There he earned a doctorate in philosophy by completing a dissertation on Thomas Aquinas’s understanding of free will.
Matthew has been teaching at the college level since 1998. As a graduate student, he taught for two years at CUA. Then he began teaching at Thomas Aquinas College, where he remained for eight years. Since 2008 he has been a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Dallas (UD). He served as Chair of the Philosophy Department for four years. In the summer of 2012, he began serving as the Director of the Philosophy & Letters and Pre-Theology Programs at UD and became the Director of Intellectual Formation at Holy Trinity Seminary. Since the summer of 2022, moreover, he has been serving as Associate Dean of the Constantin College of Liberal Arts at UD.
Matthew’s research and writing focus primarily on medieval philosophy, ancient philosophy, and philosophical anthropology. As his publications indicate, in addition to Aquinas, his favorite philosophical authors include Aristotle, Augustine, Boethius, Anselm, Bonaventure, and Wojtyla/John Paul II.
Matthew has been married to his lovely wife Teresa since 1999. They have been blessed with eight children (two boys and six girls) who keep them busy, of course, but also joyful and grateful to God for His multitudinous gifts.
Book translation
Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion (including Gaunilo’s objections and Anselm’s reply), translated and introduced by Matthew D. Walz (South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, 2013).
Articles
“A ‘Kingdom of Friends’: Personal Dimensions of Aquinas’s Moral World,” The Aquinas Review 25 (2022): 59-76.
“Study, Truth, and Personal Formation: Reflections on John Paul II’s Pastores dabo vobis,” International Journal of Christianity and Education 25 (2021): 277-89.
“Toward a Causal Account of Priestly Formation: A Reading of Pastores dabo vobis,” Homiletic and Pastoral Review (January 28, 2021, https://www.hprweb.com/2021/01/toward-a-causal-account-of-priestly-formation/).
“Education as Intellectual Healing: Pedagogical Dimension of Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy,” in: Liberal Arts and Core Texts in the World of Our Students, ed. G. Camp (The ACTC Liberal Arts Institute, 2021), 33-37.
“From Monasticism to Scholasticism: Reflections on Anselm and Aquinas,” in: The Arts and Sciences of a Core Text Education: What Are They? Why Do We Need Them?, ed. S. Ashmot and K. Tom (The ACTC Liberal Arts Institute, 2021), 45–49.
“At the Heart of Atheism: Aquinas on the Two Basic Objections to a God’s Existence,” in: Bridging Divides, Crossing Borders, Community Building: The Human Voice in Core Texts and the Liberal Arts, eds. T. Hoang and D. Nuckols (The ACTC Liberal Arts Institute, 2021), 139-44.
“Death by Incarnation,” Logos 23 (2020): 19–35.
“Synthesizing Aquinas and Newman on Religion,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 86 (2019): 173–98.
“Augustine’s Modification of Liberal Education: Reflections on De doctrina Christiana,” Arts of Liberty 1 (2013): 51–97.
“Stoicism as Anesthesia: Philosophy’s ‘Gentler Remedies’ in Boethius’s Consolation,” International Philosophical Quarterly 51 (2011): 501–19.
“An Erotic Pattern of Thinking in Anselm’s Proslogion,” Quaestiones Disputatae 2 (2011): 126–45.
“The ‘Logic’ of Faith Seeking Understanding: A Propaedeutic for Anselm’s Proslogion,” Dionysius 28 (2010): 131–66.
“The Opening of On Interpretation: Toward a More Literal Reading,” Phronesis 51 (2006): 230–51.
“What is a Power of the Soul? Aquinas’s Answer,” Sapientia 60 (2006): 319–48.
“Theological and Philosophical Dependencies in Bonaventure’s Argument Against an Eternal World,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 97 (1998): 75–98.
Invited publications
Foreword to Wayne Hankey, Aquinas’s Neoplatonism in the Summa theologiae on God: A Short Introduction (South Bend: St. Augustine’s Press, 2019).
“Boethius, Christianity, and the Limits of Stoicism,” Perspectives in Religious Studies 45 (2018), 407–25.
“Boethius and Stoicism,” in: The Routledge Handbook of the Stoic Tradition, ed. J. Sellars (London: Routledge, 2016): 70–84.
Severinus Fellows
Alex Lessard
Alex E. Lessard, Ph.D., MSFS, is the founder and president of Adeodatus, a new organization supporting Catholic education through conferences, publications, and consulting.
