PHILOSOPHY IN SUPPORT OF RELIGION

IN THE ABRAHAMIC TRADITIONS OF THE MIDDLE AGES

18 March 2015

8:30 am - 1:00 pm

Beaumier Conference Center B-C,

Raynor Memorial Library

This one-day event explored the supportive importance of philosophy to the development of religious thought in the Abrahamic Traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Middle Ages.

For videos of the events, click below.

8:30 am Welcome Addresses (video*)

Dr Richard Holz, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences

Dr Nancy Snow, Acting Chair, Philosophy Department

Dr Robert Masson, Chair, Theology Department

Dr Stephanie Russell, Vice President for Mission and Ministry

9:00-9:30 am: presentation by Dr Sarah Pessin, Philosophy Department, University of Denver & Director of the Center for Judaic Studies, University of Denver (video*)

Session Chair: Prof. Joshua Burns, Theology Department, Marquette University

9:30-9:55 am: discussion

10:00-10:30 am: presentation by Dr Andrea Robiglio, De Wulf Mansion Centre for Ancient, Medieval and Renaissance Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium (video*)

Session Chair: Dr. Richard C. Taylor, Philosophy Department, Marquette University

10:30-10:55 am: discussion

11:00-11:30 am: presentation by Dr Mohammed Rostum, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada (video*)

Session Chair: Dr. Deirdre Dempsey, Theology Department, Marquette University

11:30-11:55 am: discussion

12:00-1:00 pm: Open discussion coordinated by Dr. Richard C. Taylor, Philosophy Department, Marquette University (video*)

Our Presenters

Dr. Sarah Pessin (Ph.D. The Ohio State University) is the author of Ibn Gabirol’s Theology of Desire: Matter and Method in Jewish Medieval Neoplatonism (Cambridge: Cambridge Univesity Press, 2013). She is presently Director of the Center for Judaic Studies, Emil and Eva Hecht Chair in Judaic Studies, and Associate Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Denver. While specializing in Medieval Jewish Philosophy she also works in modern Jewish thought and is co-organizer of the annual conference series, Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions held in alternate years at the University of Denver and Marquette University. For CV, click HERE.

Dr. Andrea Aldo Robiglio (Ph.D. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan) is the author of L’impossibile volere. Tommaso d’Aquino, i tomisti e la volontà (Milan: Vita e Pensiero, 2002) and La sopravvivenza e la gloria. Appunti sulla formazione della prima scuola tomista - sec. XIV (Bologna: ESD, 2008). Associate Professor of the History of Philosophy at the Catholic University of Louvain (KU Leuven), he specializes in Medieval and Renaissance studies with a focus on social thought; he is also a member of the ‘Groupe d’Anthropologie Scolastique’ (EHESS, Paris) and of the ‘Aquinas and the Arabs’ research consortium. A collection of his essays on Dante will be published by Longo Editore, Ravenna, in 2015. For CV, click HERE.

Dr. Mohammed Rustom (PhD University of Toronto) is author of The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Sadra (State University of New York Press, 2012) and also Assistant Editor of The Study Quran: A New Translation with Notes and Commentary (Editor-in-Chief, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr; HarperOne, in press). His research focuses on Sufism, Islamic Philosophy & Theology, and Quranic exegesis (tafsir) with a view to bringing together all of these disciplines to show their profound unity in the context of Islam. Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Carleton University, he is currently writing a book on the famous twelfth-century Sufi martyr ‘Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani. For CV, click HERE.

This event was made possible by support from the Simmons Religious Commitment Fund and the Office of International Education, Marquette University.

It is sponsored by the Midwest Seminar in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy,

the Aquinas and ‘the Arabs’ International Working Group &

the Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions Series

at the University of Denver and Marquette University.

Organized by Prof. Richard C. Taylor of the the Department of Philosophy,

Marquette University