Timothy Muldoon, Ph.D., theologian, award-winning author, director of mission education for Catholic Extension and professor at Boston College shared insights from his recent book, Living Against the Grain: How to Make Decisions that Lead to an Authentic Life, during his lecture, “Extending the Jesuit Mission Today: Love, Mercy and the University,” as part of The John Tagliabue ’67, H ’05 Lecture Series at Saint Peter’s University. Muldoon asked the audience to consider looking at the world the way that God looks at the world. He divided his lecture into two parts: “selving” and building “cosmopolis.”
“Selving is the process of manifesting the truth of oneself,” said Muldoon.
He urged the audience to ask themselves who they are trying to become, “Our desires are a clue to the types of people we want to become,” he said. Adding, “We should each have the goal to be part of God’s dream for the world.”
Muldoon quoted a Jesuit to define cosmopolis: “Cosmopolis is the idea that drives us to discover insights that benefit the culture and community for the long term and for criticizing false developments in common sense,” said Rev. Bernard Lonergan, S.J. To summarize, “Cosmopolis is the vision of what the world must be if it the world is just.”
According to Muldoon, cosmopolis cannot be reached unless people have time to reflect. In this way, Jesuit universities promote cosmopolis because they encourage students to come to a deeper self-understanding.
“Jesuit institutions are like value-added purchases because they also teach the humanities,” said Muldoon. “What the Catholic universities exist for is to enable students to become listeners, questioners and to love the process of selving.”
The John Tagliabue ’67, H ’05 Lecture Series was established through a generous gift from Paul Tagliabue H ’05, former National Football League commissioner, in honor of his brother, John Tagliabue, a 1967 graduate of Saint Peter’s and reporter with The New York Times, with the purpose of featuring authors, journalists and writers of interest who are concerned with preserving and renewing the University’s Catholic and Jesuit mission and identity.
