Newman on Genius Loci and Liberal Education: Organizational Spirituality for Civilization

Description

Newman’s ideal of a holistic curriculum taught within a caring community is worthy of attention and emulation.  While affirming the value of applied fields and objective sciences, and granting utilitarian ethics and policies their social advances, Newman explains how religious universities go further to create organizational cultures influencing society with a spirituality uniquely their own, a  genius loci.   As fraternal associations these organizations have value in and of themselves, but when particular institutions explicitly engage theology as a valid knowledge domain they become spiritual matrices that open up student horizons and leaven society.  This essay details Newman’s description of  genius loci  in general and the  ethos  of Catholic liberal arts universities in particular to show how they work to humanize civilization.