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Educating for/in Caritas: A Pedagogy of Friendship for Catholic Higher Education in Our Divided Time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 May 2018

Timothy Hanchin
Timothy Hanchin*
Affiliation:
Villanova University
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Abstract

The sweeping movement of student protest over racial discord on university campuses reflects intractable divisions in the public square. Catholic higher education is obligated by its mission to address this interpersonal situation with practices of healing as integral to its formational end. This article approaches Thomas Groome's shared Christian praxis as a “pedagogy of caritas” in light of Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas. The focusing activity and five movements of shared Christian praxis enact the dynamic structure of Bernard Lonergan's cognitional and existential interiority. Friendship praxis sets the conditions for the possibility of self-transcendence and healing for a commodified and increasingly diverse community of learners. A pedagogy of friendship is a promising integrative teaching strategy for a Catholic university in our divided time.

Keywords

pedagogyCatholic universityfriendshipcaritasshared Christian praxis
Type
Articles
Information
Horizons , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , June 2018 , pp. 74 - 104
Copyright
Copyright © College Theology Society 2018 

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References

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