由牧师. 托马斯. 麦戈文,年代.J.
Tutor, 托马斯·阿奎那 College, 1972–1985
BG电子将自己定义为自由教育，并专门关注这种教育. 这句话本身可能对不同的人意味着不同的概念, 但学院想要表达的是一个传统意义, 当它将自己定位为致力于博雅教育时，它也坚持这一点.
根据这种理解，文中的“书籍al”一词来源于拉丁语形容词 书籍 自由的意义. Used substantively, 书籍i signifies free men or the sons of free men. 很明显, 然后, 以自由主义为名的教育之所以如此命名，是因为这种教育与人类自由之间存在着某种可见和隐含的联系. What is here implied by the adjective is, 然而, 教育之所以被称为自由主义，不是因为它源自一种不受约束的自由精神, unbound to principle, approving everything 和 excluding nothing; rather, it refers to its end, 或目的. 的 kind of education here envisioned is called 书籍al because it is ordered to freedom as to its goal; it is called 书籍al, 换句话说, because its intended effect is the genuinely free person.
Human Freedom: To Be Achieved through Knowledge
在这个, 我们的一天, we tend to regard freedom as our natural birthright; we see ourselves as born free 这 书籍ty of ours as a heritage to be jealously guarded 再一次。st restrictions stemming from without — from political systems, 例如, or social structures. 但 clearly others, 在过去, have seen human freedom in quite another light, not as a natural endowment, 而是作为个人通过自己的努力实现的伟大成果, 这, at least in part, through his education.
我们的救主看来也是这样看待人的自由的, 这是一种通过认识真理而达到的善. 有一次他在圣殿里对那些“信他的犹太人”讲道,” he informed them: “If you remain in the truth, you will be truly my disciples, 和 the truth will make you free” (John 8:32).
基督的话显然与他们所珍视的信仰背道而驰，即亚伯拉罕的后裔是他们自由的保证. 我们是亚伯拉罕的子孙，从来没有作过谁的奴仆.” 但 Our Savior’s words imply that, if a person is to be truly free, 除了出生在一个被称为自由的国家之外，还有更多的事情是必要的:自由是需要获得的, 而要获得它，就需要对他所教导的真理有所了解.
Relation of the 真理 to Freedom
As instances of such, we recall the beatitudes that begin the Sermon on the Mount, 和 that sermon in its totality. 世人听到这些戒律，却认为它们是压抑、限制，根本不是解脱. Yet they are all part of the truth “that will make you free.”
这种真理与自由的关系，当我们考虑到一个自由人的概念实际上所蕴涵的东西时，就开始显现出来了. 的 free man must be unders太d in opposition to the slave. 的 latter is other-directed. 的 free person, 然后, is the one who is self-directed; he directs his own activities, the course of his own life, 而正是这种自我导向要求我们了解一些真相. No man can direct himself in the dark. 但 it is Christ who is “the light of the world.”
但凡是知道道成肉身的人，都知道神赐给他的人生目标是成为神国度的一员. 他知道怎样的生活有利于达到那个目的——符合基督教美德的生活. 他知道自由意味着控制自己的低级本性，因为这就是自由, rather than any exterior power, that is the enslaving tyrant. 总而言之，他知道自由的人、幸福的人、善良的人都是同一个人. 在这个 light he can direct his own steps; he is not the slave of the blind who would lead the blind.
的 Kind of Knowledge That Perfects Man
Such knowledge as this would, 然后, clearly be part of the education of the free man, 而通识教育的课程必须包括教会的道德教导，因为基督是透过教会来说话的, 伦理和政治是自然的对应物.
基督的解放教义教导我们，人的真正目的和幸福在于对无限的上帝面对面的认识. This truth contains implicitly another, namely that the kind of knowledge which does, 本身, 完美的男人, contributing to human goodness 和 happiness, 知识不就是BG电子他自己所造的和所存在的吗, 相应的, less than he is, but of things greater than he.
但, 再一次。, the free person, in opposition to the slave, whose activities are for the good of another, is his own man; he devotes himself to what is really for his own good. Supernatural theology, 因此, which studies God 和 divine things, 和 metaphysics, 哪个既是自然平面上的对应物又是它所必需的, will be essential parts of the education of the free man. 自然, 太, 指的是受造物固有的特定运动原理, the products of the Divine Wisdom that designed them, 和 beyond the power of man to produce, will engage his attention. 的re is an order, 太, inherent in things as quantified which is also an effect of the Divine Wisdom inherent therein; hence mathematics 和 geometry, which consider that kind of order, 并, 进一步, are necessary if nature is to be adequately unders太d, are parts of the education of the free man.
Liberal 教育: Basic to the Good Life
的 seven 书籍al arts 和 sciences 是“活泼的灵魂进入哲学秘密的某些途径”(圣. 维克多). 作为预备, 然后, to the properly philosophical 和 theological enterprise, 这些, 太, 发挥他们的作用，作为整个文科教育计划的一部分.
以上是, in skeleton form, BG电子的自由教育计划及其基本原理. Its natural effect, 当然, is not good accountants, or good carpenters, or good musicians, 但是好人. Such education tends to be regarded as impractical, 但事实是，一个民族不能长期忽视它所提出和回答的问题，除非这个民族自担风险, for such matters are basic to the good life. 十多年的经验证实了学院的信念，即这种教育确实以一种深刻的人性方式有益. Were this l和 of ours committed to education along 这些 lines, 它的面貌将显著改变——朝着正义和其他美德的方向, of general happiness, 和, 最后, in the direction of true human freedom.