Christus Magister Noster:



Christus Magister Noster:

Teaching and the Taught in Newman's Vision of

Education

* DRAFT

by Rebecca C. Spencer-O'Hare, M.A.

© Copyright Rebecca C. O'Hare 2002

Introduction

I want to speak first about what it is to be a visionary. We usually assume that a visionary sees the future, or is given a glimpse of another reality closed off to the rest of us through dreams or ecstasies. Newman, on the other hand, was a visionary-not in the sense of someone transfixed by images of the future-but in the sense of one who could see through the Present Reality, through the skin and sinews of the Now, past the durable bones of the Past, through to the Eternally Present Heart that animates the whole of history. This Heart is our Teacher, above all changes of fashion or politics, of Whom the sometime poetess, Edith Stein, says:

"In the heart of Jesus, which was pierced,

The Kingdom of heaven and the land of earth are bound together. Here is for us the source of life.

This heart is the heart of the triune Divinity, And the center of all human hearts That bestows on us the life of God.”

("Closing Hymn: Two poems", pg. 136, from The Works of Edith Stein: The Hidden Life, tr. Waltraut Stein, Institute of Carmelite Studies.)

Newman was also a visionary who didn't keep his insight to himself, but shared it with the world of his day. He was brave enough to wade into the world of his time and its anxieties. Our generation can benefit from his method.

Teaching and the Taught

I hope to offer some ideas about the familiar distinction between the ecclesia docens and the ecciesia docta. Hopefully, I can make the distinction richer, if not clearer. I will also try to test what I find to be Newman's method of problem-solving, which I'll be explaining shortly. The point of doing so is to find problem-solving techniques which teachers and ministers in a university setting can put into practice especially when confronted with curricular controversy.

My interest in the docens/docta distinction begins with Fr. Ian Ker's article "Newman on the `consensus frdelium' as the Voice of the Infallible Church" presented at the Second International Newman Conference in 1998.( "Newman on the `consensus fidelium' as `the voice of the infallible church"', by Fr. Ian T. Ker, in Newman and the Word, p. 69-89, ed. T. Merrigan & I.T. Ker, in Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs, No. 27, Peeters Press, Louvain, Belgium, 2000.) Equating the term docens with the clergy and docta with the laity, Fr. Ker would like to do away with the word "laity" altogether. For Fr. Ker, the distinction between clergy and laity is invalid when clergy and religious are both viewed as belonging together as laity and set off instead from the episcopate. There is also controversy elsewhere over whether it is valid to regard the ecclesia docens as the active partner and the ecclesia docta as the passive one. The growth of new communities and movements within the church-some not led by clergy-may have rendered the distinction inadequate for our times.

I, on the other hand, with all due respect to Fr. Ker, disagree with abandoning the distinction altogether. Perhaps the problem is not in the terms but in our understanding of

them. I consider the terms to be still valid, but only when applied to the right things, and only when more important questions are answered. My discussion will try to answer the questions: Who is the ecclesia docens? And who is the ecclesia docta? What is it to be docens? What is it to be docta? How can understanding this distinction help teachers and ministers in their work?

I am reminded of some of the accessories the kids I teach wear. A popular thing for religious kids to wear is clothing or jewelry with the letters: WWJD? This stands for: "What would Jesus do?" It's a reminder, when one is challenged or tempted, to stop and think what the Saviour might have done in similar circumstances, or what He did do in the same circumstances, and imitate Him. Looking at recent controversies on catholic campuses, I think we can ask something similar: WWND? What would Newman do?

When Newman wanted to solve some problem, he used a characteristic method; though not the same method he used in Idea of a University. He would ask his own WW- question. He would ask: What would the Early Church do? When Newman would look for answers, he'd look backward, not forward. Way back. This is a problem solving technique. We often find Newman consulting the first few centuries of Christianity for solutions and examples. Therefore, facing the troubles of contemporary catholic education, if we would know who are the teaching and the taught, we must ask with Newman: What would the Early Church do?

