The intelligence can only be led by desire. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy in the work. The intelligence only grows and bears fruit in joy. The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running. Where it is lacking there are no real students, but only poor caricatures of apprentices who, at the end of their apprenticeship, will not even have a trade.
Simone Weil, Waiting for God
A genuine education is one that recognizes its source in desire, pleasure, and joy. Only such an education can foster the kind of freedom Jacques Maritain describes in Education at the Crossroads – “freedom which is spontaneity, expansion, or autonomy, and which we have to gain through constant effort and struggle.” A truly liberal education in this sense must involve constant effort and struggle, yes. There is no education without discipline. But the effort and struggle involved should always be directed toward the attainment of true freedom and human awakening.
Veritas Journal is dedicated to two things: providing a forum for the discussion of education in this highest sense (whether formal or informal) and providing a regular opportunity for readers to experience in themselves a greater awakening to the true, the good and the beautiful.
To the first end, we are interested in articles on educational topics such as the cultivation of moral imagination, the role of wonder, the place of the sciences in a liberal education, or other similar subjects. But we are also interested in publishing articles on great films, art, literature, works of philosophy and theology, new or interesting pieces of mathematics, book recommendations, or rarely explored corners of history.
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3 Comments
Elizabeth Lyon
You might be interested in Patrick Lyon’s movie review blog, “And in this Corner”. I will try to contact him. Thoughtful, well-articulated reflections on a few recent releases, including “They shall not Grow Old”. Patrick teaches at Chesterton Academy of the Holy Family in Downers Grove, Illinois.
Dan Robinson
The website link is to a book on Amazon.com
It is Patricia Raft, How the Doctrine of Incarnation Shaped Western Culture, 1st Edition, c. 2013
I read this several months ago, and found it fascinating. I was able to obtain the book through an inter-lubrary loan.
The author traces how the Incarnation influenced and shaped Western thought and cultural development. It is a survey. Each chapter focuses on one area. At the end of each chapter she lists books for further study. It would be a great book for group discussions.
Dan Robinson
I stumbled upon Nancy Goldstone when I was in the library looking for something else. The first of her books that I read was The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc, c. 2013. The first third of the book paints in the historical background to Joan of Arc’s life. The second part is about her rise to prominence. The third part is about her trial and death, and the legal clearing of her name about 20 years later.
Nancy Goldstone makes the people she writes about come alive. It is as if you are watching someone live their life. This is the best biography of Joan of Arc that I have ever read. When I finished the section on her trial and execution I was so moved that I had to put the book down and go for a walk to work through the indignation I felt about how unjust her trial was.
I then began reading Nancy Goldstone’s other books, which I found in the library. My second favorite was The Lady Queen: The Notorious Reign of Joanna I, Queen of Naples, Jerusalem, and Sicily. Since I lived in Naples, Italy as a 10 year old boy (my father was in the US Navy), I had a personal interest in reading about a piece of the history of Naples. It is a fascinating look at the time when Naples was at the height of its wealth and influence.