For millennia, the formation of good character was the primary aim of education in the home, school, congregation, and community. Two historic communities—the Roman Catholic and Lutheran traditions—offer rich resources that have fed institutions for centuries with the theory, teaching, and habits to form good people, virtuous citizens, and wise leaders. But this aim has all but disappeared from our institutions and societies. To address this, three leading philosophers and theologians from each of these two traditions will speak about the theory, the teaching, and the practical work that can be recovered in late modernity to form character and virtue for the flourishing of all.
The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture is presenting this symposium as part of our mission to study cultural change and to understand the intellectual and moral resources necessary for human flourishing in the late modern world.
Joel D. Biermann is the Waldemar A. and June Schuette Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis.
Jordan Cooper is an ordained Lutheran pastor, the Executive Director of Just & Sinner, Fellow of Systematic Theology at the Weidner Institute, and the Chair of Lutheran Dogmatics at the American Lutheran Theological Seminary.
Gifford Grobien is the David P. Scaer Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology, Assistant Provost, and Doctor of Ministry Program Director at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Michael S. Sherwin, OP, is Professor of Fundamental Moral Theology and director of the Institute of Spirituality at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (Angelicum) and previously taught at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland.
Raymund Snyder, OP, is a professor Incaricato in the faculty of philosophy at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, where he is currently teaching ancient philosophy and Latin.
Ezra Sullivan, OP, is a professor of moral theology and psychology at the University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome (Angelicum).
Ryan S. Olson, Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia
James Arthur, Harvard Human Flourishing Program, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues
9:00-10:30 - Session 1—Theory: Ezra Sullivan & Jordan Cooper
10:45-12:15 - Session 2—Teaching: Michael Sherwin & Joel Biermann
12:15-12:45 - Lunch (provided free to symposium attendees)
12:45-2:15 - Session 3—Practice: Raymund Snyder & Gifford Grobien
2:30-3:00 - Session 4—Conclusion: James Arthur & Ryan Olson
This event was catalyzed by a meeting of the Moral Ecology Trust Advisors in April 2024.
