Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University - by K Garcia (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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 relation of the finite world to the infinite, or God. In the Catholic university, true academic freedom means both the freedom of the scholar to pursue studies unencumbered by external interference, and freedom to pursue knowledge beyond the boundaries of specific academic disciplines toward an infinite horizon"--

Book Synopsis

There are currently no books on Catholic higher education that offer a theological foundation for academic freedom. This book presents a theologically grounded understanding of academic freedom that builds on, extends, and completes the prevailing secular understanding for Catholic higher education.

Review Quotes

'Garcia makes the welcome, convincing, and counter-intuitive claim that academic freedom, both in its origin in German idealism and in its ultimate meaning for the contemporary Catholic university, includes the freedom to explore the unity of knowledge across disciplines and to ask questions that lead us toward the infinite and the ultimate, toward the divine.' - Mark W. Roche, author of Why Choose the Liberal Arts? and The Intellectual Appeal of Catholicism and the Idea of the Catholic University

'In Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University, Kenneth Garcia provides an expansive view of academic freedom rooted in Christian anthropology. His argument points up how narrow and confining the current negative view of academic freedom really is. This book supports the integrity of the Catholic university as university and does not expel the divine from human ways of knowing. It is a must read for all interested in the future of Catholic higher education in the United States." - Melanie Morey, assistant dean for Institutional Assessment, Saint Patrick's Seminary and University, and co-author of Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis

About the Author

KENNETH GARCIA, PHD is Associate Director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame, USA.