Renewing the Mind: A Reader in the Philosophy of Catholic Education ed. by Ryan N.S. Topping, and: The Idea of a University by John Henry Newman (review)

In his 1990 Apostolic Constitution, Ex Corde Ecclesiae, John Paul II quotes John Henry Newman's Idea of a University in his explanation of the nature of truth and its relationship with knowledge and faith:

It is the honour and responsibility of a Catholic University to consecrate itself without reserve to the cause of truth. This is its way of serving at one and the same time both the dignity of man and the good of the Church, which has "an intimate conviction that truth is (its) real ally … and that knowledge and reason are sure ministers to faith."¹

Further, John Paul II argues that "[t]he present age is in urgent need of this kind of disinterested service, namely of proclaiming the meaning of truth, that fundamental value without which freedom, justice and human dignity are extinguished."²

The "urgent need" echoed in Ex Corde Ecclesiae often translates today as a crisis of identity within Catholic education. The question as to how we can properly address this identity crisis continues to be a lively conversation among educators and administrators at every educational level.³ As is the case in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, Newman's educational philosophy is frequently invoked as an ideal for which to strive. Ryan Topping's edited volume, Renewing the Mind, and Cluny Media's republication of Newman's, Idea of a University, both seek to highlight what is at stake in the contemporary identity crisis and propose ways in which voices from the Catholic tradition can help navigate toward a solution to the crisis.

Topping's Renewing the Mind

Topping's compilation consists in four parts: I) The Aims of Education, II) The Matter of Learning, III) The Methods of Teaching, and IV) On Renewal in Our Time. This book acts as an introduction to "a noble tradition of debate over the first principles of education" (1) and is meant to "instruct in first principles, not in all principles" (9). However, one is left wondering what first principles Topping has in mind, since no list is provided. Topping does mention the "first principles of thought and action" (2) in the introduction and hints at what is meant by first principles sporadically throughout the book. However, an introduction to the notion of first principles in general and examples of the first principles of education that Topping uses would be helpful in the introduction.

Alluding to Aristotle's four causes, Topping notes that the selections that make up Parts I–III "take up the causes of education, the essential characteristics that define all learning activity: its purpose (or aim), its form and content (or curriculum), its method (or pedagogy)" (10), while Part IV is interested in the contemporary renewal of Catholic education. Topping notes that the intended audience for this book is "home-schooling parents, school teachers and administrators, and above all, Catholics in teacher colleges" (9), which plays into his choice of texts. Topping chooses a wide array of Catholic authors—St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Basil, St. Bonaventure, St. John Paul II—just to name a few. Also included among these Catholic authors are Plato and Aristotle, Quintilian, and C. S. Lewis, who, though not Catholic, helped shape the Catholic philosophical imagination. The layout of the chapters is in the form of a textbook. The author and text are briefly introduced, followed by a short list of further readings, an excerpt of the primary text, and discussion...