Philosophy and Theology as Core Disciplines in Jesuit Higher Education

Friday, Nov 21, 2025 - Saturday, Nov 22, 2025 | Burns Library听| Please to Attend

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Event Overview

The importance of teaching philosophy has听been听cultivated at听Jesuit institutions of higher education听since the inception of the general enterprise. This conference brings together scholars and administrators to reflect on how the听disciplines contributes听to the mission of those institutions. Key questions for exploration thus include: What role has philosophy had in the history of Jesuit institutions of higher education?听How have we and how should we think about its relation with theology, which has long been thought its first and best partner?听What have been the salient changes of the role of these disciplines, as well as the causes and consequences of these changes, in the history of these institutions?听 Finally, what do the answers to these questions tell us about how best to proceed in the future? By addressing these questions, the conference and its participants aim to contribute to an ongoing conversation about how to foster the core of Jesuit higher education.

The Institute for Liberal Arts, Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences, Departments of Philosophy, Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, Lonergan Institute, and Boston College Libraries are co-sponsoring this event.

For general information, contact:听Andrew.Barrette@bc.edu
For questions regarding Burns Library building accessibility, contact:听Caroline.Pace@bc.edu

Friday - November 21 | Burns Library |听Please to Attend

2:30-4:00笔惭听

Talk

Cristiano Casalini and Greg Kalscheur, S.J., Boston College.听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听 听听

Saturday - November 22听 | Burns Library | Please听听to Attend听

8:30AM

Coffee/tea and continental breakfast

9:00-10:30AM

Morning Sessions

  • Brenna Moore 鈥 Fordham University听"Confessional Theology and Humanistic Pluralism: Jesuit Higher Education, Past, Present, and Future"
  • Joseph Corabi 鈥 St. Joseph University听"Technological Developments and Philosophy in Jesuit Education".听
10:30-11:00AM

Coffee/tea break

11:00-12:30PM

After Break Sessions

  • Jennifer Sanders 鈥 St. Louis University听Theology at a Jesuit University: A Matter of Life and Death?
  • Fr. Christopher Krall, SJ 鈥 Creighton University听鈥淎n Education in Limitation: A Jesuit Philosophical, Theological, and Neurological Training in Weakness for Authentic Self-Appropriation鈥
12:30-2:00PM

Boxed lunch in the Irish and Fine Print Rooms

2:00-4:30PM

Afternoon Sessions

  • Brian Treanor 鈥 Loyola Marymount University听鈥淧hilosophy, Humanism, and Jesuit Education鈥
  • Fr. Martin Connell, SJ 鈥 Arrupe College, Loyola University Chicago听Title鈥 鈥淔orming Critical Consciousness, Shaping Vision: Philosophy and Theology in Jesuit Higher Education鈥澨
  • Fr. Erick Berrelleza 鈥 Messina College, Boston College
5:00PM

Mass听| St. Ignatius Church

Gregory Kalscheur, SJ, Dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences photographed in the Dean's office and conference room in Gasson Hall.

Gregory Kalscheur, S.J.

Gregory Kalscheur, S.J. has served as the Dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences since 2015. In addition to this role, he holds faculty appointments as a professor in both the Boston College Law School and the Political Science Department. Father Kalscheur鈥檚 primary teaching and research interests include law and religion, constitutional law, Catholic social thought and the law, and the contributions of Ignatian spirituality and the Catholic intellectual tradition to the character of Jesuit higher education. As dean, he has earned praise from faculty for his work on the Core Curriculum renewal, faculty engagement, mentoring, and academic planning, and from students for his accessibility, guidance, and ongoing commitment to student formation.


Casalini

Cristiano Casalini

Cristiano Casalini is a Professor at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, where he holds the Chair in Jesuit Pedagogy and Educational History. He was recently appointed Academic Director of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies, where he has served as a Research Scholar for the past ten years. His scholarship focuses on Jesuit education and the history of Jesuit philosophy. On the latter, he is the author of Aristotle in Coimbra: The Cursus Conimbricensis and the Education at the College of Arts (Routledge, 2017) and editor of Jesuit Philosophy on the Eve of Modernity (Brill, 2019).


