Co-presented by the Abigail Adams Institute
WHO WILL I BE TODAY?
THE EMPTY SELF
Thursday, September 24, 6 PM EDT
Location TBA
Angela Franks
Catholic University of America
We swim in a sea of narcissism, yet people today feel insubstantial. We have more identity choices than ever – and we have never been more uncertain about who we are. This lecture explores how we got here and asks what Christianity may have to say about our predicament.
The lecture is followed by audience Q&A and a reception.
Co-sponsored by the Harvard Christian Alumni Society
FREE & OPEN TO ALL
IN PERSON & VIRTUAL
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).