Skip to main content
Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education logo

Open book

 
FACULTY SEMINAR

The Ignatian Center’s Bannan Forum offers this faculty seminar to explore the Catholic intellectual tradition (CIT) and its relationship to scholarship, service, and teaching. The seminar will deepen faculty’s knowledge and engagement with Santa Clara’s Jesuit, Catholic intellectual tradition as a reference point and resource for their work. In addition, faculty will have the opportunity to explore the relationship between faith, reason, and culture in contemporary society. We hope the seminar is a way to meet other faculty across the disciplines and schools, and an opportunity to share in deep reflection and conversation.

For the 2022-2023 academic year, the seminar will be switching to multiple quarter-length seminars to allow more faculty to take part in the program and to engage a wide range of themes.  

People with or without faith commitments are warmly welcomed.

The topic for Spring 2023 is

“What is justice?”

“A faith that does justice” is a value at the center of Jesuit higher education and the broader Ignatian tradition. This quarter we will examine the meaning of justice within the context of the Jesuit, Catholic intellectual tradition and how Catholic notions relate to the wider conversation around justice. What does it mean to claim that justice is central to your educational mission and purpose? How do we understand justice through the lenses of the Catholic intellectual tradition and the diversity of perspectives present on our campus? The seminar will create space for conversations that help to illuminate justice in ways that allow for both deep reflection and a movement towards transformative action regardless of one’s background.  

Core themes from the Catholic intellectual tradition will include:

  • the components of Catholic social teaching
  • definitions of human flourishing and the conditions necessary to achieve it
  • the interplay of rights and responsibilities in enacting justice

Structure:

  • The Seminar will meet on Fridays from 3:00 - 4:30 PM .
  • Meeting dates will be determined by faculty availability prior to our first meeting.
  • We meet four times throughout the quarter to read, write, and explore together the Catholic and Jesuit intellectual resources in and for higher education.
  • Meeting prep materials will include written, audio, and video content which will be provided by the Center.

Participant Expectations:

  • Faculty are expected to attend all meetings of the seminar.
  • Faculty who are unable to make all of the meetings might forfeit their stipend. We understand that unforeseen circumstances arise and will make appropriate accommodations for such instances.
  • In order to better integrate the principles of the CIT into teaching, service and scholarship participants will be expected to collaboratively participate in discussions and contribute a 1,500 to 2,000 word reflection essay exploring the implications of the CIT for their work. Participant essays will be published in the Ignatian Center’s explore Journal. 

Compensation and Benefits:

Participants will be offered a stipend of $750