Are the subjects at a university determined by the market and student demand?  And is the order between them a bit like the ingredients in a jambalaya?  At most universities, the answer to both questions is probably ‘yes.’  But at a Catholic university it should be different and in way that is a great good for the students.  In this lively conversation with Randy Smith, we  discuss how Bonaventure’s thought can help us coherently order the disciplines within a Catholic University.  We consider Bonaventure’s sources (particularly Hugh of St. Victor) and his contemporary Thomas Aquinas.  And all of this leads to a consideration of the relation between the non-theological disciplines—including the applied disciplines—and theology.  

Links of potential interest:

Bonaventure, Reduction of the Arts to Theology

Bonaventure, Journey of the Mind into God

Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron

Randy Smith, From Here to Eternity: Reflections on Death, Immortality, and the Resurrection of the Body

Randy Smith, Reading the Sermons of Thomas Aquinas: A Beginner's Guide

Randy Smith, Aquinas, Bonaventure, and the Scholastic Culture of Medieval Paris: Preaching, Prologues, and Biblical Commentary

⁠Randy Smith’s writings at The Catholic Thing⁠

Christopher O. Blum, “Intellectual Charity”

Benedict XVI, “Address to Catholic Educators”