The University of St. Thomas Center for Thomistic Studies is the only philosophy program in the United States uniquely focused on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Center takes inspiration from the Church’s insistence upon the perennial value of the thought of Aquinas especially as expressed in the encyclical letters Aeterni Patris (1879) and Fides et Ratio (1998). In Aeterni Patris, Pope Leo XIII called for a general renewal to the study the philosophical thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. In Fides et Ratio, Pope St. John Paul II reiterated this message and called for a re-commitment on the part of philosophers and theologians to the study of the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas, tempered to fit the needs of the twenty-first century.
The Center is committed to meet the challenges and realize the opportunities indicated by Pope St. John Paul II, striving toward the dawn of a new age in philosophy and intellectual culture. Following the model employed in the writings of Aquinas, the Center seeks the truth through a constructive cross-cultural dialogue. Our students and faculty pursue a living Thomism, drawing from tradition and engaging contemporary culture in order to shape the future.
The University of St. Thomas Center for Thomistic Studies is the only philosophy program in the United States uniquely focused on the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas.
Each year, the Center for Thomistic Studies’ Aquinas Lecture brings a distinguished member of the philosophical community to the University of St. Thomas for a talk which displays the great resources of the Thomistic philosophical tradition, either by addressing a subject directly related to the writings of St. Thomas or some other figure in the tradition, or by addressing more systematically a question of enduring philosophical importance. Among the Aquinas Lecturers the Center has had the privilege of hosting are such renowned thinkers as Henry Veatch, Joseph Owens, Elizabeth Anscombe, Peter Geach, Janet Smith, Alasdair MacIntyre, Germain Grisez, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Msgr. John F. Wippel, Fr. Leo J. Elders, SVD, and Archbishop J. Michael Miller.