Hildebrand Project

The Challenge of Community

14th Annual Summer Seminar
July 15-19, 2024
Franciscan University of Steubenville

The human person only finds the fulfillment of his nature in spiritual contact with other persons, in union with them—in short: in community.

Dietrich von Hildebrand, The Metaphysics of Community

Important Update

Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our donors, we have been able to substantially reduce the fees for both Students and Professionals attending the Summer Seminar.

  • Student: $650 $400
  • Professional (with dormitory housing): $1,650 $1000
  • Professional (without dormitory housing): $1,250 $800

Seminar Description

Why are people connected with each other as never before, even as they suffer from crushing loneliness? Why do people have a deep need to be sheltered inside a community but feel condemned to remain outside of all deeper solidarity with others? Or if they do belong to a community, why is it that they can put down roots in it only by taking other communities as enemies? Why do people find it so easy and natural to approach others with mistrust, and have a great difficulty approaching them with trust?

The great Christian personalists have something to say about these contradictions; we find in their works much wisdom about the brokenness of our life with others.

Dietrich von Hildebrand wrote a major philosophical treatise, The Metaphysics of Community, in response to the earlier crisis about the nature of the person and community in National Socialism and Communism. His personalism leads to a strong affirmation of the selfhood and solitude of the individual person, but also to an equally strong affirmation of the deep orientation of persons to interpersonal relationships and community. We also find in Karol Wojtyla, Max Scheler, Edith Stein, Romano Guardini, Henri de Lubac, and other personalists rich and nuanced accounts of the communal nature of the person, accounts that speak to us in our need.

Download the flyer for the event here: Summer Seminar 2024 Flyer (pdf)

Apply for the 2024 summer seminar

We will offer a portion of the Summer Seminar online this year without cost. If you are interested in being informed of our online offerings, please fill out the following form.

Online Summer seminar reminder

Seminar Faculty

Senior Scholar

John F. Crosby
Academic Advisor

Mark K. Spencer
Associated Scholar

Maria Fedoryka
Spanish Association of Personalism

Juan Manuel Burgos
Pastor, Bruderhof Communities

Charles E. Moore
Trustee

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb
American Public University

William Tullius
Associated Scholar

Derek S. Jefferys
Senior Scholar

John F. Crosby

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy

Research Areas:

Personalism, John Henry Newman, John Paul II, Dietrich von Hildebrand

Prof. Crosby was himself a student of Dietrich Hildebrand. Besides writing major studies on the thought of John Henry Newman, Max Scheler, and Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II, and making his own contributions to personalist philosophy, Prof. Crosby has devoted his long and distinguished academic career—first at the University of Dallas, then at the International Academy of Philosophy, and currently at Franciscan University of Steubenville—to introducing his students to the intellectual legacy of Hildebrand, and also to making Hildebrand better known in scholarly circles. Prof. Crosby was the translator of the English edition of  Hildebrand’s philosophical masterpiece, The Nature of Love, and he also serves as the General Editor of all our present and future translations of Hildebrand’s works.

Academic Advisor

Mark K. Spencer

University of St Thomas, MN Professor of Philosophy

Research Areas: Philosophical Anthropology, Aesthetics, Metaphysics, Philosophical Theology

Dr. Mark K. Spencer, Ph.D. is a Professor of philosophy at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Spencer fell in love with philosophy in high school when he first encountered the writings of Albert Camus and St. Thomas Aquinas. He earned his Ph.D. from the University at Buffalo, and his M.A. and B.A. from Franciscan University of Steubenville, where he first encountered the work of Dietrich von Hildebrand. He is the author of 2 books and over 60 papers and reviews, mostly focusing on the nature of the human person, beauty, and God’s relations to us. In his research, he above all tries to synthesize many traditions’ approaches to these topics, drawing on the scholastic, phenomenological, analytic, and Greek Patristic traditions. Among the things he takes greatest delight in is introducing students to the insights of these traditions, so as to help them better perceive and contemplate reality, for which he finds the work of von Hildebrand an indispensable guide. He lives in St. Paul, Minnesota, with his wife, Susanna, and their four children. Together, they especially enjoy hiking, camping, reading novels, watching films, gardening, and homeschooling.

More about Dr. Mark Spencer
Select Bibliography

“Created Persons are Subsistent Relations: A Scholastic-Phenomenological Synthesis.” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association 89, Analyzing Catholic Philosophy (2015): 225-243.

“Aristotelian Substance and Personalistic Subjectivity.” International Philosophical Quarterly 55:2 (June 2015): 145-164.

