Joshua Hochschild, Ph.D., Sharing the Goodness and Wisdom of the Mount’s Liberal Arts Tradition

Hochschild co-authored the book A Mind at Peace: Reclaiming an Ordered Soul in the Age of Distraction, published in September by Sophia Institute Press. The book, written with co-author Christopher Bloom, addresses the disorientation, anxiety and isolation we experience when overwhelmed by information technology. Much of the book was written last spring, while Dr. Hochschild was teaching a class for undergraduates and seminarians called “Friendship and Contemplation in the Digital Age.” The book draws on the wisdom of Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas to help one cultivate the qualities and virtues of character to survive in our media-saturated environment. After strong sales and positive reviews, the publisher is making the book available in hundreds of parishes through the Lighthouse Media evangelization kiosk program. Dr. Hochschild recently gave a talk on the book at the Catholic Information Center which can be viewed here: Catholic Information Center, “A Mind at Peace”

 

Hochschild has been active discussing the book on the radio circuit as well. Among about a dozen radio bookings, in November he was interviewed by Bjorn Lundberg, on EWTN Morning Glory: Morning Glory, with Dr. Joshua Hochschild. And in January he was interviewed by Dan Cheely on Relevant Radio:

 

Hochschild has also shared insights from his book locally, including a “Chat with the Author” at the National Shrine of Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton in November, and in-service workshops for faculty, staff, and administrators of St. Maria Goretti High School in Hagerstown.

 

Hochschild has also been pursuing other scholarly outreach. In October, he partnered with the Thomistic Institute to present at the University of Maryland, “How Not to Ask about the Meaning of Life: A Lecture on Meaning vs. Purpose.” In this presentation, he reflects on whether asking about the meaning of life is even a meaningful question. And in November, Hochschild presented at the University of California, Berkeley, on “John Henry Newman’s Critique of Liberalism: Lessons from the Aristotelian Tradition.”

 

This spring, Hochschild is scheduled to give three invited academic talks related to the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas. On March 9, he gave a keynote lecture at the Thomistic Conference on "Modern Atheism," sponsored by the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word. In June, Hochschild will travel to Athens, Greece, at the Symposium Thomisticum to present a lecture on "The Role of Aristotle in Aquinas." And later that month he will be in Newburgh, New York, at a Thomistic Workshop presenting on “Analogy and Divine Naming in Aquinas.”

 

Hochschild is an excellent example of a professor who is engaged with his students while going beyond our community to share the goodness and wisdom of the Catholic intellectual tradition.