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On November 13, CanaVox hosted documentary filmmaker Jennifer Lahl for a screening of her latest piece, “The Detransition Diaries: Saving Our Sisters.” This powerful documentary chronicles the journeys of three young women who formerly identified as men and gives viewers a glimpse into online spaces and medical communities that affirm gender transitioning.

Following the screening at the Witherspoon Institute, Lahl held a question-and-answer session with the audience, where she shared her concerns about the ease of obtaining powerful prescription hormones and puberty-blocking drugs for children, oftentimes without parental knowledge or consent. Despite the many concerns, Lahl highlighted increased efforts in opposition to medical transitioning and seemed hopeful about potential litigation stopping the medical malpractice.

“The Detransition Diaries” can be watched on Vimeo. View the official trailer here.

A lecture by Robert Louis Wilken

Much writing on religious freedom focuses on the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and on the Enlightenment. But the developments of those centuries are only intelligible when seen in a longer historical perspective. The ideas that undergird religious freedom have their origins centuries earlier in the writings of the church fathers and in medieval thinkers. They did not forge a doctrine of religious freedom, though the term “religious freedom” was first used by Tertullian in the third century, and for centuries their thinking was only a quiet murmur heard by the few. Nevertheless, writings defending the freedom and dignity of human beings from the early centuries were not forgotten and laid a foundation on which later generations could build. As the inheritance of the past was buffeted “by the rough torrent of occasion,” the Reformation of the sixteenth century, a doctrine of religious freedom as a natural right belonging to all human beings took shape. In the seventeenth century its form can be seen in the writings of Roger Williams, John Owen, the English separatist, William Penn, John Locke, and in the eighteenth century in Philip Furneaux, whose Essay on Toleration was read by James Madison.

Join the Witherspoon Institute and the James Madison Program for the annual William E. and Carol G. Simon Lecture on religious freedom. The event will be held on April 10, 2019 at 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Library 120 at Princeton University.

Calling all college undergraduates who are interested in moral philosophy, politics, sociology, and economics!

Come participate in a 2019 intellectual retreat hosted by the Witherspoon Institute and Abigail Adams Institute. Discuss questions such as is America a normal country? Or is it somehow fundamentally different from other polities? What accounts for its special status, for our American exceptionalism, as it is sometimes called? What are the roots of American political identity? Of American national identity? Have subsequent American developments fundamentally transformed the nature of the country, or is our destiny as a people working itself out in accord with our beginnings?

For more information about the retreat, including instructions for how to apply, click here.

 

We are excited to announce that applications for the 2019 Summer Seminars are officially live! For more information about each of the seminars we are offering, please click here.

This year, all applications must be submitted through Submittable. The last day to submit is February 11, 2019. We will not be accepting any late submissions. If you have any questions about the application process or the summer seminars, please email summer@winst.org.

 

The Witherspoon Institute accepts applications from outstanding undergraduate students and recent college graduates for an extremely limited number of full-time, paid summer internships. Summer interns generally work on a variety of research and administrative projects at the Institute in addition to attending various summer seminars.

Ideally, interns for summer 2019 will be available between June 3 and August 16. Interested applicants should include their availability in their application materials, even if your availability falls outside the specified time frame.

Interested candidates should apply online, through Submittable. Applications received by email or any other means will not be considered. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Applications must be completed online and submitted by 11:59 pm on January 13, 2019.

Questions may be directed to: summer@winst.org.

 

Robert P. George and R. J. Snell have co-authored their most recent publication, Mind, Heart, and Soul: Intellectuals and the Path to Rome. Pre-order your copy today!

In a series of fascinating interviews, the authors offer the stories of sixteen converts, each a public intellectual or leading voice in their respective fields, and each making a significant contribution to the life of the Church.

Included are interviews with a bishop, a leading theologian and priest, a member of the International Theological Commission, a former megachurch pastor, a prominent pro-life scholar, professors from Harvard and other universities, as well as journalists and writers, novelists and scholars. Each are interviewed by another leading scholar, many of whom are themselves converts and familiar with the hesitations, anxieties, discoveries, and hopes of those who discover the Faith.

These conversion stories remind us that the Catholic Church retains her vitality, able to provide answers and reasons for hope to new generations of believers, always sustained by the Holy Spirit. It is all too-easy to become discouraged in our day and age, but God never fails to call people to Himself, as evidenced by these remarkable stories.