“Divine Causality and Created Freedom: A Thomistic Personalist View.” Nova et Vetera 14:3 (Summer 2016): 375-419.

“The Many Powers of the Human Soul: Von Hildebrand’s Contribution to Scholastic Philosophical Anthropology,” American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 91:4, Special Issue on Dietrich Von Hildebrand (Fall 2017): 719-735.

“Perceiving the Image of God in the Whole Human Person,” The Saint Anselm Journal 13:2 (Spring 2018): 1-18.

“Sense Perception and the Flourishing of the Human Person in von Hildebrand and the Aristotelian Traditions,” Tópicos, Revista de Filosofía 56 (2019): 95-118.

“Beauty and Being in von Hildebrand and the Aristotelian Tradition,” The Review of Metaphysics 73:2 (December 2019): 311-334.

“Covenantal Metaphysics and Cosmological Metaphysics: An Aesthetic Critique and an Aesthetic Synthesis”, The Saint Anselm Journal 15:2 (Spring 2020): forthcoming.

“Beauty and the Intellectual Virtues in Aristotle,” in Beauty and the Good: Past Interpretations and Their Contemporary Relevance ed. Alice Ramos, (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2020).

Associated Scholar

Maria Fedoryka

Dr. Maria Fedoryka lectures and publishes in both academic and popular fora in the field of the philosophy of love, examining issues spanning from the centrality of love in the being of God, to its role at the center of creation, to its meaning for marriage, family, and sexuality. Having been captivated by the writings of Dietrich von Hildebrand as a teenager and deeply drawn to his phenomenological and personalist philosophy, she pursued her studies under Josef Seifert and John Crosby at the International Academy of Philosophy. Among her scholarly writings are an analysis of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s philosophy of marital intimacy and procreation titled Finis superabundant Operis: Refining an Ancient Cause for Understanding the Spousal Act in the ACPQ, and “‘God is Love’”: Personal Plurality as the Completion of Aristotle’s Notion of Substance and Love as the Absolute Ground of the Divine Being” in the Proceedings of the ACPA. Among her popular publications are the booklet The Special Gift of Women for God, the Family and the World published by the Catholic Truth Society in England. She is currently working on an article comparing Hildebrand’s and Aquinas’s philosophy of affectivity, as well as an article on Hildebrand’s theory of motivation as the key to understanding deliberate moral wrongdoing.

Ave Maria University

Associate Professor

Research Areas:

Philosophy of Love

More about Maria Fedoryka
Select Bibliography

“A Comparison of Aquinas on the Passions and Affectiones and Hildebrand on ‘Genuinely Spiritual Affectivity’”. Paper delivered at Colloquium on the Heart sponsored by the Hildebrand Legacy Project. University of Dallas, February 2020

“Is Moral Evil Only Privation? Another Look”. Paper delivered at The True, the Good, and the Beautiful – and the Encounter with Evil Fellowship of Catholic Scholars Annual Convention. Montreal, Quebec, September 2019

Forthcoming: “Does Gender Matter for Marriage? The Centrality of Masculinity and Femininity to Marriage as Mutual Self-Gift in the Theology of the Body” in Dutch Communio, proceedings of the 5th International Theology of the Body Symposium, Kerkrade: 2019

Book review for Review of Metaphysics of Dietrich von Hildebrand’s Graven Images

“‘God is Love’: Personal Plurality as the Completion of Aristotle’s Notion of Substance and Love as the Absolute Ground of the Divine Being” in Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 2019

“Human Sexuality: The Battle for the Human Soul” in Mary and the Crisis in the Church, ed. Roger Nutt. Sapientia Press: 2019

“Von Hildebrand, Love and Contraception”, in Humana Vitae, 50 Years Later: Embracing God’s Vision for Marriage, Love, and Life, ed. Theresa Notare. CUA Press: 2019

“Only Union Plus Love Equals Fruitfulness: A Personalist Reflects on the Teaching of Humanae Vitae” in Why Humanae Vitae is Still Right, ed. Janet Smith. Ignatius Press: 2018

“Finis Superabundant Operis: Refining an Ancient Cause for Explaining the Conjugal Act” in American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, Vol. 90, no. 3, 2016, 477-498

The Special Vocation of Women: for God the family and the World, Catholic Truth Society Publications, United Kingdom: 2010

Spanish Association of Personalism

Juan Manuel Burgos

Juan Manuel Burgos is an internationally recognized philosopher. He is the founder and president of the Spanish Association of Personalism (www.personalismo.org), of the Ibero-American Association of Personalism, and of the journal Quién: Revista de Filosofía Personalista. He is also the Director of the Online Master of Personalistic Anthropology at the Distance University of Madrid (UDIMA) and a Full Professor at the Villanueva University (Madrid). He has two doctorates: the first in Astrophysics from the University of Barcelona, and the other in Philosophy from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce) in Rome. 

