The rediscovery of Aristotle's works in Spain by twelfth-century Roman Catholic monks was one of the most significant events in Western intellectual history. The subsequent upheaval in philosophy, theology, and science transformed Christian thinking, unleashing the West's first scientific revolution and putting a unique stamp on Europe's new universities and its rising intelligentsia. In this lecture, marking the return of the John Courtney Murray Lecture Series, Professor Richard E. Rubenstein will explore the causes and nature of this achievement and why it still goes largely unrecognized. He will pay particular attention to why the "Aristotelian Revolution" took place with so little violence, and what we have to learn from these events in an age of religious terrorism.
 
Rubenstein, a specialist on religion and conflict, is the author of seven books, including Aristotle's Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages (Harvest Books, 2003) and Thus Saith the Lord: The Revolutionary Moral Vision of Isaiah and Jeremiah (Harcourt, 2006).