Newman Lectures
Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's timeless message about religion, "heart speaks to heart," persists today, significant both to lay people and to scholars. To explore Newman's teachings about spirituality and faith, Duquesne University and the National Institute for Newman Studies host two public lectures annually, the Newman Legacy Lecture in the spring and the Newman Memorial Lecture in the fall.
For more information, email newmanstudies@ninsdu.org or call 412.681.4375.
In the News
National Institute for Newman Studies Carries Cardinal's Work in 21st Century
Ryan Endowed Chair for Newman Studies Established With $2.5 Million Gift
Newman Institute and Duquesne University
Previous Lectures
April 18, 2013: Did Mary Die? Newman on Sin, Death and Mary’s Mortality
Distinguished theologian Dr. Paul Griffiths explored the writings of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman on Mary. Professor Griffiths finds a tension in Newman’s thought between his suggestion that Mary was assumed bodily into heaven without dying and his insistence that she did in fact die. As Dr. Griffiths explored this tension and attempted to resolve it, he showed the relevance of Newman’s thinking on this issue to a broader understanding of the relation between sin and death.
Sept. 18, 2012: Newman on the Development of Doctrine: The Myth of the Rational Assessment of Christianity
Dr. Cyril O'Regan returned to Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's classic "Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine." Professor O'Regan reminded us that in Newman's day any "development" of religious teaching was considered a corruption. He claimed that Newman's great achievement was to expose this assumption as an uncritical prejudice and to make a theological case for development as the natural course of doctrine in a healthy, living Church.
March 19, 2012: Newman and the Restoration of the Interpersonal in Higher Education
Rev. Michael Buckley, S.J., Ph.D., discussed Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's classic work The Idea of the University as a source of inspiration and challenge to contemporary higher education. While universities today increasingly are focused on research and the production of knowledge for commercial use, Fr. Buckley finds that, for Newman, the primary purpose of universities is to cultivate intellectual excellence in students to aid their maturation into whole persons.