Seminars

In Fall 2021, the Newman Institute is offering two seminar courses for community members and undergraduate / graduate students! All classes (unless otherwise specified) will meet bi-weekly for 90 minutes. at the UNL Newman Center. Tuition is $250 per course.

The Quest for Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy

Course Instructor: Dr. David Arias 

Course Description: Beginning in wonder and ending in wisdom, the discipline of philosophy seeks to satisfy our natural human desire to know what things are and why thing are the way they are. Over the millennia, philosophers of every age have asked and offered answers to profound questions such as these: What are the most fundamental causes of the universe? Can we prove that God exists Are there moral absolutes? We will follow Plato, Aristotle, and St. Thomas Aquinas as principal guides in our attempt to sketch trustworthy answers to these and other perennial philosophical questions.  

Instructor: Dr. David Arias holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Center for Thomistic Studies at the University of St. Thomas (Houston). He is a professor of Philosophy at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, NE and is the M.A. Philosophy Program Director for Holy Apostles College & Seminary in Cromwell, CT.

Fall 2021 Class Schedule: Mondays, 7–8:30pm, UNL Newman Center, Rm 222

On the Shoulders of Giants: Introduction to Patristics 

Course Description:  St. John Henry Newman said of the Church Fathers: “They are witnesses to the fact of these doctrines having been received, not here or there, but everywhere . . . down to our times, without interruption, ever since the apostles.” What are the teachings of these early Christian writers whom Newman so deeply appreciated? What were their beliefs, hopes, and concerns? Do these mirror our own? In this seminar we shall delve deeply into the writings of the first Christian centuries and become acquainted with such figures as Ignatius; Irenaeus; St. Athanasius; St. Augustine; St. Jerome . . . and come to an appreciation of their specific genius and their legacy for our own generation.

Instructor: Dr. John Pepino is a professor of Greek, Latin, History, and Patristics at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary in Denton, Nebraska. His Master’s degree is in Classical Greek and Latin and his Doctorate is in the Fathers of the Church. He has published on the Fathers of Church and on contemporary Church History (particularly Vatican II and the liturgy in the twentieth century). His most recent publication is the English translation of Yves Chiron, Annibale Bugnini: Reformer of the Liturgy (Kettering, OH: Angelico Press, 2018).

Fall 2021 Class Schedule: Thursdays, 7–8:30pm, UNL Newman Center, Rm 222

Regular cost of Seminars is $250 and is due by the first seminar meeting. 

You can now pay ONLINE