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Emerging Christian Scholars among the Intellectual Virtues

or Why They All Should Be Thomists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Todd C. Ream*
Affiliation:
John Wesley Honors College, Indiana Wesleyan University, 4201 S. Washington St. Marion, IN 46953, USA
Thomas W. Seat II*
Affiliation:
Princeton Theological Seminary, 64 Mercer St. 08540, USA

Abstract

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.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The author 2008. Journal compilation

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References

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19 Ibid.

20 Ibid.

21 Ibid.