Issuing Citations October Event
Oct
27
7:00 PM19:00

Issuing Citations October Event

RSVP

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

  • All elements of medicine make use of the visual senses. On physical exam a patient may be jaundiced, awareness of line and form are necessary for surgical planning, and a radiologist may see a seashore on lung ultrasound. However, no form of medicine presents visual complexity like pathology. Line, shape, form, space, color, and texture must be closely observed and united with physiological understanding. This presents a challenge for medical students who often lack prior experience with visual disciplines. Presented here is a new approach to teaching histology and pathology that provides a firm foundation for future studies.

  • In our everyday lives, we are familiar with the experience of moral conscience. It is the voice that tells us what we ought to do or avoid. Despite its important role in everyday life, the idea of moral conscience has become controversial in philosophy. It has been criticized for its religious connotations and also for its alleged role in reinforcing oppressive social structures and practices.


    In this presentation, I will explore the nature of moral conscience by focusing on its role in Immanuel Kant’s moral philosophy. Kant’s moral philosophy is often criticized for being very abstract and rigorous and thus disconnected from our everyday moral lives. Yet, by exploring Kant’s conception of moral conscience, I will suggest that we can gain a much richer picture of his moral philosophy. Indeed, I will show how Kant offers us a compelling account of moral judgment and moral feelings. Moreover, I will defend that Kant’s theory of moral conscience offers us a promising way to reconsider its importance today. 

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East of Eden Reading Group
Nov
4
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule


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East of Eden Reading Group
Nov
18
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule


View Event →
East of Eden Reading Group
Nov
18
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule


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East of Eden Reading Group
Oct
21
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule


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East of Eden Reading Group
Oct
7
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule


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Issuing Citations September Event
Sep
30
7:00 PM19:00

Issuing Citations September Event

  • Trace Brewing, Coolship Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

RSVP

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

  • This project investigates how language background influences the content of eyewitness-style accounts. English and Spanish differ in how they typically describe motion events: English often encodes how someone moves (e.g., running, limping) and the movement trajectory (e.g., into, out of, across), while Spanish more often emphasizes the people and locations involved. These patterns may matter in forensic contexts, where witnesses are asked to recall and describe crimes. Adult participants (18+) who are native speakers of English or Spanish will complete a 30-minute lab session in which they will watch 26 short, non-graphic public-space video clips depicting minor crimes (e.g., theft, trespassing, brief altercations) and provide anoral description of each clip as if giving a statement. Responses will be audio/video recorded, transcribed, and coded for motion components (Manner and Path) and scene components (Figure and Ground). Mixed-effects logistic regression will test whether language background predicts which details are foregrounded in recall. Findings will inform best practices for linguistically sensitive forensic interviewing and further research in bilingualism and applied communication.

  • Shaped by the skepticism and disenchantment of modernity, postmodern man has eschewed or forgotten his role in the cosmic drama, reveling in his subjectivity and engaging in the work of aesthetic self-creation. Even so, he remains haunted by the specter of the transcendent. Theologians may respond to this absence in the postmodern heart by turning to narrative: instead of crafting systematic propositions which demand intellectual assent, literary theology seeks to re-enchant the postmodern mind and heart by making theological claims in narrative form.

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East of Eden Reading Group
Sep
23
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule
View Event →
East of Eden Reading Group
Sep
9
7:00 PM19:00

East of Eden Reading Group

register here

In his later life, Steinbeck considered East of Eden his greatest masterpiece. In his private correspondence and journals over the year that he was writing the novel (1951), he repeatedly referred to it as his "life's work," and as the novel that he had been preparing himself to write for his whole career.

Beneath the simple language of the novel's surface lies many complex layers of ideas, which Steinbeck intentionally built into the structure of the narrative. He thus came to think of East of Eden as one of his most "experimental" novels because its apparent simplicity masks a much more complicated set of interwoven stories.

These stories, much like parables, explore ideas of good and evil, justice and injustice, and, most deeply, the relationship between inheritance, environment, and free will in shaping one's moral choices. Steinbeck, ultimately, intended the real core of the novel to be a close scrutiny of the biblical story of Cain and Abel, with all of its implications for individuals, families, and society.

Reading Schedule




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Issuing Citations July Event!
Jul
27
7:00 PM19:00

Issuing Citations July Event!

RSVP

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

No presentation this time around—just drinks (first round on us!) and fellowship. See you at Trace!

