FILDG Past Readings

Previous readings of the Faith and Intellectual Life Reading Group

Readings for FY25: 

Vincent Miller: "Tears and Ashes" 

Sam Anderson: "The Last Two Northern White Rhinos On Earth" 

Ferris Jabr: "Earth's Mysterious, Deep-Dwelling Microbes We Are Only Starting to Understand" 

Charles Simic: "Stone" 

Marcia Bjornerud: "Timefulness - How Thinking Like a Geologist Can Help Save the World" 

Derek Thompson: "The Antisocial Century" 

Michael Hofmann: "Night" 

Readings for FY24 and prior:

Alexander, Elizabeth. (2008). Poem: “Praise Song For the Day.” 

Ariely, Dan. (2012). Americans Want to Live In a Much More Equal Country (They Just Don’t Realize It). The Atlantic. 

Bennett, Jessica (2017, June 24, New York Times). “On Campus, Failure is on the Syllabus.” 

Berry, Wendell, poem: “The Peace of Wild Things.” 

Bilgere, George, poem: “iPoem” 

Cadogan, Garnette (2016). “Black and Blue” essay from The Fire This Time: A New Generation Speaks About Race. Jesmyn Ward, ed. New York: Scribner. 

Carver, Raymond. poem: “Loafing” 

Clarke, Kevin (2011). Eloquentia perfecta: How to build a better student. America. 

Collins, Billy (1991). Poem: “Nostalgia.” 

Day, Dorothy. (1943). Aims of the Catholic Worker Movement. 

Dillard, Annie. (1974). “Seeing.” From Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. 

Dreyfus, H. & Kelly, S.D. (2011). Excerpts from All Things shining: Reading the Western classics to find meaning in a secular age. New York: Free Press. Ch. 3: “Homer’s Polytheism.” Ch. 7: "Lives Worth Living in a Secular Age." 

Ecclesiastes 9:1-11 The Bible (Douay translation). 

Edmundson, Mark (2008, September). Geek lessons: Why good teaching will never be fashionable. New York Times Magazine. 17-19. 

----- Dwelling in possibilities. 

Eggemeier, Matthew. (2020). Ch. 5, “Politics of Mercy Against Neoliberal Sacrifice.” From Send Lazarus: Catholicism and the Crises of Neoliberalism. Fordham University Press, NY: NY. 

Etzioni, Amitai (2009, June). Spent. The New Republic. 20-23. 

Foer, Franklin (2005, November). Brain trust. The New Republic. 6. 

Franzen, Jonathan. (2013, May). Farther Away. The New Yorker. 

Guest, Andrew (2010). Pursuing the Science of Happiness. Oregon Humanities. Fall/Winter 2010. 

Haidt, Jonathan. (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion. New York, New York: Pantheon Books. Introduction and Chapter 11, “Religion is a team sport.” 

Haidt, Jonathan (2016) Blog: Why Universities Must Choose One Telos: Truth or Social Justice. 

Harmless, William SJ. (2008). Mystic as Multi-media artist: Hildegard of Bingen. Ch. 4 from Mystics. Oxford: Oxford Press. 

Hawking, Stephen. (2018). “Is There a God?” from Brief Answers to the Bog Questions. Bantam. 

Hazo, Samuel (2008). “The Necessary Brevity of Pleasures.” 

Hellwig, Monika (2000). The Catholic intellectual tradition in the Catholic university. In Examining the Catholic Intellectual Tradition (ed: Anthony J. Cernera and Oliver J. Morgan). Fairfield CT: Sacred Heart Press. 1-18. 

Henning, Bryan. (2015). Stewardship and the Roots of the Ecological Crisis. From For Our Common Home: Process-Relational Responses to Laudato Sí. Process Century Press: Anoka, MN. 

Himes, Michael (2001). “Finding God in all things”: A sacramental worldview and its effects. In As Leaven in the World: Catholic Perspectives on Faith, Vocation and the Intellectual Life (Thomas Landy, Ed). Franklin, WI: Sheedy and Ward. 91-103. 

