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James V. Schall (1928–2019)

Autor(a) de Another Sort of Learning

59+ Works 1,858 Membros 11 Críticas 6 Favorited

About the Author

James V. Schall, S.J, is Professor Emeritus, Georgetown University. He currently resides at the Sacred Heart Jesuit Center, Los Gatos, California. His previous books include The Sum Total of Human Happiness; The Regensburg Lecture; The Classical Moment: Philosophy and Its Pleasures; Docilitas: On mostrar mais Teaching and Being Taught, and Another Sort of Learning. mostrar menos

Obras por James V. Schall

Another Sort of Learning (1988) 307 exemplares
The Order of Things (2007) 111 exemplares
The Regensburg Lecture (2007) 84 exemplares
Current Trends in Theology (1965) — Editor — 34 exemplares
Does Catholicism Still Exist? (1994) 22 exemplares
Distinctiveness of Christianity (1982) 21 exemplares
The Modern Age (2011) 20 exemplares
Sum Total Of Human Happiness (2006) 19 exemplares
Christianity and Life (1981) 19 exemplares
Out of Justice, Peace (1984) 18 exemplares
Remembering Belloc (2014) 18 exemplares
The Universe We Think in (2018) 15 exemplares
Essays on Christianity and Political Philosophy (1984) — Editor — 14 exemplares
Religion, Wealth and Poverty (1990) 13 exemplares
Christianity and politics (1981) 12 exemplares
Redeeming the time (1968) 10 exemplares
Human dignity & human numbers (1971) 8 exemplares
Rejoice and Be Glad (2016) 7 exemplares
The sixth Paul (1977) 5 exemplares
On Christians and Prosperity (2015) 5 exemplares
Welcome, number 4,000,000,000! (1977) 3 exemplares
Second Readings (2020) 1 exemplar
A Vida da Mente 1 exemplar

Associated Works

Etiquetado

Conhecimento Comum

Membros

Críticas

Clearly and concisely written. Somewhat repetitive in content. May have been more effective if actually quoted from the Qur’an and from Muslim “leaders” to support its case.
 
Assinalado
JamieStarr | Jul 15, 2023 |
This is a valuable guide to reading the classics of liberal literature. Short and to the point the guide provides direction for essential study of great literature.
 
Assinalado
jwhenderson | 1 outra crítica | Feb 16, 2023 |
Summary: A pithy little guide on pursuing the liberty that comes in the pursuit of truth and how one might devote oneself to liberal learning.

In this pithy booklet, James V. Schall, S.J. makes the case for the classic ideal of liberal learning that he believes lost in the post-modern setting of contemporary higher education. Liberal education believed that the pursuit of truth, goodness, and beauty freed one (liberated one) to pursue the well-lived life. He writes this booklet to the student who has the sense that there is something more that might be pursued in her education that what is on offer. He also observes, with Augustine and Aristotle, that our actions more than our words reveal what is true, and that our moral failings may prevent us from seeing truth, something rarely, if ever, heard in the classroom.

Where then does one begin. For Schall, he urges two things. One is self-discipline, that is self-control of our passions, fears, dreams, and thoughts, and honesty about our failings in these areas. He writes: “The person who was most free was the one who had the most control over himself.” It is this that allows us to focus on the things of greatest importance.

The second thing is to build a good personal library. Schall doesn’t believe this requires many books–early pioneers often had only Shakespeare and the Bible, and much of what was important in life could be found here. I loved Schall’s commitment to not assigning books that he did not think worth keeping. And this leads to a guiding standard–our libraries should consist of the books we would read again (a standard I use more and more as I cull books from my shelves).

Schall also advocates that we need good guides, holding up Samuel Johnson as an example. A good guide is one who helps the student test ideas by reality. One of the most beautiful lines about teaching is this:

"We begin our intellectual lives not with need, nor less with desire, but with wonder and enchantment. A student and teacher read together many books they otherwise might have missed. Both need to make efforts to know the truth of things, the ordinary things and the highest things, that the one and the other might have overlooked had they not had time, serious time, together."

And so Schall concludes by discussing the matter of time, invoking the unusual authority of Louis L’Amour whose The Education of a Wandering Man makes the case for finding the time to read in a busy life. Schall urges students to take time beyond their classes to read, to find great works that aren’t taught in the used bookstores. What books, you may ask? One of the delights of this book are Schall’s recommendations interspersed in the text as well as an Appendix of “Schall’s Unlikely List of Books to Keep Sane By,” a list of twenty titles–only half of which I’ve read. While some are found on “Great Books” lists, many are not.

My only objection is that they are all by white Euro-Americans. I think we may also grow in liberal learning by reading W.E,B. DuBois, Frederick Douglass, and Langston Hughes as well as African, South American, and Asian writers. One of the most profound works I’ve read is Shusaku Endo’s Silence.

That said, this is a delightful little work. For many students, the idea of “liberal learning” has no room in the curriculum. Schall proposes that, sad as this is, the perceptive student will find the room on his or her own and find good guides and books along the way. And this “Guide” is a good beginning.
… (mais)
 
Assinalado
BobonBooks | 1 outra crítica | Aug 1, 2022 |
James Schall has written another masterpiece, this time combining lovely readability with extraordinary utility. It reminds me of comparable pieces by Josef Pieper and possibly C. S. Lewis. It's a eulogy on the importance of reading great books and making them lifetime companions and sources of insight. This is a refreshing counterpoint to the early twenty-first century's cultural quagmire, with its intelligence, clarity, and self-assurance.
 
Assinalado
jwhenderson | 1 outra crítica | Mar 1, 2022 |

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Estatísticas

Obras
59
Also by
4
Membros
1,858
Popularidade
#13,852
Avaliação
4.1
Críticas
11
ISBN
89
Línguas
2
Marcado como favorito
6

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