News Article

Rev. Ron Tacelli, S.J., a Boston College philosophy professor, will discuss “Why Does God Hide? Pascallian Reflections by a Jesuit,” from 4-5:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 13, in Room 101 of the GU Administration Building. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Assistant Professor Debby Hutchins, a new member of the Gonzaga philosophy faculty, will be the respondent. The presentation marks the first this fall semester of the Gonzaga University Socratic Club.

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century Roman Catholic, French theologian, mathematician, and philosopher. Pascal, who often disagreed with members of the Society of Jesus, often spoke about the paradoxes of the human condition and of God being everywhere and nowhere at once. 

The next Socratic Club lecture will be delivered Nov. 10 by GU philosophy Associate Professor Douglas Kries, who will discuss “Tocqueville and Benedict XVI on Catholicism and Politics.” On Dec. 1, Forrest Baird, a Whitworth College professor, will discuss C.S. Lewis and “The Abolition of Man.” All lectures in this series run from 4-5:30 p.m. in Room 101 of the Administration Building and are free and open to the public.

The GU Socratic Club is based on the Oxford Socratic Club, which was started in 1941 and run by author C.S. Lewis until 1954. The club seeks to promote open dialogue about the Christian worldview, doctrine and practice. Anyone interested is invited, regardless of religious preference.  The meetings, which occur approximately every two weeks, consist of 20- or 30-minutes of lecture, followed by a brief, formal response and discussion.

The club’s supervisor David Calhoun, GU associate professor of philosophy, will be away from campus this semester, and Kries will coordinate the meetings. Kries can be reached via e-mail at kries@gem.gonzaga.edu or at (509) 323-6720.
More information about the GU Socratic Club, including texts of past lectures, can be found at its Web site, http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/calhoun/socratic/.