The University of Oklahoma
Heritage Room, Oklahoma Memorial Union
7:00 PM
A lecture by Prof. Paul Gondreau (Providence College)
Free and open to the public.
Event Description:
"No greater wonder could be accomplished than that God should become man." So writes St. Thomas Aquinas in his commentary on the Gospel of John. This statement follows a lifetime spent pondering the question of why God became man. If Aquinas fully acknowledges that the Incarnation marks an article of faith, that is, a doctrine that is accepted as true only by an act of faith, he was nonetheless convinced that the mystery of the Incarnation is not only in accord with human reason, it is deeply attractive to the human spirit. To consider the Incarnation a mystery that evokes great "wonder" is to recognize a deep beauty and coherence that is part and parcel of God's having become man. In today's age, which tends to regard articles of faith as irrational and the Incarnation, in particular, as a myth, Thomas Aquinas thus has a valuable perspective that merits our close consideration. Come and hear the many reasons that Aquinas offers for why it makes a good deal of sense for God to have become man.
Speaker Bio:
Paul Gondreau earned his doctorate in sacred theology from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, writing under the renowned Thomist scholar Rev. Jean-Pierre Torrell, O.P. He is professor of theology at Providence College in Rhode Island, where he teaches/has taught courses on marriage, Christology, the theology of Thomas Aquinas, the Church, the Eucharist, the Sacraments, and the Catholic thought of J.R.R. Tolkien. He has a published manuscript on Christ's human passions in the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas and has published numerous essays in the area of Thomistic Christology, Thomistic anthropology, a Thomistic account of human sexuality, and a Thomistic theology of disability. His is associate editor of the theological journal Nova et Vetera, and has served as a consultant to the USCCB's committee on marriage and family.