Christina Matz

Brenna Moore

Brenna Moore is Professor of Theology and Chair of the Department at Fordham University. She is the author of Sacred Dread: Ra茂ssa Maritain, the Allure of Suffering, and the French Catholic Revival (1905鈥1945) and Kindred Spirits: Friendship and Resistance at the Edges of Modern Catholicism. Her most recent book is Mutuality in El Barrio (co-authored with CareyKasten). She also completed a co-authored research project for the IAJU with Gabrielle Bibeau and Pep Mar铆, SJ, titled The Art of Encounter: Experiments for Engaging Religious Diversity and Secularization in Jesuit Higher Education.听


Corabi

Joseph Corabi

Joseph Corabi is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at Saint Joseph鈥檚 University. His research focus is on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of religion. His publications include "The Evidential Weight of Social Evil," "Superintelligence as Moral Philosopher,鈥 and 鈥淚ntelligent Design and Theodicy.鈥


 Samuel Aston

Jennifer M. Sanders

Jennifer M. Sanders is the Mooney Professor in Catholic Studies at Saint Louis University. She teaches courses including Catholic Imagination, Catholic Intellectual Heritage, and the Good Life, and The Question of Suffering and Evil in Catholic Thought. She earned her Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Boston College in 2017, following a M.A. in Philosophy in 2009 and a B.A. in Philosophy from Boston College. Her recent work includes 鈥淪tonecatchers: Imagining Forgiveness,鈥 鈥淭he Cross and/as Civil Resistance,鈥 and 鈥淚mitating the Divine Interruption of Deteriorating Human Conversations: Speaking the Gospel in a New Language.鈥


Christopher Krall, SJ

Christopher Krall, S.J.

Christopher Krall, S.J, is an assistant professor of theology and neuroscience at Creighton University. He has a Ph.D. in the interdisciplinary research of systematic theology and neuroscience from Marquette University. The title of his dissertation is 鈥淭he Human Person Fully Alive: The Transformation of the Body, Brain, Mind, and Soul of Humanity in the Encounter with the Divinity.鈥


Brian Treanor

Brian Treanor听

Brian Treanor is professor of philosophy at Loyola Marymount University, with affiliate appointments in Environmental Studies and Irish Studies. Broadly speaking, he is interested in environmental philosophy, ethics, and philosophy of religion; however, like poet Les Murray, he is 鈥渙nly interested in everything.鈥 Treanor is the author or editor of a dozen books, including Melancholic Joy (Bloomsbury 2021), Philosophy in the American West (Routledge 2020), Carnal Hermeneutics (Fordham 2015),听 Emplotting Virtue听 (SUNY 2014), Interpreting Nature (Fordham 2013), and Aspects of Alterity (Fordham 2006). He is currently at work on a monograph addressing the meaning and experience of 鈥渘ature鈥 and 鈥渨ilderness,鈥 as well as a number of other 鈥減ublic-facing鈥 essays and a Substack newsletter: Wild Life.


Portrait of Arrupe Staff Member.
(Photo: Heather Eidson)

Fr. Martin Connell, S.J.

Fr. Martin Connell, S.J., is Dean of Arrupe College, Loyola University Chicago鈥檚 associate鈥檚 degree program designed for first-generation students. He has served in leadership and teaching roles in the United States and East Africa. After graduating from Loyola, Fr. Connell went on to earn an MA from the Centre for Medieval Studies at the University of Toronto and an MDiv and STL from the Jesuit School of Theology. He was ordained in 1994 before earning his PhD in teaching and learning from the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at UC Santa Barbara.


Erick Berrelleza, S.J.

Erick Berrelleza, S.J.

Erick Berrelleza, S.J., was named founding dean of Messina College of Boston College. Father Berrelleza received a B.A. in philosophy from Loyola Marymount University, an M.Div. degree in theology and ministry from Boston College, and a Ph.D. in sociology from Boston University. He previously served as a visiting scholar in AV研究所鈥檚 Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and as an assistant professor of sociology at Santa Clara University.

Campus Map and Parking:

Parking is available at the nearby Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue Garages.

Boston College is also accessible via public transportation (MBTA B Line - Boston College).

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