[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_image=”http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/integratio\/files\/2022\/08\/11.png” background_blend=”darken” min_height=”445.2px” custom_margin=”1px|||||” background_last_edited=”on|phone” background_enable_mask_style_phone=”on” background_mask_style_phone=”caret” background_mask_transform_phone=”flip_vertical|invert|flip_horizontal” background_mask_aspect_ratio_phone=”square” background_mask_position_phone=”center_right” global_colors_info=”{}” background__hover_enabled=”off|desktop”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” module_alignment=”center” min_height=”766px” custom_margin=”0px|auto||173px||” custom_padding=”15px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_accordion closed_toggle_text_color=”#221100″ closed_toggle_background_color=”rgba(255,255,255,0.65)” icon_color=”#2990B3″ use_icon_font_size=”on” icon_font_size=”21px” _builder_version=”4.18.1″ _module_preset=”default” toggle_font=”Crimson Text|700|||||||” closed_toggle_font=”Crimson Text||||||||” body_font=”Crimson Text||||||||” animation_style=”zoom” closed_toggle_text_shadow_style=”preset3″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Summer 2022 Issue I \u00b7 IDEAS OF A UNIVERSITY: THEN, NOW, AND INTO THE FUTURE” open=”on” closed_toggle_text_color=”#FFFFFF” icon_color=”#225555″ toggle_icon=”||fa||400″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#5280a5″ background_enable_color=”on” box_shadow_style=”preset1″ global_colors_info=”{}” toggle_text_color=”#FFFFFF” toggle_level=”h3″ toggle_font=”Crimson Text||||||||” toggle_text_align=”center”][\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”John Henry Newman and Baccalaureate Nursing Education by Josephine DeVito” closed_toggle_text_color=”#221100″ toggle_icon=”||fa||900″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n
Nursing education was initially based in a school of nursing associated with a hospital.\u00a0 Students were educated during the day with classes on nursing skills and immediately placed in hospital units to work long hours on various day or night shifts.\u00a0 They were used in staff positions and many times learned as they worked.\u00a0 After three years of education and clinical experience, students were eligible to take the NCLEX exam to become Registered Nurses. As the nursing shortage continued, the need to educate nurses in a professional role became evident and associate degree programs emerged in community college settings. Basic nursing skills to educate nurses to return to bedside care were the priority while students took courses in a college setting. After two years, students received an associate degree in nursing and were eligible to take the NCLEX exam to become Registered Nurses.\u00a0 Nursing education was being challenged in the medical field and struggling to establish the professional, autonomous role of the nurse. Amid these struggles it became evident that the place most appropriate was an academic setting in a university.\u00a0 A baccalaureate education in a four-year program incorporated both the sciences and liberal arts with students receiving a BSN degree in nursing.\u00a0 These students were eligible to take the NCLEX exam to become Registered Nurses.\u00a0 For many years, there were 3 entry level programs students could select from to take the NCLEX exam and become a professional Registered Nurse.\u00a0 Eventually, for various reasons, including the economy, three-year hospital nursing programs closed.\u00a0 This controversy continued since unlike the inception of nursing with Florence Nightingale and religious orders of men entering the profession, nursing needed to be more than a handmaiden of the physician and more autonomous in their role.\u00a0 Within the university setting, additional programs of advanced nursing education continued, including, MSN programs for nurse practitioners, administrators, and educators.\u00a0 Doctoral programs continued to increase with students receiving Ed.D. and Ph.D. degrees in evidence-based nursing research as well as advanced clinical expertise in programs for DNP degrees.<\/p>\n
Cardinal John Henry Newman believed that a university education is the pursuit of universal knowledge and truth.\u00a0 A Catholic university must be committed to following its mission of excellence while providing an atmosphere of scholarly education.\u00a0 There needs to be a commitment to knowledge and truth with a unity between faith and reason. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), there are nine Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice.<\/em>[1]<\/span><\/a> They are:<\/p>\n Liberal education for baccalaureate nursing, Essential I,<\/em> can be compared with Newman\u2019s philosophy on education in a university. The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC & U) defines liberal education as one that intentionally fosters, across multiple fields of study, wide-ranging knowledge of science, cultures, and society. This includes high-level intellectual and practical skills, an active commitment to personal and social responsibilities, and demonstrated ability to apply learning to complex problems and challenges.[2]<\/span><\/a> Newman addresses two methods of education, philosophical and mechanical.