OLD ANSWERS TO NEW QUESTIONS
TIME-TESTED LESSONS ABOUT THE SELF
Friday, September 25, 2:00 - 4:15 PM
Followed by a reception
Harvard Catholic Center, 20 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA
Angela Franks
Catholic University of America
Ancient and medieval thinkers have more to say about identity than most of us realize. This seminar will look at important premodern sources concerning the self and how modernity altered the course of thinking about identity. In particular, we will explore how the Catholic intellectual tradition provides guidance on contemporary questions about the self.
Readings will be circulated to registrants in advance.
OPEN TO STUDENTS & YOUNG PROFESSIONALS - REGISTRATION REQUIRED
IN PERSON ONLY
Philippe de Champaigne, Saint Augustine, Oil on Canvas, 30.9 x 24.2 in, c.1645-1650, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
ANGELA FRANKS
Angela Franks is Associate Professor of Theology at the Catholic University of America. She has written and lectured widely on the body, identity, the Trinity, Christology, and the thought of St. John Paul II and Hans Urs von Balthasar. Among her many publications are The Body and Identity, a History of the Empty Self (2025) and the forthcoming The Epiphany of Being: Trinitarian Analogia Entis and the Transcendentals in Hans Urs von Balthasar. Her articles have appeared, inter alia, in Communio, Theological Studies, and Nova et Vetera, as well as in many general audience publications. She served as the president of the Academy of Catholic Theology for 2025-26. Her PhD is from Boston College.
This program is supported by the Lynch Foundation, and a grant from the Lumen Christi Institute with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (Grant #63614).