A Reflection on Catholic Academia

Dr. Timothy O’Malley has written an incredibly honest and insightful article for those who have a great desire to pursue graduate studies in theology, those who want to make a career in theological academia. I find his insights incredibly illuminating. Tim is a realist, with a touch of pragmatism. His word to the wise is imperative for those with a smidge of wisdom.

I myself lack the level of realism and pragmatism that Tim displays in this article (you should read it before going further with my little yadda, yadda. It can be found here). I am a dyed in the wool idealist. I so wish I was a realist, but I have been an idealist for so long that I am incurable. I am also a bit of a Don Quixote, tilting my lance at windmills that I find annoyingly blocking my path to my Dulcinea – my idealistic paradise.

Unlike many, or most, who pursue graduate level studies in theology, I am not beholding to the economic system that impedes those who want to delve into the depths of some specialized pool of theological wisdom. As noted in Tim’s essay, Catholic, and even secular, liberal arts education is in a precarious situation in a world that deems the bottom line to be the primary indicator of a successful education. Does it bring economic success? Institutions track graduate’s career success and use these statistics in their promotional material. My situation is different from non-religious, non-ordained students. I have a backup plan if this professor gig goes south. As an ordained presbyter in the Roman Catholic church, I dare say that I will land on my feet if the academic institution goes bust. Those without such a plan B do not have this safety net. Thus, the luxury of my being able to be an idealist.

But I would like to believe my idealism is bigger than that. I am a true believer in the promise of a liberal arts education. As someone who does not believe that we are ultimately defined by the moniker homo economicus, I believe that the best we can offer a student is not a great payout, but a deeper understanding of what it means to be truly human, to know one’s telos, which no amount of money can buy. See, I told you, an incurable idealist. In order for my idealism to become a reality society would have to fundamentally, radically (at its roots), change, and even my idealism knows the Mount Everest that is.

Another aspect of Tim’s realism that I know to be true is his statement “…academics are formed with a competitive instinct in which it’s every man or woman for him - or herself.” Unfortunately, this is true even in a Catholic theology department whose stated mission is to advance the kingdom of God. I have found this temptation for competition to be a real force even in my own idealist pursuit of this professed mission. I often feel the sting of envy when I read about those in my academic discipline making a name for themselves because of their brilliance. Instead of being grateful for their gifts I can fall into a petty revery of “I’m just as smart as them, why…blah, blah, blah.” It is the human condition. Of course, as a Girardian, I recognize the mimetic nature of this envy. But knowing this doesn’t safeguard me from these feelings.

Another aspect of my idealism is the belief that theologians are about changing the world by changing people. As our Eastern Christian brothers and sisters remind us, a theologian is one who has had a profound, life changing experience of the divine. Academics for academic’s sake does not a theologian make. A true theologian is one who has been touched and transformed by grace. Forgetting that is what fosters the competitive spirit Tim warns us about. One of my spiritual practices to deal with my envy is to praise in some public format those in my discipline (and some outside my discipline) who have written something that I believe is life giving, that brings us just a bit closer to the divine, to love, to forgiveness, to our true self. Sometimes it hurts to do so, which is an indicator that I need to do it.

My idealism will not find success in our present cultural reality. Many small liberal arts colleges and universities (including Catholic ones) are going to die, that is just a reality. An important reason for this, despite the fact that Americans are having less children, is that Christians, both Catholic and Protestant, have bought the big lie (usually unconsciously) that we are in fact homo economicus. Despite the general disparagement Karl Marx receives among Christians in this capitalist culture, there is some truth to the reality that to a certain extent the base shapes the superstructure. Regardless of the professed belief, or public confession by Christians, that as followers of Jesus we should be about the business of the kingdom of God, the lure of capitalist ideology has coopted the hermeneutics of Christian practice. The old saying, ‘put your money where your mouth is’, proves this to be the reality in US Christian culture. This is not only true for those parents who strategize where best to send their children to college, but it is also true of many Christian academics who, if given the opportunity, choose those institutions where both their reputation and their bank account is best served. There is also the issue of Catholic colleges and universities whose need for a ‘reputation’ of a quality education (read economic success) demand of academics an obeyance to certain academic practices that impede their foundational missional commitments.

See, I told you I am an idealist. I can hear the murmurs, “But Kyle, we can’t survive without money!” Yep, and where is the money going? And what cultural zeitgeist has formed the belief that a true education leads to the ultimate symbol of a good life – money? And how have those called to be heralds of the great King been complicit in this telos?