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Emerging Christian Scholars among the
Intellectual Virtues
or Why They All Should Be Thomists
Author(s) -
Ream Todd C.,
Seat Thomas W.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
new blackfriars
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1741-2005
pISSN - 0028-4289
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-2005.2007.00210.x
Subject(s) - narrative , excellence , embodied cognition , subject (documents) , formative assessment , sociology , object (grammar) , christianity , aesthetics , epistemology , philosophy , pedagogy , theology , computer science , linguistics , library science
The reason why all of our students should be Thomists is that excellence among the intellectual virtues is what should come to define our aspirations for them as emerging Christian scholars. Such aspirations are formed by the design and implementation of practices of study. Such aspirations denounce any distinction between subject and object or finite and infinite. However, such aspirations are also guided by the narrative of excellence as defined by the beatific vision of God. Thomas Aquinas reminds us that this narrative is not one the academy generates on its own but is the story of Christianity as embodied by the Church. Failure to recognize such a narrative and design practices of study accordingly not only leaves our students beyond the formative influence of the intellectual virtues but also leaves them susceptible to the influences wielded by other narratives such as the narrative of the market economy.