The Hebrew Scriptures characterize the nature of wisdom simultaneously as a sublimely personified reality that reflects God’s glory, power, eternality, and goodness, ordering “all things well” (c.f. Wisdom 7:22–8:1), and as something concrete, related to practical expertise, and constitutive of a good and virtuous life, as in the Book of Proverbs. The Catholic tradition likewise speaks of both uncreated Wisdom—identified with the Logos or Son of God incarnate in Jesus Christ—as well as created Wisdom, which renders the cosmos and reality intelligible. And ancient philosophical traditions, which have deeply shaped Christianity and the Western intellectual tradition, similarly preserve understandings of wisdom that include the more contemplative (sophia, theoria) and the more pragmatic or practical (phronesis).

The de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture’s 26th annual Fall Conference will feature presentations on wisdom that draw on traditions across the disciplines—including philosophy, theology, ethics, law, history, and the natural and social sciences, as well as the creative domains of literature, music, film, theater, and the visual arts.

For questions about conference details or logistics, please contact Brooke Tranten (btranten@nd.edu). For questions about registration, please contact Daria Kapinos (dkapinos@nd.edu).