“I really enjoyed studying the works of Plato and Aristotle, as well as Augustin and Thomas Aquinas. I discovered a world completely new to me and a new way of thinking about problems. The Summer University helped me to better understand the world, by letting me think about concepts such as truth, reason, faith and human dignity.”

Dr. John X. Evans
Founding Director of Studies

The Phoenix Institute is an educational organization that concerns itself with the question "What is it to be human?" We examine mankind in all its essential components -intellectual, psychological,
spiritual- supplementing and extending the explorations which our students have already made during their years of undergraduate and post-graduate study.

Tracing the course of Classical and Judeo-Christian thought, we seek truth by searching for the knowledge of reality and the realization of the good. Today, more than ever, the world needs men and women willing to undertake this kind of adventure. Despite remarkable advances in science, technology, and economics, the world suffers disorder at every level of society because of an absence of order in the lives of individuals. The Phoenix Institute exists to help mankind recover from this disorder. We do not believe that we offer the only way, but we offer one way, a very good way.

The way the world can recover is person by person, community by community, and nation by nation. This is a long process, requiring humility, courage, wisdom, generosity and endurance. Logically, this challenge should begin with a careful consideration of all that is common to humanity and the mutual responsibilities of the state and its citizens, leading to the good that accrues when people weave their lives together in some shared conception of civility, friendship, and happiness. We must, above all, re-appropriate the philosophical and moral coordinates that give order to society and hope to individuals.

The experience of the international students and faculty brought together by the Phoenix Institute since 1987 offers compelling evidence that the human spirit is still invincible and that human beings are still capable of individual and collective greatness. Our summer sessions in the United States and Europe, the extensions of these summer programs on three continents and our international conferences, are designed to communicate our confidence in the human spirit to young men and women who are determined to embody all that makes mankind honorable, just, and true.

What Others Say

WHAT OUR STUDENTS SAY

“An unforgettable intellectual adventure!”
  - Barbara Kos (Poland)

“From questions of justice and fairness to faith, love, and friendship, the professors at the Phoenix Institute show their students how to think deliberately about the most important experiences and questions in human life.”
  - Stefano Coaloa (USA)

“The Phoenix Institute changed the trajectory of my career by reinvigorating my passion for promoting the dignity of the human person.”
  - David Dawson (USA)

“Suddenly I came across people who firmly believe in the values in which I have been educated, that at some point became impossible for me to follow. I have found complete hope, because I am not the only one who thinks that this world needs a change, especially youth. I felt that comfortable, full of energy and happiness.”
  - Sofia Clariana (Spain)

“A deep feeling of inner freedom tracked me during the Seminar in a way that I had never experienced in any academic environment.”
  - Darjan Milutinovic (Croatia)

“At the Phoenix programs there are not many superheroes or geniuses, but dozens of people working to improve themselves in order to improve their world… and that’s an inspiring sight to see.”
  - Antonio de Napoli (Italy)

“Thanks to what I learned and lived at the Phoenix program, I started looking at things in a different way. I realized that through our understanding, affirming and promoting of universal principles, we can change things that urgently need to be changed.”
  - Bruno Irion (Brasil)

“The program made me realize that knowledge implies you can no longer live oblivious to your surroundings. You must become responsible. Grab the lead, preach with your example and others will follow.”
  - Sara Gomez (Spain)

“An outstanding education on what it really takes to build solid democratic institutions.”
  - Manuel Paez-Monges Jr. (Paraguay)

“Here I regained my trust in the human ability to work in the benefit of their fellowmen.”
  - Zrinka Cornij (Croatia)

“Phoenix programs enable students to know that they’re not alone; that there are many others that share their dream about going out there to actually change the world.”
  - Isabel Lopez Padilla (Mexico)

“One of the greatest times of my life! Studying key topics with fascinating professors and spending an amazing summer with marvelous people...What more could one wish for?”
  - Gudrun Kugler (Austria)

“For me, the Phoenix Institute symbolizes reason, faith and excellence in action. There is something very especial about that combination that makes you want to become a better person”
  - Andres Navarro (Mexico)

WHAT OUR FACULTY SAY

“Never, never in 30 years of this work has there been such a response from students. This is illustrated by the numbers who came to my apartment, the consistent attendance throughout the course, the send-off, and – most of all – the magnificent quality of their papers.” 
   – Dr. Michael Bourdeaux, UK

“The experience of teaching in the Phoenix Institute was really very delightful to me as a teacher. I had well over fifty students from foreign lands taking the class on God, Creation, and Human Dignity early in the morning every day. Often a class that size at that time can be tiresome to a teacher like me who stresses active discussion, because many students can hide in the crowd.  Yet all the students in this class came well prepared each day for the lecture and discussion. Instead of being exhausted at the end of each class I was refreshed and energized for the rest of the day. Really a delight, and a great testimony to the quality of students the Phoenix Institute attracts. As I told the students at the end of it all, “we have been friends together.”  I can’t wait to do it again.”
   – Dr. John O’Callaghan, USA

“Ever since I joined the faculty of the Phoenix Institute, I greatly enjoyed teaching to a group of outstanding students from Latin America, North America and Europe. Teaching in the Phoenix Program is a unique and most rewarding experience. Phoenix professors are expected to teach on their own field of academic expertise, but with an additional philosophical dimension. Given my expertise in comparative and international law and relations, it enabled me to go beyond the customary positivist approach and add historic, philosophical and religious perspectives to enhance students’ insight and understanding. The results were most striking".
   – Dr. Frans Alting Von Geusau, The Netherlands

Registration begins February 15th, 2013
click here