The philosopher-theologian Erich Przywara, SJ (1889-1972) is best known for introducing the analogia entis as the standard of Catholic engagement with modern philosophy and Protestant theology, as the mentor of Hans Urs von Balthasar and Edith Stein, and as the most formidable Catholic opponent of Karl Barth. What is less known is that he was one of Newman's greatest admirers and defenders, having not only edited and introduced the first German edition of Newman's works in 1922, but even promoted Newman's cause for canonization. Accordingly, this talk will attempt to explain why Przywara, himself one of the most brilliant Catholics of his generation, thought Newman was so important -- so important, in fact, that he considered him to merit the title of "the modern Augustine."

John Betz is an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. With a background in philosophy, theology, and German literature, Betz’s work is broadly engaged with German philosophy and theology from the eighteenth to the twentieth century. Within this period, his research has focused on the Protestant Counter-Enlightenment as exemplified in the work of the Lutheran philologist and man of letters, Johann Georg Hamann (1730-1788), and on twentieth-century Catholic metaphysics and ontology as exemplified in the work of the Jesuit philosopher and theologian Erich Przywara (1889-1972). In addition to resourcing and translating historically important, but neglected, figures and texts, his work seeks to recover the relevance of Christian metaphysics to theology, the life of the Church, and the intellectus fidei today. To this end he is currently working on a monograph on Przywara and on a collection of essays on the topic of analogical metaphysics. He is the author of three academic volumes, After Enlightenment: The Post-Secular Vision of J. G. Hamann (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), the Critical English Edition of Erich Przywara, SJ, Analogia Entis, Metaphysics: Original Structure and Universal Rhythm, with an introduction by John R. Betz, in collaboration with David B. Hart (Eerdmans, 2014), and most recently, Christ the Logos of Creation: An Essay in Analogical Metaphysics (Emmaus Academic, 2023).

This lecture explores the development of theology’s capacity to understand problems and therefore to affirm doctrines. The development, that is, of theorems and intelligible instruments through which theology can make distinctions, unite concerns, and judgments. I explore what it means to think of development not only in terms of what is believed, but also in terms of how theology goes about its problem solving. I unite John Henry Newman’s description of “development” with Bernard Lonergan’s explanation of developments in what he calls “speculative theology.” I make the case for the importance of speculative development in theology, particularly with respect to theological doctrine.

Anne Carpenter holds the Danforth Chair in Theological Studies at Saint Louis University in Missouri, and has numerous research interests, including Theological aesthetics, Thomist metaphysics, Theologies of tradition, Ressourcement theology and theologians, and Theological method. In addition to numerous published articles, Anne is the author of the two academic volumes, Nothing Gained Is Eternal: A Theology of Tradition (Fortress Press, 2022), and Theo-Poetics: Hans Urs von Balthasar and the Risk of Art and Being (University of Notre Dame Press, 2015).