RESPONDING FROM THE RESPONDING FROM THE TRADITIONTRADITION: :

FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITIES IN THE THIRD FRANCISCAN UNIVERSITIES IN THE THIRD MILLENNIUMMILLENNIUM

Neumann College

August 2007

AT THE DAWN OF THE THIRD AT THE DAWN OF THE THIRD MILLENIUM...MILLENIUM...

What resources do we have in our spiritual traditions?

How can we be prophetic?How can we help change the structural base

of injustice?What is the vocation of a Franciscan

university today?

THE CENTRALITY OF BEAUTYTHE CENTRALITY OF BEAUTY-- Prof. Elaine Scarry-- Prof. Elaine Scarry

– A transformative experience

- Inspiring creativity and generativity

- “Lateral distribution”: extending the experience

- Concrete acts of justice

John Duns ScotusJohn Duns Scotus

Franciscan Friar Duns, Scotland 1265-1308 Metaphysician The “Subtle Doctor”

ELEMENTS OF THE ELEMENTS OF THE FRANCISCAN INTELLECTUAL FRANCISCAN INTELLECTUAL

TRADITIONTRADITION

1. Inclusive – all cultures, all peoples

2. Critical – of injustices

3. Prophetic – moving beyond

4. Practical – an everyday approach

THE FRANCISCAN THE FRANCISCAN PREOCCUPATION WITH PREOCCUPATION WITH

BEAUTYBEAUTY

St. Francis: Canticle of the Sun

St. Clare: Letters to Agnes of Prague

St. Bonaventure: The Mind’s Road to God

I. SACRAMENTAL VIEW OF I. SACRAMENTAL VIEW OF MEANINGMEANING

A sacramental vision: reality as SIGN

– An aesthetic model: the divine Artist– Value and dignity of what exists: a work of art– Rational, creative love– The moral agent is an “artist”– Optimistic, positive vision of the human person

AFFIRMATION OF HUMAN AFFIRMATION OF HUMAN DIGNITYDIGNITY

The reason for the Incarnation

– Divine desire from all eternity– No “happy fault” argument– Not a response to human sinfulness, but

affirmation of human dignity and value

IMPLICATIONSIMPLICATIONS

The Centrality of Beauty – Love, rationality and freedom– The rationality of Beauty– The need for multiple perspectives and modes

of understanding– Human desire and rational choice

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONQUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. How is education at Neumann aesthetic and sacramental? 2. How central is the daily experience of beauty and creativity for

everyone, not just students? 3. What models for innovative coursework exist?

4. How do you reward educational risks, especially creative risks in pedagogy?

5. How do all these spiritual insights influence the everyday decisions made everywhere on this campus?

II. BEAUTY AND CREATIVITYII. BEAUTY AND CREATIVITY

“Thisness” (haecceity)

– What is sacred and unrepeatable in each person– The mystery of each being– A personal gift

“What I do is me,

for this I came.”

G. M. Hopkins, As Kingfishers Catch Fire

Haecceity: Haecceity: OUR PERSONAL GIFT FROM OUR PERSONAL GIFT FROM

GODGOD

“It would seem to invest each [human person] with a unique value as one singularly wanted and loved by God, quite apart from any trait that person shares with others or any contribution he or she might make to society. One can even say, haecceity is our personal gift from God.”

A.B. Wolter, Duns Scotus’ Early Oxford Lecture on Individuation, Introduction, xxii

““The pearl of great price”The pearl of great price”

Haecceitas (Thisness): The hidden treasure

“I have the immense joy of being a human being, a member of a race in which God became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. THERE IS NO WAY OF TELLING PEOPLE THAT THEY ARE ALL WALKING AROUND SHINING LIKE THE SUN.”

Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

THE DESIRE OF OUR HEART

The rationality of love– The human HEART has two affections: for

justice and for happiness– They are the foundation for the ability for self-

restraint; self-control– Profoundly Augustinian insight– Integrates human affective desire into

rationality

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONQUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. How might these foundational insights about human nature and dignity play a more central critical and prophetic role in student education here?

2. How might the Scotist affirmation of human goodness and uniqueness

inform coursework in ethics, in education, in psychology, in business?

3. How do broader and more inclusive styles of teaching and learning

enrich the curriculum? 4. How might the Franciscan commitment to all persons, including and

most especially the vulnerable offer a critical and prophetic vantage point from which to analyze economic, social and political situations?

III. BEAUTY AND ACTS OF III. BEAUTY AND ACTS OF JUSTICEJUSTICE

Moral implications:– Human dignity– The possibility of conversion– Restorative justice– Harmonic balance of self and others

GROWING IN JUSTICEGROWING IN JUSTICE

Growing in fullness of lifeMercyCompassionRight relationshipsCommon good

OUR VOCATIONOUR VOCATION

“We are his mothers when we carry him about in our heart and person by means of love and a clean and sincere conscience, and we give birth to him by means of our holy actions, which should shine as an example to others.”

St. Francis, Letter to the Faithful, 230j

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTIONQUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. How do students see and experience justice? 2. How does the Franciscan tradition inform projects and

activities for justice? 3. How are such efforts (even when they fail) celebrated and

rewarded?

4. How has your small student-faculty ratio enabled you to provide innovative and creative learning opportunities for the students?

THE INTELLECTUAL AS THE INTELLECTUAL AS SPIRITUALSPIRITUAL

The intellectual journey is a spiritual journey

To be human = imago Christi

The rational order is an order of love

THE INTELLECTUAL AS THE INTELLECTUAL AS SPIRITUALSPIRITUAL

The whole is grounded in a transcendent order that is rational and loving

The whole is beautiful

The human person is the summit of creation

A FRANCISCAN VISIONA FRANCISCAN VISION

1. Sacramental view of meaning

2. Optimistic vision of the person

3. Optimism about the relationship between rationality and faith

A FRANCISCAN VISIONA FRANCISCAN VISION

Transforming the world into beautyThe power of creativityAn integrative and empowering educational

experience