Tekippe Lecture

The annual Tekippe Theological Forum lecture affords Notre Dame Seminary the opportunity to expose the seminary community to nationally and internationally known theologians and scholars who speak on a diverse range of topics with relevance to contemporary events in the Church and the world. On October 2, Dr. Brian Benestad, holder of the D’Amour Chair in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition at Assumption College, and author of the highly acclaimed Church, State, and Society: Introduction to Catholic Social Doctrine, spoke about Pope Benedict’s highly praised September speeches, gathered into a single volume by Dr Marc Guerra, entitled Liberating Logos: Pope Benedict’s XVI’s September Speeches. These speeches include those delivered in Lebanon (9-15-12), Paris (9-12-08), Regensburg (9-12-06), Berlin (9-12-06), London (9-17-15), Prague (9-27-15), and in Rome (4-18-05). The latter speech is the homily he gave to the conclave that would elect him pope. Benestad spoke about the requirements for peace, the relation of faith and reason, the foundations of law, the relation between environmental ecology and the ecology of man, human dignity, the relation of religion and politics, the silencing of religious voices in the public square, and the dictatorship of relativism. He also spoke about the social teaching of Pope Francis.