This summer’s seminar will survey the central insights of twentieth century Personalism, consider its place within the Christian intellectual tradition, and explore the contributions it has still to make. A group of 25-30 participants will read key texts in Augustine, Martin Buber, Dietrich von Hildebrand, Gabriel Marcel, Emmanuel Mounier, John Henry Newman, Joseph Ratzinger, Max Scheler, Thomas Aquinas, Edith Stein, Karol Wojtyla, and others, along with source texts from Scripture and tradition.
Hildebrand Project
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Past Events
June 12-16, 2016
April 23, 2016
Voices of Personalism is the inaugural annual conference on Personalist Philosophy, jointly hosted by the Franciscan University of Steubenville's M.A. Program in Philosophy and the Hildebrand Project.
June 7-11, 2015
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.
May 6, 2015
An evening of conversation centered on the recent publication My Battle Against Hitler as a vital source of historical perspective and moral guidance as the world grapples with resurgent terrorism, anti-Semitism, and totalitarian threats. This event will be hosted by John Henry Crosby and features distinguished speakers: Karl- Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenburg, Eric Metaxas, Michael Novak, and Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.
November 12, 2014
Alice von Hildebrand asked her late husband Dietrich to tell her about his life before they met. He responded by writing her a personal memoir, which became My Battle Against Hitler.
Join a live webinar with Alice von Hildebrand as she discusses the couragous actions that earned her husband the title of "public enemy number one" of the Nazis in Austria.
October 12, 2014
The Hildebrand Project in collaboration with the Franciscan University of Steubenville hosted the “Power of Beauty” philosophical conference. The conference explored the power of beauty to renew both individual persons and entire communities. Many of the over sixty conference presenters took as their point of departure Fyodor Dostoevsky’s famous statement: “Beauty will save the world.” Speakers reflected on the transformative and even salvific effects of beauty by exploring its power to impart new life, to engender love, and to awaken deep aspirations in the human heart. Internationally renowned philosopher Roger Scruton gave the keynote address, “Beauty and Desecration.”
June 30 - July 3, 2014
Dietrich von Hildebrand & the Philosophy of Value was the Fourth Annual Summer Seminar of the Hildebrand Project. The seminar was lead by faculty from the Philosophy department at Franciscan University of Steubenville: Hildebrand Senior Scholar Dr. John F. Crosby, Dr. Jonathan Sanford, and Dr. Mark Roberts.
December 3, 2014
Franiscan University of Steubenville professors John F. Crosby, Kimberly Georgedes, Jonathan Sanford, Patricia Donohue, join founder and director of the Hildebrand Project, John Henry Crosby, to present the story of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s heroic fight against the Nazis, recently published in the book, My Battle Against Hitler. (Join the Livestream)
October 30, 2013
A celebration of the life and work of Alice von Hildebrand, wife and close collaborator of the great Catholic philosopher, Dietrich von Hildebrand, and herself a gifted philosopher, teacher, and author. For her contributions to the renewal of Catholic faith and culture, and for her inspiration and wisdom as we look to the future, we, her friends and beneficiaries wish to honor Alice on her 90th birthday. Together with our distinguished Host Committee, the trustees of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Legacy Project invite friends to join us for a festive evening with special guest, his Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, and with the woman whom Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has called "Eine Edle Frau —A Noble Lady.”
October 23, 2013
"Edith Stein Beyond Descartes: Empathy as Ground for Knowledge" was a lecture given at the Franciscan University of Steubenville by Rocco Buttiglione.