Hopkins, Gerard Manley. “Hurrahing the Harvest.” Poems 1918. 

Isaiah 65:17-25 (New International Version). Nd. 

Jackson, Mitchell S. (2019). Prologue to Survival Math: Notes on an All-American Family. New York: Scribner 

Landy, Thomas (2009, June). On developing a hermeneutic of wonder. Paper delivered at Collegium, a colloquy on faith and the intellectual life. St. John’s College, Collegeville, MN. 

Laux, Dorianne. “Antilamentation” (a poem). 

Lecaque, Thomas. (2019, November 26). The Apocalyptic Myth That Helps Explain Evangelical Support For Trump.” Washington Post. Op-Eds. 

Levertov, Denise. O Taste and See. 

Lowney, Christopher. (2003). Excerpt from Heroic Leadership: Lessons From a 450 Year Old Corporation. Loyola Press. 

Macy, Joanna (1996). The greening of the self. In Engaged Buddhist Reader (Kottler, A., Ed.). Berkeley, CA: Parallaz Press. 171-180. 

Macy, Joanna (2020). Entering the Bardo. Emergence Magazine. 

Malesic, Jonathan (2017, December). A Burnt-Out Case: Thomas Aquinas. Commonweal Magazine. 

McKibben, B. (2007). The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future. Chapter 1 (After Growth). New York: Times Books. 1-45. 

McKibben, Bill (2005, April). The Christian paradox: How a faithful nation gets Jesus wrong. Harper’s Magazine. 21-28. 

Merton, Thomas. “Rain and the Rhinoceros.” Reprinted in Ruminations Form the Distant Hills. 2009, May. 

Miller, Vincent. (2022, July). Ashes and Tears: Three Ways to View Recent Wildfires in the West. Commonweal. 

Milosz, Czeslaw. Poem: “Meaning.” 

Milosz, Czeslaw. Poem: “If There is No God.” 

Minicucci, Matthew (2018). Poem: “Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians.” 

Morey, Melanie and Pideret, John, SJ (2008, October). Identity crisis: Dramatic action is needed to ensure the vitality of a distinctly Catholic education. America. America Press, 23-25. 

Mountz, Alison (with others, 2015) "Slow Scholarship: A Feminist Politics of Resistance Through Collective Action in the Neoliberal University” 

Nelson, Cassandra (2016, December). Seeing is Believing: What Flannery O’Connor Means by ‘Vision’.” Commonweal Magazine. 

Nemerov, Howard poem “To David, About His Education” 

Nirenberg, David (2006, October). Paleologus and us: What Benedict really said. The New Republic Online. 

Noonan, John T. Jr. (2005, June). Transparency in theology: The requirement. Keynote address delivered at Foundation of Freedom Conference at the University of Portland, Oregon. 

Norris, Kathleen. (2004). Quotidian Mysteries: Laundry, Liturgy and “Women’s Work” (excerpt). Paulist Press. 

Nouwen, Henri (1992). The Return of the Prodigal Son. New York: Doubleday. (excerpt on the older son); combined with Luke 15: 11-32, Parable of the Lost Son and the painting of the same name, by Rembrandt. 

Novic, Sara. (2022, July). “Silence Brought Me a Community and an Escape.” New York Times Magazine. 

Nussbaum, Martha (1997). Socrates in the religious university. In Cultivating humanity: A classical defense of reform in liberal education. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. 257-292. 

--Socratic self-examination. Ibid, 15-49. 

Oliver, Mary. Poem “In Blackwater Woods.” 

O’Connor, Flannery (1969). Novelist and believer. In Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose. Edited by Sally and Robert Fitzgerald. NY: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. 

O’Reilly, Mary Rose (2005). The Garden at Night: Burnout and Breakdown in the Teaching Life. Ch. 1: Practicing the Koans of Professional Life. Heinemann Press. 

