2014 Newman Lecture in Wichita, Kansas

During the week around Blessed John Henry Newman's birthday on February 21, Newman University hosts its annual Cardinal Newman Week, with a presentation, alumni and development events, Mass, and High Tea. The speaker this year is Professor Kevin Godfrey from Alvernia University, a Franciscan university in Reading, Pennsylvania.

According to Newman University's website:

Alvernia University theology professor Kevin Godfrey will be the featured presenter at the Gerber Institute-sponsored Cardinal Newman Lecture on Tuesday, February 18 at 4 pm in the Dugan-Gorges Conference Center on the campus of Newman University. The lecture, part of Newman University’s annual celebration of Cardinal Newman Week in honor of its namesake, is free and open to the public.

Professor Godfrey’s lecture is titled “John Henry Newman on the Mind’s Ability to Know God: The Knowledge-Generating Interplay of Imagination, Conscience and Prayer.”

Abstract: At age fifteen, John Henry Newman (1801-1890) became convinced that it is possible for the human mind to know God and to do so with the ultimate conviction of certitude. From that youthful insight and for the rest of his life Newman struggled to understand and express the deeper epistemological significance of that life-altering, adolescent experience. His understanding of how the mind works to know God is one of the compelling topics that he thought about endlessly. This presentation will introduce Newman’s ideas about knowing God. It will also share reflections about teaching and learning based on Newman’s insights about knowing God.

Biography: Dr. Kevin Godfrey has published articles and delivered scholarly papers at national and international conferences on topics in Historical Theology and Christian Spirituality. His main areas of interest for research are the Franciscan Tradition and the theology of John Henry Cardinal Newman. He has served as convener and moderator of the Thought of John Henry Newman Group of the Catholic Theological Society of America for the past seven years.