EMBRACING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS: THE CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL TRADITION
At a moment that calls out for new ways of thinking to ensure the flourishing of all humanity, we can respond by formulating new questions and reexamining prevailing answers to existing questions. In “The Catholic University as a Pluralistic Forum,” the Jesuit theologian (and former Bea Professor of Theology at SCU) Michael Buckely argued that, among other things, the questions given the highest priority and “the spirit that pervades the academic life of interchange” give a university its particular character. For a Jesuit university inspired by the Catholic intellectual tradition, those questions necessarily center on what it means to be fully human and how we create a world where all of humanity is able to flourish in mind, body, and spirit.
This week we are sharing a short video from Boston College featuring Vincent Rougeau, Dean of Boston College Law School, on the Catholic intellectual tradition and the questions it raises in the study of the law and across our own disciplines and areas of expertise. The reading this week also comes to us from Boston College and offers an accessible way to begin an exploration of the Catholic Intellectual tradition in a Jesuit context. |
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As Fr. Buckley argued, the Catholic intellectual tradition requires us to ask difficult questions, seek answers through a diverse and inclusive range of voices, and to engage in discussion with conviction and a collaborative spirit. A pluralistic forum like Santa Clara will have moments of disagreement, but ultimately that is what makes it a Jesuit, Catholic university. For, despite our disagreement, we are all united and inspired by a mission of unbridled inquiry in the search for a more humane, just, and sustainable world.
Have a wonderful week.
Aaron Willis Director, Bannan Forum Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education
VINCENT ROUGEAU | DEAN, BOSTON COLLEGE LAW SCHOOL
READING SELECTION
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