THE CRISIS OF NIHILISM AND CHRISTIAN 'ROMANTICISM'
Friday, September 12, 4 PM - 6 PM
Harvard University, Classroom TBA, Cambridge, MA
Professor Adrian Vermeule
Harvard University
(Response by Fr. Nathaniel Sanders)
Contemporary life encounters at every turn a crisis of political and legal nihilism, expressed in both ‘post-right' and the ‘post-left’ ideologies. These offer only a bleak future of endlessly warring first principles. Can a form of ‘Christian romanticism’ overcome the deep disenchantment underlying these views in a way that is intellectually coherent, spiritually healthy, and positively oriented toward the future? Professor Adrian Vermeule leads a seminar-style discussion addressing this and related questions. Brief response from Fr. Nathaniel Sanders follows Professor Vermeule’s opening presentation. Readings, including passages from Chateaubriand’s memoirs and an essay by Prof. Vermeule, will be pre-assigned and emailed to all registrants. Refreshments provided.
OPEN TO UNDERGRAD/GRAD/YOUNG PROFESSIONALS
IN PERSON ONLY
Thorland Læssøe, View of Rome, oil painting, 1874, Private Collection
PROFESSOR ADRIAN VERMEULE
Adrian Vermeule is the Ralph S. Tyler, Jr. Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, and was previousl the Bernard D. Meltzer Professor of Law at the University of Chicago. His research focuses on administrative law, the administrative state, the design of institutions, and constitutional theory. He is the author/co-author of nine books, including most recently Common Good Constitutionalism (2022), and Law’s Abnegation: From Law’s Empire to the Administrative State (2016). He received both his A.B. and J.D. from Harvard University.
Fr. Nathaniel Sanders is the Undergraduate Chaplain at the Harvard Catholic Center and Parochial Vicar of St. Paul’s/Harvard Square. He also serves on the faculty of St. John's Seminary, where he teaches Theology and Latin. He holds a Licentiate (S.T.L.) in Historical Theology from the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.