\u00a0 Mechanical includes instruction and involves an immediate outcome of the process with a narrow scope. In contrast, Philosophical education is much broader and denotes the liberal education, which Newman advocates for since it is not characterized by physical instruction but by the exercise of reason, mind, and the cultivation of the intellect.[3]<\/span><\/a> As an administrator, Newman promoted science as well as arts, to encourage professional education, to provide for research as well as good teaching, and to broaden the curriculum by including more modern subjects.[4]<\/span><\/a> A liberal education in nursing includes both the sciences and the arts.\u00a0 The sciences included: physical sciences (physics and chemistry), life sciences (biology and genetics), mathematical and social sciences (psychology and sociology).\u00a0 The arts included: fine arts, performing arts, and humanities. Newman considered university learning as a setting where a student is exposed to various subjects, then considers each perspective, and forms a habit of mind that will last a lifetime, which he refers to as, \u201cphilosophical habit.\u201d[5]<\/span><\/a> According to Newman the core of the curriculum is the humanities which represents the highest attainment of cultivated minds.[6]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Liberal education is critical to the generation of responsible citizens in a global society. Newman states that being devoted to intellectual excellence is how the university can assist students to understand themselves, to use resources to become critical thinkers, and to solve problems in society. Paul and Elder in 2009[7]<\/span><\/a> characterized a well cultivated critical thinker as the following:<\/p>\n Nurses work within a healthcare team to address issues important to the profession of nursing, question dominant assumptions, and solve complex problems related to individuals and population-based communities. Graduate nurses exercise appropriate clinical judgment, understand the reasoning behind policies and standards, and accept responsibility for continued professional development and the discipline of nursing practice. In health care, critical thinking for nurses is essential. Each nurse seeks awareness of reasoning as he or she applies the criteria and considerations as thinking evolves throughout their career.<\/p>\n The goal of the Essentials of Baccalaureate Education <\/em>is to transform nursing education for the twenty-first century. Learning opportunities include direct clinical experiences to attain practice focused outcomes while integrating knowledge and skills for professional nursing. According to the Essential[8]<\/strong><\/span><\/a> <\/em>liberal education additionally allows the graduate nurse to form the values and standards needed to address changes in healthcare medical technology. These trends will enhance care for the aging population and culturally sensitive, diverse families. Liberal education provides the baccalaureate graduate nurse with the ability to integrate knowledge, skills, and values from the arts and sciences to provide safe, quality care.<\/p>\n ENDNOTES<\/p>\n [1]<\/span><\/a> American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice <\/em>(Washington DC: AACN Publications, 2008), pp. 1-2.<\/p>\n [2]<\/span><\/a> Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC & U) College learning for the New Global Century. <\/em>(Washington, DC, 2007), p. 4.<\/p>\n [3]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University <\/em>(Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), pp. 84-85<\/p>\n [4]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University <\/em>(Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), p. 13.<\/p>\n [5]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University <\/em>(Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), p. 179.<\/p>\n [6]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University <\/em>(Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), p. 92.<\/p>\n [7]<\/span><\/a> Paul, R. & Elder, L. Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools<\/em> (Foundation for Critical Thinking Press, 2009), p.2.<\/p>\n [8]<\/span><\/a> American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) The Essentials of Baccalaureate Education for Professional Nursing Practice <\/em>(Washington DC: AACN Publications, 2008), p. 12.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Newman, Oxford and Literature by Nancy Enright” toggle_icon=”||fa||900″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n Saint John Henry Newman\u2019s Idea of a University<\/em> expresses an ideal that is much needed in today\u2019s universities, particularly those with a Catholic affiliation.\u00a0 In his Introduction, Martin Svaglic talks about how Newman\u2019s conversion to Catholicism was \u201cnot so much breaking with as developing his Evangelical and Anglo-Catholic heritage\u2026.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/a> It was a gradual movement toward revealed truth at its source that culminated in Newman\u2019s 1845 entrance into the Catholic Church.\u00a0 But the development began with an evangelical conversion as a teenager, a conversion deepened by his experience at Oxford, where he experienced the positive influence of devout Anglo-Catholic mentors, like John Keble, and where he became a leader, perhaps the<\/em> leader, of \u201cthe Oxford Movement.