The Thomistic Institute

Do You Need to be Smart to be Holy? - Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P.

The Thomistic Institute

Show Notes

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., explains why holiness does not require exceptional intelligence but does call every person to grow in the distinctly human capacities to know truth, choose the good, and love God.

This lecture was given on June 27th, 2026, at Dominican House of Studies.

For more information on upcoming events, visit us at thomisticinstitute.org/upcoming-events

About the Speaker:

Fr. Gregory Pine, O.P., is an instructor of dogmatic and moral theology at the Dominican House of Studies and the Assistant Director of the Thomistic Institute. He holds a doctorate from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland). He is the author of Prudence: Choose Confidently, Live Boldly and Your Eucharistic Identity: A Sacramental Guide to the Fullness of Life, and is co-author of Credo: An RCIA Program and Marian Consecration with Aquinas.

His writing also appears in Aleteia, Magnificat, and Ascension’s Catholic Classics series. In addition to the TI podcast, he regularly contributes to the podcasts Godsplaining and Pints with Aquinas, and Catholic Classics.

Keywords: Charity, Contemplation, Faith and Reason, Holiness, Image Of God, Intellect and Will, Lectio Divina, Rational Animal, St. Thomas Aquinas, Study

More from The Thomistic Institute

Oct 22, 2026

Prof. Erik Dempsey explores Original Sin as a fundamental, lived reality inherently inclining the human person toward wrongdoing, but recognizing our brokenness is essential for understanding our constant need for divine grace and justification.

Oct 21, 2026

Prof. Adam Eitel argues that modern identity theories ultimately fail because they lack a stable metaphysical grounding, and he proposes an alternative view rooted in Saint Thomas Aquinas’s exposition of Psalm 8.

Oct 20, 2026

Fr. Irenaeus Dunlevy examines the contemporary crisis of identity by contrasting modern fluid subjectivism with the Thomistic realist perspective of the human person, arguing our true identity is rooted in our nature as beings created by God and ordered toward Him

Oct 19, 2026

Prof. Adam Eitel contrasts the modern, self-constituted notions of identity with the Thomistic understanding of man as a creature capable of seeing God., whereby our human identity is fundamentally reordered from the Adamic image to the image of Christ

Oct 16, 2026

Prof. Paul Gondreau explores the theological necessity of Christ's full humanity, arguing that by assuming a human nature complete with emotions and the capacity for suffering, Jesus provides the ultimate model for human perfection and moral integrity.

See all episodes →