Valor Winter Symposium with Fr. Thomas Joseph White
Our symposia are large gatherings that celebrate the intellectual life among friends. Rooted in a spirit of gratitude and renewal, these occasions are marked by true leisure — time intentionally set aside for reflection on the highest things. With opportunities for seminar and lecture alongside moments of fellowship, participants are invited into formation, contemplation, and authentic community. These days seek to deepen our understanding of a full human life by integrating timely reflections with timeless truths.
These days bring together a community of more than five hundred participants, including Valor faculty as well as friends who share our interesting in promoting an adequate philosophical anthropology, a fitting community for the human person, and a deep gratitude for the gift of creation.
This year’s Winter Symposium theme will be announced soon. Our keynote speaker this year is Fr. Thomas Joseph White, the Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas, who will speak on “Theology, Natural Rights, and the Public Order.”
All Valor Institute events are invitation only, and we regularly invite people from our interest list to join us. Please fill out the brief form below to join the list.
About the Speaker
Fr. Thomas Joseph White is Rector Magnificus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. A native of southeastern Georgia, he earned his B.A. at Brown University before pursuing graduate studies in theology at University of Oxford, earning both an M.A. and D.Phil. in Theology. He later completed his S.T.L. degree at the Dominican House of Studies as a member of the Order of PReachers. Fr. White is the author of numerous works, including Wisdom in the Face of Modernity,The Incarnate Lord, The Trinity: On the Nature and Mystery of the One God, and Contemplation and the Cross. He has edited and co-edited several volumes on Thomism, Christology, and ecumenical theology, and serves as co-editor of the theological journal Nova et Vetera.
Before coming to the Angelicum, Fr. White previously served as Director of the Thomistic Institute in Washington, D.C. In 2011, he was appointed an ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas, later serving on its governing council, and in 2023 he was elected President of the Academy of Catholic Theology. His honors include designation as a Distinguished Scholar of the McDonald Agape Foundation, the Charles Cardinal Journet Prize, an honorary doctorate from The Catholic University of America, and the title Master of Sacred Theology, one of the highest academic distinctions in the Dominican Order.
Fr. White’s scholarship focuses on Thomistic metaphysics, systematic theology, Christology, Trinitarian theology, natural theology, and the theological interpretation of modernity. He often places the thought of Thomas Aquinas in dialogue with modern thinkers, including Karl Barth and Friedrich Nietzsche. In both his own writings and institutional service, Fr. White has become a world leader in the renewal of Thomistic philosophy and theology.