Lecture by Dr. Pano Kanelos

Reading the works of Plato, Erasmus, Shakespeare, Montesquieu and other Great Books teaches us better thinking and gives perspective on our times. Who can match their search for the Good, the Beautiful and the True? But we also live in the here and now, and in a world full of challenges and problems and opportunities to explore. We must constantly apply old insights to new realities. That's what the Pascal Lecture Series is for.

Five times a year a renowned thinker, writer, poet or doer from home and abroad holds a lecture, followed by discussion with Pascal professors, students and others. The lectures always have a different topic: current (geo)politics, war and peace, art, literature, natural science, theology, law or economics, or something else. It can be about acute and urgent issues, but also about the age-old, biggest questions, and relates them to each other.

The evening proceeds as follows. The speaker delivers his lecture for about sixty minutes. After a thirty minutes break, there will be a conversation about the lecture. Students, faculty and other interested attendees can choose whether to sit in the first ring and then participate in the conversation, or sit or stand around it to watch the conversation.

With this model we follow the model developed at the American St. John's College in Annapolis - one of the oldest Great Books programs. In this form, they have had lively, enriching and enjoyable evenings for years.