The Night School for Deeper Learning: Series 13 (Fall 2023)

The Night School Series 13 Introduction Video

September 17, 2023 • Rick Ganz

Our Guests for Series 13 are two mystics, each of whom we will invite twice to The Night School: Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and Edith Stein. They were contemporaries in the 20th century, who in their professional lives were scholars of the highest order and who in their inner lives sacrificed much for the sake of God and for what God gave each of them to give to the world. One was a man and one was a women; one was French and one was German; one was a Catholic Christian from birth and one was a Jew who became a Catholic; one was a Jesuit Priest (the Society of Jesus) and one was a Carmelite nun; one was “hard” scientist in the fields of Geology and Paleontology and one was a philosopher; one spent his life under suspicion by his fellow Jesuits and by the Catholic Church and one was hunted by the Nazis and eventually exterminated in the gas chambers at Auschwitz; one died on Easter Sunday and one was canonized a Saint and designated by the Catholic Church a co-patroness of Europe. Both responded to the 20th century in such different ways; both were mystics of vision daring.

The Night School for Deeper Learning with Teilhard de Chardin, Part I

September 19, 2023 • Rick Ganz

Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ (1881-1955) was a Frenchman, Jesuit priest, geologist and paleontologist, and above all a mystic. At the center of his mysticism was a vision of how God is intensely alive and motivated with majestic purpose to bring all created things (not just human beings) into conscious unity. His stunningly beautiful vision of the unstoppable glory of God was given him during the four years that he served as a Chaplain to soldiers fighting in the trenches of World War I.

The Night School with Teilhard de Chardin, Part II

October 17, 2023 • Rick Ganz

Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ (1881-1955) was a Frenchman, Jesuit priest, geologist and paleontologist, and above all a mystic. At the center of his mysticism was a vision of how God is intensely alive and motivated with majestic purpose to bring all created things (not just human beings) into conscious unity. His stunningly beautiful vision of the unstoppable glory of God was given him during the four years that he served as a stretcher-bearer to soldiers fighting in the trenches of World War I.

The Night School with Edith Stein, Part I

November 14, 2023 • Rick Ganz

Edith Stein (1891-1942) was born a Jew, separated herself from Judaism at the age of 13, claiming, as an honest agnostic will insist, “I am sure that their God is not God. I have still not met God.” She pursued a life of Philosophy, gaining a reputation as one of the most powerful and original Philosophers in the German world. But it was when she read, from cover to cover throughout one long night, the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, that she exclaimed what she had experienced that night: “This is the truth!” She became baptized as a Catholic and eventually entered the Carmelite Order. Eventually she was hunted down by the Nazi Gestapo and transported to Auschwitz where she died.

The Night School with Edith Stein, Part II

December 12, 2023 • Rick Ganz

Edith Stein (1891-1942) was born a Jew, separated herself from Judaism at the age of 13, claiming, as an honest agnostic will insist, “I am sure that their God is not God. I have still not met God.” She pursued a life of Philosophy, gaining a reputation as one of the most powerful and original Philosophers in the German world. But it was when she read, from cover to cover throughout one long night, the autobiography of St. Teresa of Avila, that she exclaimed what she had experienced that night: “This is the truth!” She became baptized as a Catholic and eventually entered the Carmelite Order. Eventually she was hunted down by the Nazi Gestapo and transported to Auschwitz where she died.

Faber Institute