The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC “Grant to me keenness of mind, capacity of remembering, skill in learning, subtlety in interpreting …” — ST. THOMAS AQUINAS “Our location in Los Angeles and our affiliation with USC are critically important to the mission of the Institute. I can think of no better place from which to conduct the research and offer the programs the Institute was created to produce.” — FR. JAMES L. HEFT, S.M. Photo by Gary McCarthy A Message from Our President he Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies sits at a critical juncture in the history of both the Church and the people of the world. Following in the examples of Augustine,T Thomas Aquinas, Teresa of Avila, Blaise Pascal and many, many more Catholic philosophers, scientists, teachers, artists, writers and intellectuals, the Institute is dedicated to bringing together faith and reason to confront the world’s most pressing difficulties and address its most enduring questions. Created to help meet the challenges of a new millennium and our current global reality, the Institute is uniquely positioned to renew the rich, 2000-year-old Catholic intellectual tradi- tion, which affirms that the search for truth and knowledge is in itself an approach to God. The mission of the Institute, then, is both an ancient task and the realization of new promise. In order to fulfill this mission, the Institute invites scholars—professors, researchers, edu- cators, artists, and writers—from all over the world to engage in ecumenical, interfaith, and interdisciplinary research and dialogue. In their work with the Institute, these scholars seek to heal rather than to divide, and to pursue truth humbly but fearlessly in conversation with other scholars from all branches of human research and knowledge. This faith-filled and thoughtful activity is a continuation of traditions long established in the Catholic Church. The monastic communities of the 6th century preserved classical learning and the great medieval universities of the 13th century inspired critical, world-changing advances in the arts, medicine, law and theology. In our own time, the age of great modern universities, many people recognize a great need for an institution that can research and explore religious wisdom while engaging modern scientific and intellectual advances. It is my belief that the encounter of these two traditions—the ancient, lively, deeply spiritual, theological and philosophical traditions within Catholicism and the 21st century commit- ment to intellectual rigor in a context of religious freedom and multiple perspectives—will greatly benefit the Church and all religious traditions, and enrich the human experience. “What you are is God ’s gift to you, what you become is your gift to God.” — HANS URS VON BALTHASAR James Lewis Heft, S.M., President Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC Photo by Gary McCarthy Driven by the idea that extended study—free from the traditional constraints of academic life—promotes the most compelling and most original ideas, the Institute seeks to offer both Catholic scholars and scholars About the Institute of other faiths the unique opportunity to live in a community of their peers and conduct research that will enrich their work, their teaching, the Church, the academic world and the broader public. he Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC is the only research T institute of its kind in the world. Established to inspire fresh thinking, sustain dialogue and facilitate interdisci- plinary, interfaith research, the Institute is dedicated to the idea that an ongoing examination of our world from Catholic perspectives is a mission infinitely valuable to all people. It draws scholars from diverse disciplines and religious traditions to do innovative research and engage in sustained dialogue about the deepest needs of our times. The Institute is dedicated to the idea that an ongoing examination of our world from Catholic perspectives is a mission infinitely valuable to all people. The Institute is directed by an independent lay board of trustees—business leaders, prominent scholars and educational leaders from both secular and religious institutions—and is located on the campus of the University of Southern California (USC), one of the world’s premiere research universities. “Our location in Los Angeles and our affiliation with USC are critically im- portant to the mission of the Institute,” explains Institute President Fr. James Heft, S.M. “I can think of no better place from which to conduct the research and offer the programs the Institute was created to produce.” “Here, we are situated in the center of one of the largest, most diverse, and most vibrant Catholic communities, among some of the brightest scholars living today, all in the midst of the most culturally and religiously diverse city in the world,” Fr. Heft continues. “Even more, we are located on the doorway to Latin America, which continues to profoundly shape the American Catholic Church; and on the Pacific Rim, where new economic and cultural realities are exerting increasing global power