Southern Nebraska Register
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) has recently welcomed a chapter of the Thomistic Institute (TI), a national network of student-led academic clubs sponsored by the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.
The Institute exists to “promote Catholic truth in our contemporary world by strengthening the intellectual formation of Christians at universities, in the Church, and in the wider public square.”
“Catholicism has always been both devotional and intellectual,” explained local faculty advisor Dr. Geoffrey Friesen. “From Augustine and Aquinas to Edith Stein and Benedict XVI, the Church has insisted that faith seeks understanding. The Thomistic Institute allows students and the wider community to engage that tradition in a serious and joyful way.”
The UNL chapter is student-led and has already begun hosting lectures, seminars and reading groups.
“The Thomistic Institute has allowed me to participate in the active intellectual tradition of the Church,” said Claire Polk, a sophomore from Lincoln. “This facet of the Church could be seen as cut off and distant from the young, lay individual, but the Thomistic Institute has allowed me to correspond and interact with the religious, professors, and thinkers who are currently at the forefront of this tradition.”
She said her favorite part of hosting speakers isn’t just the guest’s talk.
“It’s afterwards,” she said, “when the student leaders and speaker are able to go and share a meal together and talk with one another. Some of my personal favorite conversations have revolved around truth, beauty, artwork and architecture, and even the changing desire within young people to look into the Catholic faith and teaching. To be able to discuss these important topics with older, wiser Catholic thinkers is an amazing experience and opportunity!”
Spencer Yaghmour, a junior from Lincoln, agreed. He said he is involved with the TI chapter to help be “a light” on campus, and “to help people who may not have much experience with the Lord have an opportunity to meet him in a way that is not offered in many other places.”
“I really like the opportunity to have an intellectual discussion with people who also enjoy intellectual discussions,” he said. “It challenges what I believe and what I think I know.”
This fall’s speaker series will bring national scholars to Lincoln, including Dr. Nathaniel Peters of the Morningside Institute. He will present a lecture Sept. 25 titled “Monks, Clerics, and Female Mystics: An Introduction to Medieval Theology.” The lecture, to be held at 5 p.m. in the Pioneers Suite on the first floor of the Willa Cather Dining Hall at UNL, is free and open to the public.
Other scheduled talks will be Oct. 16, with Professor Lee Oser of the College of the Holy Cross, presenting “Christian Humanism and Shakespeare”; and Nov. 6, with Professor Joseph Capizzi of the Catholic University of America, asking “Is there a Right to Own Property in the Catholic Tradition? “ Each event is open to the public and aims to highlight the richness of the Catholic intellectual tradition.
Through these efforts, the UNL chapter joins more than 80 Thomistic Institute chapters across the U.S. and abroad. Together, Dr. Friesen pointed out, they continue the work of St. Thomas Aquinas, offering students and community members alike a space where faith and reason meet in pursuit of truth.