\u201d What is it about Oxford that, despite its many flaws (including centuries of blatant anti-Catholicism, which barred Newman from it upon his conversion), links significantly to Newman\u2019s developing faith, his commitment to truth and theological tradition, and his \u201cidea of a university\u201d as a place where disparate parts are linked to a central vision?\u00a0 A glimpse of just a few literary explorations of Oxford will give some insight into why this particular place was a fitting site for Newman\u2019s conversion and an inspiration for his famous work, The Idea of a University. <\/em><\/p>\n Perhaps the first literary reference to Oxford comes from Geoffrey Chaucer\u2019s Canterbury Tales<\/em>, in which he describes a \u2018Clerk of Oxenford\u2019 among the pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St. Thomas Becket, \u2018the holy blissful martir\u2019 who was killed in the Cathedral of Canterbury at the orders of King Henry II. England was still Catholic then, of course, and academics were celibate and minor clerics.\u00a0 Chaucer describes this early scholar in words that may resonate with many struggling academics today:<\/p>\n A clerk ther was of Oxenford also, So, what do we learn about our Clerk? He is not rich, and if there were \u201csalary studies\u201d as proliferate at some universities, his would be among the lowest.\u00a0 He and his horse are thin, and he shows no attributes of worldly success, but what he does show is seriousness and courtesy, and joy in his subject. His speech and manner express reverence (for truth, for his students and colleagues, for God?) and \u201chigh sentence in moral virtue.\u201d\u00a0 Most of all, he loves what he does: \u201cAnd gladly would he learn and gladly teach.\u201d If he gets any money, he spends it on books.[3]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 Clearly, the Clerk would agree profoundly with Newman\u2019s axiomatic words from The Idea of a University<\/em>: \u201cKnowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward.\u201d[4]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n As time progressed, the Reformation occurred, and Oxford was no longer a place to train Catholic clergy and, in fact, Catholics could not attend it at all, there still remained that dedicated, sometimes ascetic and sacrificial spirit among scholars at Oxford that sought knowledge as its own renewal. Do we convey to our students the idea that knowledge is valuable for its own sake, not merely a preparation for a skill set that will ultimately demand a higher salary?\u00a0 While acknowledging the importance of obtaining a job after college, both Newman and Chaucer valued more highly the focus on the immaterial. This is \u00a0at the heart of Chaucer\u2019s description and a key aspect of Newman\u2019s evocation of a university.\u00a0 Its focus is not material, and its intellectual and spiritual work is of value for its own sake.<\/p>\n Skip ahead several centuries, now looking back to Newman\u2019s time, we find several references to Oxford in literature.\u00a0 In his work, Brideshead Revisited<\/em>, Evelyn Waugh, depicts Charles Ryder\u2019s reminiscence of as a student in 1923: \u201cOxford, in those days, was still a city of aquatint. In her spacious and quiet streets men walked and spoke as they had done in Newman’s day; her autumnal mists, her grey springtime, and the rare glory of her summer days\u2014such as that day \u2013when the chestnut was in flower and the bells rang out high and clear over her gables and cupolas, exhaled the soft airs of centuries of youth. It was this cloistral hush which gave our laughter its resonance, and carried it still, joyously, over the intervening clamour\u201d[5]<\/span><\/a> Waugh, like Newman a convert to Catholicism, depicts the echoing of \u201cthe soft airs of centuries of youth.\u201d Here Oxford is associated with not only with the past but also the present, with youth.\u00a0 A thousand years of learning echoing in the streets, where the day\u2019s students mingle (today as in 1923).\u00a0 Newman talks about the importance of the interaction of students being at least as important as the courses they take:<\/p>\n They learn to respect, to consult, to aid each other. Thus is created a pure and clear atmosphere of thought, which the student also breathes, though in his own case he only pursues a few sciences out of the multitude. He profits by an intellectual tradition, which is independent of particular teachers, which guides him in his choice of subjects, and duly interprets for him those which he chooses. He apprehends the great outlines of knowledge, the principles on which it rests, the scale of its parts, its lights and its shades, its great points and its little, as he otherwise cannot apprehend them. Hence it is that his education is called “Liberal.” A habit of mind is formed which lasts through life, of which the attributes are, freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom; or\u00a0 what in a former Discourse I have ventured to call a philosophical habit. This then I would assign as the special fruit of the education furnished at a University, as contrasted with other places of teaching or modes of teaching. This is the main purpose of a University in its treatment of its students.