Keynote Speakers

Steven A. Long

Professor of Theology

Ave Maria University ~ Ave Maria, FL

Dr. Steven A. Long is full professor of theology at Ave Maria University and ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. Starting in 2022, he will also begin his term as president of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. Dr. Long is author of the following books: Analogia Entis: On the Analogy of Being, Metaphysics, and the Act of Faith; Natura Pura: On the Recovery of Nature in the Doctrine of Grace; and The Teleological Grammar of the Moral Act. He also co-edited Reason and the Rule of Faith: Conversations in the Tradition with John Paul II with Christopher J. Thompson. He has published scholarly articles in The Thomist, Nova et Vetera, Communio, New Blackfriars, Revue thomiste, Studies in Christian Ethics, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, International Philosophic Quarterly, and First Things, as well as in numerous book-length collections of essays. Dr. Long also serves as a senior advisor to The Sacra Doctrina Project.

Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P.

Rector

Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) ~ Rome, Italy

Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P. is rector and professor of theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas and has served as Director of the Thomistic Institute in Rome at the Angelicum and in Washington, D.C. at the Dominican House of Studies. Fr. White is co-editor of book series and academic journals, as well as an ordinary member and council member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas. He has presented extensively and has published scholarly articles in The Thomist, Pro Ecclesia, Nova et Vetera, International Journal of Systematic Theology, and American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. He has also co-edited and written numerous books, including Wisdom in the Face of Modernity, The Light of Christ, Exodus: A Theological Commentary, The Incarnate Lord, and, forthcoming, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God (March 2022). Fr. White is a solemnly professed priest-friar in the Order of Preachers and serves as a senior advisor to The Sacra Doctrina Project.

Plenary Speakers

daria spezzano

Associate Professor of Theology

Providence College ~ Providence, RI

Dr. Daria Spezzano is associate professor of theology at Providence College. She holds a Ph.D. in theology from the University of Notre Dame and a Master's degree in liturgical studies from the Liturgical Institute. She has published scholarly articles in Nova et Vetera, Cistercian Studies, and Journal of Moral Theology, as well as chapters in edited volumes such as: Aquinas on Initiation and Mystagogy; Reading Job with St. Thomas Aquinas; Thomas Aquinas, Biblical Theologian; and Thomas Aquinas and the Crisis of Christology. Dr. Spezzano is the author of The Glory of God's Grace: Deification according to St. Thomas Aquinas, published by Sapientia Press in 2015.

patrick m. gardner

Tutor and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

Thomas Aquinas College ~ Northfield, MA

Dr. Patrick M. Gardner serves as a tutor and as the assistant dean for student affairs at the New England campus of Thomas Aquinas College. Dr. Gardner received his Ph.D. and M.M.S. from the University of Notre Dame's Medieval Institute, studying under Ralph McInerny, after completing his B.A. at Harvard University. He was the recipient of the Jefferson Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Texas in 2010. Dr. Gardner has published in The Thomist and in the edited volume, Reviewing Dante's Theology, and has lectured and written on Dante, Aquinas, and Plato.