“poetic” approach to learning and believing. The volume includes an essay by Portsmouth Abbey Abbot Thomas Frerking that demonstrates Newman’s understanding of the Benedictine charism both in education and more broadly, and an introduction by Scala Foundation Director and Princeton Theological Seminary Professor Margarita Mooney. The latter is the editor of the second book I’m reading, The Love of Learning: Seven Dialogues on the Liberal Arts (Cluny), which includes edited conversations with figures such as Robert George and Baylor University political philosopher Elizabeth Corey on the idea, practice and experience of true learning. DAVID FOOTE In connection with my class on secularization, I have been reading biographies of Goethe, Nietzsche, and Heidegger by Rüdiger Safranski; a book on Charles Taylor and Alasdair MacIntyre by Jason Blakely ( Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, and the Demise of Naturalism: Reunifying Political Theory and Social Science ), and I am just starting a biography of Isaiah Berlin by Michael Ignatieff. ERIKA KIDD Because I spent the summer teaching a graduate course on Mary, the Mother of God, I’ve been reading a lot about Mary’s life, including old favorites (like Cardinal Ratzinger’s Daughter Zion ) and new-to-me gems (like Charles Peguy’s Portal of the Mystery of Hope ). I also recently read Catholic novelist Donna Tartt’s The Secret History , a gripping but thought- provoking thriller about what happens when university education goes terribly awry.
WHAT WE’RE READING AND WATCHING
A popular question Department of Catholic Studies faculty get asked from students and alumni alike is where can one go to keep learning? As teachers, their natural inclination is to, foremost, dive into learning more so they can, too, think critically as to act wisely. Here is a sample of what some of our professors have been reading and watching over the last several months.
BILLY JUNKER I read Revelations of Divine Love by Julian of Norwich, a 14th-century English mystic, in preparation for my Catholic Vision course being held this fall. I’m also reading Alan Bray’s The Friend , which is a fascinating study of the complexities of kinship and public friendship in the pre-modern church and world.
DAVE DEAVEL
I’m reading several volumes on education for an essay I’m doing. Current Catholic Studies Graduate Program student and Portsmouth Institute Director Chris Fisher’s A Benedictine Education (Cluny) publishes Newman’s little-known essays on the Benedictines and their
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