Idea of a University

The Idea of a University by Bl John Henry Newman, 464 pages

The author adapted these essays from a series of lectures he delivered in Dublin between 1854 and 1858.  During this period, Newman was struggling to establish the Catholic University of Ireland, a labor which naturally prompted sustained reflection on the nature and purpose of the university.

For Newman, the university is grounded in the unity of truth.  All branches of learning - physical sciences, philosophy, the arts, theology, law, medicine - take their places in the university as complementary parts of the greater whole.  Without the influence of the other fields, any one discipline is sure to go astray, and too great a specialization by the student produces a stunted man.  More than arguing for a certain concept of a university, he argues for an integral humanism that is truly Catholic.