Since Pope St. John Paul II died in 2005, his rich philosophical legacy has not received the attention it deserves. This summer, we will be holding a seminar which gives special attention to his seminal personalism and sets him in dialogue with Dietrich von Hildebrand, another eminent Christian personalist.
The seminar will give particular attention to their personalist understanding of community and of the social order. Each of them was not only a thinker and a teacher, but also a witness. St. John Paul II bore witness against communism and contributed to its collapse, and Dietrich von Hildebrand bore an unforgettable witness against Nazism.
In this seminar we will examine their teaching on the human person in society, and we will let ourselves be challenged by their witness. Readings will include Love and Responsibility and Centesimus annus by Wojtyla/St. John Paul II, My Battle Against Hitler by Dietrich von Hildebrand, along with relevant selections from other authors. The seminar will be led by Rocco Buttiglione, John F. Crosby, and Michael Novak—three scholars who are not only leading authorities in the philosophy of the human person, but each of whom has a personal connection to Pope St. John Paul II.
