1. What is Paideia?

It was a great honour to be one of the speakers at an engaging colloquium entitled, “Authentic Humanism and the Crisis of Culture”. The day-long event on July 6 took place in the Italian Club in Hobart, and was hosted by Dr David Daintree and his team at The Christopher Dawson Centre for Cultural Studies.

At the Hobart event, I was invited to present a paper explaining the work and vision of the Thomas More Centre as this relates to formation for an “Authentic Humanism”. This involved linking the formational role of the TMC in both its 20th-century and current incarnations to the classical Greek (and Roman) notion of "paideia".

I pointed out that in the Christian setting, paideia brings together the personalist and Christocentric idea of discipleship found in the New Testament with the more Platonic idea of a person turning to the true, good and beautiful in order to be transformed by these transcendentals.

Paideia is an ennobling educational and formative process that transforms the pith and character of the person. The fruits of an integrated paideia are evident not only in the person but in the household or "polis" in which that person lives. Plato, for instance, insists that paideia converts and transforms the person and the polis in profoundly spiritual as well as intellectual ways. This notion in a Christian configuration informed the ordo of the Benedictine and other monastic communities.

One of the great scholars of paideia was the classicist and philologist, Werner Jaeger (1888-1961). Jaeger was German-born but due to his anti-Nazi stance, escaped from his homeland like so many other leading intellectual and cultural figures, to establish a new life in the United States during the 1930s.

Jaeger’s studies on classical paideia, most famously published in his three-volume books entitled Paideia (1939), led him to promote a revival of a pedagogy. This extended well beyond the institutional setting of education (in schools and universities) to a notion of life-long learning and development, which included the cultivation of intellectual, moral, cultural and spiritual virtues.

At about the same time, scholars and writers such as Christopher Dawson and Jacques Maritain were developing a counterforce to anti-religious secular humanism. They sought a truly humane culture grounded in the realism of Christian philosophy, tradition and life. Maritain called this an “integral realism” that promoted a “heroic life”, which took shape in both the interior life and the public spirit of the person.

It is not hard to see how these explorations mirrored the Christian humanism of St Thomas More and were brought under the sun of Australian social awareness by the founders of the Thomas More Centre.

2. A Lively and Positive Colloquium

The rest of the colloquium addressed in fascinating ways the “crisis of culture”, particularly in different educational institutions and ideologies. Despite this, the mood of the day was never mired in depression or hopelessness. Quite the reverse. The speakers offered lively and creative ideas for re-integrating and enriching an integrated and “authentically” humane education.

Karl Schmude provided an excellent tribute to the work of the centre’s patron, Christopher Dawson. Historian Dr Bella d'Abrera gave a vigorous and entertaining critique of identity politics as an acid upon shared history and identity. Senior secondary teacher Lucas McLennan examined the challenges of the national curriculum in the light of thoroughgoing historical and cultural studies.

Richard Brown, a former Queensland State High School principal, offered an existential insight into the challenges of school leadership but ended with an insightful nine-step leadership project. Fr Matthew Solomon examined the influence of the Enlightenment on notions of humanism, and University of Notre Dame Australia’s Dr Anna Walsh explored the excellent research she has conducted into the conscientious objections of medical practitioners.

As the evening of the colloquium approached, Archbishop Julian Porteous - who had attended the entire day - gave a fine paper about the influence of Christopher Dawson upon his own pastoral vision and upon the poet T.S. Elliott. The day ended with a very enjoyable dinner with the participants and speakers, crowned by the eminent dinner speaker, Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz - former Vice-Chancellor of Brunel University (UK) and Macquarie University and member of the Fulbright Board. The Dawson Centre will make all the day’s papers available in published form.

3. Armidale and Toowoomba TMC Evenings

July has been very busy. The TMC has hosted two wonderful evening talks and a Men’s Breakfast talk, all well-received and all given by the extremely generous and engaging Gary Furnell. Gary is a former librarian, prodigious writer and storyteller, and secretary of the Australian Chesterton Society. It seems that Gary and the topics of Jane Austen, Karol Wojtyla and "truth in courtship" are a real magnet of interest!

Sincere thanks go to Gary, Mark, Nicole and our local teams in Queensland and New South Wales for organising these two excellent opportunities for cultural insight and social jollity.