and influence.” Video still by c2K Communications Research, Programs and Publications he full vision for the Institute is to The research priorities of the Institute in- “The Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC upholds the values that stand at the very core of USC’s mission: the preservation serve as a center that draws scholars clude the renewal of Catholic traditions, T and illumination of history, the rigor of intellectual examination from diverse disciplines and religious tradi- educational structures, and intellectual life; and discovery, the advancement of interdisciplinary scholarship tions to do innovative research and engage the establishment of and support for inter- and the promotion of research that directly addresses the critical in sustained dialogue concerning the critical religious dialogue; the creation of a frame- issues facing our society. We are proud that the Institute has chosen to make USC its home.” issues facing the world today. work for conversation between modern — MAX NIKIAS, President, University of Southern California science and Catholicism; the exploration of Since its establishment in 2004, the Institute religious faith, the arts, and creativity; and has supported research by some of today’s inter-generational mentorship and commu- greatest living scholars, including Charles nity among scholars. Taylor, Kathy Caveny, Lisa Cahill, Ken True Wealth of Nations conversation came the 2012 publication of Miller, John O’Malley, S.J., Margaret Ar- The Institute sponsors programs and lecture One of the Institute’s most fruitful and The Moral Dynamics of Economic Life, with cher, Stefano Zamagni, Paulinus I. Odozor, series exploring a broad range of topics—the longest-running research efforts is the True and Hans Joas—scholars whose work with intergenerational transmission of faith for Wealth of Nations program. Designed to the Institute has culminated in more than Catholics, Jews, Muslims and other believers, bring leading scholars together to consider a dozen highly acclaimed publications by the role of faith in economics and social jus- whether the major principles of Catholic leading academic publishers. tice, the critical importance of interreligious social teaching on economics, if applied dialogue to relations between nations and competently, could put the world on the path Many of these works have influenced other communities of faith, the impact of Vatican to prosperity for all, particularly the poor scholars, have made their way into college and II, the future of the Catholic writer—that and the marginalized, the True Wealth of university classrooms, and have influenced have helped establish the Institute as an Nations serves as a hallmark of the kind of the ongoing development and revitalization independent entity with an international research the Institute produces and supports. of Catholic education. reach and reputation. In 2010, Oxford University Press published the results of the first of the True Wealth of Nations conferences under the title, The True Wealth of Nations: Catholic Social Teaching and Economic Life. “My involvement in a number of projects with the Institute—on reli- But even before the publication of this volume, gion and violence, on spirituality and religion and on transcending the institutionalization of religion—have had the effect of helping me the program caught the attention of the Vat- deepen my engagement with my own tradition, through the serious ican, which invited the Institute to organize a and profound interaction with ideas and other perspectives on life, conference in Rome on Pope Benedict’s social on death, on God and on the meaning of spirituality and existence.” encyclical, Caritas in veritate, and explore how — RABBI REUVEN FIRESTONE, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam Photo by Gary McCarthy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles that encyclical might apply to the United and senior fellow at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture States and Europe. Out of this important Dr. Gary Adler, Director of Research for the Institute, and Elaine Krebs, USC undergraduate student and member of the Caruso Center Student Pastoral Council. Research, Programs and Publications cont. chapters contributed by leading economists, In 2007, the Institute sponsored an inter- policy experts, and theologians. national group of Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars who met in Jerusalem to Sustaining the momentum of the previ- explore how to accept the inescapably limited ous publications, Oxford published a third grasp all believers have of God’s revelation, volume in the series, Distant Markets, Distant without falling into relativism or agnosticism. Harms: Economic Complicity and Christian The result was Learned Ignorance: Intellec- Ethics, which explores the moral responsi- tual Humility Among Jews, Christians and bility of consumers for both the benefits and Muslims, published by Oxford University the harm their economic decisions bring to Press in 2011 and edited by Fr. James Heft, distant others. Rabbi Reuven Firestone and Omid Safi.