Christ and the Teaching

First, let's answer the kids' question: "What would Jesus do?" Jesus Christ did say something about teaching and the taught. We can read what Jesus said to the disciples about teaching at Matthew 28:18:

"All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in

the name of the Father and of the. Son and of the Holy

Ghost:. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I

have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even

unto the end of the world." [Matt:28:18-20 KJV]

Now, Jesus is called true God and true man. And, indeed, at his ascension he exemplified this perfectly. He told the disciples that he loved them; that He was with them till the end of the world; that He had all the power in the universe; and, then, just like a true man, he left town. After giving them a few ideas about education, He just up and leaves it to the fledgling Church (I am reminded of a line in Schiller's Dan Carlos where the Marquis of Posa implies that God sometimes just `dumps the ball in our court'. He says to King Phillip: "Die Zufall gibt die Vorsehung-zum zweche mus ihn der Mensch gestalten." [Coincidences are from ProvidenceandMan must shape them to a purpose.] Marquis of Posa, in Act III, Scene 3, Don Carlos, Infant von Spanien, Friedrich.Schiller.).

In other words, catholic education is, with the Spirit's help, the responsibility of the Church. She is now the Magistea. We can also assume the Church, being the Body of Christ, develops, or so Newman would have it, and is directed by its head, Jesus Christ. Therefore, catholic education, a responsibility of the Church, will also develop over time under His guidance. Change will be a feature of this development, and so will continuity.

The English obscures some of the verbal action of this passage. Christ says: "Go ye, therefore", (((((((((((, a participle, not an imperative, used more as a temporal such as "while going" or "as you go...". Then, "Teach all the nations", (((((((((((, "teach", a clear imperative. Next, "baptizing them...", (((((((((((, a participle; and finally, "teaching them all I have commanded you... ", ((((((((((( another participle.

The single unambiguous command in the passage is "teach". The participles tell us how that might be accomplished. Some are going somewhere, they are in motion, the apostles, the ones sent forth. Some will baptize. Some will teach others what Christ has commanded. Reasoning about this, if people are baptized and then taught to observe what Christ commanded, then they will also be taught to teach-because that was a command. All will teach. The Church teaches. All are docens, because all the baptized are to teach.

Those who add baptizing to the fundamental task of teaching are the ministers, the priests, or the clergy. Because they are ordained to the sacramental ministry, priests can make the taught sharers in Christ's life. The "them" refers to all baptized persons-men, women, the literate and the illiterate. All the baptized must teach the newcomers to observe what Christ has commanded. Teachers must make their students into teachers.

Objection might be made to assuming that the command to teach was given to all. So far as we know, only the 12 apostles heard this command. The apostles constitute the first episcopate in the Church, a function different from that of the laity as Fr. Ker asserts. Some might say: only the ordained may teach.. Furthermore, with respect to baptism, a

sacrament which can only be conferred by a priest, the consistent practice of the Church is to baptize in the presence of witnesses, sponsors, godfathers and godmothers. The Church is to be, wherever possible the witness of baptism (and, in countries of persecution, this may not always be possible). The Magistra stands with her pupils. Where, then, in the distinction are the docta, the taught?

Christ and the Taught

Following Newman's method, we've gone way back, .back to the source: Jesus Christ. Let's come forward to the second Century. Now we're in Newman country. Fortunately, we have an interesting character from the second Century to consult. Newman also enjoyed this fellow, serving in a parish named after him(Newman served as curate at St. Clement's in Oxfordshire from 1824-25.). St. Clement of Alexandria (150-215 C.E.) was like Newman-an outsider coming into the Church. He was a pagan Greek coming into Christianity. Clement's mind had been pickled in Greek philosophy and literature. Newman, also, loved the Greeks and the literature of his era. Both devoted their lives to teaching and the ministry. One died a cardinal and the other died an exile. And, not surprisingly, both were considered by some to be heretics.

