PIMSPontifical Institute
of
Mediaeval Studies

Recent and Forthcoming Lectures

The 2025 Gilson Lecture, "The Medieval Lineage of alta fantasia," was delivered on 25 March 2025 by Dr Mary Carruthers, Remarque Professor Emeritus of Literature, New York University. For information on forthcoming lectures, please contact Semira Abdella, Institute secretary (phone 416 926 7142).

The Gilson Lectures on Thomas Aquinas

This volume, which marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of scholarly publishing at the Pontifical Institute and the thirtieth anniversary of Gilson's death, reprints the lectures devoted to Thomas Aquinas, and is introduced by James P. Reilly. It contains nine lectures from this prestigious series by some of the most prominent Thomists, including Leonard Boyle, Edward Synan, James Weisheipl, Mark Jordan, and James P. Reilly. For more information on this volume, including ordering information, please click here.

Lectures in Print

Many (although not all) of the Gilson lectures are published as part of the Etienne Gilson Series (EGS), a collection of works by and about the Institute founder. Complimentary copies of those still currently in print are available on request; copies of some of the lectures are available in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format (see below). In order to make a request, please send your mailing address to Megan Jones by email at megan.jones@utoronto.ca or by mail at the Department of Publications, 59 Queen’s Park Crescent East, Toronto, ON, M5S 2C4, Canada.

The following lectures are currently in print:

• 2000: Marcia L. Colish. “Remapping Scholasticism.” EGS 21. 2000. 21 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–721–0 • Also available in a PDF version
• 2002: Francis Oakley. “Omnipotence and Promise: The Legacy of the Scholastic Distinction of Powers.” EGS 23. 2002. 28 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–723–4 • Also available in a PDF version
• 2003: John D. North. “Time and the Scholastic Universe.” EGS 25. 2003. 32 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–725–8
• 2004: Karl F. Morrison. “The Male Gaze and Other Reasons for the Hypothetical End of Christian Art in the West.” EGS 26. 2005. 36 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–726–5 • Also available in a PDF version
• 2005: F. Donald Logan. “The Medieval Historian and the Quest for Certitude.” EGS 27. 2005. 17 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–727–2
• 2006: Paul Edward Dutton. “The Mystery of the Missing Heresy Trial of William of Conches.” EGS 28. 2006. 48 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–728–9
• 2007: William Courtenay. “Changing Approaches to Fourteenth-Century Thought.” EGS 29. 2007. 40 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–729–6
• 2008: M. Michèle Mulchahey. “‘The use of philosophy, especially by the Preachers ...’: Albert the Great, the Studium at Cologne, and the Dominican Curriculum. EGS 32. 2009. 38 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–732–6
• 2010: Timothy B. Noone. “Of Angels and Men: Sketches from High Medieval Epistemology.” EGS 34. 2011. 45 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–734–0 • Currently only available in a PDF version
• 2011: Peter Howard. “Aquinas and Antoninus: A Tale of Two Summae in Renaissance Florence.” EGS 35. 2013. 30 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–735–7
• 2017: Richard J. Fafara. “Etienne Gilson: Formation and Accomplishment.” EGS 36. 2018. 40 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–736–4 • Currently only available in a PDF version
• 2020: Willemien Otten. “Creation and Gender in Eriugena, Hildegard, and Hadewijch.” EGS 37. 2023. 36 pp. ISBN 978-0-88844-737-1
• 2023: Bernard McGinn. “God and the One: A Critical Tribute to Etienne Gilson.” EGS 38. 2023. 50 pp. ISBN 978-0-88844-738-8

• Related Lecture: Anthony J. Celano. “From Priam to the Good Thief. The Significance of a Single Event in Greek Ethics and Medieval Moral Teaching.” EGS 22; Studies in Medieval Moral Teaching 2. 2001. 24 pp. ISBN 978–0–88844–722–7 • Also available in a PDF version

