FāVS News News and Commentary about Religion and Ethics in Eastern Washington and North Idaho
Michael Tkacz, professor of Christian philosophy at Gonzaga University, will present the lecture “Why We Need to Know About the Catholic Intellectual Tradition” on Monday, Jan, 30 at 7 p.m. in College Hall Room 101 at the Gonzaga campus.
The public event is an effort of the Gonzaga Faith and Reason Institute and the Gonzaga Socratics Club.
The lecture will address the pursuit of learning to articulate Christian faith, and the reasons a Christian needs academia when the tenets of faith arise from various authoritative sources.
Catholic intellectual thinkers refute new atheist claims of recent decades that Christianity is irrational and should be abandoned in the face of modern scientific evidence. The study of the tradition should be kept alive as a “remedy to the distortion of faith as well as a source of deeper understanding of its profound teachings,” according to Tkacz.
Tkacz specializes in the history of medieval philosophy and philosophy of nature. He serves as the president of the Society for Thomistic Natural Philosophy, and researches contributions of Albert Magnus to the development of the scientific method and metaphysical foundations of empirical science.
Megan Carroll is a senior journalism major and interdisciplinary arts minor — which combines her passions for music, theater and dance — at Gonzaga University. Her professional writing experience apart from FāVS includes work with Gonzaga’s Marketing and Communications department (Gonzaga News Service and Gonzaga Magazine), freelance feature and entertainment writing with local daily The Spokesman-Review, and freelance writing for Northwest Catholic Magazine’s website. When she is not writing, Megan enjoys hanging out with adults diagnosed with developmental disabilities at GU Specialized Recreation, singing in voice lessons or GU Concert Choir, dancing, enjoying the outdoors, exercising, and spending time with her wonderful friends and family. A Las Vegas native and avid hiker, she enjoys the beautiful scenery, change of pace and different climate in Spokane. She worshipped in the non-denominational Christian church throughout most of her life, but was recently baptized and confirmed a Catholic. Discussions surrounding interreligious dialogue and religious pluralism in coursework and beyond have led her to many religion reporting passion projects.
