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Jesuit
Scholarship in a Post-Modern Age
A
site for material related to a conversation among Jesuits on the practice
of scholarship in contemporary contexts |
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Since 1990 a number of us, largely at Boston College, have been engaged in discussions to explore what it means to be involved in research as Jesuits. We have been especially concerned in these discussions to draw on the contents of our particular disciplines as well as the contexts in which we practice these disciplines. Both these elements of our research embody the contemporary cultural and intellectual worlds in which we work as Jesuits, worlds that have been significantly transformed from those of even a few decades ago. We see both elements as resources for charting new and exciting directions and dimensions to our practice of scholarship as Jesuits. Moreover, both are immediately and uniquely available to us.
Some of the concerns motivating these discussion were ones expressed in a statement drawn up in 1990 entitled "Jesuit Scholarship in a Post-Modern Age" which we have included below. The intent of this statement was to address the problem that neither our Jesuit higher education institutions nor individual disciplinary commitments now comprise fully coherent frameworks within which we can articulate our intellectual commitment as Jesuit scholars. A brief report of some of the meetings we have had since the original statement was drawn up is the second item below. More recently, and in continuity with the earlier discussions and as a way to continue an exploration of these issues, one of us has formulated a writing project on the topic of the intellectual identity of American Jesuits. This proposal is the third item below. Another Boston College Jesuit, Arthur Madigan, has sought, tentatively, to give a topology of attempts by Jesuits to plan for the apostolate. This essay is the fourth item below.
During the 1999-2000 academic year the project took a new direction by hearing from scholars outside the Society who have been working on the Jesuit intellectual tradition. Our intent was first of all to clarify the tradition and practice of Jesuit learning in the past and then to consider how the particular strategies of investigation undertaken in these studies could help us probe deeper the nature of our contemporary Jesuit scholarly practices and presuppositions and the sorts of identities we forge in the academy.
In
order to broaden awareness of the concerns of this project we have established
this web site. We invite responses to the ideas expressed in the following
documents and suggestions of steps to further this conversation. Items for
possible inclusion on this web page are particularly welcome. While the project
is specifically addressed to Jesuits we welcome comments from those who are
not Jesuits.
Current project: Over the past year a group has been meeting to develop chapters for a book based on the project outlined in the Sources of the Jesuit Self document. Title Jesuit Postmodern: Eight Jesuit Scholars, How They Work, What It Means - edited Francis X Clooney, S.J., presently under review.
| Ronald
Anderson, S.J. Department of Philosophy Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 e-mail: ronald.anderson@bc.edu |
Francis
X. Clooney, S.J. Department of Theology Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 e-mail: clooney@bc.edu |
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Created: August 22 1997 | Last Modified: December 29, 2004