Books by SCU Authors 1999

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The Catholic University as Promise and Project: Reflections in a Jesuit Idiom

Michael J. Buckley SJ

The remarkable development of the Catholic university in the United States has raised issues about its continued identity, its promise, and its academic constituents. Michael J. Buckley, SJ, explores these questions, especially as they have been experienced in Jesuit history and contemporary commitments.

The fundamental proposition that grounds the Catholic university, Buckley argues, is that the academic and the religious are intrinsically related. Academic inquiry encourages a process of questioning that leads naturally to issues of ultimate significance, while the experience of faith is towards the understanding of itself and of its relationship to every other dimension of human life. This mutual involvement requires a union between faith and culture that defines the purposes of Catholic higher education. In their earliest and normative documents, Jesuit universities have been encouraged to achieve this integration through the central role given to theology.

Buckley explores two commitments that implicate contemporary Catholic universities in controversy: an insistence upon open, free discussion and academic pluralism―to the objections of some in the Church; and an education in the promotion of justice―to the objections of some in the academy.

Finally, to strengthen philosophical and theological studies, Buckley suggests both a "philosophical grammar" that would discover and study the assumptions and methods involved in the various forms of disciplined human inquiry and a set of "theological arts" founded upon the more general liberal arts.

Entering into the contemporary discussion about the Catholic university, this book offers inspiring and thought-provoking ideas for those engaged in Catholic higher education.
Hobbies: Productive Leisure and the Culture of Work in America

Steven M. Gelber

Whether it's needlepoint or woodworking, collecting stamps or dolls, everyone has a hobby, or is told they need one. But why do we fill our leisure time with the activities we do? And what do our hobbies say about our culture? Steven Gelber here traces the history and significance of hobbies from the mid-nineteenth century through the 1950s. Although hobbies are often touted as a break from work, Gelber demonstrates that they reflect and reproduce the values and activities of the workplace by bringing utilitarian rationality into the home, imitating the economic stratification of the marketplace, and reinforcing traditional gender roles.

Drawing on a wide array of social and cultural theory, Hobbies fills a critical gap in American cultural history and provides a compelling new perspective on the meaning of leisure.
Faith and contexts, Vol. 4, Additional studies and essays, 1947-1996

Walter J. Ong, Thomas J. Farrell, and Paul A. Soukup

Collects 13 writings of the distinguished Jesuit scholar on topics ranging from Ong's 1947 study of "Wit and mystery: a reevaluation in medieval Latin hymnody," to 1996 reflections on faith and cosmos and information-communication interactions. Titles in- between include: "Humanism" (1964), "Rhetoric and the origins of consciousness," (1971), and "Yeast: a parable for Catholic higher education" (1990). In the substantial foreword, Farrell (U. of Minnesota at Duluth) finds parallels between Ong's thought and Harold Bloom's ideas about the inwardness of some Shakespearean characters. The French government knighted Ong for his dissertation on 16th-century logician/educational reformer Ramus. Distributed by University Press of America. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Bless Me Father for I Have Sinned: Perspectives on Sexual Abuse Committed by Roman Catholic Priests

Thomas G. Plante PhD, ABPP

A tremendous amount of media attention has been devoted to revealing sexual abuse perpetrated by Roman Catholic priests. These essays outline a clinical and research agenda for professionals dealing with clergy sexual abuse. They should enable research clinical professionals, and clergy to identify the relevant issues in the identification, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of child and adolescent sexual abuse committed by Roman Catholic priests. Leading experts in the field from the United States and Canada have offered their different perspectives on this compelling problem including victim profiles for determining who is at risk.
The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture

Sandra M. Schneiders

In this new edition of her major study of the New Testament, Sandra Schneiders proposes a comprehensive hermeneutical theory for New Testament interpretation, which takes full account of the Bible as both sacred Scripture and as a historical-literary classic. Designed to spur reflection on the role of Scripture as revelatory text in the life of the Church and in the lives of individual believers, The Revelatory Text shows that an integral hermeneutical theory can ground a transformational hermeneutical praxis to make the biblical text available as a faith resource to the oppressed as well as to the privileged.

Schneiders investigates the meaning of the theological claim that the Bible is the Word of God" and the "Church's book," along with the implications of these claims for biblical interpretation. She then examines the historical, literary, and religious-spiritual dimensions of the New Testament, highlighting the implications for interpretation theory and methodology, and concludes by putting her theory to the test in a feminist interpretation of John 4.

The author argues that the comprehensive object of biblical interpretation is not merely information but transformation. She suggests that an adequate hermeneutical theory must include a wide range of exegetical and critical methods within a theologically and philosophically adequate understanding of Scripture as sacred text. She writes specifically to educated believers who wonder how sound biblical criticism can be incorporated into a faith- filled reading of the New Testament; biblical scholars who struggle with the question of whether or how faith can function legitimately in biblical scholarship; and those whose task it is to teach and preach the faith that looks to the New Testament as source and norm.

Chapters are "The Problem and Project of New Testament Interpretation," "The New Testament as Word of God," "The New Testament as the Church's Book," "The World Behind the Test: History, Imagination, and the Revelatory Text," "The World of the Text: Witness, Language, and the Revelatory Text," "The World Before the Text: Meaning, Appropriation, and the Revelatory Text," and "A Case Study: Feminist Interpretation of John 4:1- 42."
Written That You May Believe

Sandra M. Schneiders

A prominent Scripture scholar opens the riches of the gospel of John, revealing the profound spiritual vision offered to every reader. This book invites the reader to accept the invitation of Jesus in the Fourth Gospel to dwell in my word in order to know the liberating truth that He is and that He offers.
Fidelity and Translation: Communicating the Bible in New Media

Paul A. Soukup and Robert Hodgson

In our technological age, Fidelity and Translation discusses new ways to communicate and experience God in the text of Scripture, while remaining faithful to the biblical message. These essays suggest ways to critically evaluate, assess, and use new media to communicate Scripture faithfully.