Freeing the Slaves of the Market
Fri 08 Sep 2006 • Responses: 3 • by Vigen Guroian
Why (and how) we should teach literature to business students
Dr. Vigen Guroian has concluded that his college is “complicit in producing so-called educated people who are deaf to wisdom, blind to beauty, and incapable of mounting an argument for goodness and truth against evil and falsehood.” In response, he decided this spring to try an experiment with a class of business undergrads, helping them to make the distinction between a truly liberating education and mere training for work, showing them how literature can help make them—and us—more fully human. This is his story.
Sire on Wright
Fri 01 Sep 2006 by Peter Edman
Dr. James Sire has a review in the current Christianity Today on Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense by N. T. Wright (Harper San Francisco, 2006).
I’ve mentioned this book in other posts, but I have not yet reviewed it here. In “Echoes and Voices from Beyond,” Dr. Sire essentially captures my thoughts on the book as a whole. It really is excellent. I have a few quibbles on Wright’s understanding of economics, but they do not detract from this overall recommendation.
About Provocations
Sun 27 Aug 2006 by TTF Staff
Provocations is the online journal and weblog of The Trinity Forum.
Just as ideas have consequences, so faith has implications for life. Our journal is designed to provoke reflection and conversation on faith’s implications for the way we think and act in all the various spheres of life, public and private.
We operate from a broadly Christian perspective, but as with all the activities of The Trinity Forum, we welcome participation from people of all faiths as well as seekers and skeptics.
Do Business Programs Produce Slaves to the Market?
Mon 21 Aug 2006 • Responses: 5 • by Vigen Guroian
“Are we in many if not most of our colleges and universities training young men and women to be mules of the marketplace, deprived of a moral imagination?”
American society is business oriented and has been so for some time, with obvious benefits. The vast majority of American citizens enjoy material comforts unimagined even by the very wealthiest in former ages. While some people lament the hedonism of American life—no one expects the basic structure or influence of the American economy to change any time soon. How does education fit into this scenario?
In the not-so-distant past, we founded and built land-grant and agricultural colleges to service the needs of an agricultural economy, and some of our great state colleges and universities carry that legacy. For the past fifty years, however, and especially over the last quarter century, colleges and universities have responded to the manpower needs of America’s businesses by establishing or expanding business schools and programs. Are such programs threatening the business culture and enslaving business leaders?
Findings becomes Implications
Tue 01 Aug 2006 by TTF Staff
We have renamed our weblog/online journal from Findings to Implications.
The name change is to make clear that (as of now) it’s not just us finding good stuff for you; we will focus too on responses and contributions from you, our Fellows, alumni, and other friends. And of course, Implications is a reminder that the faiths we hold (whether religious or secular) have implications for all areas of life. We welcome your conversations.
We are in beta mode for the summer, but comments are now enabled and you can expect fresh content and other announcements soon (including more e-mail services).
Comments are currently limited to 2000 characters and are moderated for people who are not members of the website (see the sidebar).
All the old links will work for a while, but we suggest you update your bookmarks and RSS feeds. Please let us know if you find any dead links.
Speaking of Civility
Thu 20 Jul 2006 by Peter Edman
Speaking of the tone of the stem cell debate, Senior Fellow Joseph Loconte has a piece in today’s National Review Online on the topic.
He manages to find an opponent of the President’s decision that is speaking responsibly—a sharp and depressing contrast with most of their fellows on this issue.
Perspective, Perspective
Thu 20 Jul 2006 by Peter Edman
I am struck by the tone of the arguments over the stem cell veto by President Bush. Others have said most of what needs to be said, but I do want to link to this post on the weblog of Ignatius Press, publisher of the books of Cardinal Ratzinger/Pope Benedict XVI.
After Carl Olson summarizes the one-sided and utterly histrionic (or else cynical) rhetoric of Mr. Bush’s critics, he refers us to a book by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, which has a quote on technology that is definitely going into a future revision of the technology curriculum (so many books, so little time). The quote below is from Christianity and the Crisis of Cultures.
Hassett Sanchez on Storefront Churches
Mon 17 Jul 2006 by TTF Staff
Senior Fellow Jody Hassett Sanchez has a feature segment on the July 14, 2006 episode of the PBS program Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly.
The topic is Storefront Churches that operate in poor urban neighborhoods. You can read a transcript and view the segment here.
Romano Guardini on Technology
Thu 13 Jul 2006 • Responses: 1 • by Peter Edman
One of the books that we read that didn’t make it into the Technology curriculum is Letters from Lake Como, by Romano Guardini.
It’s a profound and reflective book, written conversationally. He’s got a useful opening section on the need to welcome technological innovation, but not naively so. There is a place for moral action, he argues; the future is not inevitable.
We must take our place, each at the right point. We must not oppose what is new and try to preserve a beautiful world that is inevitably perishing. Nor should we try to build a new world of the creative imagination that will show none of the damage of what is actually evolving. Rather, we must transform what is coming to be. But we can do this only if we honestly say yes to it and yet with incorruptible hearts remain aware of all that is destructive and nonhuman in it. Our age has been given to us as the soil on which to stand and the task to master.
Gates and Buffett and Carnegie
Fri 07 Jul 2006 by Peter Edman
John Miller, author of a book on the Olin Foundation, has a commentary in the Wall Street Journal of 7 July 2006 on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. I am with him in agreeing that it is better that Warren Buffett give his money to the Gates Foundation rather than spend it himself on global population control.
In “Open the FloodGates,” Miller argues that the Gates family should follow the Olin model at least, and either give the money away during their lifetime or arrange for it to be done so within a couple decades after their death. This is certainly what Andrew Carnegie would have advised, I expect, seeing what has become of his foundations.
Definitely worth a quick read. But let me also comment on a few items of interest.