Newman calls Clement's school the "Eclectic" in his work, The Arians of the

Fourth Century ( The Arians of the Fourth Century, pg. 100-115, Section IV, Chapter 1, Part I, by John Henry Newman, Birmingham Oratory Millennium Edition, Vol. IV, ed. James Tolhurst, D.D., 2001.). That's not surprising since Clement's interests and influences are quite varied. Clement spent time on Philo, mastered Hebrew, and was versed in secular literature and philosophy as well as texts that, today, would be considered gnostic. Newman was intrigued that Clement could be very gnostic, yet never so heterodox as to favor the Arian heresy. It was, to Newman, as if Clement-and by extension the faithful-could be swimming in false teaching yet still cling to the faith of the apostles. Newman may have begun to plant the seeds for On Consulting the Faithful ( On.Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, by John Henry Newman [1859], in Conscience, Consensus, and the Development of Doctrine, Image Books, New York, 1992.) when he took a closer look at St. Clement in Arians. Also, in his later work, Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, Newman may have been helped by the example of Clement in the chapter on the power of assimilation. (An Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine [1845], pgs. 355-382 Part II, Ch. VIII, by John Henry Newman, Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 1989.) While Clement is not Newman's favourite Church Father, he has his uses. Furthermore, Clement does have something to say about the taught, the docta.

Clement's work, Paedagogus, or Christ the Teacher, is a lengthy discussion

written for his disciples and friends about teaching and the taught. A less useful work, the Stromata, or The Miscellanies, offers some help as well. Paedagogus presents Jesus Christ as the teacher of little ones, not just the household servant who leads (( ((((( to the tutor's house, the ((((((((((. Christ is a teacher who has died for His pupils. The

taught are humbled by this realization. The taught acknowledge their utter dependence

upon the Teacher, and strive to obey His commands. They are little ones, much along the

lines of the spiritual childhood advocated by St. Therese of Lisieux. But, an important point in Clement's understanding of the docta, is that all the faithful are taught of Christ.

We are all the docta.

One thing makes Paedagogus a peculiar book. Clement moves from the very

lofty discussion of how Christ teaches us to issues of household management and table

manners. This is odd. Just as a Martha Stewart, a Charles Eastlake, or a William Morris, would want to set forth his or her aesthetic for every aspect of our lives, so, too, does

Clement. How many theological works have a chapter on belching?-a very serious

Chapter (Book II, Ch. 7 (60), p. 145). The ethical dimension of toothpicks, wearing perfume, etc. Clement leaves no stone unturned. He was the Martha of his day.

Christus Magister Noster

One relevant stromatum from Clement ties up the ideas I've been talking about:

1) Christ is the only teacher, 2) we're all teachers, 3) we're all learners, and 4) we are

obligated to teach Christ.

"As one teaches, . one learns more and more. As one

speaks, one is often listening in company with one's class.

‘There is only one teacher,' whether of lecturer or student,

and he is the source of understanding and the word

spoken."

(Christ the Teacher, p. 31, Book I, Ch. 12 (1), St. Clement of Alexandria, in The Fathers of the Church, tr. Simon P. Wood, C.P., New York, 1954.)

The Bridegroom is the only teacher, and the Church, the Bride, is a learner. Every

baptized member of the Church is a learner. We are all docta. In Clement, we see that

at least one Early Churchman thought that we who are the Church are taught ones

taught by Christ.

Setting one group against another, or exalting one role over another without the clear mandate of Christ to do so, creates and perpetuates division and antagonism. Christ says to the men who would be the first bishops in the Church, but also to the multitude standing by:

`But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even

Christ; and all ye are brethren ... Neither be ye called

masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is

greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever

shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble

himself shall be exalted." [Matt. 23:8,10-12 KJV]

St. Clement quoted part of this scripture in the stromatum above. Christ is the Teacher, the Master, the Rabbi. All of us, the apostles and the multitude, are the taught. When we can look back at the Early Church, we find that there is a distinction to be made, but also that, in making it, we discover a richer meaning to the terms docens and docta. As the Gospel and St. Clement's work, Paedagogus, tell us, the Church should be willing to put Christ at the center of her self-understanding. So, too, should her educational institutions.