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Issuing Citations April Event
Apr
29
7:15 PM19:15

Issuing Citations April Event

PAST EVENT

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

April’s event will feature one talk!

  • To live and move as a moral agent requires the ability to discern good from bad and act accordingly. Were the good of the natural order made intelligible through the intentional ordering of those goods, then the moral agent would need a way to discover this intelligibility within themselves. This, for John Henry Newman, is the role of the conscience. This discussion will trace two developments in Newman’s thought on the conscience: conscience as morally perfective, and conscience as epistemically significant. Understood within Aquinas’s distinction between objective impression (synderesis) and subjective disposition (conscientia), Newman shows conscience to be a real but deficient experience of God, who is intimately involved in the self-creation and self-knowledge of each human person. It is the voice of God which beckons from the center of human being as both limit and potentiality, moving the person toward what they were created to be.

Beatrice Institute will provide the first round of drinks for attendees, after which interlocutors are on their own. 

Tip your bartenders, chase the rabbit, and see you on Wednesday, April 29th!

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The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book XII
Mar
19
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book XII

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to March 19, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

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Issuing Citations March Event
Mar
18
7:00 PM19:00

Issuing Citations March Event

PAST EVENT

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

March’s event will feature one talk!

  • The field of proof theory discusses what makes a valid proof. It sits at the intersection of philosophy and mathematics. The field of type theory discusses how to categorize different constructs in a programming language. It sits at the intersection of computer science and, again, mathematics. It was gradually discovered in the last century that, in some rigorous sense, a proof of a statement is the same as a program of a type; proof theory and type theory are two lenses on the same concepts.

    We will discuss a translation from one formal language to another, viewing both the source language and the target language through both these two lenses. I will share a nice proof-theoretic property of this translation, and briefly mention a nice computational property it has.

Beatrice Institute will provide apps and the first round of drinks for attendees, after which interlocutors are on their own. 

Tip your bartenders, chase the rabbit, and see you on Thursday, January 15th!

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The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book XI
Mar
5
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book XI

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to March 19, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

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The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book X
Feb
19
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book X

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration: familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to March 19, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

View Event →
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book IX
Feb
5
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book IX

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

View Event →
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book VIII
Jan
22
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book VIII

PAST EVENT

Join Dante Society to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition.

This year, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. In anticipation of that lecture, to be held in Pittsburgh on April 24, 2026, The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature over the course of the academic year. 

Whether you're reading Brothers K for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings take place every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

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Issuing Citations January Event
Jan
15
7:00 PM19:00

Issuing Citations January Event

  • Trace Brewing, Coolship Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

PAST EVENT

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

January’s event will feature 2 talks!:

  • Regularity theories, most famously articulated by David Hume, deny the adage: “causation is not correlation.” In “Cement of the Universe,” J.L. Mackie built on Hume’s description to ground causality as an “insufficient but non-redundant part of an unnecessary but sufficient condition.” Juliana argues that coincidences contain more capacity for structure than previously shown and make plain how coincidences can yield to more thoroughgoing causal inference, analogous to graphical models. This account includes transitive causal chains, hypothetical reasoning, predicting outcomes of interventions, differentiating between chains and common causes, and discovering unobserved common causes. 

  • Lucas stages a connection between metaphysical discourse and the theoretical word. He argues that metaphysics is the reflexive self-affirmation of theoreticity as such—and that, this being the case, there exists a specific and urgent vocation of metaphysics vis-à-vis the human possibility for uttering a word of truth, for theoreticity. He sheds light on the concept of "theory" by resituating it within its originating metaphorical context. Then, he speaks about theoreticity-in-itself, and defines metaphysical discourse as theoreticity-for-itself. He deploys the primary theorem of metaphysics: "theoreticity is," and turns in his claims to the paradoxes involved in determining this affirmation. He resolves these paradoxes by exhibiting the real fragility of theoreticity. Lastly, he shows how, in light of the contingent subtraction of theoreticity, metaphysical discourse can be understood as the formal conservator of the theoretical word.

Beatrice Institute will provide apps and the first round of drinks for attendees, after which interlocutors are on their own. 

Tip your bartenders, chase the rabbit, and see you on Thursday, January 15th!

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The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book VII
Jan
8
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book VII

PAST EVENT

Join Dante Society to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition.

This year, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. In anticipation of that lecture, to be held in Pittsburgh on April 24, 2026, The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature over the course of the academic year. 