- Adjunct Professor of the Institute for Catholic School Leadership
- Executive Co-Director of the Cornerstone Forum
- Coauthor of Wedding Rites: A Complete Guide to Traditional Vows, Music, Ceremonies, Blessings, and Interfaith Services
Member of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, Society for Classical Learning, Colloquium of the International Association of Scholars of Mimetic Theory, and The Newman Club
José Ambrozic
José Ambrozic is the President of Universidad Juan Pablo II
- Board member of the Committee for Economic Affairs and Investment Committee of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae.
- Founder & Trustee of the Universidad Católica San Pablo
Founder & Trustee of Christ in the City, Inc.
Jean Guerreiro
Jean Guerreiro is the Academic Dean of the Instituto Newman Brasil.
- Spoken Latin teacher
- Admissions Counselor at Thomas Aquinas College
- Fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish, and Latin
Jose Amorocho Morales
Jose Amorocho Morales is pursuing a PhD in Psychology, specializing in basic neuropsychological processes.
- Fluent in English and Spanish with basic knowledge of German and Doric Greek
In charge of all Apostolic work at Colegio San José, Columbia
Chris Owens
Chris Owens is Chief Executive Officer of the Veterum Sapientia Institute
- Founding Chairman, Board of Directors, Chesterton Academy of Sacramento
- Vice-President, Albertus Magnus Center for Scholastic Studies
- Editorial Board Member, Philosophical News, Journal of the European Society for Moral Philosophy
Former Chief of Staff of the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology
Michelle Ferguson
Michelle Ferguson successfully homeschooled her four children through high school before founding Legenda Classical Resources.
- Has 28 years of teaching experience
- Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) Registered Instructor
- Seeking to start a Classical learning center or hybrid school
Joseph Tabenkin
Joseph Tabenkin is an experienced software product manager who recently transitioned to focus full time on building resources for educators.
- Product Manager for Read with Me, an app to help make classic literature more accessible to adults
- Creator and owner of Let’s Diagram, an application for teachers and students to diagram sentences
- Product manager and app creator of the Touching the Art App, an app to help make experiencing art more like enjoying a movie
Fellowship Project
We’re living through an incredible time. Scientific breakthroughs have led to an unparalleled period of prosperity in human history. Some might suggest that we’re living through a natural and inevitable progression. If you look at human history, this incredible leap occurred in the last 400 years. That is not a significant amount of time considering how long we have been on this planet. In fact, we have a term for the change that took place that makes it clear we are not living through a natural next step along human progress. We call it the Scientific Revolution. A revolution is not simply a progression; it is an upheaval. Consider the American Revolution; it represented not a seamless political transition but a profound transformation. It was an upheaval of monarchy, a new way to organize our political system. So we can ask ourselves: what upheaval took place in the Scientific Revolution? What explains this? What ideas and principles were required in order to bring about this drastic change? By looking at the history of scientific thought, we can learn to understand the revolution that had to occur in order to create the incredible civilization we have around us. Learning history can help shape our mind’s ability to interact with and master nature and help us protect the progress we have built.
My goal is to create a middle school history of science curriculum so that every student is equipped with this essential knowledge and perspective. The curriculum will consist of two principal units: one on the history of astronomy and the other on the history of mechanics. This historical and inductive approach will teach students how to relate to reality, arrive at objective truth, and be certain in their inferences.
To demonstrate the value of this material, I’d like you to consider the relationship most of us have with our understanding of the solar system. If you ask most people to draw you a picture of the solar system, they would be able to reproduce something resembling a heliocentric model. Ask how they know and they will likely point to a picture they saw sometime in their elementary school career. Unfortunately, for many of us, our relationship to science is precarious at best. We do not stand on the firm footing of understanding but rather on a faith in authority. In recent years we’ve seen the consequences this has in our ability to relate to and trust the so-called “expert”. Through my curriculum, I hope we can equip our students with a shield and a telescope. A shield to guard them against destructive ideas and thinking habits. A telescope to help them move through life confident in their ability to interact with the world.
Gannon Hyland
Gannon Hyland is the Director of Education for the St. John Henry Newman Institute (JHNI), which helps parochial schools and parishes transition from the standard, traditional Catholic education to a Catholic, classical education, while emphasizing a return to reverence in the liturgy. In this role, he leads a hybrid-apprenticeship program on classical Catholic education. He also teaches History and Composition at Holy Family Academy
Lindsey Hyland
Lindsey Hyland teaches multi-age Latin classes at Seton Academy.
- Former Rome Correspondent for the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross Foundation (now The Formation Foundation)
- Experienced English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher
Chris Wilson
Chris Wilson teaches at John Paul the Great Academy in Lafayette, Louisiana.