Distinguished Contributors

• 1979: Edward A. Synan, “Thomas Aquinas: Propositions and Parables” (included in EGS 30)
• 1980: James A. Weisheipl, O.P., “Thomas d’Aquino and Albert his Teacher” (included in EGS 30)
• 1981: Laurence K. Shook, lecture incorporated into his Étienne Gilson (Toronto: PIMS, 1984)
• 1982: Leonard E. Boyle, O.P., “The Setting of the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas” (included in EGS 30)
• 1983: Armand A. Maurer, C.S.B., “Art and Beauty”
• 1984: Walter H. Principe, C.S.B., “Thomas Aquinas’ Spirituality” (included in EGS 30)
• 1985: Jaroslav Pelikan, “The Spirit of Medieval Theology”
• 1986: Joseph Owens, C.Ss.R., “Towards a Philosophy of Medieval Studies”
• 1987: Kenneth L. Schmitz, “What Has Clio to Do with Athena? Etienne Gilson: Historian and Philosopher”
• 1988: James P. Reilly, Jr., “St. Thomas on Law” (included in EGS 30)
• 1989: Otto Hermann Pesch, “Christian Existence according to Thomas Aquinas” (included in EGS 30)
• 1990: Mark D. Jordan, “The Alleged Aristotelianism of Thomas Aquinas” (included in EGS 30)
• 1991: Jocelyn N. Hillgarth, “Who Read Thomas Aquinas?” (included in EGS 30)
• 1992: John Finnis, “‘Historical Consciousness’ and Theological Foundations”
• 1993: John F. Wippel, “Thomas Aquinas on the Divine Ideas” (included in EGS 30)
• 1994: Édouard Jeauneau, “Translatio Studii: The Transmission of Learning”
• 1995: James K. McConica, C.S.B., “The Waning of the Middle Ages”
• 1996: Brian Stock, “The Traditional Roots of Mind/Body Medicine”
• 1997: Richard H. Rouse, “Illiterate et Uxorati: The Beginnings of Commercial Book Production”
• 1998: Jaroslav Pelikan, “Doctrinal History and Its Interpretation”
• 1999: Brian Davies, “Aquinas and the Problem of Evil”
• 2000: Marcia L. Colish, “Remapping Scholasticism”; Anthony J. Celano, “From Priam to the Good Thief”
• 2001: Giles Constable, “The Abstraction of Personal Qualities in Medieval Letters”
• 2002: Francis Oakley, “Omnipotence and Promise: The Legacy of the Scholastic Distinction of Powers”
• 2003: John D. North, “Time and the Scholastic Universe”
• 2004: Karl F. Morrison, “The Male Gaze and Other Reasons for the Hypothetical End of Christian Art in the West”
• 2005: F. Donald Logan, “The Medieval Historian and the Quest for Certitude”
• 2006: Paul Edward Dutton, “The Mystery of the Missing Heresy Trial of William of Conches”
• 2007: William J. Courtenay, “Changing Approaches to Fourteenth-Century Thought”
• 2008: M. Michèle Mulchahey, “‘The use of philosophy, especially by the Preachers ...’: Albert the Great, the Studium at Cologne, and the Dominican Curriculum”
• 2009: Jacqueline Hamesse, “The Medieval Philosopher's Reference Tools: Essential Aids to Scholastic Formation”
• 2010: Timothy B. Noone, “Of Angels and Men: Sketches from High Medieval Epistemology”
• 2011: Peter Howard, “Aquinas and Antoninus: A Tale of Two Summae in Renaissance Florence”
• 2013: Faith Wallis, “Medicine and the Renaissance of the 12th Century”
• 2014: Peter Brown, “Alms, Work and the 'Holy Poor': Early Monasticism between Syria and Egypt”
• 2015: Bonnie Kent, “How Could We Become Equal to the Angels? Late Thirteenth-Century Debates about Human and Angelic Capacities”
• 2016: Vincent Gillespie, “'Approved Women': Birgitta of Sweden and the Politics of Late Medieval English Spirituality”
• 2017: Richard J. Fafara, “Etienne Gilson: Formation and Achievement”
• 2018: Judith Olszowy-Schlanger, “‘Silent Friends’: Christian Hebrew Learning in Medieval England”
• 2019: John Van Engen, “Fidelity, Faith, and Doubt in the Twelfth Century: Writings of William of St Thierry (1075/85–1148) in Cultural Context”
• 2020 (delivered in 2022): Willemien Otten, “Creation and Gender in Eriugena, Hildegard, and Hadewijch”
• 2021 (delivered in 2022): Peter Adamson, “Avicennan Scholasticism”
• 2023: Bernard McGinn, “God and the One: A Critical Tribute to Etienne Gilson”
• 2024: Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., “Theology of the Trinity and the Nature of the University”
• 2025: Mary Carruthers, "The Medieval Lineage of alta fantasia"