Nationally recognized authority on the transcendent implications of contemporary astrophysics
Rev. Robert J. Spitzer, SJ, will deliver the 32nd Annual Aquinas Lecture at the University
of Dallas on Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2014, at 7:30 p.m. in Lynch Auditorium. Spitzer, who
serves as president of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith in Irvine, Calif., a Catholic
institute dedicated to educating people of all ages about the complementary relationship
between science and faith, will speak on "The Evidence of Creation from Contemporary
Big Bang Cosmology: Extending the Legacy of Monsignor Georges Lematre." The lecture
is free and open to the public.
"The UD community is delighted to welcome Fr. Spitzer to discuss the legacy of Msgr. Lematre, who first formulated the Big Bang hypothesis," said Philipp Rosemann, professor of philosophy and department chair.
Spitzer served as president of Gonzaga University for 11 years before joining the Magis Center. He has debated God and physics with Stephen Hawking on Larry King Live and euthanasia on NBC's Today Show. A scholar whose academic interests include the philosophy of science and metaphysics, Spitzer earned a doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America.
Christopher Mirus, associate professor of philosophy and director of the university's philosophy and history of science program, will deliver a response to Spitzer's lecture immediately afterwards.
The Aquinas Lecture series, begun in 1983, is an annual event sponsored by the Philosophy Department. It features distinguished contemporary thinkers who address topics in the spirit of St. Thomas Aquinas. In recent years, Aquinas Lecturers have included luminaries such as Robert George from Princeton University, William Desmond from the University of Louvain (Belgium), Thomas Hibbs from Baylor University, Timothy Noone from the Catholic University of America and John Milbank from the University of Nottingham (United Kingdom). For more information about the Aquinas Lecture, visit udallas.edu/aquinas2014.
The Magis Center produces documentaries, books, high school curricula, college courses, adult-education curricula and new media materials to show the close connection between faith and reason in contemporary astrophysics, philosophy, and historical study of the New Testament. For more information, visit magisreasonfaith.org.
UD students not only read St. Augustine's Confessions in Rome, traveling to Ostia to marvel at the place in which, according to Book IX, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, had a joint mystical vision of God -- they also travel 4.4 miles from the Irving campus to read the text with residents of South Irving.
+ Read MoreAs you know if you’ve read even some of our first UD Reads book, "All the Light We Cannot See," it’s possible to build a radio from random, scavenged parts, as long as you can find the necessary random, scavenged parts, as Werner does in the book. This is also essentially what Assistant Professor and Department Chair of Physics Jacob Moldenhauer did as well: He scavenged parts from the Physics Department, and built a radio.
+ Read MoreThe University of Dallas Board of Trustees announced today that it has unanimously selected Thomas S. Hibbs, Ph.D., BA '82 MA '83, to serve as the university's ninth president. The first alumnus of UD to be president, Hibbs has served as dean of the Honors College and distinguished professor of ethics and culture at Baylor University since 2003.
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