[6]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n So, we can draw from this excerpt from Newman\u2019s text that it is the relationships formed at a university that make the experience richer than the mere knowledge gained from textbook or lecture.<\/p>\n Finally, two very popular authors, whom I teach in my Core III\/British Literature cross list course: Fantasy and Faith: Tolkien and Lewis and their Precursors.\u00a0 Both authors went to Oxford.\u00a0 Lewis came there an atheist, and though Catholics were now allowed to attend and even to teach at Oxford in the 1930s, he was warned against socializing with them.\u00a0 Despite that warning, he became good friends with a philology professor, J.R.R. Tolkien.\u00a0 On a late-night walk near Magdalen College\u2019s Addison\u2019s walk, on a tree-lined path near a stream and next to a deer park, Lewis, now a theist but not a Christian, listened as Tolkien and another friend, Hugo Dyson, talked about Christianity as \u201cthe one true myth.\u201d Lewis, a lover of myth, found himself deeply persuaded by Tolkien\u2019s argument that at one time in history, the qualities we love in myth became historical fact.\u00a0 Soon after this, Lewis confessed that he now had become a Christian.\u00a0 Oxford was the perfect setting for this discourse.\u00a0 I have taken Addison\u2019s walk, and the wind in the trees and the hush of the archaic, beautiful architecture and stone bridges, along the stream, must have been a perfect backdrop to this life-changing situation.\u00a0 Oxford, as the archetypal university, was the setting for the spiritual and intellectual conversation that led to yet another conversion. Though, unlike Newman, Lewis did not become a Catholic (as, Tolkien admitted, he had hoped for), his dramatic turn to Christianity allowed him to become one of the twentieth century\u2019s great apologists (as Newman was in his day).\u00a0 These kinds of conversations can occur today\u2014on any campus\u2014if the right circumstances allow them.\u00a0 If a university allows students some breadth to explore, some encouragement to interact and explore ideas, some focus on things deeper than a resume or GPA.<\/p>\n Newman admits that a liberal education does not \u201cmake the Christian,\u201d and that is true.[7]<\/span><\/a>\u00a0 But if at a Catholic university or one inspired by faith (as Oxford was and is, though no longer Catholic, except in its long past), students must be allowed to explore the questions that can lead to the deeper truth that underlies all truths, as even Lewis, a young tutor at Oxford, was moved to explore questions of faith in the intellectual, but also spiritual climate, of conversing with his peers.\u00a0 To create this atmosphere, there needs to be a sense of wholeness underlying the various parts of a university,[8]<\/span><\/a> a respect for theology, a sense of the importance of learning beyond career options, a joy and love of teaching and learning.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ENDNOTES<\/p>\n [1]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University<\/em> (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), Introduction.<\/p>\n [2]<\/span><\/a> Chaucer, Geoffrey, The Canterbury Tales<\/em> (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1957), p. 20.<\/p>\n [3]<\/span><\/a> Chaucer, Geoffrey, The Canterbury Tales<\/em> (Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin, 1957), p. 20.<\/p>\n [4]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University<\/em> (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), p. 77.<\/p>\n [5]<\/span><\/a> Waugh, Evelyn, Brideshead Revisited (Toronto, ON, Canada: Penguin Books, 1981), p.<\/p>\n [6]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University<\/em> (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), Introduction. Discourse 5.<\/p>\n [7]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University<\/em> (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), p. 90.<\/p>\n [8]<\/span><\/a> Newman, John Henry, and Ed. Martin J. Svaglic, The Idea of a University<\/em> (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982), Introduction.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”Integrated Learning and Newman’s Idea of a University by Anthony Haynor” toggle_icon=”||fa||900″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n A major takeaway for me from the 2021 Faculty Summer Seminar with Jeremy Wilkins, \u201cFrom Facts to Truth to Wisdom with Thomas Aquinas,\u201d involved the pivotal position of the senses and reason in the understanding of Being in its varied forms.\u00a0 In the past year, I have been reading two texts that bear on what can be called the \u201cmetaphysical project\u201d\u2014sustained and disciplined intellectual effort that achieves (or at least moves toward) a grasp of the totality of Being, that is, the relations among the various forms of Being. The first is Insight<\/em> by Bernard Lonergan, chapters 12-17 especially.1<\/sup> The second is The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic Metaphysics<\/em>2<\/sup> by W. Norris Clarke. Making progress toward an understanding of \u201cproportionate being\u201d (in Lonergan\u2019s terms), that is, finite being, is a primary intellectual destination for human knowers\u2014as individuals and as communities. Getting the metaphysics right sets the stage for ethical reasoning, for virtuous conduct must be in accord with nature as established through metaphysical inquiry. Conversely, getting the metaphysics wrong can make ethical conduct implausible, if not impossible.