Welcome to the Capstone

Last updated on: August 26, 2014 at 1:25 pm by Tim Muldoon

Welcome to the Capstone 2014-08-26T13:25:14-04:00 Tim Muldoon

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Let me share with you a taste of what gets me excited about my work in a Catholic university, as a way of suggesting the direction of this blog.

For the moment, if you’re unfamiliar with either Catholicism or the actual life of a university, please suspend your disbelief. I have found that pop culture knows little of either institution. (Monolithic, ivory tower, hierarchical, brain-washing, yada yada). Similarly, if you are Catholic, or if you do know university life, please practice what Paul Ricoeur calls “second naiveté“– that is, allowing yourself enough critical distance to see something new for the first time. Here is what excites me.

Being part of a community of scholars who are passionately committed to advancing the frontiers of knowledge.
Being able to bring that passion into Mass and offering it, along with bread and wine, back to God. I rejoice when my colleagues or students join me, but I understand when they do not.
Developing relationships with students who come to campus with great, yet often still unspoken, desires to make themselves and the world better.
Walking with students over the history of great thinking, rather like a host at a cocktail party (opens PDF, h/t Michael Himes), and introducing them to people who help them name their great desires.
Engaging in conversations that unfold dimensions of truth I have not fully appreciated.
Growing in the faith that ultimately a passion for truth and a passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ are ultimately coterminous.

Here, on the other hand, are the challenges I face.

Navigating the temptation to see my work as limited, finite, a matter of conversing with people who agree with me, falling into a silo.
Lapsing into a narrow parochialism, or a Catholic triumphalism that sees colleagues as ideological enemies rather than as conversation partners whose differing ideas I must honestly wrestle with.
Seeing students as a distraction from work rather than the core of my work.
Seeing tradition as a road backwards, rather than a necessary toolkit for the road ahead.
Engaging in arguments rather than conversations. (Remembering that “conversation” and “conversion” share the same roots.)
Fearing that truth will ultimately disprove the gospel. (My read of history is that it disproves false understandings of the gospel.)

It is a new academic year. I can’t wait to get started.

ga('create', 'UA-54201738-1', 'auto'); ga('send', 'pageview');

Previous Post

November 24, 2015

Transcendence

Next Post

August 28, 2014 Bishops, presidents reviewing Ex Corde Ecclesiae

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category academic freedom Catholic intellectual tradition epigenetics humanities mission politics science teaching Theology Uncategorized university life

Select a Month November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

"Thou shalt not..."

Select your answer to see how you score.

Fight Give into the Vainness of Men Have Pride Covet