A landmark conference open to scholars, students, lay and religious; to appraise the spiritual and intellectual inheritance of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain.
Call for papers open until 29/02/2024
Conference-CFP.pdf (cam.ac.uk)
2023 marked the 50th anniversary of Jacques Maritain’s death, providing an opportunity to reflect on the life and work of this charismatic French philosopher. A Catholic convert from agnosticism, Maritain authored over seventy books, passionately advocating the perennial wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas. He influenced philosophers, theologians, politicians, popes, painters, and poets, yet he remains far less known in the UK than elsewhere. No less charismatic was Raïssa Maritain, Jacques’ wife of fifty-six years, who was, in the most elevated sense, a muse to her sacramental spouse until her death in 1960. In many ways, Jacques cannot be fully assessed apart from Raïssa.
At the present time, the voices of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain are a clarion call to truth, realism and wisdom, and their profound witness to the mission of the Catholic Church and its laity stands as an exemplar of lives lived in the pursuit of beauty, goodness, and divine wisdom. The Maritain home was synonymous for hospitality, generosity and intellectual stimulation, and it attracted an astonishing range of luminaries in many fields. A cause for the canonization of both saintly souls began in 2011.
The conference aims to explore the inheritance and legacy of the Maritains, and the ways in which their work still addresses the cultural, political, and theological spheres, in the academy, and the Church. We intend that this conference is pervaded by the scholarly, yet friendly and convivial spirit of Jacques and Raïssa Maritain.
Keynote speaker: John G. Trapani Jr., PhD, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Walsh University, author of Poetry, Beauty and Contemplation: the Complete Aesthetics of Jacques Maritain, and President of the American Maritain Association 2001 and 2006-2012.
Registration details
In Person/Online delegate – £35.00
In Person/Online Student & Concessions – £10.00
For those attending in person – Includes lunch, tea and coffee throughout the day, and a drinks reception
There will be an opportunity to meet informally post-conference for dinner in a local restaurant (not included in conference fee)
Support the conference via our CAF donation page:
Margaret Beaufort Institute of Theology – Donate now (cafonline.org)
Accommodation, if needed, may be booked separately by contacting Adele – aa2451@mbit.cam.ac.uk
For any other enquiries about the conference please contact
Dr Christopher Grey christopher.grey1@outlook.com
or
Fr. Dominic White dpw12@mbit.cam.ac.uk