Tranquillitas Ordinis: Liberal Arts Education and the Common Good
St. Mary's University, San Antonio, Texas
October 9, 2020
The 30th National Conference, Tranquillitas Ordinis: Liberal Arts Education and the Common Good, took place virtually at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, on October 9, 2020.
Speakers and Presenters include:
- Jeremy D. Wilkins, Boston College
- Nathan Cornelius, Johns Hopkins University
- Joel Scott Davis, Samford University
- Daniel Gee, University of Southern California Thornton School of Music
The theme of this year’s conference, “The Tranquility of Order,” suggests how we should think about, and engage in, Christian higher education as we continue to read the “signs of the times” (Gaudium et Spes, para. 44). The theme indicates to us, as educators, that we have a responsibility to the tranquility of order, which we recognize can be mirrored in the souls of students, through the process of education, and for the sake of the common good that flows from education.
The conference focused on the crucial role played by liberal arts education in this emergence of a personal and social tranquillitas ordinis, insofar as it is within the liberal arts that, first, serving the common good becomes an explicit goal and value; that second, it is clearly recognized what it means to belong to a regional, a national, and a global community; and third, that the discovery is made by students that they know, and are obligated by, genuine truths and values which guide them toward affirming the dignity of persons, and protecting the rights of others; in particular, the most vulnerable among us in our communities today.
Our theme suggests that much is at stake in a properly liberal education.