- Completed CiRCE Tirocinium Latinum Apprenticeship
- M.T.S. John Paul II Institute for Studies in Marriage and Family, Catholic University of America
Katie Gillett
Katie Gillett was the valedictorian of the Catholic Educator Formation and Credential Program 2023 cohort
- Teacher and teacher mentor at St. Therese Catholic Classical School
- Helped create new music curriculum for the Archdiocese of Denver
- Researched and wrote a proposal for a diocesan music teacher formation series to accompany new curriculum
- Catholic Worldview Seminar Facilitator
Lucas Fonseca
Lucas Fonseca holds a Master's degree in Philosophy from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil) and is dedicated to the study and teaching of the classics in Brazil. He is currently student earning his M.A. in Humanities with a Concentration in Classical Education at the University of Dallas.
He has participated in intensive advanced in-person courses in Latin and Ancient Greek at the Accademia Vivarium Novum in 2022, 2023 and 2024, as well as other remote courses at the same organization.
He is translating Classical Education materials into Portuguese and translating Latin and Greek texts related to the Quadrivium for the Boethius Institute.
He also works on audio recordings for the University of Dallas's Latin Through Stories project, the only near-immersion, comprehensible input-based curriculum in Latin for elementary age students.
Associate Fellows
John Brungardt
Dr. John G. Brungardt is assistant professor of philosophy in the School of Catholic Studies at Newman University in Wichita, Kansas. Previously, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile. A graduate of Thomas Aquinas College, Brungardt completed his doctorate in philosophy at The Catholic University of America. As a philosopher, Catholic layman, and Dominican tertiary, his studies, teaching, and scholarship aim at continuing the philosophical tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas, Aristotle, and their heirs, attempting to bring their insights into meaningful dialogue with modern theories. His central interests lie in the philosophy of nature and the philosophy of science. He is working on a monograph for CUA Press, Searching for the Cosmos. Brungardt is a scholar associate of the Society of Catholic Scientists and an ordinary member of The Sacra Doctrina Project. He also serves as the general editor of The Charles De Koninck Project and as the assistant editor of Lux Veritatis: A Journal of Speculative Theology, both initiatives of the Sacra Doctrina Project.
Books
La existencia de Dios: Un díalogo entre la cosmología y la filosofía thomista. Edicíon y presentacíon por Pablo G. Maillet Aránguiz. Coleccíon Cuestiones Perennes. Universidad Gabriela Mistral: Santiago, Chile, 2021.
Online Essays
“Those Two Roads: How a Natural Philosophical Solution to a Difficulty about Motion Serves Thomistic Theology.” Thomistica, 1 December 2019.
“In Abortion Decision, Kansas Supreme Court Empties ‘Natural Rights’ Of Meaning.” The Federalist, 1 May 2019.
“A Natural Philosopher’s Lament.” Public Discourse, 25 April 2019.
“The CRISPR Conundrum.” Arc Digital, 19 March 2019.
“Will Gene Editing Allow for Human Perfectibility?” Crisis Magazine, 6 March 2019.
“Some Mistakes Due to What Is Per Accidens.” Thomistica, 20 February 2019.
“A Different Kind of Pro-Life Argument.” Crisis Magazine, 18 January 2019.
“Thinking Things Together in Science and Philosophy.” Arc Digital, 8 January 2019. 9.
“Ah, to Live in a Cosmos Again!” Church Life Journal, 19 September 2018.
“The Difference Between Ivory-Tower and Street-Level Scientism.” Ethika Politika, 14 November 2014.
Articles & Book Chapters
“Charles De Koninck and the Cosmos of the Natural Sciences.” In Le Discernement Des Habitus: Autour de Charles De Koninck, edited by Michel Boyancé and Bernard Guéry, 51–67. Paris: Les Presses Universitaires de l’IPC, 2023.
“From First Physics to Fundamental Physics and Back Again.” In Aquinas and Us, edited by Timothy Kearns, Gyula Klima, and Alex Hall, 96–107. Proceedings of the Society for Medieval Logic and Metaphysics 18. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2022.
“World Enough and Form: Why Cosmology Needs Hylomorphism.” Synthese 198, no. 11 (2021): 2795–2827. Part of the special issue, “Form, Structure and Hylomorphism,” guest-edited by Anna Marmodoro and Michele Paolini Paoletti. doi: 10.1007/s11229-019-02112-0.
