Authors: Theodore M. Hesburgh
ISBN-13: 9780268008031, ISBN-10: 0268008035
Format: Paperback
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Date Published: July 1994
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Contemporary Catholic higher education finds itself at a crucial crossroad. The issues are many and complex. How is the Catholic character of the university to be preserved and fostered while avoiding secularization on the one hand and insular sectarianism on the other? Must a majority of the faculty in a college or department be Catholic? How is Catholic to be defined in terms of culture, belief, or practice? What is the level of commitment to intellectual inquiry and the possibility of dissent that must be present on a Catholic campus? These are some of the issues that prompted Fr. Theodore M. Hesburgh, C.S.C., to write a position paper and invite 29 distinguished members of the faculty and administration at the University of Notre Dame to address as they strive to envision and create a great Catholic university. The contributors explore these issues from a wide variety of religious and academic perspectives, and although their backgrounds and fields of study differ widely, they agree on a number of points. First, a great Catholic university must begin by being a great university that is also Catholic. Second, the catholicity, or universality, of a Catholic university fosters the centrality of philosophy and particularly theology as legitimate intellectual concerns, especially as they challenge the disintegration and turmoil of our modern predicament. Finally, how a Catholic university is seen as a community of service is also examined in both its intellectual and practical applications. Throughout, these essays describe a university community where reason and faith intersect and reinforce each other as they grapple with all the problems that face the transmission and growth of knowledge and the multiplication of new and complex moral problems.
Preface | ||
Introduction: The Challenge and Promise of a Catholic University | 1 | |
Reflections on the Mission of a Catholic University | 13 | |
The Difference of a Catholic University | 27 | |
A Catholic University | 35 | |
Two Faces of Academic Freedom | 45 | |
On Teaching Theology as a Vocation | 63 | |
A Catholic University, Maybe; But a Catholic Law School? | 71 | |
The Sins of the Cornishmen: A Parable | 85 | |
What Made Catholic Identity a Problem? | 91 | |
Scientific and Engineering Excellence in a Catholic Context | 103 | |
Some Theological Reflections on Ex Corde Ecclesiae | 117 | |
The Catholic University: Living with ND (Necessary Dissonances) | 127 | |
Becoming a Great Catholic University | 141 | |
What Is a Catholic University? | 153 | |
What Is a Great Catholic University? | 165 | |
The Advantages of a Catholic University | 175 | |
What Can Catholic Universities Learn from Protestant Examples? | 187 | |
Diversity and Change: A View from the Margin | 199 | |
Meeting the Challenge and Fulfilling the Promise: Mission and Method in Constructing a Great Catholic University | 209 | |
A Baptist View of the Catholic University | 225 | |
A Catholic University, Whatever That May Mean | 233 | |
The Department of Theology at a Catholic University | 243 | |
The Idea of a Catholic University: A Personal Perspective | 257 | |
On Christian Scholarship | 267 | |
Thirty-two Years at Notre Dame | 297 | |
Catholic Universities and the New Pluralism | 305 | |
What Is Catholic about a Catholic University? | 313 | |
Professional Education in a Catholic University | 329 | |
"What, Then, Does Dr. Newman Mean?" The Vision and the Views | 339 | |
Catholic Higher Education: Historic Past or Distinctive Future? | 353 | |
Afterword | 371 | |
Contributors | 375 |