The author explores John Courtney Murray's thought on the telos of Catholic higher education. Although best known for his political writings on church and state and for his advocacy of religious freedom within a pluralistic society, Murray has also written extensively on Catholic higher education. After reviewing some of the core principles that guided his thinking on the nature of Catholic education and the relation of theology to other academic disciplines, the article offers some practical suggestions for realizing Murray's vision in today's context.
Theologians are called upon to carry out many responsibilities, including calls from church and academic leaders to "stimulate the internal development" of other academic disciplines and to help students arrive at an "organic vision of reality." How might theologians do so without infringing academic freedom and autonomy, or resorting to a heteronomous dominance of other disciplines? To answer these questions I propose a theologically-grounded defi nition of academic freedom, then show the implications of that defi nition for how theology might stimulate disciplines to look beyond their limited domains. This theological defi nition is founded in the desire of the mind for God-a dynamic eros for God that moves the mind from knowledge within any particular discipline toward completeness of understanding within an ultimate horizons. Fostering this movement from fi nite disciplines to theological understanding is the service theologians must render.
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