Jesuit roots of higher education proposed in radical orthodoxyNov. 14, 2007
By Christopher Stone
If you are free and you understand what God's will is, you're going to chose it. At least that's what the Rev. John F. Montag of St. Louis University said Tuesday in his lecture, Ratio Studiorum: How the Jesuits Invented Modern Higher Education. Montag gave the opening lecture of a series called Radical Orthodoxy: A Colloquium at Armstrong Browning's Treasure room. Montag explained that the ideas of tenure and education for the masses came from the Jesuit order during the Renaissance, but more importantly, he said, came the idea that balance can exist between holding firmly to Christian tradition while moving confidently into the future.
Jesuit education involved the Ratio Studiorum, a series of Scriptural exercises developed by St. Ignatius to teach people to become free to choose the will of God. "The whole idea of having a personal relationship with God through Christ was an innovation for Catholics," he said He said the Jesuits created universities where people could study in the Jesuit tradition and the mission was to benefit the people, not the scholarly ambition seen in previous priestly orders. No longer was education limited to a few; the end goal education itself. Modern higher education is the culmination of the idea of education for the masses to benefit the people. "Everything the Jesuits did as clerics, they gave as priests to the laity. Education was primary in that," Montag said. Jesuit education, Montag said, had a very Christian, very missional focus, as did all modern higher education institutions until recently. He said universities today must ask themselves what their mission is and where they are going in light of that mission, a question that has rung loudly in Baylor's ears in recent years. "Religion and theology are at the core of what we are and what we do," Montag said. "If (keeping religion at the core) is what we really want, that's what we can choose to do. Who wants to do it? You're going to find a lot of people who aren't going to raise their hand when you ask that question, but there are a lot of places that do." George W. Truett Theological seminary student Chris Moore attended Montag's lecture. He said the radical orthodoxy movement interests him. Like Montag, Moore said, Baylor's own Dr. Ralph Wood argues that religious institutions are guided by the story from which they interprets reality and from that story, move forward. "I think what (Montag) and what Dr. Wood argue is the only way to truly be a distinctly Christian university," Moore said. "Schools that have forgone that narrative have ultimately lost what they started out to be." Moore said it is possible to maintain a Christian identity as an institution that forms people into the image of Christ without being unwelcoming to those who differ in belief and thought. Religion graduate student Rick Brumback said if there can exist present-day Jesuit schools which maintain their mission focus while being reputable academic institutions, it must be possible to be both a teaching and a research institution. "Oftentimes I think the research aspect has driven their goals and their focus more than the teaching and continuity aspects. Pepperdine University is a typical example of one that is considered to have left the continuity aspect and stressed the research aspect," Brumback said. "I think they can both be done, but the question is what do you use to measure those things. In a research-driven model it's the formulation of the new, the novel, the innovative. For a university that's identified itself as being a Christian-based religious institution, the teaching aspect, the people aspect, the instructional aspect should not be forgotten."
By Christopher Stone
If you are free and you understand what God's will is, you're going to chose it. At least that's what the Rev. John F. Montag of St. Louis University said Tuesday in his lecture, Ratio Studiorum: How the Jesuits Invented Modern Higher Education. Montag gave the opening lecture of a series called Radical Orthodoxy: A Colloquium at Armstrong Browning's Treasure room. Montag explained that the ideas of tenure and education for the masses came from the Jesuit order during the Renaissance, but more importantly, he said, came the idea that balance can exist between holding firmly to Christian tradition while moving confidently into the future.
Jesuit education involved the Ratio Studiorum, a series of Scriptural exercises developed by St. Ignatius to teach people to become free to choose the will of God. "The whole idea of having a personal relationship with God through Christ was an innovation for Catholics," he said He said the Jesuits created universities where people could study in the Jesuit tradition and the mission was to benefit the people, not the scholarly ambition seen in previous priestly orders. No longer was education limited to a few; the end goal education itself. Modern higher education is the culmination of the idea of education for the masses to benefit the people. "Everything the Jesuits did as clerics, they gave as priests to the laity. Education was primary in that," Montag said. Jesuit education, Montag said, had a very Christian, very missional focus, as did all modern higher education institutions until recently. He said universities today must ask themselves what their mission is and where they are going in light of that mission, a question that has rung loudly in Baylor's ears in recent years. "Religion and theology are at the core of what we are and what we do," Montag said. "If (keeping religion at the core) is what we really want, that's what we can choose to do. Who wants to do it? You're going to find a lot of people who aren't going to raise their hand when you ask that question, but there are a lot of places that do." George W. Truett Theological seminary student Chris Moore attended Montag's lecture. He said the radical orthodoxy movement interests him. Like Montag, Moore said, Baylor's own Dr. Ralph Wood argues that religious institutions are guided by the story from which they interprets reality and from that story, move forward. "I think what (Montag) and what Dr. Wood argue is the only way to truly be a distinctly Christian university," Moore said. "Schools that have forgone that narrative have ultimately lost what they started out to be." Moore said it is possible to maintain a Christian identity as an institution that forms people into the image of Christ without being unwelcoming to those who differ in belief and thought. Religion graduate student Rick Brumback said if there can exist present-day Jesuit schools which maintain their mission focus while being reputable academic institutions, it must be possible to be both a teaching and a research institution. "Oftentimes I think the research aspect has driven their goals and their focus more than the teaching and continuity aspects. Pepperdine University is a typical example of one that is considered to have left the continuity aspect and stressed the research aspect," Brumback said. "I think they can both be done, but the question is what do you use to measure those things. In a research-driven model it's the formulation of the new, the novel, the innovative. For a university that's identified itself as being a Christian-based religious institution, the teaching aspect, the people aspect, the instructional aspect should not be forgotten."
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