“A Thomistic Reply to Grünbaum’s Critique of Maritain on the Reality of Space.” In Facts Are Stubborn Things: Thomistic Perspectives in the Philosophies of Nature and Science, edited by Matthew Minerd, pp. 109–123. Washington, DC: American Maritain Association, 2020.
“Operari sequitur esse y el principio de accíon mínima.” In El obrar sigue al ser: Metafísica de la persona, la naturaleza y la accíon, edited by Carlos Augusto Casanova G. and Ignacio Serrano del Pozo, 289–99. Santiago, Chile: RIL Editores, 2020.
“Is Aristotelian-Thomistic Natural Philosophy Still Relevant to Cosmology?” The Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 93 (2019): 151–176; doi: 10.5840/acpaproc2021423114.
“Is Personal Dignity Possible Only If We Live in a Cosmos?” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 92 (2018): 223-240. doi: 10.5840/acpaproc2020917108
St. Thomas and Modern Natural Science: Reconsidering Abstraction from Matter.” Cognoscens in Actu est Ipsum Cognitum in Actu: Sobre los Tipos y Grados de Conocimiento, ed. by Carlos A. Casanova Guerra and Ignacio Serrano del Pozo, 433–471 (Santiago/Valpara´ıso: RIL Editores, 2018).
“Charles De Koninck and the Sapiential Character of Natural Philosophy.” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 90, no. 1 (2016): 1–24. doi: 10.5840/acpq20161570.
Merrill Roberts
Dr. Merrill Roberts received his Bachelor’s in Liberal Arts from Thomas Aquinas College in 2003. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from The Catholic University of America in 2018, where he has also served as a Lecturer in Physics, teaching multiple courses, including a course in Solar Physics designed for students planning to teach in primary and secondary schools. He worked for over a decade as a researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, where he studied solar coronal transients and performed forward modeling for the Parker Solar Probe mission. He is a Regular Member of the Society of Catholic Scientists. Dr. Roberts is a Senior Faculty Consultant for the Institute for Catholic Liberal Education (ICLE), giving workshops and developing curriculum centered around the Quadrivial Arts since 2013. He combines his passions for nature and education as the Nature Studies teacher at St. Jerome Academy in Hyattsville, MD, where he has instructed 5th through 8th graders since 2010. He is also, along with his wife Elizabeth, the Co-director of Music at St. Jerome’s Parish, where he strives to emphasize the beauty and truth inherent in the Mass. Merrill and Elizabeth live in Hyattsville, MD, and are blessed to be the parents of six boisterous, inquisitive children.
Refereed Publications
Roberts, M. A., V. M. Uritsky, C. R. DeVore, and J. T. Karpen. 2018. "Simulated Encounters of the Parker Solar Probe with a Coronal-hole Jet." Astrophysical Journal, 866: 14 [10.3847/1538-4357/aadb41] [Link]
Uritsky, V. M., M. A. Roberts, C. R. DeVore, and J. T. Karpen. 2017. "Reconnection-Driven Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence in a Simulated Coronal-Hole Jet." Astrophysical Journal, 837: 123 [10.3847/1538-4357/aa5cb9] [Link]
Lectures and Presentations
“Led By a Star: Reason and Revelation in the Journey of the Magi”, Thomistic Summer Conference, Thomas Aquinas College, CA, June 2022
“The Harmony of Number”, Institute for Catholic Liberal Education’s Catholic Educator Formation and Credential Program, Multiple Venues, 2021-Present
“Creation as the Master Teacher: An Introduction to Nature Journaling”, ICLE National Conference, 2022
“A Modern Journey of the Magi: Following Our Star to Christ” (Invited), Western Dominican Province, Science and Faith Series, Eagle Rock, CA, March 2020
“Simulated Encounters of Parker Solar Probe with Separatrix-Web Dynamic Structures”, AGU Fall Meeting, December 2018
“Simulated Encounters of Parker Solar Probe with a Solar Coronal Jet: Early Mission Predictions”, Triennial Earth-Sun Summit, May 2018
“The Interior Structure, Dynamics, and Heliospheric Impact of Reconnection-Driven Solar Coronal Jets”, Dept. of Physics Colloquium, February 2018
“Simulated Parker Solar Probe Encounters with Solar Coronal Jets: Predictions for the Early Mission”, Joint PSP/SO Science Working Group Meeting, JHU-APL, October 2017
“STEM in Classical Liberal Arts Education”, ICLE School Leaders Forum, 2017
“Fly-Throughs of Simulated Solar Coronal Jets in Preparation for Solar Probe Plus”, AGU Fall Meeting, December 2016