Augustine and Liberal Education - (Augustine in Conversation: Tradition and Innovation) by Paffenroth & Kevin L Hughes (Paperback)

About the Book

This book applies Augustine's thought to current questions of teaching and learning. The essays are written in an accessible style and is not intended just for experts on Augustine or church history.

Book Synopsis

Augustine and Liberal Education sheds light on liberal education past and present, from an Augustinian point of view. Ranging from historical investigations of particular themes and issues in the thought of Saint Augustine, to reflections on the role of tradition and community and the challenges and opportunities facing universities in the next century, the contributors return to the sources of traditional reflection while exploring contemporary issues in education.

Review Quotes

Short but insightful chapters....This volume would be gladly received as a companion reader by faculty teaching philosophy of knowledge or philosophy of education courses. Recommended

The loving and thoughtful study much in evidence in this work would have been appreciated by the person whose writings are honoured here.

The quality of the essays is remarkably uniform, and copious endnotes will please the serious scholar. This is a book that can be appreciated across the humanities, especially in a time when the mission and purpose of church-related education is under serious scrutiny. The essays are too sophisticated to suggest less than a nuanced reading of both Augustine and the current milieu.

These essays probe an important topic, and do so from an intriguing perspective-namely bringing Augustine into the conversation about the future of liberal education.

This book tries to come to terms with a particular tradition of inquiry in the light of contemporary challenges to liberal education, through the renewal and reevaluation of Augustine's thought and writings. It is an interesting and thought-provoking volume, one that will have particular application to Catholic institutions of higher education, and even Protestant and secular colleges and universities as they seek to define what 'liberal Education' means in today's society.

To meditate on the master texts of our culture as we face present challenges is one of the hallmarks of liberal education. The essays in this volume teach not only by what they say, but by the exemplary way in which they show us how learning and judgment, deeply rooted in the thought of Augustine, can be vividly relevant to the needs of today.

About the Author

Kim Paffenroth is chair of the Religious Studies Department and associate professor at Iona College.
Kevin L. Hughes is associate professor in Department of Theology and Religious Studies and director of the Patristic, Medieval, and Renaissance Conference at Villanova University.