Whether you're reading Brothers K for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings take place every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

View Event →
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book VI
Nov
20
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book VI

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

View Event →
Issuing Citations November Event
Nov
20
6:00 PM18:00

Issuing Citations November Event

  • Trace Brewing, Coolship Room (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

PAST EVENT

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

November’s event will feature 2 talks!:

  • Apologies can take many forms, and "I'm sorry" can convey many meanings depending on the delivery of the message. In an attempt to better understand apologies made in digital spaces, this study focuses on investigating how YouTubers negotiate their online identity and resolve conflict while making apologies through semiotic strategies including language, dress, environment, and video recording techniques. It also seeks to find if the patterning of these strategies has become a mainstream, cross-linguistic template in an age of digitally mediated globalization.

    Twenty videos from both English-speaking and Brazilian Portuguese-speaking YouTubers have been analyzed for the use of six apology strategies adapted from Blum-Kula et al's (1989) CCSARP Coding Manual for Apologies. Results of this study suggest that the "YouTube apology video" is enregistered via pragmatic apology strategies and semiotic devices across languages.

  • Since Aristotle, philosophers have aimed to develop a science that explains the fundamental principles and causes of reality. For centuries, this discipline—metaphysics—was seen as essential for grounding our understanding of the world, our moral principles, and even our religious beliefs. But in the Modern era, metaphysics came under increasing suspicion, and today metaphysical claims often strike us as obscure or untrustworthy.

    In this talk, I explore how the philosopher Immanuel Kant confronted this crisis. Although Kant is often portrayed as an opponent of metaphysics, I will show that his project is not simply to criticize metaphysical speculation. Rather, Kant seeks to rescue and transform metaphysics by giving it a new scientific foundation. My aim is to explain, in accessible terms, how Kant redefines the scope and method of metaphysics and why his approach may still matter for contemporary questions about knowledge, morality, and religion.

Beatrice Institute will provide apps and the first round of drinks for attendees, after which interlocutors are on their own. 

Tip your bartenders, chase the rabbit, and see you on Thursday, November 20th!

View Event →
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book V
Nov
6
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book V

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here..

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Issuing Citations Kick Off Event
Oct
24
6:00 PM18:00

Issuing Citations Kick Off Event

Interest Form

Issuing Citations is public-facing event series aimed at fostering research connections, nurturing inchoate projects, and providing an organizational catalyst for future conferences and publications. It's a space for graduate students and early career faculty alike to co-present, interact, and form connections across disciplinary lines.

Presentation Options…

  1. A pairing of presentations provided by either the Chair of IC or BI staff. Q&A to follow.

  2. A graduate student OR early-career faculty pitches a talk paired with someone of a different rank. Think of this as the Sadie Hawkins option — it’s your chance to give an opportunity to, say, an advisee or prospective advisee to present their research alongside you. Likewise, graduate students are encouraged to invite their advisors or prospective advisors (or faculty you admire) to present a companion paper. Q&A to follow.

  3. The Salon Option. Aimed at fostering community, a presenter will choose a brief reading or other decipherable object (artistic, academic, or otherwise), present a talk related to it, after which the audience will divide into small groups and discuss the talk, object for study, and anything that arises afterward. 

Issuing Citations will meet at a regular location (still TBA!), where BI will provide a first round of drinks for participants, after which interlocutors are on their own. 

Tip your bartenders, chase the rabbit, and see you at the first meeting on October 24th.

*Academic service opportunities and leadership roles will be available to BI Graduate Fellows.*

View Event →
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book IV
Oct
23
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book IV

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here..

View Event →
The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book III
Oct
2
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book III

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

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The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book II
Sep
18
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Book II

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

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The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Introduction and Book I
Sep
4
7:00 PM19:00

The Brothers Karamazov Reading Group: Introduction and Book I

PAST EVENT

Join our Zoom group to study a novel that remains one of the most provocative, poignant, and pressing literary explorations of the human condition. The Brothers Karamazov, telescopic and microscopic all at once, lays bare a wide swath of human experience for our consideration:  familial, political, religious, economic, artistic, social, and intellectual.

In the words of scholar Malcolm Jones—who fought for Dostoevsky’s international reputation throughout The Cold War—"In Dostoevsky...the novel finds its true vocation."

In Spring 2026, Dr. Elise Lonich Ryan will give our annual All Fellows Seminar on the Problem of Evil, taking as her subject The Brothers Karamazov. It is in anticipation of this lecture that The Dante Society will read this masterpiece of world literature. 