\u00a0 Comprehending \u201cproportionate\u201d or \u201cfinite\u201d being also triggers inquiry into \u201ctranscendent being\u201d\u2014the being in which it is ultimately grounded. \u00a0\u00a0I have become convinced that taking \u201cbeing\u201d very seriously as well as the philosophy of being\u2014which is metaphysics\u2014goes to the heart of the liberal university\u2019s mission. \u00a0Putting metaphysics first is arguably not in tune with the prevailing zeitgeist<\/em>\u2014with its relativistic worldview, with its emphasis on language games, and with its proclamation of the \u201cend of metaphysics.\u201d3<\/sup> However, giving primacy to a metaphysical project is very much in line with the mission of a Catholic University, and should be embraced, arguably, by all universities.<\/p>\n In our recent2022 Faculty Summer Seminar with Ken Parker \u201cIdeas of a Catholic University: Then, Now, and Into the Future,\u201d a key question emerged for me: Is the metaphysical project (which encompasses both finite and transcendent being) one that is implied by, or at least, highly consistent with, Newman\u2019s \u201cIdea of a University\u201d? \u00a0I reviewed Sections V, VI, and VIII of The Idea of a University <\/em>to address this issue. What struck me was Newman\u2019s emphasis on cultivating the philosophical mind in order to foster an integrated understanding of being. While he didn\u2019t introduce the term \u201cmetaphysics\u201d a plausible case can be made that this is what he meant.<\/p>\n In Discourse V, \u201cKnowledge Its Own End,\u201d Newman argues that:<\/p>\n \u2026all branches of knowledge are connected together, because the subject-matter of knowledge is intimately united in itself, as being the acts and the work of the Creator. Hence it is that the Sciences, into which our knowledge may be said to be cast, have multiplied bearings one on another, and an internal sympathy, and admit, or rather demand, comparison and adjustment. They complete, correct, balance each other. This consideration, if well-founded, must be taken into account, not only as regards the attainment of truth, which is their common end, but as regarded the influence which they exercise upon those whose education consists in the study of them.4<\/sup><\/p>\n Newman goes on to argue that undue specialization serves \u201cto contract [the learner\u2019s\u201d mind.\u201d5<\/sup> Students need to be exposed to all of the disciplines and along with teachers and scholars, need to regard themselves of part of an intellectual fraternity, as it were, aiming to \u201cadjust together the claims and relations of their respective subjects of investigation.\u201d6<\/sup> In the process, \u201cthey learn to respect, to consult, to aid each other.\u201d7<\/sup>\u00a0 He places considerable emphasis on cultivating \u201ca habit of mind\u201d directed toward the integration of knowledge:<\/p>\n A habit of mind is formed which lasts through life, of which the attributes are, freedom, equitableness, calmness, moderation, and wisdom; or what\u2026I have ventured to call a philosophical habit. Knowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward. And this is true of all knowledge, it is true also of that special Philosophy, which I have made to consist in a comprehensive view of truth in all its branches, of the relations of science to science, of their mutual bearings, ad their respective values.8<\/sup><\/p>\n According to Newman, it is built into our human nature to seek knowledge for its own sake knowledge that relates the various disciplines of knowledge to each other and by implication the subject matters (the orders of being) to which they attend. This is the essence of \u201cliberal knowledge,\u201d the \u201cliberal arts,\u201d \u201cliberal education.\u201d9<\/sup>\u00a0 He contrasts the \u201cphilosophical\u201d method of education\u2014aimed at general and universal knowledge\u2014to \u201cthe mechanical\u201d method\u2014aimed at the external and the practical.10<\/sup> The philosophical method is quintessentially \u201cintellectual\u201d; it seeks knowledge that \u201cgrasps what it perceives through the senses; something which takes a view of things; which sees more than the senses convey; which reasons upon what is sees, and while it sees; which invests it with an idea.\u201d \u00a0The journey on which the intellect embarks seeks nothing less than \u201cto have mapped out the Universe.\u201d This is the \u201cboast, or at least the ambition, of Philosophy.\u201d11<\/sup><\/p>\n Newman is clear in identifying the limitations of the philosophical mind while asserting its inherent value. About the knowledge that we gain through the exercise of the philosophical mind, Newman writes:<\/p>\n \u00a0Its direct business is not to steal the soul against temptation or to console it in affliction, any more than to set the loom in motion, or to direct the steam carriage; be it ever so much the means or the condition of both material and moral advancement, still, taken by and in itself, it as little mends our hearts as it improves our temporal circumstances. Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another. Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles. Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman.12<\/sup><\/p>\n The qualities of the gentleman for Newman \u201care no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness, they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless.\u201d14<\/sup> The cultivation of the intellect is but one kind of excellence for Newman: \u201cEvery thing has its own perfection, be it higher or lower in the scale of things; and the perfection of one is not the perfection of another.\u201d15<\/sup>\u00a0 We can safely surmise, I think, that moral excellence (virtue) and spiritual or religious excellence are regarded by Newman as higher \u201cin the scale of things\u201d than intellectual excellence. A key question for me is: In what sense can intellectual excellence serve as a precondition for moral excellence?\u00a0\u00a0 Clearly for Newman intellectual excellence does not guarantee moral excellence, let alone spiritual excellence. \u00a0He also took the position that the striving for intellectual excellence had intrinsic worth. \u00a0It is self-evident to me that the cultivation of the philosophical mind requires \u201ccompletion\u201d and \u201cperfection\u201d in the form of moral and spiritual excellence, and that the university\u2019s mission is to foster all three kinds of human excellence. \u00a0Discourse V concludes with the following thoughts, first on the distinction between the cultivation of the intellect and the cultivation of virtue, and second on the transition from the natural plane to the supernatural plane of existence:<\/p>\n \u00a0To open the mind, to correct it, to refine it, to enable it to know, and to digest, master, rule, and use its knowledge, to give it power over its own faculties, application, flexibility, method, critical exactness, sagacity, resource, address, eloquent expression, is an object as intelligible\u2026as the cultivation of virtue, while, at the same time, it is absolutely distinct from it.<\/p>\n We attain to heaven by using this world well, though it is to pass away; we perfect our nature, not by undoing it, but by adding to it what is more than nature, and directing it towards aims higher than its own.16<\/sup><\/p>\n In Discourse VI Newman focuses on the constituents of \u201cintellectual perfection\u201d as well as factors that inhibit it. \u00a0Regarding the former, \u201cphilosophical knowledge\u201d requires that the university \u201ceducates the intellect to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth, and to grasp it.\u201d17<\/sup>\u00a0 \u00a0Acquiring knowledge (or information) is not sufficient\u2014intellectual excellence requires an \u201cexpansion of mind,\u201d which involves \u201ca comparison of ideas one with another, as they come before the mind, and a systematizing of them.\u201d18<\/sup>\u00a0 Newman here is calling for the university to foster a dialectical attitude on the part of faculty and students alike. The objective is not for those in the university community to \u201cabound in information in detail\u201d19<\/sup> but rather to integrate the various fields of knowledge through active, inter-subjective engagement. I would add that the dialectical attitude should extend to the relationship between metaphysical understanding, on the one hand, and moral imperatives, on the other, as well as that between the natural and supernatural planes of existence. \u00a0Newman emphasizes the intelligibility of the world, that is, its fundamental unity:<\/p>\n Just as our bodily organs, when mentioned, recall their function in the body, as the word \u2018creation\u2019 suggests the Creator, and \u2018subjects\u2019 a sovereign, so, in the mind of the Philosopher, as we are abstractedly conceiving of him, the elements of the physical and moral world, sciences, arts, pursuits, ranks, offices, events, opinions, individualities, are all viewed as one, with correlative functions, and as gradually by successive combinations converging, one and all, to the true centre. That perfection of the Intellect, which is the result of Education, and its beau ideal<\/em>, to be imparted to individuals in their respective measures, is the clear, calm, accurate vision and comprehension of all things, as far as the finite mind can embrace them, each in its place, and with own characteristics upon it.20<\/sup><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup>Newman concludes that \u201cthe true and adequate end of intellectual training and of a University is not Learning or Acquirement, but rather, is Thought or Reason exercised upon Knowledge, or what may be called Philosophy.\u201d21<\/sup><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup>The relationship between knowledge and religion is taken up in Discourse VIII.\u00a0 Newman states that \u201cthe educated mind may be said to be in a certain sense religious; that is, it has what may be considered a religion of its own, independent of Catholicism, partly co-operating with it, partly thwarting it.