Newman's Vision of Education

We can now come forward in time to the Victorian era in which Newman lived. Newman's vision of education evolved over time from his Oxford tutor days to his Birmingham Oratory days. When he was at Oxford, Newman was a concerned and active tutor who sought to cultivate the ethical judgment of his pupils as much as their intellectual judgment. We will hear the expressions often at this conference: "personal influence" and "the gentleman", and the like. Newman's becoming an Oratorian was a very natural transition from his Anglican past to the Philipian style of education.

However, the university of today, catholic or secular, is different in many

respects from Newman's time and from his outline of education in Idea. Education in the U.S. has been extended from the upper class to every class. Worse, it has been extended to another sex: females. The marketplace and business have intruded themselves into curriculum much to the dismay of the humanities, which continue to shrink in importance at many universities. Faculty and administration of Catholic universities is now shared with laypeople-and, in some places, laity are the majority of the faculty. Also, the battle between a multicultural curriculum and a classical curriculum has claimed many casualties. With cheating, sexual assault, drug abuse and binge drinking among students rising on all campuses, catholic or not, clearly the ethical challenges students face are very similar to those with which Newman struggled among the well-to-do yet sometimes profligate youth of Victorian England.

When we read the inspiring outline of curriculum in Idea of a University, we are

reading what Newman would have wanted to do, tried to do, but could not make last. He was successful, however, in remaining a cultivator of ethical judgment all his life wherever circumstances placed him. The moral development of his students, his brother Oratorians, his personal friends, and his fellow converts remained at the center of all of his teaching, in or out of a university setting. So, what would Newman make of the catholic university of today and its turmoils? For example, how would he handle multiculturalism?

Multiculturalism and Newman's Method

Now, we've done this once. We can do it again. Newman would look

backward-way back. He might look to St. Philip Neri, the father of his congregation. St. Philip was no stranger to intellectual ferment and college life. Newman says of St. Philip in Discourse Nine of Idea of a University:

"He lived in an age as traitorous to the interests of

Catholicism as any that preceded it, or can follow it.. He

lived at a time when pride mounted high, and the senses

held rule; ... when a new world of thought and beauty had

opened upon the human mind, in the discovery of the

treasures of classic literature and art...-all this he saw,

and he perceived that the mischief was to be met, not with

argument, not with science, not with protests and warning,

not by the recluse or the preacher, but by means of the great

counter-fascination of purity and truth ... for Philip

preferred, as he expressed it, tranquilly to cast in his net to

gain them [souls]; he preferred to yield to the stream, and

direct the current, which he could not stop, of science,

literature, art and fashion, and to sweeten and to sanctify

what God had made very good and man had spoilt."

(Idea of a University, p. 208, [1852] 1947 edition, Longmans Green & Co., New York.)

St. Phillip's example shows us that the new thinking we encounter may just be lacking some sweetness and sanctity which we could supply. We should wade in and be sweet and holy.

But what about classical literature, the canon of the past? Is it rational or just to banish dead European men's words from the campus? On the other hand, can we

continue to uncritically re-hash the ideologies that oppressed thousands for centuries?

This issue comes up all the time, in one form or another; and even Clement had to face it with respect to the demand by some Christians that pagan philosophy, such as Plato and Aristotle, be banned from the lecture hall. Here's a sarcastic stromatum:

"But the multitude are frightened at the Hellenic philosophy, as children are at masks, being afraid lest it lead them astray."

(Stromata, Bk. VI, Ch. X, v. 80. ibid, Bk I, Ch. XXIX, v.1-10.)

