ALSO NOT upcoming but RECENTLY in December 2023, a Diálogos Dinner sponsored by The Octet Collaborative at MIT featured Alan C. Love, Professor in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota and director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science. Listen here to his presentation. Tip: skip ahead to 14:45 and start there for the best 27 minutes you’ll ever hear on why Alan hosts his gatherings and why I host Roundtables.

Alan Love left the flora and fauna of San Diego for the wilds of Cambridge and MIT in 1991. Over a course of four years, as an MIT undergrad ministry Chaplain, I partnered with then-student Alan Love in weekly hospitality-driven leadership and faith discussions among Alan’s many fraternity brothers. It was an early iteration of what was to become a career-defining practice for both of us: hosting discussions of faith and topics of academic interest with plenty to disagree about while absorbing all kinds of intellectual, relational, and spiritual lessons simultaneously.