\u201d22<\/sup> This suggests a dialectical process at work in the university arena\u2014involving the identification of affinities, and tensions and seeming contradictions that require addressing. At the same time, Newman argues that \u201cRight Reason, that is, Reason rightly exercised, leads the mind to the Catholic Faith, and plants it there, and teaches it in all its religious speculations to act under its guidance.\u201d23<\/sup> A major thrust of Discourse VIII is that \u201cIntellectualism\u201d by itself is insufficient, even dangerous.\u00a0 It has a restricted worldview, rooted in fleeting opinions and trapped in naturalistic dogmatism. For those with a genuine \u201cenlargement of mind\u201d their \u201creligion is one of imagination and sentiment; it is the embodiment of those ideas of the sublime, majestic, and beautiful, without which there can be no large philosophy.\u201d24<\/sup><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup>Let me conclude with a quote from a recent book, Hollowed Out<\/em>, which analyzes the current state of higher education in the United States and calls for a radically new direction that is remarkably consistent with Newman\u2019s \u201cIdea of a University\u201d:<\/p>\n \u00a0\u2026the job of the modern teacher is largely therapeutic\u2014make students feel safe, make them feel good about themselves, impart the curriculum without insisting with too much awkward emphasis on how they might benefit from engaging with big thinkers, big ideas, big themes, thinking historically or philosophically rather than about the Almighty Me.25<\/sup><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n \u00a0ENDNOTES<\/sup> [\/et_pb_accordion_item][et_pb_accordion_item title=”A Catholic University-More than an Idea by Matthew Higgins” toggle_icon=”||fa||900″ _builder_version=”4.18.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” open=”off”]<\/p>\n There appears to be an identity crisis in higher Education the United States, and within it, \u00a0Catholic higher education. As institutions evaluate their place in the ever-transitioning world of higher learning, they encounter both crisis and wide-ranging opinions on the matter abound. In the center of Catholic Education one only needs to search the hashtag \u201cCatholicTwitter\u201d to understand how complexly divided opinions are on all things Catholic. One could glean from reading comments and digital arguments that the Catholic world often holds Catholic leaders, influential people, and institutions under a microscope. There appears to be somewhat of a litmus test or scale of Catholic Identity. A person or institution can easily be labeled either \u201ctoo Catholic\u201d or \u201cnot Catholic enough.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n As someone who has worked in parish and diocesan ministries I know individuals often struggle with what it means to be Catholic. For many Catholics, the search to understand and know who they are or what it means to be a Catholic can be a taxing journey marred by confusion, tension, and doubt. The common phrase, \u201cI am Catholic, but\u2026\u201d or \u201cI was raised Catholic, but\u2026\u201d often precedes a personal disconnect or disagreement with part of what it means to be Catholic, often stemming from one\u2019s decisions or experiences. One could argue that Catholic colleges and universities might use similar language in describing their history. Some institutions once considered models of Catholic higher education have made a series of decisions over decades resulting in a fading Catholicity. Consequently, their Catholic identity becomes only a part of their history (I was raised Catholic, but\u2026). Other Catholic colleges and universities faced what James Heft calls the \u201ccommercialization\u201d and \u201csecularization\u201d of Catholic higher education.[1]<\/span><\/a> For these institutions, Catholic identity is part of a brand, and something handled solely by campus ministry departments (I am Catholic but). For still others Catholic identity is an idea that struggles to come to fruition.<\/p>\n The Idea of a Catholic University<\/em> was explored in the Summer Faculty Seminar, offered by the Center for Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University, facilitated by Dr. Kenneth Parker. Participants read through specific discourses and discussed topics from St. John Henry Newman\u2019s Idea of a University<\/em>. In addition, Dr. Parker outlined Newman\u2019s personal experience of higher education and posed questions wherein participants engaged Newman\u2019s thoughts and writing with their experiences in higher education. Such questions led participants to consider their own motivations for pursuing education and compare them to their current reality as faculty. It was also apparent that many Catholic colleges and universities are in the midst of soul searching, discerning this \u201cidea\u201d of a Catholic university contrasted with their own reality. The discussions helped blend my academic and professional life.