Nineteen hundred years later, some are still trying to smother the classics. I would

remind smotherers everywhere: It has been tried, and it's not a winning strategy.

Some feel, that universities, catholic or not, must be catalysts. That is, they must be places where different and sometimes volatile elements mix, collide, and form new and, hopefully, better compounds; where the courageous are willing to risk a few explosions. The more politically-correct feel that the university is a place where diverse ideas and peoples can `dialogue'. But what should a catholic university do, bearing in mind its commission from Christ to "teach"?

The Way and the River

Remember Newman's metaphor about St. Phillip Neri?: the stream, the current, to sweeten it and to direct its course. Looking at today, then looking back, Newman would understand that catholic education does not run away from the river's edge, but wades in, directs the course, and sweetens the stream. But how can we do that with confidence? A final stromatum from St. Clement might help.

"There is only one way of truth, but different paths from different places join it, just like tributaries flowing into a perennial river.”

Here Clement uses two images to give us confidence, the way and the river. With the

word ((((, "sway" or "path", a via veritatis. We are reminded of the Hebrew derech, which not only means path but also the way you live. Ha-derech Adonay emet, the way of the Lord is true. A way is solid; it is something you can set your feet upon. A way has been trod by others before you; and it leaves its mark upon the landscape of time. The way represents continuity. A river is flowing, in a state of flux or change and propulsion. Clement uses the word a: ((((((( (((((((, "perennial" or "ever-flowing" river. The river is constant change. Continuity and change: these are the features of the Church's development and of the development of catholic education.

The Pope, in an address to the Bishops of the Antilles, in Rome on May 7th. (The text can be found in the May 15th issue of L'Osservatore Romano, on page 3) offers three criteria for inculturation that have a direct bearing on multicultural curriculum, and much of this part of his address is a paraphrase of Paul VI's encyclical Ecclesiam Suam

(not insignificantly titled "Paths of the Church"):

"The first of these is the universality of the human spirit,

whose basic needs are no different even in vastly different

cultures. Therefore, no culture can ever be made absolute

in a way that denies that the human spirit is, at the deepest

level, the same in every time, place and culture. The

second criterion is that, in engaging newer cultures, the

Church cannot abandon the precious heritage drawn from

her initial engagement with Greco-Latin culture ... It is not a

question, then, of rejecting the Greco-Latin heritage in

order to allow the Gospel to take new flesh in [culture]...

The challenge rather is to bring the cultural heritage of the

Church into deep and mutually enriching dialogue

with... culture. The third criterion is that a culture must not

become enclosed in its difference, in a flight into isolation

and opposition to other cultures and traditions. That would

be to deny not only the universality of the human spirit but

also the universality of the Gospel, which is alien to no

culture and seeks to take root in all."

When it comes to the development of multicultural curriculum, we must not back off.

We must get involved. There is no culture that, at its base, lacks universal humanity. Therefore banishing the culture of Europe is practicing absolutism and can lead to

isolationism and intellectual partitioning. So, too, the ghettoizing of other cultures into separate departments and political cantons rather than letting the wisdom and

achievement of these oft-excluded cultures shine in the presence of the `Eurocanon'-on one syllabus, as equals-is a denial of the dignity of universal humanity. We must be humble enough to examine literature from cultures different from our own, break them open to find that universal humanity locked within so that we may experience self recognition in the heart of all human cultures. And every culture needs to be opened up to Christ. Remember, if we are baptized, we teach Christ-even in a university setting. Our presence as Catholics is necessary to whatever culture we find ourselves in, however unwanted we may be or however embarrassing and difficult it might be for us.

Conclusion

We can enter the stream of multicultural curriculum with confidence, or any other controversy. Our Magistra stands with us. We know where the paths lead, we know the river into which the turbulent streams will eventually pour. As Clement told us: catholic education leads the taught to "the source of understanding and the word spoken": Christus Magister Noster, Christ our Teacher.

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