Fons Vitae is an initiative of Duke Divinity School that seeks to deepen the Catholic intellectual presence and its cross-disciplinary engagement in the Duke University community and to serve as a Catholic think-tank at the service of all people of goodwill in our region and beyond.
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Public Lectures
Fons Vitae invites scholars and experts to Duke to lecture and host workshops on diverse subjects. These events seek to put the Catholic intellectual tradition into a living dialogue with a wide range of questions, topics, and disciplines for learners from all backgrounds.
Student Reading Groups
Our student- and faculty-led reading groups create space for deep engagement with classic and contemporary Catholic texts, fostering thoughtful conversation in a spirit of friendship and encounter.
Summer Seminar Series
Coming together at Duke Divinity School for a week of study and learning in the summer, scholars, graduate students, and young professionals from across the country and the globe meet to bring Catholic thought and spirituality to bear on a key question or theme that has wide-reaching and interdisciplinary implications. Past themes have included theology and engineering (2023), and Catholic thought and artificial intelligence (2024).
Word of Life Faculty Gatherings
These gatherings bring faculty together from across disciplines at Duke for the purpose of allowing Catholic perspectives to enter into conversations among diverse fields. Over a meal and with a guiding theme and text, faculty members engage with questions and topics to which the Catholic intellectual tradition can both speak and be engaged with in a challenging and rigorous manner.
Catholic Fellowship
Fons Vitae’s earliest activities consisted of coming together for Midday Prayer, a meal, and encouraging conversation. These weekly gatherings remain a mainstay of Fons Vitae. They create an important space for fellowship among Catholic students and other friends in the university community who are eager to pray, build community, and walk together in a life of Christian discipleship.
Event Gallery
Our events bring together scholars from across Duke and beyond.
