


St. Thomas and Obedience to the Truth
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Dominicans are not especially zealous in promoting the veneration of our saints, a tendency that goes all the way back to our beginnings and the cultus of St. Dominic himself. When at last the brethren approached Pope Gregory IX concerning the cause of their founder, he lectured them about their tardiness in bringing the matter […]
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What is Celibacy?
Wednesday, January 16, 2019
Every single person is called to love. If we do not experience love, life remains incomprehensible to us. But if we do experience love, then all of life becomes charged with meaning and joy. But how are we called to love? We are called to love…like God loves. While meditating on this truth one evening […]
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St. Albert: A Model for Scientist-Theologians
Thursday, November 15, 2018
On November 15th, we celebrate the Feast of a Dominican saint who deserves to be better known in modern times: St. Albert of Cologne (d. 1280), also known as St. Albert the Great. Today, St. Albert is most known as the teacher of St. Thomas Aquinas, whose theology and philosophy would eventually eclipse his teacher’s […]
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Devotion to the Holy Name
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
As we celebrate the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus, the titular feast of the Western Dominican Province, Fr. Augustine Hilander, O.P., our promoter of the Holy Name Society, offers his reflections regarding devotion to the Holy Name. Most people consider devotion as what dogs feel for their masters, and what cats do not […]
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DSPT Aquinas Lecture 2016
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
This year’s Aquinas lecture at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology on Tuesday, February 23 at 7:30pm will feature Fr. Olivier-Thomas Venard, O.P., speaking on Life, Language and Christ: A Thomistic Approach. Fr. Olivier-Thomas is a New Testament professor and Vice Director of the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem. His presentation will […]
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The Traveling Philosopher
Friday, August 21, 2015
Earlier this summer, Fr. Michael Dodds, O.P., one of our professors at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology (DSPT) in Berkeley, was invited to present at two conferences which attracted a number of esteemed scholars. He shares his experience below: The first conference occurred at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where I spent an enjoyable […]
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The Law of Liberty
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Although William of Ockham once spoke of freedom as the absence of restrictions, the Catholic Church has always thought of freedom as something more than our ability to think, move, and act as we please. St. Thomas Aquinas, O.P., following the example of the early Church Fathers, describes freedom as our capacity to do the […]
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Why St. Thomas Aquinas Matters
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
Despite the incredible connections available to us through roads, language, and the internet, we live in times of great confusion. Modern men and women tend to divide their lives into disparate compartments. Thus it is not uncommon to hear people speak of their work life, family life, public life, private life, social life, and spiritual […]
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