Handel’s Messiah is one of the most popular choral works of any composer and performed widely during the Advent season. In this 2-hour workshop, world-renowned musicology professor Michael Marissen leads participants in a deeper theological and cultural understanding of this masterpiece. Lecture with integrated Q&A. Refreshments & lunch provided.

Is any history of “impossible” miracles essentially irrational? How do Christians reconcile their understanding of history, which includes the ‘irrational’ and revelation, with the strictly ‘rational’ accounts of secular historians? To what extent does this Christian version of history pose a challenge to today’s prevalent and dogmatic materialism? Talk followed by a short response from Brian FitzGerald, Harvard University and Q&A. Reception to follow.

Fauré’s beloved Requiem, usually heard in the concert hall, here provides the musical setting of the annual Memorial Mass for the St. Paul’s community in Harvard Square. Before the Mass, Professor Kuriyama delves into the theological, liturgical, and musical dimensions of Fauré’s unique engagement with the great tradition of the requiem Mass. 

The city of Rome underwent a stunning and lasting transformation in the sixteenth and seventeen centuries, and not only in its historic centers at the Vatican and on the Capitoline. Throughout the old city, patrons and architects refashioned the major basilicas and the icons into islands of sacred order, compelling beauty, and instruments of the Catholic Reform. 

12 Angry Men (1957), dir. Sidney Lumet, is a classic American legal drama film that explores justice and human nature through the narrative framework of a courtroom and a jury. Join us for a special screening and guided discussion as we delve into these vital themes pertinent to all citizens of a free society.

Religion is usually assumed to require belief in the supernatural. But Professor Harrison demonstrates that the central conceptions in this understanding of religion—’belief’ and ‘the supernatural’—are the product of a very specific, recent Western history. Elsewhere in the human past, and in many societies around the world today, people could not and did not understand their religious commitments in this way. This understanding invites us to reappraise the history of modernity and of religious thinking in the present. 

Drawing on insights from his new book Restoring the Lord’s Day: How Reclaiming Sunday Can Revive Our Human Nature, author Daniel Fitzpatrick considers some of the challenges posed by modern living to the practice of leisure properly understood within the Christian framework, including in the liturgy and authentic celebration of the Lord’s Day.

Fr. John Behr, distinguished Orthodox scholar and theologian, begins with the question Christ posed to his disciples: “Who do you say that I am?” and explores insights from Scripture, the Church Fathers, and the earliest councils.

Join us for a feast of music in honor of the Virgin Mary by William Byrd (1540-1623), sung by the Saint Paul’s Boys Choir, preceded by Dr. Lyon’s lecture with Q&A exploring the role of Mary in Christian devotion and the expression of Marian themes in Byrd’s music.

Michael Marissen, renowned authority on the music and spiritual vision of J.S. Bach, explores the text, musical rhetoric, theological framework, liturgical context, historical setting, and spiritual vision of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. Lecture with recorded music, study of the text (to be handed out), and Q&A. Refreshments and lunch provided.

Psalm 51 is a profound prayer and meditation on repentance, conversion, and divine forgiveness. Dr. Matthew Hall explores the text of the psalm, its theological and spiritual vision, and its expression through music in works of Allegri, Josquin, and Byrd. This music then will be sung by the Saint Paul’s Boys Choir and soloists.

This talk explores the connection between reason and our apprehension of God according to Pope Benedict XVI and Friedrich Nietzsche. As Fr. John will demonstrate, these two thinkers have more in common than might initially appear as they grapple with this perennial existential question.