Book Event Celebrates Father Stanley Jaki’s Enduring Legacy at Seton Hall

At 3 p.m. on October 1, 2026, Seton Hall University will celebrate the publication of the proceedings of the most recent Stanley Jaki Foundation International Congress. Organized to commemorate the centenary of the birth of Father Stanley L. Jaki, O.S.B., S.T.D., Ph.D., the 2024 Congress brought together scholars from around the world working in theology, philosophy, history and the sciences. The resulting volume, published by Gracewing and co-edited by Father Paul Haffner and Father Joseph R. Laracy, presents research on a range of topics in the science and religion field, including contemporary questions involving evolution, transhumanism and artificial intelligence. At the book event, Father Laracy will present the volume and discuss how the Congress’s scholarly contributions carry forward Jaki’s conviction that Christian faith and scientific inquiry can participate in a fruitful and intellectually rigorous dialogue.

That commitment continues at Seton Hall through the Stanley Jaki Academy for Theology and Science, a collaborative initiative of Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology, the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Center for Catholic Studies. Named for the distinguished Benedictine priest, physicist and historian of science who taught at Seton Hall from 1965 until his death in 2009, the Academy promotes research, teaching, and public engagement at the intersection of theology and scientific inquiry. Through courses, lectures, conferences, faculty collaboration and student research, the Academy seeks both to preserve Jaki’s intellectual legacy and to extend it into emerging fields such as artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cosmology and bioethics. Its work strengthens Seton Hall’s longstanding role as an international center for scholarship rooted in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition and devoted to the harmony of faith and reason, whilst fostering interdisciplinary collaboration.

Father Paul M. Haffner, S.T.D., co-editor of the volume, is a priest of the Diocese of Portsmouth in England and president of the Stanley Jaki Foundation. Haffner studied physics at Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He defended and published his doctorate at the Pontifical Gregorian University under the title Faith in God the Creator in relation to Modern Science according to the works of S.L. Jaki. A longtime professor in Rome, he has also served since 2014 as an adjunct professor in Seton Hall’s Catholic Studies Program. Father Haffner has written more than 40 books and 150 articles on theological and philosophical subjects, with several of his works translated into other languages. A theology and science scholar of international standing, he has played a leading role in preserving and advancing Jaki’s thought through the Foundation’s international conferences, publications and other educational initiatives.

Father Joseph R. Laracy, S.T.D., co-editor of the volume, is a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark and associate professor and chairman of Systematic Theology at Seton Hall’s Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology. He is also affiliated with the University’s Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Catholic Studies Program, and Core Curriculum. His research brings Thomistic philosophy and Catholic theology into dialogue with the formal, natural and applied sciences, most recently in the areas of cybernetics and AI. During his faculty sabbatical last semester, Father Laracy served at the University of Oxford as an academic visitor in the Faculty of Theology and Religion and as a visiting research scholar at Blackfriars Hall. As a co-founder and director of the Stanley Jaki Academy, he works to ensure that Jaki’s legacy continues to inspire interdisciplinary scholarship, teaching and public conversation at Seton Hall and beyond.

Please RSVP for the book presentation and reception here.

Categories: Faith and Service