Contending With Modernity: Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century

Rating:
Summary: Big Step in the Historiography of Catholic Higher Education
Review: Contending With Modernity by Philip Gleason, of Notre Dame University. Book is subtitled, "Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century." At the outset, Professor Gleason notes that the historiography of Catholic Higher Education is severely limited. I bought Prof. Gleason's book (from Amazon.com, by the way) since there were so very few books dealing with the history of Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. And I needed references for my MA thesis on Catholic colleges. By writing a history of Catholic higher education, from 1900 to 1995, Dr. Gleason has expanded the field. In covering this time period, the author has chosen to emphasize the struggles of Catholic colleges and universities to deal with modern ideas. These struggles were exacerbated by the suspicion within the Catholic Church raised by "Americanism" a name given to the modern forces which presented grave dangers to the Faith and identified, rightly or wrongly, with the American church. Gleason spends the first part of his book showing how that mis-identification affected American Catholic schools up until about the end of World War II; he then brings in various other historical events and figures, including the work of Dorothy Day, Fr. Curran at The Catholic University of America and, towards the end of the book, the charge of anti-intellectualism lodged by Msgr. John Tracy Ellis. Philip Gleason, however, does not raise the counter-charge by Rev. Andrew M. Greeley, the noted fiction writer and sociologist, who has found Catholic schools be just about as intellectual or anti-intellectual as other colleges and universities in the United States. In the last few pages, Prof. Gleason missed a grand opportunity to explore in greater detail the potential impact of "Ex Corde Ecclesiae", the August 1990 Constitutional Document of Pope John Paul II, on modern Catholic higher education. Some features of this document, such as the requirement for an Oath of Fidelity, have been fought on the grounds of academic freedom and autonomy for the Catholic colleges and universities (particularly by some in the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, ACCU). The author has documented his citations with about 92 pages of notes and references, making this volume a great step forward in filling the gap in the historiography of Catholic Higher Education. There are many nuggets to be mined, as, for example, if your interests is the "Great Books" approach to higher education, Dr. Gleason's book leads you to references for the attempted "Great Books" program at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. The book is worth the price for wonderful tidbits such as that.

Rating:
Summary: Big Step in the Historiography of Catholic Higher Education
Review: Contending With Modernity by Philip Gleason, of Notre Dame University. Book is subtitled, "Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century." At the outset, Professor Gleason notes that the historiography of Catholic Higher Education is severely limited. I bought Prof. Gleason's book (from Amazon.com, by the way) since there were so very few books dealing with the history of Catholic colleges and universities in the United States. And I needed references for my MA thesis on Catholic colleges. By writing a history of Catholic higher education, from 1900 to 1995, Dr. Gleason has expanded the field. In covering this time period, the author has chosen to emphasize the struggles of Catholic colleges and universities to deal with modern ideas. These struggles were exacerbated by the suspicion within the Catholic Church raised by "Americanism" a name given to the modern forces which presented grave dangers to the Faith and identified, rightly or wrongly, with the American church. Gleason spends the first part of his book showing how that mis-identification affected American Catholic schools up until about the end of World War II; he then brings in various other historical events and figures, including the work of Dorothy Day, Fr. Curran at The Catholic University of America and, towards the end of the book, the charge of anti-intellectualism lodged by Msgr. John Tracy Ellis. Philip Gleason, however, does not raise the counter-charge by Rev. Andrew M. Greeley, the noted fiction writer and sociologist, who has found Catholic schools be just about as intellectual or anti-intellectual as other colleges and universities in the United States. In the last few pages, Prof. Gleason missed a grand opportunity to explore in greater detail the potential impact of "Ex Corde Ecclesiae", the August 1990 Constitutional Document of Pope John Paul II, on modern Catholic higher education. Some features of this document, such as the requirement for an Oath of Fidelity, have been fought on the grounds of academic freedom and autonomy for the Catholic colleges and universities (particularly by some in the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, ACCU). The author has documented his citations with about 92 pages of notes and references, making this volume a great step forward in filling the gap in the historiography of Catholic Higher Education. There are many nuggets to be mined, as, for example, if your interests is the "Great Books" approach to higher education, Dr. Gleason's book leads you to references for the attempted "Great Books" program at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. The book is worth the price for wonderful tidbits such as that.