Ozment, Katherine. (2013). “Losing Our Religion.” From Boston Magazine, January. 

Palmer, Parker (1998). A culture of fear: Education and the disconnected life. In The Courage to Teach. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 35-60. 

Photographs by Jacob Riis and Dorothea Lange. 

Piercy, Marge, poem: “To be of use.” Retrieved from www.poetry foundation.org/poems/57673/to-be-of-use. 

Pixar Studios short film (2000): Knick Knack. 

Pope Benedict XVI (2011). Caritas in Veritate (introduction). 

Pope Francis (2015): excerpt from his encyclical Laudato Si’, “The Need to Protect Labor.” 

Pope Francis interview: “A Big Heart Open to God.” In America. November 2013. 

Pramuk, Christopher. (2013). Ch. 2, “Awakenings.” From Hope Sings, So Beautiful: Graced Encounters Across the Color Line. Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN. 

Rees, Martin. (2017). “What About God?” chapter from On the Future: Prospects For Humanity 

Reilly, Patrick J. (2003, March). Are Catholic colleges leading students astray? The Catholic World Report. 11-19. 

Reiner, Andrew. (206, April 10). “Teaching Men to be Emotionally Honest.” In New York Times Magazine. 

Rembrandt: The Return of The Prodigal Son (painting). 

Rich, Adrienne. Poem: “Power.” 

Robinson, Edwin Arlington (1897). Poem: “Richard Corey.” 

Rolheiser, R. (1999). The non-negotiable essentials. Excerpted from The Holy Longing: the Search for a Christian Spirituality. NY: Doubleday. 

Sacks, Oliver. (2015, August). “Sabbath.” The New York Times. 

Sayers, Dorothy L. (1947). The Lost Tools of Learning. Address given at Oxford University. 

Sciabbala, George. (2017, April). “The Free Banquet: A Case For Universal Basic Income.” In Commonweal. 

Seligman, Martin, (2017, June 16 New York Times). “Homo Prospectus: We Weren’t Built to Live in the Moment.” 

Shibley, Mark A. (2006, June). Believing in the none zone. Oregon Humanities. 28-34. 

Simon, Paul & Garfunkel, Art. (1969). The Sound of Silence. 

Slouka, Mark (2004, November). Quitting the paint factory: On the virtues of idleness. Harper’s Magazine. 57-65. 

Spadaro, Antonio (2013, August). “Interview with Pope Francis: A Big Heart Open to God. “ America. 

Spiegelman, Willard. The Pleasures of Circulating on Foot. 

Stafford, William, (1979). Poems: “Lit Instructor” ; “A Ritual to Read to Each Other”; “Atwater Kent” 

Tennyson, Lord Alfred (1842). Poem: “Ulysses.” 

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. Chapter One: Economy. 

Tippett, Krista. (2016). Becoming Wise: An Inquiry Into the Art and Mystery of Living. (ch.5: Hope Reimagined) 

Tyson, Neil DeGrasse (2017). Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. (ch. 12: Reflections on the Cosmic Perspective). 

US Conference of Catholic Bishops. (2001). Global climate change: A plea for dialogue, prudence and the common good. 

Van Gogh. Starry Night (painting). 

Vatican II Documents: Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. 

Von Moltke, Freya and Gardner, Clinton C. (1970). Farewell to Descartes. In I am an Impure Thinker. Argo Books. 1-19. 

Wayman, Tom (2003). Poem: “Did I Miss Anything?” 

Wettstein,, Howard. (2012). “Awe and Religious Life,” excerpted from The Significance of Religious Experience. Oxford University Press. 

Wheeler, Rachel. (2022). “Innovative Practices in Eco-Spirituality.” From Eco-spirituality: An Introduction. Fortress Books. 

Wilson, Edward O. (2006, September). Apocalypse now: A scientist’s plea for Christian environmentalism. The New Republic.17-19. 

Wright, James. (1990). Poem: “Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota.”