Whether you're reading The Brothers Karamazov for the first time or have enjoyed it before, this is a fantastic opportunity for a guided encounter with the ‘carnival of Dostoevsky’ (as Mikhail Bakhtin called it) alongside like-minded peers and expert visiting faculty from across the country. 

Meetings will take place over Zoom every other Thursday at 7:00 PM from September 4, 2025 to April 16, 2026. You are more than welcome to sign-up with the intention of coming to only a few meetings. The sign-up list will not close, so join at any point. 

Find the reading schedule here.

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Christianity & Modernity Series: The Angel in the Top-Hat
Mar
30
3:00 PM15:00

Christianity & Modernity Series: The Angel in the Top-Hat

PAST EVENT

It’s common for people to associate modernity and modernization with secularization. But Christians have a unique understanding of the secular. The Latin root saeculum can be variously translated as “epoch (this age),” “historical time,” “the world,” and “the time that remains between Christ’s redemptive work on earth and the full restoration of the Kingdom of God in the parousia, the end for which God made the world.” To be secular, in this Christian sense, is just to live in human history—in, but not of, the world. 

“Modern” has a parallel Christian meaning. The Latin root modernus was used in a historical sense as early as 550 AD. “Modern” means this time, this saeculum, rather than the age that came before. For Christians, it’s fitting to say that modernity is every AD date, all the time after Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And before the Second Coming. 

With this expansive perspective on modernity, the Dante Society asks, What does it mean to be modern? How has Christianity shaped modernity? What challenges and opportunities do various modernities present to the Church? And how and when do the language and concepts of modernity become hindrances rather than aids to understanding life in time?

We will explore these and other questions in conversation with brief, highly readable essays from the Genealogies of Modernity Journal. Each essay takes up some aspect of modern life, or some particular understanding of what it means to be modern, and considers it in light of the Christian intellectual tradition. Discussion will be led by Ryan McDermott. 

Participants should read the essay before the seminar. Each seminar stands on its own, so don’t worry about jumping in whenever you are able. 

3/30 “The Angel in the Top-Hat,” by Richard Yoder

This case illustrates the complex entanglement of enchantment and disenchantment in the 19th century, a dynamic participated in by Church and State, physicians and spiritualists—and angels in top-hats, too. Richard Yoder on an angelic apparition.

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Christianity & Modernity Series: On Divine Space
Feb
23
3:00 PM15:00

Christianity & Modernity Series: On Divine Space

past event

NOTE THE LOCATION CHANGE

It’s common for people to associate modernity and modernization with secularization. But Christians have a unique understanding of the secular. The Latin root saeculum can be variously translated as “epoch (this age),” “historical time,” “the world,” and “the time that remains between Christ’s redemptive work on earth and the full restoration of the Kingdom of God in the parousia, the end for which God made the world.” To be secular, in this Christian sense, is just to live in human history—in, but not of, the world. 

“Modern” has a parallel Christian meaning. The Latin root modernus was used in a historical sense as early as 550 AD. “Modern” means this time, this saeculum, rather than the age that came before. For Christians, it’s fitting to say that modernity is every AD date, all the time after Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And before the Second Coming. 

With this expansive perspective on modernity, the Dante Society asks, What does it mean to be modern? How has Christianity shaped modernity? What challenges and opportunities do various modernities present to the Church? And how and when do the language and concepts of modernity become hindrances rather than aids to understanding life in time?

We will explore these and other questions in conversation with brief, highly readable essays from the Genealogies of Modernity Journal. Each essay takes up some aspect of modern life, or some particular understanding of what it means to be modern, and considers it in light of the Christian intellectual tradition. Discussion will be led by Ryan McDermott. 

Participants should read the essay before the seminar. Each seminar stands on its own, so don’t worry about jumping in whenever you are able. 

2/23 “On Divine Space,” by JD Lyonhart

There is a genealogical case to be made that the solidity of the modern scientific world picture may have been unwittingly grounded upon a theistic metaphysic. JD Lyonhart on Henry More and the origins of modern space.

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Zoom Reading Group: Lyric Poetry
Jan
29
to Apr 23

Zoom Reading Group: Lyric Poetry

PAST EVENT

Lyric poetry explores fundamental questions of faith, politics, morality, and humanity. Compressed language, slippery ideas, suggestive images, and linguistic gestures at the sublime and the beyond, lyric poetry provides a unique experience with truth — with the way things are — and a distinctive encounter with mystery: both the intimate mysteries of the human heart and the cataclysmic mysteries of the cosmos. 

