Contratimes readers familiar with Credenda Agenda, New St. Andrews College, or Douglas Wilson, should read the New York Times Magazine article, "Onward Christian Soldiers." (You may need to register at the NYT, but the process is quick, easy and worth it.)
I am eager to learn what readers think, not so much of the article per se, but of the vision of Christian higher education proposed by Mr. Wilson and New St. Andrews. Ask yourself (if you wish) what it might mean to be a "medieval Protestant"; whether such a goal is desirable. Some of us are currently in the market looking for colleges for our children: Is New St. Andrews good enough for our children, or too good? Do Wilson and company espouse true Christian intellectual virtues, or does their philosophy amount to so much pastiche? Is this all just some romanticized picture of a don in pedantic pose, or is this a picture of the true Christian mind in the raptures of rigorous discipline and inquiry? Are there idols afoot, or would this all be representative of the matriculating Christ, or Christ as senior fellow? Is this really about transforming culture or salvaging civilization, or is it Inklings Make-Believe, an almost idolatrous fixation on C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and Owen Barfield and Charles Williams maintained as a sort of academic theme park, complete with gay draughts of bitter, bawdy conversation and the apt Latin phrase?
What do you think?
Peace.
©Bill Gnade 2007/Contratimes. All Rights Reserved.
12 comments:
Here's a login-free, from-blog link for the NYT article (I thought they stopped requiring logins a few weeks ago???).
You can generate them in the future via http://nytimes.blogspace.com/genlink.
Nate,
Thank you for the help. I've pasted in the new link that you've forwarded. I will also explore the link generator you've provided.
Many thanks!
Gnade
Finding a good college is indeed overwhelming.
Our daughter is in her first year of university, and her professor of Culture Studies proudly told the class "I have no values!" which my daughter recognized immediately as totally impossible.
Bill, et al.:
Just wanted to offer to answer any questions you had about New Saint Andrews College.
An additional outsider review of NSA can be found by Intercollegiate Studies Institute. They published "All-American Colleges: Top Schools for Conservatives, Old-Fashioned Liberals and People of Faith." Our summary of the article is on our website here: http://www.nsa.edu/news/AllAmericanCollege.html.
Blessing and please feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Roy Atwood
President, New Saint Andrews College
Sorry about the double post. My link crashed and I didn't think the first post went. Feel free to delete the second shorter version. Thanks.
Roy
Dear President Atwood,
Thanks for dropping by. It is not often this site is visited by college presidents. And thank you for providing us a way of contacting both you and New St. Andrews. I hope more than a few readers will take advantage of such a kind invitation.
Peace,
Bill Gnade
I'm afraid I can't read the phrase "medieval Christian" without thinking about the scholastic monks of The Name Of The Rose. Certainly, I would prefer a classical education to the "flavor of the month" which passes for thought these days. The problem is separating the wheat from the chaff.
I must ponder this more.
Cheers.
READERS:
Here is the link President Atwood sent our way.
Blessings!
Kim,
I would love to hear more about this value-free zone within which your daughter is studying! Has your daughter yet asked her professor whether he or she realizes that being "value-free" is apparently highly valued?
Totally impossible, indeed. (And in thought.)
Soon professors will boast that they are thought-free. It will be a belated boast, of course, since many of us have long known of the vacuity of the academy.
Hah! We scoff at the thought of the thoughtless: we think in their general direction.
Peace.
BG
Today, I have no values. No quantities either.
R. Sherman,
There is really only one memorable scene in that otherwise forgetful movie, "The Name of the Rose;" all real men know exactly which scene that is. Mind you, I have not read Umberto Eco's book of the same title; surely there is good reading therein.
The term used by one NSA alum was not "medieval Christian," which does denote scholastic monks; it was "medieval Protestant." Does that change anything for you?
Let me explore this a little more. The Middle Ages are generally accepted as being between the 5th and 15th centuries A.D.; from the 400s to the 1400s. But the Reformation (Protestant) did not begin until 1517; I will concede that the roots of reform reach into the 1400s. But the 1400s are hardly considered the Reformation's heyday; the Middle Ages ended exactly on September 21, 1453 at noon (OK, I made that part up). But 1453, the year Constantinople fell, is held out as a decent line of demarcation for the end of the Middle Ages.
So I have a hard time wrapping my head around becoming a "medieval Protestant." Should one become such a thing? Is it even possible to become such a type?
Peace.
BG
I think it might be a bit of overkill. We homeschooled all our boys through 8th grade, and we took a look at the classical curriculum. I'll admit that it had an appeal to an old Latin geek like me, but we finally decided against it, thinking that it might leave the boys a little, well, too different. Sometimes too much salt can ruin the taste of the food.
The image of a "medieval Protestant" is a rich one indeed! Still, there's something comforting about knowing that little Oxford outposts like that exist, anachronistic though they may seem. And I would pay good money for a ticket to that "academic theme park" that you describe!
Bill,
This is a bit off-topic, but I'm interested to know: As a sort of Episcopalian-in-exile, do you agree with the positions being taken against TEC by conservative foreign Anglicans, such as Archbishops Akinola and Orombi?
What possibilities do you see for a wholesome resolution (both moral and political) to the current fracas?
My latest blog post summarizes some recent news on these issues and hints at my own opinions about what's going on.
Post a Comment