Books by Kenneth Garcia
This book presents a theologically-grounded understanding of academic freedom that builds on, com... more This book presents a theologically-grounded understanding of academic freedom that builds on, completes, and transforms the prevailing secular understanding. Academic freedom in the secular university, while rightly protecting scholars from external interference by ecclesiastical and political authorities, is constricting in practice because it tends to prohibit most scholars from exploring the relation of the finite world to the infinite, or God. In the Catholic university, true academic freedom means both the freedom of the scholar to pursue studies unencumbered by external interference, and freedom to pursue knowledge beyond the boundaries of specific academic disciplines toward an infinite horizon.
Academic Papers by Kenneth Garcia
Theological Studies, 2012
The author explores John Courtney Murray's thought on the telos of Catholic higher education.... more 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.
Reexamining Academic Freedom in Religiously Affiliated Universities, 2016
Garcia challenges the secular understanding of academic freedom, claiming it is incomplete. He in... more Garcia challenges the secular understanding of academic freedom, claiming it is incomplete. He insists on the right of scholars to “listen” for the divine voice in the discourse of creation, to pursue the theological dimension of all fields of study, and to explore the connections between knowledge in scholarly disciplines and theological insight. By “theological insight” he does not mean pronouncements by religious authorities, adherence to dogmas, or literal interpretations of religious texts; instead, he means a subtle awareness that there is a surplus of knowledge and meaning to reality that transcends what can be known through ordinary disciplinary methods of inquiry—that findings in many fields of study hint at connections to a greater whole, and that these connections should be pursued.
Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University, 2012
In this chapter, I pose several questions for the Catholic university of the future. Can a cohere... more In this chapter, I pose several questions for the Catholic university of the future. Can a coherent Christian vision serve as an organizing tool for the undergraduate curriculum while avoiding the imperialistic tendencies of the encyclopaedists of Berlin1 and the neo-scholastics of the early twentieth century, or must we accept the current relativism and intellectual equivalence of all viewpoints, simply allowing them to work themselves out through disputation? Must we accept secular approaches to academic inquiry, and later attempt to graft or append religious perspectives onto the various disciplines in some nonorganic way? Or can such differences and disputations take place within a broader Catholic frame of reference that allows the contrary, dissenting, and pluralistic viewpoints of the age a space while simultaneously relating them to a broader Catholic context?
The one hundredth anniversary of the AAUP in 2015 offers us an opportunity to consider how the co... more The one hundredth anniversary of the AAUP in 2015 offers us an opportunity to consider how the concept of academic freedom might evolve in the future. In this essay I offer a friendly critique of our customary understanding of academic freedom, not because the principle of it is wrong but because our understanding of it is incomplete. This incompleteness leads to shortcomings in the practice of academic freedom, shortcomings that need to be addressed, particularly in religiously affiliated institutions. I make my case in three steps: (1) I examine sectarian obstacles—both religious and secular—to academic freedom; (2) I offer a brief history of the development of academic freedom in the United States and show why it is not always as freeing in practice as its ideal suggests; and (3) I propose a theological understanding of academic freedom that not only builds on and incorporates existing principles but also completes them, leading to a fuller understanding of academic freedom for the twenty-first century.
Theologians are called upon to carry out many responsibilities, including calls from church and a... more 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.
Literary Essays by Kenneth Garcia
The Hollow Places of the World, 2015
Essay about working as a geologist's assistant in the outback of Nevada and Utah as a teenager. E... more Essay about working as a geologist's assistant in the outback of Nevada and Utah as a teenager. Experience of the he empty, wide open spaces and vast horizons of the Intermountain West instills both an appreciation for the natural world and a sense of the spiritual dimension of nature.
My wife, Gloria, and I made a Thanksgiving trip to Mantua, Utah, a small, farming community surro... more My wife, Gloria, and I made a Thanksgiving trip to Mantua, Utah, a small, farming community surrounded by wide-open country in the northern Wasatch Mountains. We had been married fewer than three years and cracks had already appeared in our marriage; we hoped time away from routines might do us good. We chose Mantua because Gloria's sister, Hortencia, who lived on a dairy farm with her husband, Joe, had just given birth to their third child. Gloria planned to help out with the household chores for a while. I had my own reason for getting out of the city and into the country: to feel the earthiness of farm life and enjoy some time alone out of doors. I planned to steal periods of solitude whenever I could.
Poetry by Kenneth Garcia
Spiritus: A Journal of Christian Spirituality, 2012
"Vineyards: A Journal of Christian Poetry," Fall 2013
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Books by Kenneth Garcia
Academic Papers by Kenneth Garcia
Literary Essays by Kenneth Garcia
Poetry by Kenneth Garcia