Over the last couple of weeks, I've been sharing my reflections on Anthony Kronman's 2007 book Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life. While I believe that his core argument is insightful, it's marred by a few blind spots. Originally, I was going to address Kronman's treatement of religion as one of his blind spots, but I've decided that his handling of religion is so problematic —and so harmful to his case —that it deserves its own post. Here's a brief summary of … [Read more...] about Religion, Education, and the Meaning of Life
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Three Blind Spots in Education’s End
Last week, I shared my appreciation for Anthony Kronman's critique of higher education and defense of the humanities, Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life. This week, I'd like to examine a few of Kronman's blind spots. Next week, I'll take a look at how Kronman treats religion in his discussions of education and the meaning of life. The first two blind spots, in my view, don't necessarily undermine Kronman's central argument, but the book could have been much … [Read more...] about Three Blind Spots in Education’s End
Have Colleges Given Up on the Meaning of Life?
I periodically dip into my ever-growing "to read" pile and select a book that I should have read several years ago. So, a few weeks ago, I started on Anthony T. Kronman's defense of the humanities and critique of contemporary higher education, Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life. Kronman served for a decade as the Dean of the Yale Law School. Since 2004, he has taught in the Yale Directed Studies program, which is a one-year "Great Books"-style program for … [Read more...] about Have Colleges Given Up on the Meaning of Life?
Best Books on Knowing Yourself?
Our wisdom, in so far as it ought to be deemed true and solid Wisdom, consists almost entirely of two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves. —John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 1, Chapter 1, Section 1, Paragraph 1 I've been wrestling with some personal decisions lately, so I decided to read a book that has been gathering dust on my "To Read" shelf: M. Blaine Smith's Knowing God's Will: Finding Guidance for Personal Decisions. It has been excellent, but it also got me to thinking: in ESN, … [Read more...] about Best Books on Knowing Yourself?
Our 10 Most-Read Posts of 2010
Technically, I'm on vacation this week, but — just for you — I'm taking a vacation from my vacation to write a quick blog post. Since I'm on vacation, though, I'm not going to spend that much time on this post. So, without further ado, here are our 10 most read posts of 2010: Where did you find your megaphone? (May 6) — Our first post in a series from PhD candidate Janine Giordano about her experiences with one foot in the evangelical church and one foot in the academy. Bonus: her 2nd post in the … [Read more...] about Our 10 Most-Read Posts of 2010