Retiring Yale Philosopher to Present his Final Lecture

For more than two decades, Louis Dupre, the T. Lawrason Riggs Professor in Religious Studies, has enthralled Yale students with his insights into phenomenology, the philosophy of religion and modern culture. This week Dupre takes the podium for his last lecture as an active member of the Yale faculty.

The public is invited to attend the final lecture in Dupre’s course “Mystical Trends in Modern Thought.” The talk, titled “The Secular and the Sacred: Western Religion at the Dawn of a New Millennium,” will be presented at 4 p.m. on Thursday, April 23, in Rm. 208 of the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St. A reception will follow.

A native of Belgium, Dupre is considered one of the preeminent Catholic philosophers of religion of his generation. He is the author of many books, most recently “Metaphysics and Culture” and “Religious Mystery and Rational Reflection.” His forthcoming book, “The Enlightenment, Light and Shadows,” is a continuation of a project that he began in his 1993 work “Passage to Modernity.” Dupre has also written over 150 articles in various philosophical and theological journals, collective works and encyclopedias.

Dupre came to Yale in 1973 and has been an active member of the University community, playing an instrumental role in the founding of the Yale Humanities Program. His many national and international honors include the Phi Beta Kappa Award as Teacher of the Year and the Aquinas Medal of the American Catholic Philosophical Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a foreign member of the Belgian Academy of Arts, Letters and Sciences.