Contending with Modernity; Catholic Higher Education in the Twentieth Century / Edition 1

by Philip Gleason

Overview

How did Catholic colleges and universities deal with the modernization of education and the rise of research universities? In this book, Philip Gleason offers the first comprehensive study of Catholic higher education in the twentieth century, tracing the evolution of responses to an increasingly secular educational system. At the beginning of the century, Catholics accepted modernization in the organizational sphere while resisting it ideologically. Convinced of the truth of their religious and intellectual position, the restructured Catholic colleges grew rapidly after World War I, committed to educating for a "Catholic Renaissance." This spirit of militance carried over into the post-World War II era, but new currents were also stirring as Catholics began to look more favorably on modernity in its American form. Meanwhile, their colleges and universities were being transformed by continuing growth and professionalization. By the 1960's, changes in church teaching and cultural upheaval in American society reinforced the internal transformation already under way, creating an "identity crisis" which left Catholic educators uncertain of their purpose. Emphasizing the importance to American culture of the growth of education at all levels, Gleason connects the Catholic story with major national trends and historical events. By situating developments in higher education within the context of American Catholic thought, Contending with Modernity provides the fullest account available of the intellectual development of American Catholicism in the twentieth century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195098280
Publisher:	Oxford University Press, USA
Publication date:	01/28/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	448
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.56(h) x 1.17(d)
Lexile:	1700L (what's this?)

About the Author

University of Notre Dame

Table of Contents

Introduction: Catholic Higher Education in 1900		3	(1)
The Old-Time Catholic College		4	(2)
The Catholic University of America		6	(6)
After Americanism, Modernism		12	(9)
Part One Confronting Modernity as the Century Opens
Awaking to the Organizational Challenge		21	(18)
Symptoms of Crisis		22	(10)
Realignment of Secondary and Collegiate Education		32	(7)
Rationalizing the Catholic System		39	(23)
The Problem of Unity and the Role of the Catholic University		39	(4)
The Origins and Early Development of the CEA		43	(3)
The High School Movement and Standardization		46	(5)
Standing Firm by the Ratio Studiorum		51	(4)
Biting the Curricular Bullet		55	(7)
The Impact of World War I		62	(19)
The NCWC and the Issue of Centralization		63	(6)
Standardization Once Again		69	(3)
The Students' Army Training Corps		72	(9)
A New Beginning: Catholic Colleges 1900-1930		81	(24)
The Catholic University of America		84	(5)
Catholic Women's Colleges 1900-1930		89	(6)
The University Movement 1900-1925		95	(10)
Part Two Challenging Modernity Between the Wars
The Intellectual Context		105	(19)
The Scholastic Revival		105	(9)
Neoscholasticism and the Catholic Worldview		114	(10)
The Beginnings of the Catholic Renaissance		124	(22)
Americanism and Its Medieval Scholastic Background		125	(6)
The Postwar Catholic Resurgence		131	(5)
Developments in the Colleges		136	(10)
The Catholic Revival Reaches Full Flood		146	(21)
1928 and After: The Post-Al Smith Context		146	(2)
Creating a Catholic Culture		148	(4)
Catholic Action: Background and Beginnings		152	(2)
Catholic Action and the Colleges		154	(9)
Philosophy and Theology		163	(4)
Institutional Developments: Moving into Graduate Work		167	(17)
Graduate Work: Background and Beginnings		169	(2)
Graduate Expansion in the 1920s		171	(7)
Jesuit Self-Criticism and Reform		178	(6)
The Tribulations of the Thirties		184	(25)
Problems with Accreditation		184	(4)
Reorganization and Its Tensions		188	(9)
Graduate Work Once Again		197	(12)
Part Three World War II and Postwar Crosscurrents
World War II and Institutional Shifts		209	(26)
Specialized Wartime Programs		211	(4)
Research, Development, and Expanding Educational Horizons		215	(5)
Graduate Work and Related Developments		220	(6)
The Sister Formation Movement		226	(9)
Assimilative Tendencies and Curricular Crosscurrents		235	(26)
Catholic Colleges and the Race Issue		235	(5)
Catholics and the Postwar Student Movement		240	(6)
Debating the Liberal Arts		246	(4)
The Drive for Curricular Integration		250	(6)
Religion versus Theology		256	(5)
Controversy: Backlash Against the Catholic Revival		261	(22)
The Anti-Catholic Backlash		261	(3)
The Catholic Campaign Against Secularism		264	(4)
Secularism and the Family Crisis		268	(6)
John Courtney Murray and the Church-State Issue		274	(9)
Transition to a New Era		283	(22)
The Historical Recovery of Americanism		283	(4)
Self-Criticism and the Search for Excellence		287	(10)
The Splintering of the Scholastic Synthesis		297	(8)
The end of an Era		305	(18)
The Contagion of Liberty		305	(13)
Accepting Modernity		318	(5)
Abbreviations Used in Notes		323	(2)
Notes		325	(94)
Index		419

Editorial Reviews

"Philip Gleason has produced a magisterial interpretation of Catholic higher education in the twentieth century....the most reliable and convincing comprehensive history of Catholic higher education. It is a must read for all involved in Catholic higher education and for all those interested in the intellectual and institutional history of religion and education in this country."—U.S. Catholic Historian

"[A] very fine book."—Commonweal

"Contending With Modernity is...an important book....a thorough and impressive piece of scholarship."—America

"Academics, their appetites whetted by a steady stream of brilliant articles, eargerly awaited this history. They will not be disappointed. Gleason knows the material, blends it into a dramatic success story and provides some answers to the how and why questions."National Catholic Reporter

"A measured, balanced, meticulously researched, and authoritative study of a subject as important as it is vast. Reading this book is an almost unalloyed delight....The insights of Contending with Modernity fully match both the complexity and importance of its subject."—Books and Culture

From the Publisher