Faulkner University

�It only takes a spark,� begins the familiar saying. The spark that started a fire of celebration at Faulkner University was the release of a new anthology, �The Great Tradition: Classic readings on what it means to be an educated human being,� by Dr. Richard Gamble.

When Dr. Robert Woods, director of the Great Books Honors College, heard of the book�s publication, he knew immediately that Faulkner should use this opportunity to launch an event that honors the institution�s fundamental status of university.

�Seeing books being published on the need to reclaim the liberal arts means good news and bad news,� said Woods. �The bad news is that these books signal a crisis: the liberal arts in America have been in melt-down mode for about 40 years. The good news is that there is real help and real hope. The Christian university, like the medieval monastery, is potentially a place of preservation and promulgation of the best of our Western cultural heritage and Christian heritage. The Great Tradition is grounded in Biblical revelation and wisdom, and when done right, it ultimately is about taking every thought captive for the glory of Christ.

�This book, �The Great Tradition,� is an inspiration and tremendous resource. If we use it wisely here at Faulkner University, it could assist us in a mini-renaissance here on our campus.�

According to Gamble, modern man disconnected from the Great Tradition by redefining useful education. The modern sees it as directly related to equipping one for material success. The ancients�including thinkers up until about 200 years ago�held a more lasting view: education is the work of rightly ordering the soul, helping it to love what it ought to love and to know itself and its maker. It assists the soul in developing wisdom, virtue and eloquence.

As a Christian, liberal arts university, Faulkner believes its mission of educating the whole person is the same as that of the philosophers in the Great Tradition. Dubbed a celebration, this year of the liberal arts calls attention to the unique work that has drawn hundreds of students to the campus and reminds all involved with education of their true vocation.

For the 2007-08 academic year, several activities have been planned. The major project is a published work authored by faculty, staff and graduate students of Faulkner. Each one will read, summarize and pose questions on selections from Gamble�s �The Great Tradition.� Just as the book�s wide array of authors offers varied insights, so will the University�s publication. To be used in every discipline, the tastes these summaries offer will underscore the commitment to assist in formation of the soul.

Gamble, as well as Dr. Bruce Thornton, will visit the Montgomery campus Apr. 3, 2008, to present lectures and preside over discussion panels. Gamble is a professor of history and political science at Hillsdale College, and Thornton is an author and professor of modern and classical languages and literatures at California State University, Fresno.

On paper, the celebration may only last a year, but this way of thinking will last much longer. This tradition has been passed down from the likes of Socrates, Plato, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Milton and C.S. Lewis. Students of all ages have the opportunity to take part in this conversation, to learn and to grow. John of Salisbury wrote,
Our own generation enjoys the legacy bequeathed to it by that which preceded it. We frequently know more, not because we have moved ahead by our own natural ability, but because we are supported by the [mental] strength of others, and possess riches that we have inherited from our forefathers.

As Faulkner�s faculty, staff and students sit on the shoulders of these giants, they will learn from the past, make their humble contribution, and continue the tradition for future generations.