He has published many articles and books on personalism, including An Introduction to Personalism, Personalist Anthropology: A Philosophical Guide to Life, and most recently, Personalism and Metaphysics: Is Personalism A First Philosophy?      

His works have been translated into English, Polish, and Portuguese and he has been a guest professor, giving courses and conferences at universities in the US, Europe, and Latin America.

He has received the Anahuac University Medal in Humanities (Mexico) in 2015, the Ángel Herrera Humanities Research Award (2015) and is a member of the scientific committee of journals in several countries.

Pastor, Bruderhof Communities

Charles E. Moore

Charles Moore is a member of the Bruderhof community, an international Christian community movement that in the spirit of the early Christians shares all things in common. He is a pastor, editor and author for Plough Publishing, and currently teaches spiritual formation at Duke Divinity School. Charles is on the advisory board for the Nurturing Communities Network, a national network of intentional Christian communities. Among his many published works is: Called to Community: The Life Jesus Wants for His Disciples.

Trustee

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb

Rabbi Mark Gottlieb is Senior Director of the Tikvah Fund and founding Dean of the Tikvah Institute for High School Students at Yale University. Prior to joining Tikvah, Rabbi Gottlieb served as Head of School at Yeshiva University High School for Boys and Principal of the Maimonides School in Brookline, MA and has taught at The Frisch School, Ida Crown Jewish Academy, Hebrew Theological College, Loyola University in Chicago, and the University of Chicago. He received his B.A. from Yeshiva College, rabbinical ordination from the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, where his doctoral studies focused on the moral and political thought of Alasdair MacIntyre. Rabbi Gottlieb is a member of the Orthodox Forum Steering Committee and serves on the Editorial Committee of Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought. In addition to his contributions to Jewish theology, Rabbi Gottlieb has written on the thought of C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, and John Paul II, and is especially interested in the relationship between Jewish and Christian forms of personalism. He lives in Teaneck, NJ with his wife and five children.

Tikvah Fund

Senior Director

American Public University

William Tullius

William Tullius holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the New School for Social Research and is currently an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at American Public University. His main areas of research revolve around the development of a phenomenological ethical theory through the study of such phenomenological thinkers as Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, and Edith Stein. He is currently working on a book on Edith Stein’s moral philosophy titled Outlines of Morality: On the Ethical Philosophy of Edith Stein, which is expected to be published in Spring/Summer 2024 by Lexington Books as part of the series Edith Stein Studies.

Associated Scholar

Derek S. Jefferys

Derek S. Jeffreys is a professor of Humanities, Religion and Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Green Bay. He did both his B.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. He has written books on St. John Paul II, ethics and torture and ethics and solitary confinement. His most recent book is America’s Jails: The Search for Human Dignity in An Age of Mass Incarceration. Jeffreys teaches courses on love, Thomas Aquinas, ethics, ethics and punishment, evil, Dante, Buddhism, and other topics. For more than a decade he has been involved in jail and prison education, giving volunteer religion and philosophy lectures to inmates in Wisconsin’s jails and prisons. He is married and proud father of twin boys.

University of Wisconsin, Green Bay

Professor

Research Areas:

Personalism, Personalism and Violence, Personalism and Incarceration

Select Bibliography

Jeffreys, Derek S. Defending Human Dignity: John Paul II and Political Realism . Grand, Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2004.

Jeffreys, Derek S. Spirituality and the Ethics of Torture. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

Jeffreys, Derek S. Spirituality in Dark Places: The Ethics of Solitary Confinement. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.

Jeffreys, Derek S. America’s Jails: The Search for Human Dignity in an Age of Mass Incarceration. New York, NY: New York University Press, 2018.

Jeffreys, Derek S. “Personalists are not Kantians: Robert Kraynak and the Value of the Person,” Journal of Markets and Morality 7, no. 2 (October 2004): 507-516.

Jeffreys, Derek S. “Ignoring Thomistic Metaphysics: A Reply to Robert Kraynak,” Journal of Markets and Morality 7, no. 2 (October 2004): 527-531.

