In a world in which new identities are asserted with virulence, the very strangeness of the situation can lead us to ask: How did we get here? Many recent works have presented different genealogies of our present situation; in my upcoming book, Body and Identity: A History of the Empty Self, I argue for a much older story than most commentators give. This is a story that cannot be told without speaking of Christianity—its radical proposals and challenges—and how modern thinkers both extended and distorted the Christian vision of identity.

The COLLIS Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture’s convocation of student leaders explores the question “Where are we now?”

“One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic? Championing the Marks of the Church in an Age of Polarization and Ecclesial Confusion.” I will speak on “The Marks of the Body.”

A panel with Erika Bachiochi and Rachel Coleman

The 2024 Thomas Lecture in Philosophy and Theology

A panel on Mary Harrington’s work, with Nina Power, Rachel Coleman, Abigail Favale, and Adrian Walker.

On the transition from pre-modern to modern views of the embodied person

For the Nova Forum of Catholic Thought at the University of Southern California

Keynote for The New Ressourcement conference

Academy for Catholic Theology

On Mary Harrington’s new book

I will present on “Liquid Identity and the Sacred Liturgy: The Problem of Experience in Modernity.”

Does Mariology have anything to contribute to our understanding of the body? Dr. Franks will argue that Mary's poverty--that she "let all God's glory through," to quote Gerard Manley Hopkins--is exemplary for what the body contributes in the structure of the person.

Join me for a Zoom webinar!

A “Theology and Culture” Lecture

We are told that our gender is fluid. How true is this? What is the reality and purpose of our bodies? Is there any truth to "fluidity"? What does any of this have to do with God? I will present a theology of the gendered body and discuss the truth and the limits of the idea of “fluidity.”

This is my second lecture as Visiting Catholic Scholar at Benedictine University-Mesa. It will be available on Zoom; register via Ramon Luzarraga at rluzarraga@ben.edu.

This is my first lecture as Visiting Catholic Scholar at Benedictine University-Mesa. It will be available on Zoom; register via Ramon Luzarraga at rluzarraga@ben.edu.

I will discuss Margaret Sanger's eugenic mindset, how that influenced Planned Parenthood, and how St. John Paul II's theology of the body provides an anthropological corrective for our troubled times. Bob Dunn will also update us on life-related legislation in New Hampshire.