1) Reading an article together: Following the format we adopted successfully in the first semester, we will use an essay (see below) as the basis for a more general discussion of how our specific areas of research affect how we read, think, perceive and shape our world(s). The idea is that by professions the Jesuit scholar has been trained to read in a certain way, to ask certain kinds of questions, to debate, to be skeptical and suspicious in a controlled, fruitful fashion, proposing constructive and alternative responses to what is read. If our scholarship is integrated with our personal identities, it bears a deep interrelation with how we think and read and speak and pray as Jesuits. So, when we discuss an essay together and bear down carefully on its style and rhetoric and implicit demands and presuppositions, we should be able to uncover interesting and influential connections between what we do - think, read, write - as scholars and what we do with the essay and the issues it raises.
2) The article: The essay for the February 27th meeting is taken from the February, 1994 issue of The Atlantic Monthly: "The Coming Anarchy," by Robert D. Kaplan. The not so cheery theme of the article: "The world, our correspondent writes, faces a period of unprecedented upheaval, brought on by scarce resources, worsening overpopulation, uncontrollable disease, brutal warfare, and the widespread collapse of nation-states and, indeed, of any semblance of government. Welcome to the twenty-first century." The article is a fascinating mix of first-hand reporting, demographics, observations on politics, social planning, cultural differences, map-making, the nature of conflict, etc., and pleads for attention and imagination in envisioning the future. It is not the kind of topic we normally discuss - few of us confront these issues in our scholarly work or daily life experiences - but we can fruitfully bring our backgrounds and questions to bear on what Kaplan tells us. The article is easily available, but if you absolutely can't buy-borrow-xerox or memorize it, call either of us for a copy.
3) Mike Gareffa (Holy Cross College), Roger Haight (Weston School of Theology), Jim Skehan (Boston College) have agreed to initiate our conversation.
4) Please come: even if you have not participated in these conversations before (they began in 1990), we welcome your presence, as scholar or scholar-to-be. If you know of some other Jesuit who hasn't received this invitation directly, please invite him. If you have any questions about what we're up to, let's talk about it before the 27th.
Ron Anderson, SJ (267 2016)
Frank Clooney, SJ (552 8228)
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