 "Photo: Shannon Longmate")
 "Photo: Shannon Longmate")
Associate Professor of Philosophy Michael W. Tkacz has been invited to give the esteemed Aquinas Lecture at the University of Oxford in Oxford, England, on Feb. 12.
The title of Tkacz's lecture is "Aquinas, Teleology, and Contemporary Biological Research" in which he will speak about the importance of the 13thcentury Catholic philosopher Thomas Aquinas to modern day scientific research programs. The lecture will be open to the public.
In addition to the lecture, Tkacz will teach a 10-day seminar at Blackfriars College, a division of the University of Oxford, which is run by the Dominican Friars. The Blackfriars division specializes in the study of Aquinas, a former Dominican priest himself. The seminar is limited to Oxford-enrolled students and seminarians during the Hilary (Winter) Term. It is a course that does not count for core credit, so the students enrolled are choosing to take this course, Tkacz said.
Tkacz believes that this invitation means that he has developed something of a scholarly reputation and intellectuals know he has something important to say.
"It's an honor, of course. The British academy is a leading light in academic life and Oxford is at the center of that," said fellow philosophy professor David Calhoun.
Tkacz first became interested in the work of Aquinas because of his Catholic background and his ever-present interest in medieval thought. He studied many medieval thinkers in his postgraduate study, but specialized in Aquinas' beliefs. Tkacz said that Aquinas is a model for Catholic life, which helped to spark his own interest in pursuing his specialization.
Tkacz received his master's degree in medieval studies from the University of Notre Dame and doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America, where he worked with experts on Aquinas.
"Both places are centers for the study of St. Thomas' thought," Tkacz said.
"One thing that draws me to his thought is that he has a way of thinking about faith and reason that is very useful," Tkacz said. "Aquinas says that scientific research is fully compatible with faith."
In the modern world, there is a constant battle between faith and science.
"People tend to associate science with reason and faith with emotion," Calhoun said. Most would say reason and emotion are not compatible, but Aquinas thought otherwise.
"Not only are science and religion compatible, but it is part of our calling to study science," Tkacz said of Aquinas' ideas.
Tkacz does not defend the idea of intelligent design, where everything is created by an intelligent cause. His ideas involving Aquinas are a middle ground between intelligent design and natural selection.
In his lecture, Tkacz will use the basis of Aquinas' thoughts to show a different way of thinking in the world of science and research programs, while focusing on biology.
Tkacz was chosen to lecture because his thoughts on Aquinas are applied to a topic of contemporary significance internationally. Tkacz's ideas are not only going to be heard at Oxford, they are also heard in classes here at Gonzaga.
Calhoun uses Tkacz's ideas when he teaches his Christianity and Science class. Tkacz's ideas help to examine an integrationist view of religion and science versus the traditional compartmentalized view where religion and science never interact. Calhoun says the integrationist view believes that "all truth is truth and it can fit together."
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