In this reading group, Dr. DeMasi will lead discussions about some of the greatest lyric poetry in the Western Tradition, with special guests and visiting lecturers on lyric from other traditions. Join us as we embark on a journey into the liminal spaces of lyric poetry.

Dates: Wednesday, January 29th - and every two weeks thereafter

Time: 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. EST

Location: Zoom

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Christianity & Modernity Series: The Sacredness of the Person
Jan
26
3:00 PM15:00

Christianity & Modernity Series: The Sacredness of the Person

CANCELLED

It’s common for people to associate modernity and modernization with secularization. But Christians have a unique understanding of the secular. The Latin root saeculum can be variously translated as “epoch (this age),” “historical time,” “the world,” and “the time that remains between Christ’s redemptive work on earth and the full restoration of the Kingdom of God in the parousia, the end for which God made the world.” To be secular, in this Christian sense, is just to live in human history—in, but not of, the world. 

“Modern” has a parallel Christian meaning. The Latin root modernus was used in a historical sense as early as 550 AD. “Modern” means this time, this saeculum, rather than the age that came before. For Christians, it’s fitting to say that modernity is every AD date, all the time after Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And before the Second Coming. 

With this expansive perspective on modernity, the Dante Society asks, What does it mean to be modern? How has Christianity shaped modernity? What challenges and opportunities do various modernities present to the Church? And how and when do the language and concepts of modernity become hindrances rather than aids to understanding life in time?

We will explore these and other questions in conversation with brief, highly readable essays from the Genealogies of Modernity Journal. Each essay takes up some aspect of modern life, or some particular understanding of what it means to be modern, and considers it in light of the Christian intellectual tradition. Discussion will be led by Ryan McDermott. 

Participants should read the essay before the seminar. Each seminar stands on its own, so don’t worry about jumping in whenever you are able. 

1/26 “The Sacredness of the Person,” by Sharon Kuruvilla

Only a dialectical approach between the Enlightenment and Christianity is capable of grasping the historical dynamics of the emergence of human rights within the European context. Sharon Kuruvilla reviews Hans Joas’s The Sacredness of the Person.

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Christianity & Modernity Series: History Wobbles
Dec
15
3:00 PM15:00

Christianity & Modernity Series: History Wobbles

  • 112 East 11th Avenue Homestead, PA, 15120 United States (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

PAST EVENT

It’s common for people to associate modernity and modernization with secularization. But Christians have a unique understanding of the secular. The Latin root saeculum can be variously translated as “epoch (this age),” “historical time,” “the world,” and “the time that remains between Christ’s redemptive work on earth and the full restoration of the Kingdom of God in the parousia, the end for which God made the world.” To be secular, in this Christian sense, is just to live in human history—in, but not of, the world. 

“Modern” has a parallel Christian meaning. The Latin root modernus was used in a historical sense as early as 550 AD. “Modern” means this time, this saeculum, rather than the age that came before. For Christians, it’s fitting to say that modernity is every AD date, all the time after Christ’s life, death, and resurrection. And before the Second Coming. 

With this expansive perspective on modernity, the Dante Society asks, What does it mean to be modern? How has Christianity shaped modernity? What challenges and opportunities do various modernities present to the Church? And how and when do the language and concepts of modernity become hindrances rather than aids to understanding life in time?

We will explore these and other questions in conversation with brief, highly readable essays from the Genealogies of Modernity Journal. Each essay takes up some aspect of modern life, or some particular understanding of what it means to be modern, and considers it in light of the Christian intellectual tradition. Discussion will be led by Ryan McDermott. 

Participants should read the essay before the seminar. Each seminar stands on its own, so don’t worry about jumping in whenever you are able. 

“History Wobbles,” by Duncan Reyburn
"In our own time, somewhat in contrast with G. K. Chesterton’s, the watchword decline is more prevalent than progress. We commonly hear of managed decline—although in many instances it does not seem to be managed at all. We still hear of progress, of course, but pervasive political precarity makes progress less trustworthy as a popular category. Chesterton’s philosophy offers a healthy antidote to any historicist fatalism, though, whether it happens to be overly pessimistic (as it is for declinists) or overly optimistic (as it is for progressives)."

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Beatrice Institute is supported in part by Henne Jewelers and The Pittsburgh Foundation.