The University of Notre Dame received a $50 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to work toward developing a faith-based approach to AI ethics. That grant landed in the university’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good, which is spearheading this work. My guest today is the institute’s Director of Research and External Engagement—my good friend Adam Kronk.

Our discussion is about establishing the kind of practice-based formation for promoting human flourishing in the AI age. It is about education, faith communities, and public engagement. It is about becoming ever more intentional about knowing what our ends are and judging our means accordingly. It is about setting the right conditions for responsible and creative agency.

This is the first part of a two-part discussion with Adam, with the second focusing even more intently on issues related to education, under the looming promise of tacos.

Follow up resources:

• Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good
• “The Next Wave of Artificial Intelligence and Our Humanity, with Stephanie DePrez,” podcast episode via Church Life Today
• “What is Man that AI is Mindful of Him,” by Jeffrey Bishop, journal article via Church Life Journal

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

If I asked the question “Does literature matter?”, I suspect most people would quickly answer “Yes.” But if I asked “Why does literature matter?”, I think most of us would stutter in response. We probably don’t know how to give an account of the importance of literature, even if we have a sense that it certainly does matter.

Jason Baxter helps us respond to that second, harder question. His book, Why Literature Still Matters is both accessible and profound. In the span of some 80 pages, he gives us ways to not just think and speak about the importance of literature, but also to feel and remember why literature matters.

For some additional conversations with Jason on our show, please see the show notes for links to an episode about Dante, and a second to an episode about C. S. Lewis in relation to Dante and other Medieval thinkers.

Follow-up Resources:

• Why Literature Still Matters by Jason Baxter
• “The Heartbeat of Dante’s Comedy, with Jason Baxter,” podcast episode via Church Life Today

“C.S. Lewis from Dante and the Medieval World, with Jason Baxter,” podcast episode via Church Life Today

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.

Josh McManaway joins me again for the second of a two-part conversation on reading Scripture. This time, we focus on St. Augustine as reader and preacher of the Psalms. Josh teaches us Augustine’s principles for reading the psalms, which Augustine discovers throughout the Psalter, and what motivated Augustine’s engagement with the psalter from the beginning of his priesthood to his final day.

Follow-up Resources:

• Learn more about the preaching program that Josh runs called “Savoring the Mystery”
• “The Depth of the Creed, with Josh McManaway,” podcast episode via Church Life Today
• “What are you doing here?!?! Pontius Pilate in the Creed, with Josh McManaway,” podcast episode via Church Life Today
• “Augustine’s Homiletic Meteorology” by John Cavadini, article via Church Life Journal

Church Life Today is a partnership between the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame and OSV Podcasts from Our Sunday Visitor. Discover more ways to live, learn, and love your Catholic faith at osvpodcasts.com. Sharing stories, starting conversations.