Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University

Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University

This page intentionally left blank

Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University K ENNETH GARCIA

ACADEMIC FREEDOM AND THE TELOS OF THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY Copyright Kenneth Garcia, 2012. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2012 978-1-137-03191-4 All rights reserved. First published in 2012 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN in the United States a division of St. Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-44091-7 ISBN 978-1-137-03192-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9781137031921 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Garcia, Kenneth N. Academic freedom and the telos of the Catholic university / Kenneth Garcia. p. cm. 1. Academic freedom. 2. Catholic universities and colleges. 3. Scholars Religious life. I. Title. LC72.G35 2012 378.1 213 dc23 2012011142 A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: September 2012 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my wife Elizabeth, and my children Meghan, Katie, Gabriel, Mary, and Michael, for their patience and support over the years.

This page intentionally left blank

Content s Preface ix 1 The Current State of Catholic Higher Education 1 2 The Medieval Liberal Arts and the Journey of the Mind to God 21 3 Berlin: The Prototype of the Modern University 35 4 Academic Freedom and Religion in America 55 5 The Pursuit of Intellectual and Spiritual Wholeness, 192 0 19 6 0 79 6 T he C on s e quenc e of C a e s a r s G old 103 7 The Direction toward Which Wonder Progresses 129 8 Implications for Faculty Development and the Curriculum 147 Notes 165 Selected Bibliography 195 Index 2 07

This page intentionally left blank

Preface Following the Second Vatican Council (1961 1965), Catholic colleges and universities went through extensive academic and administrative changes that provoked heated debates over the nature and mission of the Catholic university. The debates covered numerous questions. What is the purpose of Catholic higher education and how does it differ from secular higher education? What is the relation of Catholic theology to modern thought and culture? How should the Catholic university relate to the Church s Magisterium (is it autonomous or beholden to the local bishop)? Are theologians free to dissent from Magisterial teachings? Should speakers hostile to Catholic teachings be given a forum to speak at Catholic universities? And a question central to this book, should academic freedom as understood in the modern American university prevail also in Catholic universities? Many of these questions are still unsettled. This book presents a theologically grounded understanding of academic freedom that builds on, completes, and transforms the prevailing secular understanding. Academic freedom in the secular university, while rightly protecting scholars from external interference by ecclesiastical and political authorities, is constricting in practice because it tends to prohibit most scholars from exploring the relationship between the finite world and the infinite, or God. This constricted understanding contrasts starkly with the ideal of academic freedom at the time of its birth in early nineteenthcentury Germany, where it meant both the freedom of the scholar to pursue studies unencumbered by external interference, and the freedom to pursue knowledge beyond the boundaries of specific academic disciplines to an ultimate horizon. Even more, it conflicts with the traditional Christian understanding of the mind s natural desire for knowledge of God, a desire that cannot come to rest in knowledge of finite things in themselves. The mind must continually move forward to ever-greater knowledge of both the finite world and the divine reality that generates, founds, and completes finite understanding.

x Preface Unfortunately, the concept of academic freedom became restricted in the early twentieth century, at least in the American context. Since the Second Vatican Council, most Catholic colleges and universities have rightly adopted the principle of academic freedom. Ironically, though, the version they adopted was a secular one, with the result that it has become difficult to relate theological knowledge to knowledge in other disciplines, in spite of earnest efforts by Catholic university educators to do so. Whenever discussions arise about the need to integrate theological insight into the framework of other academic disciplines, they inevitably become mired in fruitless debates between the autonomy of the scholar, on the one hand, and the threat of heteronomous church interference in academic life, on the other, as if these were the only alternatives. As a result, theology and other academic disciplines remain isolated from one another, inhabiting separate disciplinary islands. Theology, rather than being an integral part of all knowing and learning, resides at the margins of university life. I propose a theonomous alternative to these fruitless debates. This theonomous alternative can be stated as follows: there is at the heart of all inquiry, whether the inquirer is explicitly aware of it or not, a dynamism (an intellectual and spiritual eros, in the words of many church fathers) whose source and goal is the divine. To claim that scholars should remain within their specialized domains, in the realm of the finite, is to make a philosophical and epistemological claim about the human mind. I challenge that claim from a Christian perspective. There is an inner teleology driving us toward ever-greater understanding, toward completeness of understanding within an ultimate horizon. Although scholars in nontheological academic disciplines cannot discover divine reality through their methods of inquiry, their inquiries, if not truncated, lead up to the limits of scientific and humanistic knowledge and to larger questions about purpose, meaning, and ultimately, God. These inquiries lead to the edge of disciplinary islands, to the point where the infinite sea of the divine beckons as a horizon that is distant yet luminous and alluring. The fostering of the mind s movement toward that horizon is the true telos of the Catholic university. Not all scholars must pursue the trajectory toward ultimate truth, but all must be free to do so, and that is the essence of a theologically grounded understanding of academic freedom. Moreover, in the Catholic university there must be scholars in all disciplines who can make connections between disciplinary knowledge and religious truth, and bring insights from the Catholic tradition to bear on some of the courses they teach. It is time, therefore, for Catholic colleges and universities to adopt a properly theological foundation for academic freedom and to incorporate that understanding into their mission statements and, more importantly, into their institutional policies and bylaws.

