Tuesday, November 28, 2006

MacLaurin Institute Discusses Catholic Stuff at the University of Minnesota - and gets away with it.

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The MacLaurin Institute, founded in 1982 by a UofMN physicist who happened to be a Christian, was set up to sponsor lectures by Christian academics, while also helping Christian graduate students and faculty at the University of Minnesota to thoughtfully engage academia from a distinctly Christian vantagepoint. Over the years its program has expanded to include conferences, lectures at Borders Bookshops, most of which are free to attend, and most recently, courses in Christian studies at Twin Cities area universities.

Last January I attended a lecture by Father Robert Spitzer, president of Gonzaga University and a spellbinding speaker, on "Toward a Philosophy of the Pro-Life Movement." (Listen) Right there on the UofMN Campus. Some of their lectures are held in area churches or other Twin Cities area campuses.

A couple of weeks ago, Ralph Wood gave a lecture on "Flannery O'Connor and the Fundamentalist South." (Listen) (Listen to the Q&A).

Other Catholic lecturers whose names I recognized include Father Richard John Neuhaus, Michael Novak and Peter Kreeft and there no doubt many others.

They have a free newsletter which announces their speakers and events, of which there are many. You can subscribe to it here.

1 comment:

Cathy_of_Alex said...

Hey, that's cool!