The Idea of A University (Notre Dame Series in the Great Books) (Notre Dame Series in Great Books) - Softcover

Newman, John Henry Cardinal

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0268011508 ISBN 13: 9780268011505

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 1982

Synopsis

"The Idea of a University [is an] eloquent defense of a liberal education which is perhaps the most timeless of all [Newman’s] books and certainly the one most intellectually accessible to readers of every religious faith and of none. . . . [O]nly one who has read The Idea of a University in its entirety, especially the nine discourses, can hope to understand why its reputation is so high: why the first reading of this book has been called an ‘epoch’ in the life of a college man; why Walter Pater thought it ‘the perfect handling of a theory’; why the historian G. M. Young has ranked it with Aristotle’s Ethics among the most valuable of all works on the aim of Education; or why Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch told his students at Cambridge that ‘of all the books written in these hundred years there is perhaps none you can more profitably thumb and ponder.’” ―from the introduction by Martin J. Svaglic

About this title

Review

This excellent new edition of The Idea of a University, especially intended for students, contains a first-rate introduction, appropriately by Don Briel, the founder of the Catholic Studies Program which has become the model for programs around the world.” ~Ian Ker, Senior Research Fellow, Blackfriars Hall, Oxford University

“At a time when intellectuals and the cultured class felt a growing freedom to reject faith as unfounded, or relegate it to the realm of imagination and sentiment, Newman offered an elegant defense of the place of religious truth in the University—it was not just as one discipline among many, but the ‘condition of general knowledge.’ Today Newman's Idea of a University still offers a compelling vision of what a Catholic university might offer in an increasingly secular age.” ~John Garvey, President, the Catholic University of America

“John Henry Newman's classic reflection on university life is even more important today than when he wrote it, given the intellectual, social, and spiritual degradations into which the modern multiversity has fallen. A close reading of Newman, in this marvelous new edition, may help spark the reform that American high education desperately needs.” ~George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC

“A classic is a work of enduring relevance. There is arguably no work of greater ongoing importance for the self-understanding of contemporary colleges and universities—especially Catholic colleges and universities—than John Henry Newman’s classic The Idea of a University. Don Briel and Christopher Blum have contributed to a splendid new study edition...to situate and unlock this extraordinary work for a twenty-first century readership. This edition is of great timeliness and special urgency in view of the present crisis of higher education.” ~Reinhard Huetter, Visiting Professor, School of Theology and Religious Studies, the Catholic University of America, and Professor of Christian Theology, Divinity School of Duke University

“Among the great Christian thinkers, Newman remains the most neglected and in many ways the most needed for our times. In The Idea of a University, Newman draws together three points (among others): education is for the person-to-person formation of the mind rather than simply for information; education requires some introduction to the full scope of human knowledge in order for any one field of thought to flourish; and education in the lecture halls cannot be disjoined from what goes on in the residential halls. Reflection on each point shows the need for the Church's presence as a guard against the corrosive influence of pride and the passions--and thus the urgent need for Catholic universities. But reflection also shows that most Catholic universities today are distancing themselves from each point. Rather than despairing, read Newman's book illumined by the brilliant essays of Briel and Blum, and arm oneself with the insights needed for the renewal of true education.” ~Matthew Levering, James N. and Mary D. Perry, Jr., Chair of Theology, Mundelein Seminary

From the Back Cover

The issues that John Henry Newman raised--the place of religion and moral values in the university setting, the competing claims of liberal and professional education, the character of the academic community, the cultural role of literature, the relation of religion and science--have provoked discussion from Newman's time to our own.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 1982
• ISBN 10: 0268011508
• ISBN 13: 9780268011505
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 480