Inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, these essays are the fruit of a series of seminars sponsored by the Center for Catholic Studies and the Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity at the University of St. Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota. With a special focus on the works of John Paul II (especially Veritatis Splendor and Fides et Ratio), the authors bring to light a host of considerations that set the work of his pontificate within the illuminating light of the living intellectual tradition.