<\/p>\n First, as someone whose research focused primarily on Catholic higher education, formation, and leadership, I was struck by others\u2019 perceptions of higher education and the evident similarities to the life of St. John Henry Newman. Most notably was his approach to education, especially its aim to form the entire person through interdisciplinary relationships in and outside of the classroom. Second, as someone whose professional life has been in ministry, archdiocesan administration, and higher education program management, I was amazed by Newman\u2019s ability to make the idea of a university a reality, which is something that appears to be a struggle for so many institutions today. In my work, I have served as a bridge between ideas and reality, often taking complex or vague ideas for programs and finding ways to bring them to concrete fruition. In fact, where so many individuals and institutions miss the mark lies in their perception that being Catholic is simply a part of a whole, rather than something that permeates the whole. Yet the idea of a Catholic university, or the idea of Catholic education in general, cannot remain an idea or something on the sideline. As Parker stated on the second day of the seminar, \u201cNewman was not strictly an idealist; he was practical.\u201d Newman was able to make his idea a reality.<\/p>\n According to Newman, education is much more than learning facts, but involves formation in line with living out religious truth. As Newman stated,<\/p>\n \u00a0But education is a higher word; it implies an action upon our mental nature, and the formation of a character; it is something individual and permanent, and is commonly spoken of in connection with religion and virtue.[2]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n This concept is very much at the heart of Catholic education and makes one\u2019s Catholic identity distinct. It is something set apart from simply learning for exams or vocational training. The foundation of Catholic education is the formation of persons. It is committed to the formation of the entire person, not simply one part of an individual. Seton Hall refers to this in her motto\u2014A place for the mind, heart, and spirit. The interwoven nature of the various aspects of human life\u2014human, spiritual, intellectual, and relational\u2014are all fostered through Catholic education. Through this approach, students develop transcendental capacities such as seeking what is good, true, and beautiful and openness to transformation. Newman alludes to this in his Idea<\/em>, when he states,<\/p>\n \u00a0What we contemplate, then, what we aim at, when we give a religious Education, is, it seems, not to impart any knowledge whatever, but to satisfy anyhow desires after the Unseen which will arise in our minds in spite of ourselves, to provide the mind with a means of self-command, to impress on it the beautiful ideas which saints and sages have struck out, to embellish it with the bright hues of a celestial piety, to teach it the poetry of devotion, the music of well-ordered affections, and the luxury of doing good. As for the intellect, its exercise happens to be unavoidable, whenever moral impressions are made, from the constitution of the human mind, but it varies in the results of that exercise, in the conclusions which it draws from our impression, according to the peculiarities of the individual.[3]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n With respect to this relationship between education and formation, Newman underscored the importance of community and relationship as a primary factor in forming the entire person. In a way, he links co-curricular formation of the mind, heart, and spirit to one\u2019s ability to learn. Moreover, Newman insisted that accompaniment on the part of both teachers and students living in community fostered what he calls \u201cliving teaching.\u201d [4]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n With living teaching, or \u201caccompaniment,\u201d students walk with each other in fraternity and communal living, wherein likeminded individuals studying different majors teach each other in the context of organic relationship. In this model, students are not pigeonholed into one way of thinking, nor are their studies so specialized that they become persons of \u201cone idea\u201d who are convinced of their own conclusions and cannot open their mind to abstract thought or discourse.[5]<\/span><\/a> Conversely, students also learn invaluable traits within a liberal curriculum.<\/p>\n The curriculum should be aimed toward liberal knowledge, or what Newman calls \u201cspecial Philosophy,\u201d which is \u201ca comprehensive view of truth in all its branches, of the relations of science to science, of their mutual bearings, and their respective values.\u201d[6]<\/span><\/a> This interdisciplinary approach affords students the right to everything that has been thought, written down, and passed on through generations. Providing a balanced education, through discourse and living in community with others in various fields, yet all seeking the same end leads students to Truth. As Newman describes,<\/p>\n\n
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That unto logyk hadde longe ygo.
As leene was his hors as is a rake,
And he nas nat right fat, I undertake,
But looked holwe, and therto sobrely.
Ful thredbare was his overeste courtepy;
For he hadde geten hym yet no benefice,
Ne was so worldly for to have office\u2026.
Noght o word spak he moore than was neede,
And that was seyd in forme and reverence,
And short and quyk and ful of hy sentence;
in moral vertu was his speche,
And gladly wolde he lerne and gladly teche.[2]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
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