Preface xi This foundation advances the mission of the Catholic university by ensuring that faculty and students may progress toward intellectual and spiritual wholeness. This book is primarily theological, yet I draw on historical perspectives from the broader Catholic liberal arts tradition ancient, medieval, and modern. I then review the history of how academic freedom developed, first in the nineteenth-century German university, then in the modern American university. The book is not a practical, how to book, even though I do suggest, in the final chapter, some practical implications that flow from its theological foundation, and then offer some concrete steps colleges and universities can take to strengthen their Catholic character. These steps are suggestive, not prescriptive, and I invite scholars in the disciplinary trenches and administrative units to ponder how the implications of a theological understanding of academic freedom can best transform the disciplinary cultures and curricula in their own institutions. There are several audiences for this book. Primary among them are scholars and administrators in Catholic colleges and universities, as well as bishops and clergy who are concerned with strengthening the Catholic character of these institutions. For more than four decades now they have argued among themselves over how to maintain the Catholic ethos of their institutions while still upholding academic freedom and fostering openness to modern, pluralistic thought. The book will also be of interest to educators in other Christian colleges who face the same challenges as those in Catholic universities. Finally, any scholar religious or secular wishing to champion the integrity of academic freedom rightly understood, will find the book s thesis stimulating, even if controversial. My sincere hope is that this book will advance the conversation about Catholic higher education beyond customary liberal-conservative disputes and lead to a more holistic understanding of academic inquiry. I do not argue for either liberal or conservative ideological positions. Instead, I offer an alternative that is grounded in the best features of the entire Catholic tradition. I have endeavored to base my arguments on historical developments, to draw on thinkers throughout Christian history (Catholic and non-catholic), and to offer a solution to the dilemmas facing Catholic higher education today. This book came about as a result of a long and often desultory intellectual and spiritual journey. Unschooled in things religious while young, I underwent a transformative religious conversion as a young man, one which led me to experience the interconnectedness of all things and their grounding in an all-encompassing spiritual reality. This drew me, eventually, into the Catholic Church and later, into Catholic universities where I hoped to deepen that religious experience. Surely, I reasoned, study in

