Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University

There are currently no books on Catholic higher education that offer a theological foundation for academic freedom. This book presents a theologically grounded understanding of academic freedom that builds on, extends, and completes the prevailing secular understanding for Catholic higher education.

'Garcia makes the welcome, convincing, and counter-intuitive claim that academic freedom, both in its origin in German idealism and in its ultimate meaning for the contemporary Catholic university, includes the freedom to explore the unity of knowledge across disciplines and to ask questions that lead us toward the infinite and the ultimate, toward the divine.' - Mark W. Roche, author of Why Choose the Liberal Arts? and The Intellectual Appeal of Catholicism and the Idea of the Catholic University

'In Academic Freedom and the Telos of the Catholic University, Kenneth Garcia provides an expansive view of academic freedom rooted in Christian anthropology. His argument points up how narrow and confining the current negative view of academic freedom really is. This book supports the integrity of the Catholic university as university and does not expel the divine from human ways of knowing. It is a must read for all interested in the future of Catholic higher education in the United States." - Melanie Morey, assistant dean for Institutional Assessment, Saint Patrick's Seminary and University, and co-author of Catholic Higher Education: A Culture in Crisis

KENNETH GARCIA, PHD is Associate Director, Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts, University of Notre Dame, USA.