“Forms that Fit: The Permanent Things in a Turbulent Time”

June 5-7, 2025

College Park Marriott – College Park, MD

Thursday, June 5

2:00-3:30pm Panel 1: Form and the Dynamics of History and Nature

• Chair, Luke C. Sheahan, Duquesne University
• Zachary Yost, The Yost Post
  “Heaven’s Mandate and Revenge”
• Robert Schadler, American Foreign Policy Council
  “The Challenges of Modernity: Between Hubris and Humility”
• Madeleine Austin, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
  “Tinkerers, Escapists, & Misanthropes: Agrarian Insights into a Limited Stewardship”
• Miriam Dawson
  “Heroes, Skeptics, and Saints: A Reflection on the Classic Archetype of the Hero and the Modern World”

3:45-5:15pm Panel 2: Book Roundtable – Aristocratic Voices: Forgotten Arguments about Virtue, Authority, and Inequality

• Ethan Alexander-Davey, Campbell University
  “Aristocracy and the Forms That Fit”
• Matthew T. Cantirino, Texas State University
  “Henry Adams: Aristocracy in an American?”
• Luke C. Sheahan, Duquesne University
  “Authority, Hierarchy, and the Social Bond in the Aristocratic Thought of Robert Nisbet”
• Michael Federici, Middle Tennessee State University
  “Irving Babbitt on Democracy and Leadership”
• Michael Harding, Johns Hopkins University
  “Against the Tarantulas: Nietzsche on Aristocracy”

5:00-6:00pm Registration

5:30-7:00pm Reception

• Welcome
  Shaun Rieley, President, Academy of Philosophy and Letters

7:00-9:00pm Dinner Lecture

• Introduction
  Shaun Rieley, President, Academy of Philosophy and Letters

• “Renewing the Permanent Things in the Golden Age”
  Kevin D. Roberts, President, The Heritage Foundation

9:00-11:00pm Fellowship

Friday, June 6

8:00-8:30am Late Registration

8:30-10:15am Panel 3: Technology and Human (De)Formation

• Chair, Márton Sulyok, Georgetown Center for the Constitution
  “(Plat)Forms (and Formalities) in the Age of Technological Deformation”
• Brad Littlejohn, American Compass
  “The Purpose-Driven Tech Life”
• Clare Morell, Ethics and Public Policy Center
• Jonathan Askonas, The Catholic University of America

10:15-10:30am Coffee Break

10:30-12:15pm Debate: Willmoore Kendall vs. Harry Jaffa on Conservatism, Constitutionalism, and Modernity

• Chris Owen, Northeastern State University
• Glenn Ellmers, Claremont Institute
• Moderator: Shaun Rieley, President, Academy of Philosophy and Letters

12:15-2:00pm Lunch Lecture

• “Can Christianity Be Noble?”
  Matthew B. Crawford, Research Fellow, Institute for Advanced             Studies in Culture, University of Virginia

2:00-3:30pm Panel 4: Literature, Culture, and Form

• Chair, Michael Federici, Middle Tennessee State University
• Katherine Bradshaw, Ancient Language Institute
  “A Proper Tragedy: Horace’s Ars Poetica and Shakespeare’s Hamlet“
• Luke Foster, Hillsdale College
  “The Spirit of a Gentleman: Hypocrisy vs. Ornament”
• Wendy Piper, Dartmouth College
  “Freeing Us through Form: Flannery O’Connor and the Truth of Art”
• Darrell Falconburg, Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal
  “Flannery O’Connor and the Problem of Ideology”

3:45-5:30pm Panel 5-A: Book Roundtable – Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer

• Joshua Bowman, Ciceronian Society
  “Aspirational Conservatism and the Millennial Imagination”
• Michael Lucchese, Pipe Creek Consulting
  “‘Furnishing Their Minds’: The Gentlemanly Heart of American Liberty”
• Dan McCarthy, Modern Age
• John Wilsey, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

3:45-5:30pm Panel 5-B: The Politics and Philosophy of Form

• Chair, Walter Luttrull, University of the Cumberlands
• Gene Callahan, New York University
  “To Be Perpetually en Voyage: Michael Oakeshott and Eric Voegelin on the Nature of Philosophy”
• Michael Federici, Middle Tennessee State University
  “The Symbiosis of Political Form and Character”
• Philip G. Henderson, The Catholic University of America
  “The Breakdown of Dignity and Formality Among Politicians and Elected Leaders”
• Jeffrey Bristol, Independent Scholar
  “The Form of the Common Law”

5:30-7:00pm Reception

7:00-9:00pm Dinner Lecture

• “Great Literature: Formed in Beauty, Informed by Truth, Conformed to Goodness”
  Joseph Pearce, Visiting Professor of Literature, Ave Maria University 

9:00-11:00pm Fellowship

Saturday, June 7

8:30-10:00am Member Meeting Breakfast

• For APL members only

10:00-12:00pm Panel 6: Forming Citizens and Persons: Ethics, Education, and Formation

• Chair, Ryan Holston, Virginia Military Institute
• Jose Idler, The University of Maryland
  “Forms of Interaction and Forms of Self-Interest”
• Sarah Gustafson, The Catholic University of America
  “Male and Female He Created Them: Forms, Formality, and Fashion”
• Jason Jewell, State University System of Florida
  “The Decline of Forms and Formalities in Higher Education”
• David Talcott, New St. Andrew’s College
  “Aristotle on Form and Ethical Formation”

12:00pm Departures

12:00-2:00pm

• Meeting of the APL Board of Directors and Officers