It is not, however, simply as a possible source of guidance for a renewed spiritual reading that this University memory is of importance for the Church
It plays a part in the process by which we are properly disillusioned, in which our self-understanding and understanding of the world are brought up against that which is beyond them and broken open for the sake of new, truer growth. Beyond the specific subject matter to which the University might alert the Church–the awkwardness of the Scriptures, the richness of the tradition–a partnership with the University might assist in the renewal of the contemplative stance that those realities require of the Church.
Yet I cannot finish on this note without noting a gift that might be offered in return. The Church is not wholly instrumentalized; it has not wholly forgotten contemplation and has certainly not forgotten the need for, and challenges of, spiritual formation. Continue reading “In other words, academic study, if it is good academic study, is formational–spiritually formational”