Conference for Catholic social scientists to cultivate relationship of faith, reason
Academics will convene to better understand the role faith plays in their intellectual vocations at National Conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.
Catholic academics are set to come together Oct. 24-25 in Steubenville, Ohio, to better understand the role the faith plays in their intellectual vocations at the 33rd annual National Conference of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists.
According to a press release from Franciscan University of Steubenville (FUS), which is hosting the event, the conference is the flagship event held by the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and welcomes professors in many fields, including sociology, law, political science, history, theology, and philosophy.
Stephen Krason, one of the society’s founders, said in the release that the society “is the only interdisciplinary Catholic social science organization in the U.S. committed to stressing sound scholarship and supporting Catholics in the academy and in professional fields that is committed to the orthodox teaching of the Church.”
The society requires all members to sign a profession of faith.
“It is important to have an organization which stands in opposition to the secularist, relativist orientation that is so typical of the social sciences in the contemporary world,” Krason said. “We give serious Catholic scholars and professionals in those fields the opportunity for camaraderie with like-minded colleagues.”
This year’s conference features 33 sessions and panel discussions from dozens of presenters. The talks will include:
Political Philosophy and Theology in Dialogue: Integralism, Liberalism, and Political Religion
Catholic Social Teaching and Selected Current Economic Questions
School Choice and American Education
The Question of Just Wage in Catholic Social Teaching
Catholic Thought and the American Founding
On Oct. 24, the society will present the Pope Pius XI Award, which it gives each year “to scholars whose efforts have contributed to building up a true Catholic social science, resuming the charge given to Catholic scholars by this great pope,” according to the Society’s website.
This year’s honoree is John Crosby, professor emeritus of philosophy at FUS. Crosby is an expert on the writings of Karol Wojtyła (Pope Saint John Paul II), Saint John Henry Newman, Max Scheler, and Dietrich von Hildebrand.
Those interested in registering can visit the society’s website.
