Catholic Studies’ Leaders Endorse Boethius Institute
We are honored by this letter of endorsement for our work.
The Boethius Institute is exquisitely poised to serve Catholic Liberal Education in a way that is of the utmost importance. The founders of the Institute understand that we must understand and explain Catholic Liberal Education in its most essential dimensions. This is about establishing the essentials for a wisdom that can give order and purpose to human life and human society. The Liberal Arts are not simply texts and techniques; at their most profound, the Liberal Arts are guides to the very structure and beauty of creation. But they must be understood and presented authentically, and that requires an appreciation of reality both natural and supernatural as illuminated by and illuminating of the Liberal Arts.
The time is now for the sustained and deliberate consideration of these most foundational aspects of Liberal Arts Education, and this is the task of the Boethius Institute. Dr. Seeley and Dr. Lehman are among the most important leaders in the Liberal Arts Education movement over several decades; they bring a deep understanding of the reality of the Liberal Arts and the experience of teaching them and teaching the teachers. With Dr. Ellis, they have a team perfectly situated to take on the sustained study of the foundational principles of the Liberal Arts and articulate them to educators so as to deepen the foundations for a life of wisdom.
Of particular importance is the Fellows Program which will provide substantive training in the Liberal Arts precisely with an eye to Liberal Arts Education. No such programmatic training in the Liberal Arts is available. This will be important in helping those currently working in the movement, especially in leadership roles, to understand the Liberal Arts more fully as illuminating reality and thereby grounding lives of wisdom. Even more importantly, the Boethius Institute, through its programming and especially through the Fellows Program will undertake the formation of the next generation of thought leaders in the Liberal Arts Education movement. Young scholars who can dedicate their lives to this work need to be identified and mentored. The Fellows Program is situated to do precisely this and to do so over the long haul, for that is what is needed, but needed now, if we are to provide the next generation of leaders in this movement so needed for the flourishing of an authentically human culture.
