God and the Human Person

The question of humanism gives rise to two extremes: one which would locate the human person at the center of being, perhaps even as its ground, and another which describes the human person as merely peripheral to being, a “clever animal.” Each of these extremes seems inconsistent with the broadly personalist commitments shared by theological traditions of the Abrahamic faiths. A further complication arises in the philosophy of Heidegger, which would challenge the very cogency of any metaphysical anthropology, whether it were to locate the human person as central or peripheral. This conference features three keynote speakers and 18 graduate papers that will draw on the resources of faith and reason to investigate and engage these challenges.