The University as One Might Like It

Recently the Catholic Church beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, the famous 19^th century divine, the penultimate step in his becoming a saint. Newman was justly famous for his work The Idea of a University. Tom Axworthy, a noted alumnus of this university, tells of reading Newman in order to be better able to perform as a speech writer and adviser to Pierre Elliott Trudeau in the 1980s. Newman and Axworthy’s comments are very relevant in the ongoing debate about the purpose of a university:

“As I read  the Apologia and Idea of a University, I took three concepts out of Newman that I thought influenced Mr Trudeau and that, in retrospect, I think have some continuing validity. The first is …  that knowledge should not be examined as a series of specialties, but as a conceptual whole – that there is a unity in knowledge for which an educated person should strive … I remember meeting (Trudeau) and asking him what he had been reading lately. I was not exactly expecting the latest novelist, but was taken aback when he told me he was re-reading Marcel Proust’s A Remembrance of Things Past. The broadening aspect of knowledge was obviously something that attracted him.

Second, Newman made the point that knowledge should be appreciated on its own terms. There is a beauty and sensitivity to understanding knowledge and truth and one should not just look at understanding as useful; there is an intrinsic worth to the subjects themselves…

Third and lastly… Newman also argued that the idea of a university, the idea of broad knowledge, and the use of reason and knowledge on their own could inform faith.”

From Tom Axworthy, “Faith and Personal Experience” in The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

The University as One Might Like It is an ongoing column featuring short submissions from faculty members on the University as they would like to see it. If you’d like to submit your idea of what the University should be, contact Tracy Whalen at t.whalen@uwinnipeg.ca.