The Jesuit University in a Secular Age: Theological Perspectives

Wednesday, May 25, 12:30-1:30 p.m. on Zoom
RSVP to ICTC@seattleu.edu

Philosopher Charles Taylor has described our era as “a secular age.” There is no doubt that there have been fundamental shifts in the role that religious perspectives play in shaping worldviews in the West and that these shifts are part of the context of Jesuit education today. Fortunately, Jesuit institutions have a long history of engaging culture in a way that is world-affirming and adaptative as well as critical where appropriate.

In that spirit, this project undertakes a theological engagement with secularity and considers its implications for the mission and identity of Jesuit universities. A hopeful outcome would be that such an exploration, undertaken in dialogue with the Jesuit educational and Catholic intellectual traditions, may contribute to a discernment of what is authentic and of value in the “secular age” in which we live and point to ways forward that are genuinely Jesuit and Catholic.