Jeffreys, Derek S. “Cruel but not Unusual: Derek Jeffreys on Solitary Confinement,” Commonweal, June 13, 2014: 20-23.

Jeffreys, Derek S. C-Span Book Interview on Spirituality in Dark Places: The Ethics of Solitary Confinement, September 23, 2014.

More faculty and guests to be announced soon.

Format

The seminar will be a mix of lectures, panels, conversations, and small group discussions.

Each morning will open with a keynote lecture on a core topic, followed by panel discussions exploring particular themes. After a break for mass (optional) and lunch, the afternoons will be devoted to In Conversation sessions that will address questions and challenges, followed by small group discussions facilitated by seminar faculty.

Hildebrand Project events are intellectual and convivial. Participants are sent a list of reading materials upon acceptance, which should be completed before the start of the seminar. The days are devoted to seminar sessions, while the evenings are free—and often filled with wine, music, and conversation.

Schedule

The seminar will begin with an opening dinner on July 14. Participants will depart the morning of July 19.

July 15: Beyond Individualism

  • Keynote: Persons are Meant for Community
  • Panel: Communities in Crisis
  • Conversation: Intentional Communities in Religious Traditions

July 16: From Collectivism to Solidarity

  • Keynote: The Archaic and Personalistic Senses of Solidarity
  • Panel: Community & Human Flourishing
  • Conversation: Structures of Sin – Co-Responsibility in John Paul II’s Reconciliatio et Paenitentia

July 17: Building Authentic Community

  • Keynote: The Nuts & Bolts of Community
  • Panel: Balancing Local Commitments & Cosmopolitan Principles
  • Conversation: Are Persons Subordinate to the Common Good?

July 18: A Vision for Community

  • Keynote: John Paul II on Community
  • Panel: How to Know a Person – Practical Tips for Being Communal
  • Conversation: The Metaphysics of Community
Apply for the 2024 summer seminar

We will offer a portion of the Summer Seminar online this year without cost. If you are interested in being informed of our online offerings, please fill out the following form.

Online Summer seminar reminder

Applying for the Seminar

The seminar is open to anyone who wishes to explore the nature and significance of the self, community, and society, including especially:

  • Undergraduate and graduate students
  • University and high school professors 
  • Artists, writers, musicians, and architects 
  • Teachers, educators, and administrators 
  • Lawyers, government officials, and community organizers
  • Seminarians and clergy 

The application process is based on interest but subject to space limitations.
The application and nomination window ends on April 5, 2024. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with acceptances announced on the 15th of each month.

You may apply online below. The application contains two short essays (300 words max), and you will add your answers there:

(1) How do you expect the Hildebrand Seminar to affect your life and work when you return home?
(2) Read this excerpt from the essay “Individual and Community” (from My Battle Against Hitler) and comment on the relationship between anti-personalism and individualistic liberalism.

We encourage faculty to nominate students to attend. Nominations will serve in lieu of letters of recommendation. 

If you have any questions about the event, please reach out to Cecilia Cervantes at events@hildebrandproject.org.

Seminar Fee

We believe that the Seminar fee should cover everything from the moment you arrive to the moment you leave. The Hildebrand Project Summer Seminar fee covers: 

  • Five nights in a private room in Franciscan University dormitory housing.
  • Transportation to and from Pittsburgh airport, for those flying in.
  • Continental breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day of the seminar, including opening and closing banquets. Snacks and drinks are also provided throughout the day.
  • Evening receptions with snacks and beverages.
  • A printed seminar reader with readings chosen by our speakers and organizers to deepen your seminar experience. 
  • Full access to the John Paul II Library at Franciscan University.
  • Access to a fitness center
  • Internet Access

The Summer Seminar fees are:

  • Students (enrolled as of application deadline): $650 $400
  • Professionals (All non-students)
    • With dormitory housing: $1,650 $1000
    • Without dormitory housing: $1,250 $800 (You must organize your housing. The Franciscan Square Inn will have a special Summer Seminar rate.)

Travel is not covered by the seminar fee, but transportation to and from Pittsburgh International Airport will be provided to anyone who needs it.

While the true cost to host each participant is much higher than the fees, the fees play a critical role in making our annual Summer Seminar possible. Attendees are asked to pursue all possible funding sources (e.g. university departments, family, friends, outside grants, fundraisers, etc.). Attendees whose participation is contingent upon receiving financial support may request a scholarship. To be considered for a scholarship, please contact events@hildebrandproject.org.

Download the flyer for the event here: Summer Seminar 2024 Flyer (pdf)