2026 Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change

 Glimpses of Wonder: Epiphanies of Beauty in the Midst of Technological Change

Eugene Wigner, a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1963, was not only a celebrated scientist but also defended the “unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics” in aesthetic terms. The beauty of the natural realm and the capacity of mathematical reason not only to measure the world but to see beyond its own finitude and look for a whole in the midst of parts is both mysterious and ubiquitous. In times of technological change, those parts move at an accelerated pace. True human flourishing is not necessarily about slowing down or accelerating the advance of progress as finding a new measure that allows one to see epiphanies of beauty and learn from them about oneself, the world, and the creator of the beauty of the world. 

The point of this seminar will be to compare ancient visions of the wonder and beauty of creation, above all in the Augustinian and Franciscan intellectual tradition, with the challenges of technological revolutions, medieval and modern. The idea of the mechanical arts predates Newtonian mechanism and is already a theme in 13th century Paris, as can be found in distinct realms of technological advancement ranging from the motion of mechanical clocks to the engineering of the Gothic cathedral. The point is not to vindicate ancients, moderns, or contemporaries but to create a fruitful dialogue between ancient grammars of wonder and the intellectual, moral, spiritual, and everyday challenges that arise in the midst of rapid and accelerating technological change. 

Instructor: Dr. Damien Marie Savino, FSC, 

author of Learning the Language of Creation: Catholic Social Teaching and Integral Ecology, forthcoming in the spring of 2026 with Liturgical Press. 

Other presenters from Duke:

Peter Casarella, 

author of The Song of Creation: Saint Bonaventure’s Franciscan Pilgrimage into God, forthcoming, Word on Fire Academic.

Matthew Whelan, author of Christianity and Agroecology, Cambridge UP, 2025. 

Norman Wirzba, author of Love’s Braided Dance, Yale UP, 2024.

Reinhard Huetter, Duke Divinity School and International Theological Commission

Kevin Hart, author of Lands of Likeness: For a Poetics of Contemplation. Chicago, 2023. 

Public Event:

Lecture and Panel Discussion at W.B. Duke Inn with Dr. Santiago Schnell, Professor of Mathematics; Editor-in-Chief, Mathematical Biosciences; and Provost, Dartmouth College on the challenge in the contemporary university of conveying the “unity of knowledge.”

Co-Sponsors:

In Lumine Network

Fons Vitae

LOCATION AND FORMAT 

• The seminar will take place at Duke University in Durham, NC. Admitted students will be required to arrange their own travel to and from the seminar.
• Admitted students will be granted a stipend of $350 to offset travel costs in addition to having their lodging and meals covered for the duration of the seminar.
• Participants will arrive in Durham, NC on Sunday, June 14 and depart on Saturday, June 20. The seminar will take place from Monday to Friday, with a lecture and discussion session each morning and afternoon.
• Participants will be required to read the assigned materials in preparation for the seminar.
• In order to receive the $350 stipend, students must participate fully in all seminar activities and complete a survey at the end of the seminar.

 APPLICATION INFORMATION 

• Open to graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in STEM fields, medicine, the history of science, philosophy, theology, and relevant fields.
• Applicants must submit an online application, including details on their course of study, a statement of interest, and a letter of recommendation (optional).
• Make application inquiries to Dr. Peter Tierney at ptierney@lumenchristi.org
• 15 applicants will be admitted to the seminar.

This project is made possible through the support of In Lumine Tuo: Expanding and Sustaining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition Nationwide (grant #63614) from the John Templeton Foundation and the generous support of our donors.

Sister Damien Marie Savino, FSE is a Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist. 

She also is the Melchor Visiting Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre DameBefore starting at Aquinas College in 2016, she was Associate Professor and Chair of the Environmental Science and Studies Department at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Sister Damien Marie received her Ph.D. in Civil (Environmental) Engineering from The Catholic University of America, and holds a BS in Biogeography from McGill University, an MS in Soil and Plant Science from the University of Connecticut, and an MA in Theology from The Catholic University of America.  Her research interests include theology and science, ecology and theology, ecological restoration and resilience theory.         

Peter J. Casarella is Professor of Theology at Duke Divinity School. He received his PhD in Religious Studies at Yale University. Casarella previously served as professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Notre Dame and as director of the Latin American North American Church Concerns (LANACC) project in the Kellogg Institute for International Studies. Casarella has served as president of The American Cusanus Society, The Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians in the U.S. (ACHTUS), and the Academy of Catholic Theologians (ACT). He is currently serving a second five-year term on the International Roman Catholic-Baptist World Alliance Ecumenical Dialogue and served also on the Roman Catholic-World Communion of Reformed Churches Dialogue. He has authored or edited several books, including: Cuerpo de Cristo: The Hispanic Presence in the U.S. Catholic Church (1998), A World for All? Global Civil Society in Political Theory and Trinitarian Theology (2011), and most recently, Word as Bread: Language and Theology in Nicholas of Cusa (2017)