Lumen Christi Institute
Making the Catholic intellectual tradition a vital part of the secular university
Featured Events & News
Webinar Watch Party - Beyond the Tenure Track: Catholic Vocation in Higher Education | Feb. 10, 2026
Graduate training often assumes a single path: the tenure-track job at a major research university. This webinar reframes professional development within a Catholic understanding of vocation and invites Catholic graduate students to reflect on their academic calling by exploring possibilities for faithful, flourishing work in higher education. A house watch party with dinner served will be hosted for graduate students and early career scholars.
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Mythopoetics and Faerie Stories: Theory and Practice of Mythmaking | Feb. 4, 2026
In his newly published Liturgies of the Wild, acclaimed mythographer and storyteller Martin Shaw argues that we live in a myth-impoverished age and that such poverty has left us vulnerable to stories that may not wish us well. In this event for UChicago graduate and undergraduate students, Dr. Shaw will explore both the theory and practice of mythmaking.
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Apply Now for the 2026 Summer Seminars
In their eighteenth year, the Lumen Christi Institute Summer Seminars in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition introduce participants to central themes, figures, and texts from the Catholic tradition. Deadline to apply is Monday, February 2nd.
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Winter Newman Forum Conference for High School Students: Back to the Future! | Feb. 21, 2026
What is the relationship between the past and the present? And how can this relationship prepare us for our future? How do we think about the past in a world fixated on the new? The "Back to the Future!" conference will gather high school students to discover the fascinating realities of everyday and misunderstood scientific, historical, literary, and religious topics.
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Graduate Reading Group - Léon Bloy: Martyr or Madman? | Thursdays, Jan. 22 - Feb. 19, 2026
This winter, Lumen Christi is hosting a reading group on The Pilgrim of the Absolute (Le Pèlerin de L’Absolu), a remarkable compilation sampling widely from writer, polemicist, and literary brigand Léon Bloy’s works on mystery, money, and the modern world. Please join us if you are interested in discovering and discussing one of the few writers who “knew how to administer the sacrament of literature…”
Learn More and RegisterLumen Christi has been one of the great spiritual achievements of the last 25 years. And to see Lumen Christi flourishing so well and expanding around the country is a sign of tremendous hope for the Church.
The longest intellectual tradition of any institution in the contemporary world.
Celebrated University of Chicago President Robert Maynard Hutchins once remarked that the Catholic Church has “the longest intellectual tradition of any institution in the contemporary world.” The mission of the Lumen Christi Institute is to make the Catholic intellectual tradition a vital part of the secular university and the broader culture. The Lumen Christi Institute’s programs enrich academic communities at the University of Chicago and beyond with the insights of Catholic thought, in order to engage our secular culture in dialogue and ultimately to renew our civilization by forming leaders for a global society in need of Christian wisdom.
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Making the Catholic intellectual tradition a vital part of the secular university