Cuddeback and Marshner to Deliver Lectures for Institute of Catholic Culture

Christendom College’s Dr. John Cuddeback and founding faculty member Dr. William Marshner will be delivering two lecture series this month in the Northern Virginia area, sponsored by the Institute of Catholic Culture. Cuddeback’s series, titled “Understanding Understanding: Objective Truth & Epistemological Relativism,” will be held on May 17 and 24 at St. Francis de Sales Church, while Marshner’s series, titled “Life Everlasting, Amen: Eternal Life with the Angelic Doctor,” will be held on May 19 and 26 at Holy Spirit Church.

Cuddeback is one of the most popular Catholic speakers on philosophy today, and has been a frequent guest lecturer at the Institute of Catholic Culture. His series will look to explain how modern skepticism and relativism can undermine human identity and vocation, while the Western philosophical tradition can help one see human identity as a rational creature, and help one bring the light of reason to an age of darkness.

Cuddeback’s series will be held on two Tuesday nights, May 17 and 24, at 7:30 p.m. in St. Francis de Sales Church Hall, located at 37730 St. Francis Court, Purcellville, Va.

Cuddeback, who earned his B.A. at Christendom and received a Ph.D. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America in 1997, has been teaching at Christendom since the same year. He is a popular writer and lecturer on various topics including virtue, culture, natural law, contemplation, and friendship. Cuddeback is the author of the acclaimed True Friendship: When Virtue Becomes Happiness, and co-authored a new biology textbook Nature’s Beautiful Order: An Introduction to the Study of Animals Taught by Classical Naturalists, published by Memoria Press.

Marshner is one of America’s leading Catholic theologians, and was a member of Christendom’s theology department for thirty-eight years. He still writes for the college as a scholar in residence, working as an author and guest speaker. His series will focus on the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, and how studying his words and thought can help lead one towards man’s final end: Heaven.

Marshner’s series will be held on two Thursdays, May 19 and 26, at 7:30 pm. In Holy Spirit Church Hall, located at 8800 Braddock Road, Annandale, Va.

A convert to the faith and an eminent Thomistic theologian, Dr. William Marshner pursued his undergraduate studies at Gettysburg College, majoring in Greek. He earned an M.A. from the University of Dallas and his S.T.D. from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute at the Catholic University of America. First encountering Christendom founder Dr. Warren Carroll while they both worked at the Catholic magazine Triumph, Dr. William Marshner became one of the five founding faculty members of Christendom in 1977. Due to extensive work in the field of theology, Marshner was named the first chairman of the theology department of the college, a position he would hold for a number of years before continuing on as a professor at the college for the next thirty-eight years. Marshner has been published extensively in newspapers and academic journals, with his latest work, An Anti-Modernist Anthology, being released this year.

Both series are free of charge. For more information, please see the flyer for Cuddeback’s series here and Marshner’s series here, or visit instituteofcatholicculture.org.