To pour forth benefits for
the common good is divine.
– Benjamin Franklin
Perry Scholars-Collegium Institute
Engaging Faith & Reason in the University and the Modern World
Partners for Sacred Places
Empowering community-serving religious organizations.
Common Ground for Common Good
Elevating Contemporary Church-State Debates
Program for Empirical Studies and Surveys
Examining Religion and spirituality empirically
Transnational Religious Organizations
Exploring global religion and transnational FBOs
Special Events 2022
Mathematics for Human Flourishing with Francis Su
Thursday, December 1, 2022 | 7:00 pm ET | University of Pennsylvania, Amado Recital Hall in Irvine Auditorium, 3401 Spruce Street, Philadelphia PA, 19104
Join Collegium Institute and the Penn Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society for our Fall 2022 Magi Project Lecture featuring Francis Su, Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a former president of the Mathematical Association of America.
The Professional Life and the Good Life with Arthur Brooks
Thursday: November 10, 2022 | 5:00 pm | The Study at University City, 20 S 33rd St., Philadelphia, PA 19104
To open its 10th Anniversary commemoration events, Collegium Institute will host a reception featuring remarks by Professor Arthur Brooks of Harvard University on Thursday, November 10, 2022 at 5pm in University City. This event highlights Collegium’s “Professions and the Good Life” initiative which brings together its programs in Legal Humanities, Medical Humanities, and the Philosophy of Finance.
The Art We Live With: Seeking, Prioritizing, and Cultivating Beauty in the Everyday
Wednesday, October 5, 2022 | 12:00 pm ET | Via Zoom
On Oct. 5, The Collegium Institute and Dappled Things hosted this online Ars Vivendi Initiative event which brought together a diversity of voices to explore the need to prioritize, make, and seek beauty in our everyday lives, beyond the walls of museums and concert halls. In this recorded virtual event, Ars Vivendi Arts Initiative Director, Jess Sweeney, engages in conversation with: – James K.A. Smith, editor-in-chief of Image Journal & Professor of Philosophy at Calvin University – Shemaiah Gonzalez, a writer & editor based out of Seattle – John Herreid, graphic designer, illustrator, & catalogue manager at Ignatius Press – Marina Gross-Hoy, a writer, Museum Studies Ph.D. candidate, and mother based out of Montreal This online event was co-sponsored by Dappled Things, Image Journal, the Lumen Christi Institute, PRRUCS, Nova Forum, the University of St. Thomas Catholic Studies Department, and Wellspring: A Mother Artist Project.
Anscombe on Action & Ethics: Virtual Seminar
Wednesdays: Sept. 28, Oct. 26, Nov. 30, Feb. 22, March 29, April 29, 2022 | 7:00 pm | Via Zoom (fully virtual)
This reading series considers the pioneering work on action and ethics of Elizabeth Anscombe, one of the seminal philosophers of the 20th century, and perhaps the greatest female philosopher of all time.
This reading group will be facilitated by Dr. John Peter DiIulio, the James N. Perry Scholar of Philosophy, Politics, and Society at the University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Paul Musso, an Anscombe scholar and lecturer in Penn’s Philosophy Department.
Completely Free? The Relevance of John Stuart Mill to Liberalism Today
Thursday, September 22, 2022 | 12:00 – 1:30pm | Benjamin Franklin Room (HH218), Houston Hall,
University of Pennsylvania
Join Professor John Peter DiIulio’s talk and discussion on his new book, Completely Free: The Relevance of John Stuart Mill to Liberalism Today, where he argues that Mill’s apparently fragmented and incoherent ethical, moral, and political ideas are in reality all part of one unified philosophical vision; and, moreover, that this philosophical vision is fundamentally linked to liberalism.
Godless? On Atheism and Theism in the Modern World
Mondays, July 5-July 26, 2022 | 4:30 – 5:45pm
For our July reading group on Genealogies of Modernity and Catholic Thought, we will explore evolutions of atheism and how it developed through the modern world from something almost impossible to believe to something almost hard not to. To learn more about this seminar, click the button below
“What is Life?” International and Interdisciplinary Magi Conference
Thursday, June 16 – Saturday, June 18, 2022
The discovery of untold numbers of planets outside our solar system that seem to meet certain biological requirements make it statistically likely that there is life on other worlds. This has profound implications for our understanding of life, ourselves and our place in the universe and raises questions across world cultures and religious traditions. This summer, scientists, philosophers and theologians are coming together for an international, multi-day collaborative conversation to discuss these new frontiers of science, reason, and faith. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
Professor Celia Deane-Drummond (Oxford University) on “A Theological Exploration of Human Becoming: Belonging to this World and the Next” (Opening Lecture of the Magi Conference)
Thursday, June 16, 2022 | 7:00-8:30pm
This lecture will tackle the question of what is life through an exploration of the evolutionary currents of human becoming as both grounded in this world and yet orientated towards transcendence and the development of virtues. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
"No Unsacred Places": The Rhythms, Rituals, and Routines of the Creative Life
Thursday, June 2, 2022 | 12:00 – 1:30pm
Join the Collegium Institute for an online conversation exploring the rhythms, routines, and rituals of a painter, poet, sculptor, & writer on Thursday June 2nd via Zoom. To learn more about this webinar, click the button below.
The Way of Medicine: Ethics and the Healing Profession — A Medical Humanities Reception with Farr Curlin, MD
Friday, May 6, 2022 | 5:00 – 8:00pm
Collegium Institute is honored to host Farr A. Curlin, MD for a Medical Humanities lecture and reception this spring. This event, The Way of Medicine: Ethics and Healing, will convene local doctors, academics, and medical students for a conversation about medical ethics. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
Anscombe on Money, Debt, and Usury: An Evening Conversation with Graham Hubbs
Wednesday, March 16, 2022 | 7:00 – 8:30pm
Collegium Institute and PRRUCS are pleased to welcome Graham Hubbs, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of Politics and Philosophy at the University of Idaho, for a lecture on GEM Anscombe’s philosophy of money, debt, and usury. This lecture will take place live in person at Penn and will also be live-streamed. To learn more about this event, click the button below.
Anscombe &: The History of Philosophy according to Elizabeth Anscombe
Tuesdays, Jan 18, Feb 15, March 15, April 5, 2022 | 7:00 – 8:00pm
In this reading series, we will consider G.E.M. Anscombe in dialogue with major thinkers from the history of philosophy. This reading group will be facilitated by Terence Sweeney, Ph.D, the John and Daria Barry Foundation postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. To learn more about this webinar, click the button below.