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Academic Freedom and the Service Theologians Must Render the Academy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 January 2013
Abstract
Theologians are called upon to carry out many responsibilities, including calls from church and academic leaders to “stimulate the internal development” of other academic disciplines and to help students arrive at an “organic vision of reality.” How might theologians do so without infringing academic freedom and autonomy, or resorting to a heteronomous dominance of other disciplines? To answer these questions I propose a theologically-grounded definition of academic freedom, then show the implications of that definition for how theology might stimulate disciplines to look beyond their limited domains. This theological definition is founded in the desire of the mind for God—a dynamic eros for God that moves the mind from knowledge within any particular discipline toward completeness of understanding within an ultimate horizons. Fostering this movement from finite disciplines to theological understanding is the service theologians must render.
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References
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