xii Preface the Catholic university would entail a search for wisdom that was at once spiritual and intellectual. I would gain a grounding in the Great Tradition of philosophers (Christian and non-christian), mystics, saints, and theologians who had pursued academic life as a quest for Wisdom. I had read Jean LeClerq s The Love of Learning and the Desire for God, which describes how medieval monastics engaged both Greco-Roman classics and Christian literature within the context of a life of study, contemplation, and the search for wisdom. I naively hoped to experience a similar engagement, though updated with the study of modern sciences, social sciences, and humanistic learning. I was disappointed. Apart from having departments of theology or religious studies, and sponsoring regular liturgies, I discovered that the curricula in Catholic universities were not much different than those in their secular counterparts. Things spiritual inhabit a sphere severed from the academic and intellectual, including to some extent even theology departments, which have become isolated from the broader circle of sciences. I was puzzled: if the telos of Catholic university education is intellectual and spiritual wholeness, why are intellectual attainment and spiritual quest disconnected? Why must we bracket spiritual from intellectual eros while engaged in academic inquiry? And can anything be done to remedy this state of affairs? This book is my modest attempt to contribute to the ongoing conversation about the nature and mission of Catholic colleges and universities, and to offer a more holistic understanding of their finality. Every scholar is indebted to numerous people without whom one s book could never be written. First and foremost, I am grateful for the patience and forbearance of my wife and children who endured many missed weekend outings and summer vacations during the years I labored over this book. I dedicate this book to them. I am grateful to Larry Cunningham, Cyril O Regan, Matt Ashley, Melanie Morey, Kent Emery, Mark Roche, and the late Fred Crosson, all of whom read and critiqued some or all the chapters and whose advice and insights were invaluable. Thanks also to Krista Duttenhaver who pointed me to the educational writings of the German idealists, which form the basis of chapter 3, Berlin: the Prototype of the Modern University. I have been blessed to work in a unique office at the University of Notre Dame the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts (ISLA) which has placed me in contact with scholars from numerous academic disciplines in the humanities, social sciences, and fine arts, and whose engaging scholarship has enhanced my own. Most importantly, I am grateful to the various directors of ISLA who over the years have allowed me the time and provided me the resources to carry out the research for this book. Special thanks go to Christopher Fox, Julia Douthwaite, Cindy Bergeman,

Preface xiii Julie Braungart-Rieker, Gretchen Reydams-Schils, Ruth Abbey, Agustin Fuentes, and Tom Merluzzi for their encouragement and support. Greg Sterling, Maura Ryan, and Dan Myers in the dean s office of the College of Arts and Letters generously approved summer research leaves so that I could begin and finish this manuscript. Thanks also to Liz Rulli and Heather Boyd in Notre Dame s Office of Research for funding portions of the research through the Kobayashi Research Travel Fund. I am grateful to many archivists at Catholic colleges and universities for their generous assistance over the years: to Kevin Cawley of the University of Notre Dame; the late Nicholas Varga at Loyola College of Baltimore; J. Leon Hooper at the John Courtney Murray Archives at the Woodstock Theological Center; and to archivists at Fairfield University, Mount St. Mary s University, the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, whose names I have forgotten but whose helpfulness and generosity I remember well. Portions of chapter 1 and chapter 7 first appeared as Academic Freedom and the Service Theologians Must Render the Academy in Horizons: The Journal of the Catholic Theology Society (Spring 2011), 75 103. I am grateful to Anthony Godzieba for permission to use that material here. Without the support of John Cavadini, Joseph Wawrykow, and Don Pope-Davis, who helped facilitate my entrance into the theology doctoral program at the University of Notre Dame, the dissertation on which this book is based could not have been written. Thank you for your confidence in me. I am also grateful to Burke Gerstenschlager and Kaylan Connally at Palgrave MacMillan for their expert editorial assistance. John D. Burzynski s photograph of the Word of Life mural on the front of Notre Dame s Hesburgh Library adorns the cover of this book. Burzynski s photograph beautifully captures the amber background light emanating from Christ and the scholars in a way other photographs of the mural do not. The mural, created by artist Millard Sheets, depicts Christ surrounded by many generations of great scholars, thinkers, and teachers, both Christian and non-christian. Christ is the central figure toward whom they all move in procession; he is the great teacher, the universal pedagogue. The inscription on a marker near the mural reads as follows: With [Christ] in spirit are gathered the saints, the scholars, the scribes, and the teachers stretching through time, who have dedicated themselves to the preservation of truth... and the preparation of men s minds to receive that truth. Their knowledge, their thoughts, their written word, which through the ages have illuminated and enriched the understanding of their own and succeeding generations, is the treasure house of knowledge housed within the walls of this [library].

xiv Preface Scholars in Catholic colleges and universities today are the heirs of these great scholars and thinkers. The faithful passing on of the great wisdom tradition we have received from them, and the vigorous engagement of that tradition with the thought of our own time, is the mission we hold i n t r u s t.